Fur, Jaws, and Claws

posted by fmoore on Dec 7

The list can become quite long when it comes to what you should do to make a new kitten feel at home. We are going to deal with four main areas: bedding, litter boxes, feeding dishes, and grooming utensils. First, your cat will need a good place to sleep that is private and where it can feel safe.

The area that your kitten will be needs to be free from drafts, warm and as comfortable as possible while it is sleeping. Fortunately, there are many different types of beds and baskets that are available for your cat to experience optimal comfort.

Secondly, your cat will initially need a litter box. It will have to stay inside until it becomes accustomed to its surroundings. The litter box can have shredded newspaper for a cheap alternative until you have thoroughly researched the best natural cat litters on the market for your kitten. The litter box will need to be cleaned out regularly to ensure that your cat is always comfortable using it. Put the litter box in a quiet corner, far away from where it will be eating its food, so your kitten can be in private.

Thirdly, speaking of eating, cleanliness is the most important factor with kittens feeding, any utensils, or feeding dishes that are used with its food. They must be thoroughly cleaned after each and every meal. There is a wide range of suitable products on the market to make feeding your kitten or cat more convenient.

Lastly, grooming is very important to cats. Even cats in the wild spend the majority of their waking hours grooming. You can assist by getting a good double-sided body brush for grooming to make sure that the fur doesn’t become knotted or matted. Any lose fur should be brushed away to reduce the chance of fur balls causing digestive problems. Grooming will keep the fur clean from dirt, and more importantly, fleas. Kittens and cats with longer fur will need more time spent on them than shorthaired cats as they will lose more fur and this will get swallowed if they are left to do all their own grooming.

This post really takes into the account just about everything it will take for your cat to enjoy living with you as much as you plan to enjoy living with it. If you want the best in litters, the best in bedding, the best in feeding dishes and the best in grooming utensils, your cat cannot live without the Fur, Jaws, and Claws Guide. You have no idea what your cat is missing in its quality of life by not having what is in this guide. Be sure to pick up your copy today. You will be glad you did. Take care.

posted by fmoore on Dec 2

What happens at holiday time when you need to go out of town and leave your cat all alone? I would like to offer four recommendations from most effective to least effective.If your holiday involves traveling by road, your best solution is to take your cat with you provided it doesn’t mind traveling in a vehicle. To make sure this is the best option for you and your cat, take your cat on a smaller road trip first to determine whether it will feel ill, stressed, or encounter any other problems before taking it on a longer road trip.

Your next best solution, if you find that your cat cannot travel, is to find someone that you trust who will house sit and mind your cat at home. A familiar face will help it feel most comfortable in the familiar surroundings of your home.

If you cannot find someone to actually house sit while you are gone for the holidays, your third best solution is to find someone you trust who will come in on a regular basis and feed your cat and sit with it for a short while just to keep it company.

In either situation where someone may be entering your home on a permanent or temporary basis to take care of your cat, make sure they confine it to a designated area at night so that it is not roaming around the neighborhood where it could be endangering itself. Provided there is sufficient water and a litter box, this should not add undue stress on your cat.

The least effective solution is a boarding kennel. The majority of cats do not like to be left at boarding kennels or a home in which they are unfamiliar with their surroundings. However, your kitten may be one that is completely happy with either situation provided they are getting some form of company and sufficient food throughout the day.

If you intend on leaving your cat at a boarding kennel, be sure to do your research well in advance to check on the facilities. If possible, talk to other people who have left their cats there to find out whether they would recommend them to other people. Finally, make sure that it has had sufficient vaccinations to eliminate any possibility of picking up any illness or disease.

Do not leave your pet care to the last minute when planning for the holidays. This will save you time and money but most importantly, it will save your cat unnecessary stress.

Have you had trouble looking for a boarding kennel? Have you been looking for top notch toys and accessories for your cat? We have created the Fur, Jaws and Claws Guide for our readers. Everything your cat will ever need physically, mentally and nutritionally will be found in this guide. Make sure you pick it up TODAY!

posted by fmoore on Nov 26

If you have small children in the house, particularly those under the age of three, a cat might not be the best pet to have around your home. This is taking into consideration both the child and the cat’s well-being.Cats love to snuggle under people for company and warmth. This can be particularly dangerous where cats have been known to get into bed with babies and smother them unintentionally.

Another problem can occur when young kittens like to play with children. There is a strong chance for the child to get scratched in the eye when playing with a kitten.

Kittens have particularly sharp teeth and claws and when they play they can get overly excited and do a lot of damage to the tender skin of children.

Now, make no mistake, cats can get a hard life from children as well. Young children often tend to be a bit heavy-handed when handling cats and this can lead to increased cases of anxiety for your cat.

If there are cats and children in your family, it is a wise decision to teach your children how to handle the cat correctly.

The children need to be told how to pick up the cat, how to handle it carefully, and how to become aware of when the cat does not want to be handled any longer and would like to be left alone in peace.

Many cats become quite stressed with loud noises and sudden actions which is something that is quite common with young children.

It is good for children to learn to be considerate towards animals at a young age.
Not only will they treat animals better, but they will also become more considerate towards other people. So having a pet in the family that your children can learn to respect can be excellent for developing children in to better people as a whole.

posted by fmoore on Nov 21

Cats LOVE to be touched, stroked, and petted.

They absolutely love to rub their bodies up against their owners in a show of affection and to leave their scent as a sign of ownership. Cats not only derive pleasure from having humans pat them, they also enjoy the company and bodily contact of fellow cats. They exhibit the same behavior with other cats as they rub up against one another, but it is usually only a sign of affection when they do this.

