Choosing Your First Pet Cat

When you go to chooose the latest addition to your family you need to do an overall assesment of your cat or kitten to make sure that you are bringing home a healthy happy cat that will fit with your overall family. Here are our top tips and things to look for when choosing your first cat or kitten.

1) Environment.
Check the environment, it should  be clean and it should be where the kittens or cat have been raised or live. Look for plenty of cat toys, also look at how the owner, breeder or shelter staff interact with the cats in general.

2) Character
Kittens should be energetic and more than anything else playfull. A well socialised cat should be curiouse to come up to meet you, pay attention to how any cat or kitten enteracts with other people, childern or animals as this will be a good indication of how the cat will behave in your home.

3) Health
You will need to do a physical assesment of your cat to determin if they are healthy. Firstly are the eyes bright? Does the cat look healthy and the right weight? Is the coat clean, soft and shiny?  How does the skin look? Are the ears Clean? Is its nose Moist? Is its gait normal? Do the Teeth and Gums look Healthy? All these questions should be answered before you bring your cat or kitten home.

4) Paperwork
Finally you will need to make sure you get al lof the right paperwork for your new pet. A breeder should offer you registration documents along with a receipt. Shelters will normally provide you with vaccination as well as saying or neutering paerwork. Even if you are taking a pet from a friend or a private person you should get details fo any treatments, vaccinations etc and ideally the contact details for their vet, so you can contact them to check on any procedures.

If you apply all of the above you will be well on your way to choosing the perfect kitten or cat.

Where To Find a Pet Cat?

If you are planning on getting a new cat, even if you already have a cat, kitten, dog, rabbit or childern you need to be sure that you can handle another addition to the family. Think carefully and plan before making the final decision. Any New Pet is a big commitment. Once you are sure you are ready you need to know where to look for your new pet.

there are basically four places that you can get a pet cat from:

1. Rescue Shelters
2. Breeders
3. Non Breeders
4. Pet Shop or Store

Rescue Shelters: These are great places to find kittens and cats, most have several cats to choose from. In most cases the cats have been assessed and had a checkup from the vet. You will also find that all vacinations will be up to date and often the cat will have been spayed or neutered.  When you take all this into account, plus the fact that you will be helping not only your new friend but your local shelter, the fees that your shelter charge seem very minimal.

Breeders: Particularly if you are looking for a specific breed of cat this is the best way to find your perfect companion. Be sure that you are dealing with a reputable breeder, check breed directories and listings. Dig around for 10 min on the internet. It really is very easy now to check up on things. If you can get involved early on, go and see the litter, where they are living and of course both parents if you can or at least the mother.

Non-Breeder: Ask around, many people are looking to give away cats or kittens due to changes in personal circumstances, some cat orgainisations foster out cats and kittens untill they can find a permentant homes. There are also many people who have kittens “by mistake” and are very happy to find good homes for their kittens.

Pet Shops/Stores: There is little to be said about pet shops other than “Stay Away”! Although there have been many improvements pet stores are notoriouse for not taking good care of their pets. It just is not worth the risk.

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.

3 Reasons to Get Your Cat Stuck in a Tree

Chances are, if your cat climbs up a tree and won’t come down, the fire department will be of no help to you. They have life-threatening fires to attend to. You can beg and plead, but they will calmly tell you that your cat will come down when he’s ready; if he climbed up he can climb down. They may even try to assure you by telling you they have never heard of a cat dying in a tree and have never seen a cat skeleton hanging from a tree limb.

But that doesn’t change the fact that cats love to climb things! Luckily, today a stylish and sturdy cat tree allows your cat to get maximum vertical exercise while staying safely indoors. So why should you get a cat tree for your fluff ball?

1. Cat Trees Keep Cats Out of Trouble

Cats love to explore high, low, and everywhere in between. If you need to keep your cat off the kitchen counter, book shelves, or china cabinet, getting her her own cat tree can be a big help. Some cat owners have the extra space to build an entire cat habitat in a room or basement, complete with cat trees, catwalks, cat-friendly shelving, tunnels and plenty of toys all in one area. But anyone can create a mini-habitat for cats in a corner of a room, starting with a cat tree tall enough for your cat to jump or climb on. Keeping this area well-stocked with sprinklings of catnip, hidden treat treasures, dangling toys, and cat beds will keep kitty coming back to this area and away from your precious valuables.

Cat trees are usually equipped with scratching posts of carpet, sisal rope, wood, or cardboard. Scratching these surfaces will be very tempting to your cat, which will take the temptation away from her scratching your furniture and walls. This scratching will also keep their claws trim and healthy by helping to shed the outer layer.

