You’ll find pictures of kittens playing with balls of yarn all over the internet, in magazines and in advertisements. It has become an image as classic as kittens lapping at a saucer of milk. It’s very odd though that these two very classic, cute and seemingly harmless activities are actually not healthy. In previous ...
Read More »New Kitten Checklist
Congratulations! You’ve added a new kitten to the family. This is a fun and exciting time as you get to know this adorable little newcomer. This is also a time when a great amount of learning takes place and your kitten needs you to be prepared so you can start him off on the ...
Read More »Never Force Your Cat When Training
Over the past few months I’ve had a number of new clients contact me for intercat aggression problems due to having followed some very bad advice. They had received advice stating that the way to help a new cat bond with the current resident cats is to brush all the cats with the same ...
Read More »Giving Pets as Surprise Gifts…Here’s Why It’s a Bad Idea
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 ...
Read More »Cold Weather Cat Safety Tips
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 ...
Read More »How Cats Create a Group Scent
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 ...
Read More »Keeping Your Indoor Cat Warm in Winter
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. ...
Read More »Why Every Cat Needs Hiding Places
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 ...
Read More »Pet Sitter or Boarding Kennel? Which One is Right for Your Cat?
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 ...
Read More »Is Your Cat Stressed Out?
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 ...
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