With Christmas approaching and everyone getting all of their shopping done, there’s one thing that should never be on the gift-giving list: surprising someone with a pet as a present. While it may originally seem like a beautiful gesture to give your recently widowed aunt a little kitten or surprise your friend with their first ...

Keep Your Cat Indoors This is the number one way to keep your cat safe and warm in the winter. Cats are at risk outdoors all year long but the danger increases in extreme weather. An outdoor cat can suffer frostbite on paws and ear tips and can actually end up freezing to death. Outdoor ...

Scent plays a huge role in a cat’s life. To highlight that point, here’s some interesting information. Cats have about 200 million scent receptors in their nostrils and humans have about 5 million. Think about all the scents our noses are missing. Your cat’s scent-marking and scent-detection capabilities are always working. An environment surrounded with ...

  Cats often delight in finding a cozy, warm spot for their naps. It’s a familiar sight to discover your cat curled up in the sunniest corner of a room. As the colder months draw near, indoor cats, particularly older ones or those with arthritis, tend to gravitate toward the warmest spots in the house. ...

  Since the early 1980s when I first started working with clients on their cats’ behavior problems, a big part of my consultations covered the importance of creating an environment that allows the cat to engage in natural behaviors, provides security and strengthens the cat/human bond. The umbrella term for these things is commonly referred ...

  Whether it’s that eight-hour drive to spend the holiday at Grandma’s house, or that long-awaited summer vacation, you’ll need to make arrangements for your cat. For some people, kitty will go where they go and for others, reservations are made at the local boarding facility. If your cat could make the choice though, I’d ...

Listen to the audio version of this article   When I talk to some people about how stress affects their cats, I sometimes get very strange looks. Back in 1982 when I first started my cat behavior consulting business, the idea of stress in cats was pretty much unheard of. I even remember being laughed ...

  It can be very confusing and frustrating when companion cats who have previously lived together in harmony, suddenly decide to engage in a turf war. In some cases, the cats have lived under one roof with an ongoing degree of tension that has now turned to outright hostility and aggression. Cat parents become understandably ...

  When you have cats who aren’t getting along and all your attempts at behavior work have been unsuccessful, it may be time to do a reintroduction. If the aggression between your cats is severe or if they can’t even be within sight of each other without an immediate brawl taking place, then a reintroduction ...

Bebe’s  Cat Kisses Many years ago, when I was working with Bebe, a feral cat who grew to become a much loved family member, I struggled with getting her to trust me. I worked with her in a way that would’ve tested the patience of the slowest snail, but I knew the only way to ...