We might not notice all the work our cats do all day.

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We might not have thought about it. If we come home and nothing seems messed up, we’re happy. If we come home and something is messed up, we’re unhappy. But most of the time, we don’t see much evidence of what our cats do when we aren’t home.

Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.

Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats’ time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.

Read the whole article.

When I emphasize the importance of windows to our cats, I wasn’t kidding, was I?

Since cats don’t go into suspended animation all day while we are at work, any effort we make to give our cats interesting things to do will both make our cats happy, and keep them out of trouble.

Here’s how to make sure we get maximum credit for our efforts:

Create a leaving ritual. Make a point of saying we will miss them while we are gone. We tend to do the same things as we are leaving, so we can find some way to involve the cats, too.

My ritual request of Mr. Bond, “Take good care of my guy!” led to Mr. Bond becoming Mr WereBear’s companion while he had a badly sprained foot. Now they are buddies.

Give them windows. Don’t put a table there… and then put something breakable on it. Instead, raise the blinds, put a sturdy cover on the table, and give it to the cats.

It’s not like we will be there to chase them off of it.

Hide stuff. Whether we get a toy designed to make them puzzle out their treats, like the MultiVet SlimCat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser, or we cut holes in a discarded tissue box, we can leave these “buried treasures” for our cats to find.

We can stick a toy under a throw rug, or leave a timer ticking… until it goes off. Anything our cat can have fun observing or interacting with can lead to an enjoyable part of their day.

Call them up. If we have an answering machine, try calling and leaving them a message at the same time each day. Hearing our voices is a reminder we’re out there, thinking of them.

Create a homecoming ritual. If we’d like our cats to greet us, call out to them as we come in. This is a good time to break out the treats and celebrate our reunion.

By creating opportunities for fun, and letting our cat know we did it for them, we deepen our relationship, and safeguard our stuff.

This is how we can hope that some of our cat’s day will be spent… missing us!

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There’s more to raising and training a cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my CAT TRAINING TIPS.