 2. Cat Trees Keep Cats Exercised and Healthy

A lazy cat can become overweight if not fed healthy foods higher in protein than in carbohydrates. And an overweight cat can be susceptible to illnesses like diabetes and arthritis. This can raise your vet bills and shorten the life span of your best feline friend. A tall cat tree with different levels for kitties to climb, explore, and rest on while window gazing will burn fat, build muscle, keep joints lubricated, and keep claws healthy. Many cat owners serve meals up at the top of the cat tree, so that the kitty burns calories simply by climbing up to get food: a wonderful incentive to get some daily exercise!

 3. Cat Trees Offer Cats Security and Comfort

In the outside world cats may climb trees to chase birds or squirrels, but they also climb them to feel safe and escape from danger. They feel more comfortable, confident, and less vulnerable when they can look down on the world below them. If there is sibling rivalry between the cat and the dog, or an alpha cat and a more submissive one, cat trees offer a wonderful escape route. Kitty can even escape from the evil vacuum cleaner by climbing her tree!

Durable, stylish cat trees are easy for cats to maneuver. They may spend so much time there, you might worry that they are stuck. But don’t worry – if they climbed up, they can climb down. They’ll come down when they’re ready.

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.

Cat Quotes Part One!

Here are a selection of “Pet Cat Quotes” if you have any of your own please send them to us.

“In the beginning, God created man, but seeing him so feeble, He gave him the cat.”
- Warren Eckstein

“A home without a cat- and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat- may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?”
- Pudd’nhead Wilson

“If animals could speak the dog would be a a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.”
- Mark Twain

“A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime.”
-Mark Twain Notebook, 1895

“I simply can’t resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course.”

- Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field, Fisher Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it

” would deteriorate the cat.”
- Mark Twain Notebook, 1894

“You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals.”
- George Mikes from “How to be decadent

“Dogs come when they’re called. Cats take a message and get back to you.”
- Mary Bly

“For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat.”
- Anon

Please send us your favourite quotes, even if they are your own.

The Cat Bed: One Solution for Three Problems

Animal shelter workers and volunteers see cats dropped off and returned to shelters many times a day. Each owner surrender comes with an excuse, often valid. But sometimes after the former cat’s owner leaves, the workers spread the funniest (or saddest) excuses all over the shelter as well as to their friends and family. Many times, there is a simple solution to whatever problem the cat owner claims to be having.

Cat Drop-Off Excuse #1: She Didn’t Match Our Furniture

This was a real excuse given to a staff member at an animal shelter. The staff member was too shocked to find out more information. Did they recently buy new furniture and forgot to take a swatch of cat fur with them to the store when they went shopping? Or did the cat look like it would match their existing furniture, but once they got the cat home they realized that the cat was a slate grey while the furniture was actually more of a blue-toned silver?

In either case, buying a separate cat bed would have been the perfect solution. If it was so unappealing to witness the shear clash of the cat’s fur against the velvet armoire, a stylish cat bed could have offset the entire color scheme with a splash of color. The color of the cat sleeping in the bed would have been separated from the precious furniture. Luckily, the shelter workers concluded that the cat would be better off in its eventual new home, anyway.

Cat Drop-Off Excuse #2: His Fur Gets Everywhere

It’s true. Cats shed. It’s a shame that anyone would be oblivious to this fact prior to adopting a cat. They shed when it’s hot outside. They shed when they are stressed out (such as, perhaps, when they can sense their owner doesn’t really appreciate them?). They shed when they are sick and they can shed when they aren’t fed nutritionally enough.

For this excuse, a cat bed would also make an excellent investment. Many cat beds have removable, washable covers, making cat hair removal a breeze. Many cat beds are irresistible to cats, having been insulated for warmth or lined with lamb’s fur. That means more cat fur ends up in the cat bed and less lands in other places of the home. Cats love having their own spot that they can count on to always been there for them.

Cat Drop-Off Excuse #3: Allergies

Allergies can develop as we age. They can also change for better or worse. But many people who work at shelters and own cats are allergic to cat dander, fur, or saliva. And they would try every solution they could find before they would get rid of a cat they loved.

The first solution to try if allergic to a pet is to stop allowing them in the bedroom; not just overnight, but all day long. Of course, many cats love cuddling in bed or napping on it during the day. So once again, getting your cat her own cat bed will make this transition much easier. You might also want to get a few different shapes and styles of cat beds to situate around the house, so that the cat can reposition herself throughout the day and night and will be less likely to hop in bed with you. And as with the previous excuse, designated cat beds mean designated areas where cat fur and dander will reside the most, and can be disposed of the easiest.