What is your New Pet Cat Trying to Tell you?

Cats communicate with each other and us using both body language. Learning to interprate both will give you a better understanding of your cat and their needs.

Here are the common sounds your cat will make and in insight into what they mean.

1. Purring, Most people are aware that cats purr when they are content and happy, this is the most satisfying sound that any cat owner can hear
2. Hissing, This generally means that your cat is anxiouse, angry or afraid.
3. Meowing, this can have several meanings, some meows are greetings, others are demands or warnings. As you get to know your cat you will get to learn their individual meanings.

Common Body Language in Cats

1. A raised Tail is usually a sign that your cat is happy
2. Coat stnading  on end and a riged bushy tail is a sing of stress especially if your cat is baring its teeth also
3. Crouching with a tail that is twitching is a huting or playfull mode

Of course both body language and sounds are massive subjects that you can learn more about, the above will give you some insight into how your cat is feeling.

Cat Jokes Part 5

• What side of the cat has the most fur? The OUT-side.
• What is a cat’s favourite car? The Catillac.
• What kind of cat will keep your grass short? A Lawn Meower.
• Why did the judge dismiss the entire jury made up of cats? Because each of them was guilty of purrjury.
• What do you use to comb a cat? A catacomb.
• Why did the cat run from the tree? Because it was afraid of the bark!
• Why is it so hard for a leopard to hide? Because he’s always spotted.

Facts about Cats and Kittens Part 10

today’s cat facts

1. Cats are the sleepiest of all mammals.   They spend 16 hours of each day sleeping.  With that in mind, a seven year old cat has only been awake for two years of its life!
2. Cats are more active during the evening hours
3. Cats spend 30% of their waking hours grooming themselves
4. 95% of all cat owners admit they talk to their cats.
5. Backward-pointing spikes on a cat’s tongue aid in their grooming.
6. The average cat weighs 12 pounds
7. If you can’t feel your cat’s ribs, she’s too heavy
8. If an overweight cat’s “sides” stick out further than her whiskers, she will lose her sense of perception and stability.  Don’t be surprised if she starts to squeeze into an opening that the rest of her can’t fit into, only to back herself back out quickly!
9. According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the heaviest cat on record was Himmy, an Australian cat, who weighed 46 pounds, 15.25 ounces in 1986.  Himmy’s waist was 33 inches!  The previous record-holder had been Spice, a ginger-and-white tom cat from Connecticut, who weighed 43 pounds when he died in 1977.
10. Cats can see in color!
11. Cats are partially color blind.   They have the equivalency of human red/green color blindness.  (Reds appear green and greens appear red;  or shades thereof.)
12. Cats don’t see “detail” very well.  To them, their person may appear hazy when standing in front of them.
13. Cats need 1/6th the amount of light that humans do to see.  Their night vision is amazing!
14. Cats can see up to 120 feet away.   Their peripheral vision is about 285

Facts about Cats and Kittens Part 9

Todays Cat Facts

1. There have been three different cats who have played the famed “Morris the Cat.”  The first Morris was adopted from a shelter in 1968.  In 1969 he landed the role of Morris the Cat in the famous 9 Lives Cat Food commercials…and was an overnight success!  The first Morris died in 1978 and was subsequently replaced by two more cats who played “Morris.”   All three of the “Morris the Cat” cats were rescued from shelters.
2. Choose your cat toys carefully.   Choose light toys (for tossing), soft toys (for teeth and claws) and toys large enough that they can’t be swallowed
3. A flashlight makes a great cat toy!   Turn the flashlight on in a dark room, and watch your feline “chase” the beam of light!
4. Cats love to hide!  If yours comes up “missing,” be sure to check in the bathtub, in your closet, in the dresser drawers, under a blanket or rug…or anywhere else you can possibly think of!
5. A collar and tag can help your cat find his way home should he ever be lost.  Better yet — outfit your cat with an electronic identification chip.
6. To make sure your cat’s collar fits properly, make sure you can slip two fingers under the collar, between the collar and your cat’s neck.
7. The easiest way to pick up cat hair?   Spray an anti-static spray on the area you want to clean.  Wait one minute, then wipe up the hair with a six inch brus Egyptians shaved their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when they lost a beloved cat

