Many people don’t realize animals grieve the loss of companions and family members. Even if companion cats had a hostile relationship, the surviving cat may still grieve the loss. There’s confusion about where the other cat has gone. The cat, regardless of whether they were close or not, had negotiated territories within the household ...
Read More »Why Does My Cat Pee on the Bed?
No one likes it when a cat starts eliminating outside of the litter box but the one place that really is difficult for cat parents to deal with is when kitty starts peeing on the bed. It seems to be the one location most human family members take as a personal insult. As hard as ...
Read More »Cats and Children: 10 Things Every Parent Should Know
For many parents, the idea of kids and cats together is an absolute natural. For other parents though, it’s a scary thought that may get the family cat a one-way ticket to the local shelter. Children and cats can be wonderful companions for each other. My kids have had the most loving, playful, endearing relationships with ...
Read More »9 Tips for Calming an Out-of-Control Cat
Aggression in cats (or ANY animal for that matter) can have many causes but if you’re dealing with an angry cat, here are some tips: 1. A veterinarian visit is crucial if your cat is beginning to show even the slightest hint of aggression or change in behavior. There may be an underlying medical ...
Read More »Reduce Your Cat’s Stress During Veterinary Exams
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to quickly figure out that going to the veterinary clinic is not high on a cat’s list of favorite places to visit. If you look at it from your cat’s perspective, it certainly makes sense. Without any warning, the cat is shoved into a carrier, put in a ...
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 »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 »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 ...
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