Where cats are living together in harmony, or wherere they have been brought up together, they will often sleep curled up together and also groom one another. They feel a sense of comfort, security, and warmth by sharing their space with another cat and sleeping beside each other. This happens more often with neutered female cats than with male cats, although it is not uncommon to see male cats grooming one another too.

This is one of the reasons why it is well worth considering getting two kittens from a litter rather than one kitten when choosing.

However, keep in mind that male cats will rarely groom female cats. So, if you decide to choose two kittens, pick either two female kittens or two male kittens, NOT one of each. It is a higher probability they will socialize better if they are the same gender.

Often, where there are two cats in the family, each cat will claim ownership of one member of the family. If there is only one person in the household, that person will need to ensure that the amount of time is spent equally with both cats so that one cat doesn’t become jealous of the other. This can, and will,  lead to behavioral problems with one, or possibly both, cats.

If you are in the process of adopting a new cat, or cats, be sure to do your homework on behavior and socialization of that particular breed. Adopting a cat is just like adopting children. You must put the same time and effort into choosing the right kitten, or kittens, so that they can have the best quality of life possible. You are the window into how they see the world. Make sure it is a clear window.

posted by fmoore on Oct 30

Curiosity killed the cat.  This saying has stood the test of time. Partly because, well, cat’s are curious and because people just plain love a great story. Today’s post is to prevent this from happening to your cat.

It is very important that you keep your environment as safe as possible for your cat. They are very inquisitive animals and will get into all sorts of trouble given half the chance in a moment’s glance.

You really need to use your common sense and look about the environment that your cat is living in to determine any areas that could be a danger to it.

Living near a road may become a major concern for any cat owner. Cats love to wander around the neighborhood in search of company from other cats or from other people. It is not uncommon for cats to wander a long distance, particularly at night. The best bet is probably to keep your cat confined inside at night so you know where it will be when you wake up in the morning.

You can either keep your cat locked inside the house or have an external area that is fenced in such a manner that your cat can’t climb out, taking into account, that cats are extremely good at climbing and escaping from any enclosure. Having a cat door that will provide your cat with unrestricted access to the house is essential for any cat that prefers to spend some of its time outside during the day or night.

Your cat needs to be protected from other animals, in particular other cats and dogs, that can become quite vicious in the pursuit of your cat if they have not been properly socialized. In addition, your cat can pick up infections, such as rabies from other animals or from the feces that has been left about by other animals. So, you need to know where your cat is wandering and whether those places could be endangering its health in any way.

If you choose not to keep your cat within a confined area then you will need some form of identification on it should it ever get lost.

By having your cat neutered there is less chance that it will wander about the neighborhood looking for other cats. This issue is always a hot topic of debate. However, if you are not a breeder, neutering your cat eliminates riks to various types of cancer if the reproductive organs are removed. We will claw into this subject on tomorrow to get a better understanding on both sides of this issue.

posted by fmoore on Oct 25

As you care for your cat, you will find out that taking care of it is much like caring for a child. There are things that you must keep out of their reach for their safety and your sanity. More importantly, if your cat does get into something it cannot talk to you to tell you that it may be lethal. Let’s discuss some simple ways to keep this from ever becoming an issue in your home.

Many pet owners have yet to realize that even the cleaning products that they use on their floors can have quite an effect on their cat. As they pick them up on their paws and fur, they proceed to ingest the particles themselves when grooming. As all the grooming is done with its tongue, any foreign matter that comes in contact with its paws or fur can end up in its digestive system and create health problems.

There are many different products that can make your cat feel ill including insect sprays and air fresheners, even though the manufacturers claim that they are “pet friendly”. These types of irritations can cause runny eyes, a lack of energy, and a very unhappy cat. Always shop for household products that have “all natural” on the labels. The best rule of thumb is the fewer ingredients on the label, the better for the health of you and your cat.

Sneezing and coughing are other signs of irritation that can be brought on by household products that are not fit for pets. However, this can also be brought about if the cat has been lying in a draft, or where there have been rapid changes in the weather conditions, or the temperature within the house changes from hot to cold and vice versa. Always consider what the conditions might be down at floor level as these are the conditions that your cat will be experiencing for much of its life.

Cleanliness in the house will assist your cat’s health even though in its natural state, a cat will be lurking about in the dirt and the garden. Because all cats are inquisitive, it is important that you don’t leave any medication or supplements, or other types of medicine or products that can be swallowed. This mistake could prove fatal for your cat.

Generally cats are very careful in what they will eat but there is always the possibility that they will be unsure whether a particular product is dangerous or not and end up swallowing it. Usually a cat will vomit if it has eaten anything that isn’t agreeable, but if you are sure that it has eaten something that could cause health problems, get it to your vet immediately. Toxicity levels are much lower due to their size and problems can occur more rapidly in them than in humans.

One thing that many people are unaware of is the danger of engine coolant, better known as antifreeze. This could leak from the hoses or the radiator on your car. Antifreeze can kill a cat very rapidly. This can happen just from having your cat walk through a puddle of radiator fluid that has spilled onto the driveway and then it begins to groom itself. So be sure to take the simple precaution of having no leaks from your car that your cat can get near, as this may prove fatal.

If you want to find out what products are safe in and around your home for your cat, be sure to check out Fur, Jaw, and Claws: The Definitive Guide to a Holistic Lifestyle for Your Cat. This guide will tell you everything you will need to know when it comes to the safety and comfort of your cat without introducing it to harsh medication or harsh chemicals. Your cat will thank you for it.