Facts about Cats and Kittens Part 9

Todays Cat Facts

1. Hebrew folklore believes that cats came about because Noah was afraid that rats might eat all the food on the ark.  He prayed to God for help.  God responded by making the lion sneeze a giant sneeze — and out came a little cat!
2. Stings to the mouth can be very dangerous to cats.  If your cat is stung, or ever experiences any type of sting to the mouth, take her to the vet immediately.  As her mouth swells from the sting, she may be unable to breath.  Stings require urgent medical care.
3. Redecorating your home?  Let your cat explore after the decorating is done.  Paints, wallpaper pastes and paint thinners can be toxic to cats.  Play it safe!
4. Pet-proof your house by looking for items that may be dangerous to them.  These include cleaners, antifreeze, automobile coolant, and rat poison
5. The fumes from moth balls destroy a cat’s liver cells.  Use cedar in your closet instead
6. Expect to spend an average of $80 per year on vet bills, for the lifetime of each cat you own.
7. It costs $7000 to care for one household cat over its lifetime.  This covers only the necessities;  the pampered pet will carry a higher price.
8. In an average year, American cat owners spend $2.15 billion on cat food and $295 million on kitty litter.

Pet Cat Quotes Part 3

Here are som more great quotes.

 

“You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.”
- Colonial American Proverb

“With the qualities of cleanliness, affection, patience, dignity, and courage that cats have, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?”
- Fernand Mery

“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
- Winston Churchill

“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.”
- Hippolyte Taine

“A meow massages the heart.”
- Stuart McMillan

“No matter how much cats fight, there always seems to be plenty of kittens.”
- Abraham Lincoln

“Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God.”
- Unknown

“Time spent with cats is never wasted.”
- Unknown

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
- Unknown

” No heaven will not ever be Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me.”
- Unknown

” How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

Facts about Cats and Kittens Part 6

today’s Cat Facts

1. Cats eyes come in three shapes:   round, slanted and almond
2. The color of a kitten’s eyes will change as it grows older
3. At birth, kittens can’t see or hear.   Cats open their eyes after five days and begin to develop their eyesight and hearing at approximately 2 weeks.  They begin to walk at 20 days.
4. Kittens begin dreaming at just over one week old
5. A cat’s ear pivots 180 degrees.   They have 30 muscles in each ear, and use twelve or more muscles to control their ear movement
6. A group of kittens is called a “kindle.”
7. A group of grown cats is called a “clowder.”
8. Cats rub up against other cats, and people, in an attempt to “mark” them with their scent glands.  They most often use the scent glands between their eye and ear (near the temple area) or their scent glands near the base of their tail.
9. Have you ever tried to feed your cat food that was just taken out of the refrigerator?  Most cats prefer their food at room temperature, and will boldly REFUSE any food that is too cold or too hot.

10. Many experts report that cats will purr when feeling any intense emotion (pleasure or pain).

Proper Litter Tray Cleaning

Pet product manufacturers are always coming out with new inventions that promise to make cat ownership a breeze. But getting things done quickly doesn‘t always equal getting things done in the best way.

Automatic cat litter tray scooping machines promise that you’ll never have to scoop again. But that doesn’t mean you’ll never have to clean the tray again. Merely scooping does not keep the litter tray clean or free of odors, germs, or harmful viruses that can spread.

In order to properly clean a cat litter tray, obviously the first step is to scoop out waste daily. Twice a day is even better; would you wait a day to flush your own toilet? All litter must be completely removed and replaced at least every other week to once a month. Some people clean once a week. This frequency might depend on whether you are using scoopable litter, how well the litter clumps, and whether you need to scrape off the bottom of the try or not. Non-clumping litter will need to be emptied out more often. If the clumps of your scoopable litter fall apart, you might want to find a better clumping litter. If you are scraping off the bottom of the tray due to sticking litter, you may need to pour more litter into the tray to keep the litter deeper.

Never pour liquid bleach from a bottle into a cat litter try to clean it. If there is any leftover urine, the ammonia in the urine will mix with the bleach to create a noxious gas. Instead, you should first wash out the tray and the scooper with mild detergent and HOT water once or twice, then thoroughly rinse and dry. Then, once you know the box is clean, you may want to kill any stubborn bacteria with a mild bleach solution. If you have an industrial strength spray bottle, you can mix 30 parts water to 1 part bleach and spray the tray, then rinse and dry with paper towels or sunshine, if another box is available to the cat. If you don’t have an industrial spay bottle, regular spray bottles will be ruined by bleach. You will need to fill the litter tray with a gallon of water then a cup of bleach and let it soak for a few minutes. Wipe the sides with paper towel inside and out, then pour out the bleach solution, rinse thoroughly, and dry.

