Do you rotate scent games by smell or just by toy?

Swap the smell more than the spot.

We usually just switch the type of treat, since the scent is what does most of the work in our house. A different flavor seems to reset her interest more than a new hiding spot does. Same toys, same rooms, just a different smell.

Rotating smells never did much for mine. She caught on just as fast once she figured out the pattern, so I mostly just space the hiding spots out and switch up the timing instead.

Rotate the rooms instead, mine ignores scent swaps.

I don’t bother swapping scents at all. My cat figured out the new smell thing in two days and went right back to parking herself where the treats usually show up. Moving the spots around is what actually keeps her guessing, the smell part just seems like extra work for me.

Swapping the actual scent is the only part that ever worked for mine. I tried just moving hiding spots and she clocked the new layout in about three days, same as before. But when I started switching what I was hiding, she actually had to work for it again. Not fancy stuff either, just alternating between her regular kibble and a bit of tuna water dabbed on a dish. Different smell means she can’t just run the same mental map, she has to actually track it. Lasted way longer than moving rooms ever did. People keep saying their cat sees through it, and maybe some do, but mine didn’t, and it cost me nothing since it was already in the cabinet. If you’re going to rotate anything, rotate the smell, not the geography. The geography is the thing they memorize.

I think the mistake is treating scent like a toy feature when it is really more of a mood thing. My cat does not care if the smell is new. She cares if the hunt feels different. So swapping between catnip and plain never did anything for her, and hiding treats in the same three spots just made her camp out and wait.

What actually changed things for me was rotating the type of surface, not the smell. Treat on a plate, then tucked inside a cardboard box flap, then rolled under a rug edge, then dropped into a paper bag. Same treats, same rooms, no new purchases. The scent part barely matters because she is already tracking where I walked when I set it up. She knows my route.

So if I had to pick, I would say rotate the container or the surface, not the scent itself. Scent fades and gets wiped out by whatever else is in the room anyway. The texture and the little bit of effort to get the treat is what keeps her interested. When I only moved spots but kept the same dish, she got bored in like three days. When I changed the actual object she had to work at, that lasted way longer.

That said, I get why people swear by scent swaps. Some cats are more nose-driven than mine. Mine is lazy and food-motivated, so she will follow a trail for about ten seconds and then just sit down and stare at me like I am the puzzle.

I just rotate the treats themselves, not the toys. My cat is way more interested when I switch from her usual kibble to a little bit of tuna water dabbed around, and honestly the smell seems to do more than the location. She still checks her old spots first though, so it’s not like it fixes everything.