The Association Blog

This simple strategy for generating interest in the cats on your adoption floor may seem intuitive—and it’s backed by science, too

With kitten season ramping up, now’s a great time to deploy adoption strategies for adult cats to keep capacity in check. This simple tweak that you may be doing already can bring more interest to your available kitties.

Research conducted at the ASPCA in 2010 found that cats with toys in their kennels were viewed longer than cats who did not have toys in their kennels—even if they did not interact with the toys.

Takeaway? Simple. Since the presence of toys increased the amount of time potential adopters viewed the cats, make sure there’s a toy in each cat’s kennel. Ideally, it would be a toy that the cat interacts with—think a food-filled ball, for example—because the data also showed that adopters spent more time viewing active cats.

Have you tried other made-ya-look strategies on your cat adoption floor? Leave a comment and share your ideas.