When refilling the cat litter tray, it is safe to sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda on the bottom. This will help reduce odours. Non-scented litter is recommended, as it is more pure and therefore less offensive to your cat’s sensitive nose, and healthier. Non-scented litter is less likely to introduce perfumed chemicals into your cat’s urinary tract, which can cause infection. A cat with a UTI will be in pain and will visit the litter tray every few minutes. If you notice your cat doing this, take him to the vet immediately. Urinary blockage can lead to death very quickly in a cat.

It is also advised not to mask over the odors around the litter tray with chemical sprays and air fresheners. Not only can these chemicals be harmful to your cat, but not using them will help you keep track of how often the box needs to be scooped and cleaned. If the odour is still overwhelming despite your best cleaning efforts, take a better look into your cat’s health and diet.

Cat Beds Fit for a King

Once upon a time, long, long ago, our royal domesticated house cats were content to use an empty shoe box as a bed. My, how times have changed. These days, only a third-class peasant cat would be caught dead sleeping in mere cardboard. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

No, these days, cats require much more appealing and stylish sleeping quarters. They require plush fabrics, sleek lines, contemporary designs, and color choices ranging from popping prints to natural earth tones. Luckily, with all the choices in cat beds today, even a middle class cat can sleep like a king.

Fleece blankets make wonderful, portable cat beds that serve multiple purposes. Usually made of snuggly, soft fleece, they can be draped over furniture or kitty’s other favorite sleeping spot to protect against cat fur accumulation while adding extra warmth. As kitty lays on the blanket more and more, her scent goes deep in the fibers and the blanket becomes her very own safe place. The blanket can then be moved if you want kitty to start sleeping in a more convenient spot. The blanket will comfort kitty during moves, changes within the home, or visits to the vet.

For a cat, looking out the window is a comforting pastime, akin to humans staying in for a relaxing night in front of the television. But laying in a narrow, uneven window sill just isn’t good enough. Now, window gazers have cat beds that fit onto the window sill, allowing for extra warmth, comfort, and space as they watch the world go by. Window sill cat beds usually clamp on to the sill for a cozy, stable resting spot in the sun.

For kitties who like to stay closer to the ground, or older kitties who aren’t as adventurous as they once were, plush pillow cat beds offer stylish warmth and softly cushion kitty’s bones from cold, hard floors. Whether surrounded with plush sheep skin, snuggly suede fleece, or cuddly cotton, kitties can curl up in circular pillow cat beds or stretch out on other shapes. There are even sack, igloo, and cave-shaped cat beds that let kitty climb in and feel secure with extra coverage and shelter from breezes.

Many cat trees are equipped with raised cat beds like hammocks, which suspend kitty in a dreamy cloud that molds to the shape of the body. They can tire themselves out on the different levels of the cat tree, then climb into the hammock to relax and nap until its play time again!

A wonderful space-saving and heat-providing cat bed is a radiator hammock. These beds attach to most radiators and are l-shaped to create a shelf with a hammock in which kitty can sleep safely, close to the warm, radiant heat. Another space-saving hammock style cat bed is one that attaches to the wall, allowing kitty to sleep off the floor and higher up, without taking up floor space or a window sill. From there, kitty can rule over the kingdom below her as they gaze up at her lovingly.

For the most regal of kitties, there are thrones: cat beds that are built to resemble miniature human furniture, like canopy beds, sofas, and chairs. Some mini cat furniture is so gorgeous, you’ll wish you had a couch just like it! These cat beds are not only stylish and structurally sound, but as our cats rest on them, they know that all who gaze upon them will finally see them for the royal, majestic creatures they already know they are.

Facts about Cats and Kittens Part 4

Here are today’s Top Cat Facts

1. Sir Isaac Newton, discoverer of the principles of gravity, also invented the cat door.
2. A cat will almost never “meow” at another cat.  This sound is reserved for humans.
3. If your cat is 3, your cat is 21 in human years.  If your cat is 8, your cat is 40 in human years.  If your cat is 14, your cat is 70 in human years.
4. The average age for an indoor cat is 15 years, while the average age for an outdoor cat is only 3 to 5 years.
5. The oldest cat on record was Puss, from England, who died in 1939 just one day after her 36th birthday.  (We wish we could have them all that long!)
6. The most popular names for female cats in the U.S. are Missy, Misty, Muffin, Patches, Fluffy, Tabitha, Tigger, Pumpkin and Samantha.
7. Ailurophilia is the “love of cats
8. The nose pad of a cat is ridged in a pattern that is unique, just like the fingerprint of a human.
9. There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with 33 different breeds.
10. The American cat population reached nearly 68 million in 1996.  American Demographics magazine estimates that’s about 200 million kitty yawns per hour and a whopping 425 million catnaps each day!
11. A cat’s heart beats twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats per minute

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