Cats | Pet Lover Blog

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

Fancy having a cat at home? It will depend on you throughout its life - around 15 years with proper care - so properly budget for visits to the vets and other costs before making a decision to get a cat.
You have to budget for cat food, cat litter and scoops and other accessories to make the cat’s life comfortable at your home.

Kitten or adult? A difficult choice since the kitten of today is going to be a member of your household for a long time. Perhaps it is better to get an adult cat since it has already developed a personality and you will know what you are getting. Adult cats easily adapt to a new home and get attached to the new owner as easily as a kitten. It does not matter whether you get a male or female because their behaviour is not dependent on their gender. Neutered and spayed cats make pleasant companions. For more information visit www.felinefunk.info

Any good animal shelter will have healthy cats available. Remember a cat you picked up from the shelter is actually saved from death by you.

To convey a proper image, choose a name for the cat from Abby, Achilles to Zummo. There are lots and lots of fancy names to choose from.

OK, you got your cat - so now what? Open up your purse so that your cat can feel pampered.
You can get elegant and lavishly designed dining bowls with a price range of

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You can maintain your cat’s overall health in two important ways. Firstly schedule an annual preventative visit (including shots and an examination) with your vet as well as other visits as needed and secondly perform home cat care examinations yourself.

Do a nose to tail checkup weekly. It can be done at the same time as petting your cat on the couch. Start with the head. Are your cat’s ears clean and pink? Do they give off an unpleasant odor? Have mites appeared as a black, waxy mess inside the ears? Are the eyes bright, clear, focused, and free of discharge? Are the gums pink and the teeth clean? Has tartar appeared along the gum line? Is your cat’s breath offensive? Don’t check a cat’s nose to see if it’s cold and damp, this is not a sign of health. Continue with a neck to tail inspection. Feel your cat’s body for lumps, bumps, puffiness, sores, and any irregularities. Also look for flea dirt (which resembles black pepper and turns red when wet), scratches, and parasites. Be sure to check between the toes, and down the entire length of the tail. If you find anything to cause concern to you or discomfort to your cat then pay a visit to you vet.

Next, treat your feline friend to a good brushing. Rubber curry brushes are excellent at removing dead skin cells and loose hair. Fine-toothed metal combs are specifically designed to lift fleas out of the coat. It’s important to brush your cat daily to remove as much loose hair as possible. When cats groom themselves, they ingest a great deal of hair, which is often vomited out as hairballs. This is normal and regular brushing will stop it becoming excessive.

Keeping your cat’s claws clipped is an important part of grooming. If not kept at the proper length, a cat’s claws can actually grow into the paw pads, so attend to the claws monthly. If you have never trimmed a cat’s claws, have your veterinarian show you how. Briefly, you should snip off just the sharp tip of each claw. Do not clip into the pink section of the nail, where a blood vessel and nerve endings reside as this will be painful. Cats that wander outside or have a scratching post do not suffer so much with this.

All cat owners should have at least one book on cat care, ask your vet for a reccomendation, that includes a section on emergency first aid. Home cat care alone is not appropriate in most cases of serious illness or injury, there are also some emergency procedures that could keep your pet relatively comfortable on the way to the vet. Familiarize yourself with emergency procedures before an emergency happens. Never give your cat any medications, including aspirin, without the advice of your vet. Many common human drugs (like acetaminophen [Tylenol]) are poisonous to cats.

A little effort to look after your cat’s health will pay dividends to its health and happiness as well as yours!

Bruce Walls is an author and webmaster at http://www.catcarefacts.com

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Keep your cat healthy and maximize bonding.

Playing with cats is not only fun, but it provides valuable exercise for cats of all ages and just as important, it strengthens the bond with your feline friend, which benefits you both.
Kittens will play with anything. Just keep dangerous items like string, plastic bags, small indigestibles, and just about everything else away from the insatiable kitten if you’re not supervising him. You’ll enjoy playing with him with his toys, but be aware that he should learn early on that your hands are not toys. If you ignore this advice, you may learn to regret it when he grows up and develops full sized teeth and claws. Older cats might not be so fast and active but they still appreciate and benefit from the play.

Playing with your cat lets your cat hone his hunting skills, seeking the prey, making the stealthy approach, pouncing with conviction and enjoying the kill. It also maintains his health and weight, releases aggression, helps to gain confidence, strengthens the bond, is good cat care and is great fun.

Some good cat toys you can buy, balls with bells in them, catnip mice, and wand toys. Some other great toys you already have at home, wads of paper shaped into balls, ping pong balls, marbles, string with something tempting on the end and plastic tops from bottles. The old favorite, the cardboard box, is a great source of fun, especially when you are teasing the cat by tapping your finger on the other side or waggling your finger through the hand hold hole. Put the toys away after playtime. If a toy is always out, it can become boring, just like a dead mouse. Use your imagination and don’t make it easy for the cat. Make him stretch to reach into a box to reach the toy. Let him win. Don’t make it too easy, let your cat enjoy the pursuit. But when he comes in for the ‘kill’, let him score a direct hit and savor the thrill of victory. Afterwards praise and fuss your kitten and give him a nice big cuddle.

A fifteen minute session once a day and a second one if possible should be your aim. Of course we are all busy but it should be easy to find this time somewhere, what can be better than unwinding after a day’s work by playing with your cat. Cat care and its knock on effects are important for you cat and for you the owner as well. So find that time and improve your bonding by playing with your feline friend.

I hope this article has given you some ideas on the benefits of good cat care and plying with you cat or kitten. Make a start today and see the benefits.

Bruce Walls is an author and webmaster at http://www.catcarefacts.com

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