By David Johnson
Deciding to be a pet owner and caregiver is a big responsibility. Owning an indoor cat can bring years of enjoyable pleasure for you and your new companion friend. Although cats are seen as self-reliant, you as the owner will always have to be the diligent parent.
If you’ve never owned any pets before, you should get some pet education before bringing your new furry friend home.
Probably the best way to find out about caring for an indoor cat is to visit the homes of friends who have indoor cats. Your friends can be an excellent resource for what’s going to be required of you to care for a cat. Other resources are community cat clubs, veterinarians, animal shelters, books, tapes, videos, and the Internet.
Before you get your first cat, decide what your commitment to this relationship will be. How much devotion, cost, effort, and attention are you willing to provide to your new friend. Also consider what your personal preferences are for the new family addition. Are you looking for?
Kitten or Adult
Longhair or Shorthair
Male or Female
Breed (Persian, Burmese, etc)
Pedigree or Non-Pedigree
To many, a kitten is a cute, cuddly bundle of joy, just like a new born baby. But like a baby, you’ll need to watch over carefully to the health of the kitten as it grows to adulthood. An adult cat, on the other hand, is more capable of attending to its own personal care.
Hair
Cats shed hair, just like humans. Some breeds shed more hair than others. Cats are fastidious groomers. Be prepared and none too surprised when they vomit a hairball from time to time -- completely natural with little cause for alarm. It’s a good practice to routinely brush your cat to collect the loose hair.
Shorthair cats usually need less routine brushing than longhairs. If you brush your cat routinely, they can have less incidents of hairballs and upset digestion. Giving your cat a bath (cat formulated shampoo only) once in a great while is good also.
Gender
Cats are individuals. Both female and male cats can make wonderful companions. If the cat has been spayed or neutered, then the cat's gender doesn't play a huge role. The cat's own unique personality will determine how good of a pet it will make. Your personal preference may be to choose a cat whose personality is agreeable to yours.
Breed
Generally the cat's breed isn't a factor and your selection usually is a personal preference.
Pedigree
You may choose a pedigree cat if your intention is to invest, breed, or show. There are other reasons why someone would choose a pedigree over a non-pedigree, and that’s a personal choice. Expect to pay more for a pedigree primarily because its lineage can be traced and its pedigree is highly prized by others.
Non-pedigree cats are just as cute and cuddly as the pedigree. A lot less expensive too!
Summary
A cat is a wonderful addition to your family and will give you many years of enjoyable pleasure.
About the author:
www.PetFoodStory.com
Veterinarian formulated holistic pet food products for cats and dogs.
Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
Why Cat's Claw May Be One Of Nature's Most Powerful Healers2
By: Steve Smith
The many potential benefits of cat's claw make it a hugely exciting prospect for advocates of herbal remedies. But there is an important caveat in that most of the research so far has been conducted in the laboratory rather than on live human subjects. Against that, however, must be set the many centuries of use of the herb amongst older civilisations.
Orthodox medicine, moreover, is always keen to stress, quite correctly, that the mere fact that a remedy is described as "natural" or "herbal" does not mean it is necessarily free of potential side effects. Herbal remedies, after all, often provide the raw materials for the manufacture of conventional drugs, and are highly active biochemical compounds in their own right. They could not be of any benefit if they were not.
But in the case of cat's claw the only contraindications for its use appear to for pregnant women and those suffering from disorders of the immune system. For all others, the herb appears to be completely safe, although very rare cases of minor gastric upsets and headaches have been reported.
The inner bark of the plant is the source of cat's claw's active alkaloid compounds, but the bark itself is indigestible and poorly absorbed, if at all, by the human digestive system. Fortunately, however, cat's claw is now readily available in the form of easily absorbed teas, tinctures and capsules, but it's probably best to start with low doses to ensure freedom from any possible side effects. And as recommended therapeutic doses vary between 750 and 3,000 mg per day, it's always worth talking things over with your physician or a reputable herbal practitioner before beginning any program of supplementation. But the potential benefits of cat's claw appear so promising that this is not a herb you should ignore.
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in direct marketing and with a particular interest in health products. Find out more at http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/Information.htm
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
The many potential benefits of cat's claw make it a hugely exciting prospect for advocates of herbal remedies. But there is an important caveat in that most of the research so far has been conducted in the laboratory rather than on live human subjects. Against that, however, must be set the many centuries of use of the herb amongst older civilisations.
Orthodox medicine, moreover, is always keen to stress, quite correctly, that the mere fact that a remedy is described as "natural" or "herbal" does not mean it is necessarily free of potential side effects. Herbal remedies, after all, often provide the raw materials for the manufacture of conventional drugs, and are highly active biochemical compounds in their own right. They could not be of any benefit if they were not.
But in the case of cat's claw the only contraindications for its use appear to for pregnant women and those suffering from disorders of the immune system. For all others, the herb appears to be completely safe, although very rare cases of minor gastric upsets and headaches have been reported.
The inner bark of the plant is the source of cat's claw's active alkaloid compounds, but the bark itself is indigestible and poorly absorbed, if at all, by the human digestive system. Fortunately, however, cat's claw is now readily available in the form of easily absorbed teas, tinctures and capsules, but it's probably best to start with low doses to ensure freedom from any possible side effects. And as recommended therapeutic doses vary between 750 and 3,000 mg per day, it's always worth talking things over with your physician or a reputable herbal practitioner before beginning any program of supplementation. But the potential benefits of cat's claw appear so promising that this is not a herb you should ignore.
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in direct marketing and with a particular interest in health products. Find out more at http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/Information.htm
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Why Cat's Claw May Be One Of Nature's Most Powerful Healers1
By Steve Smith
Cat's claw, known as una de gato in Spanish, is a herb derived from a vine-type plant which grows widely in the countries of Central and South America, and is particularly common in the Amazon rainforests and Peru. So vast and botanically rich are the wilds of the Amazon rain forest that many herbal practitioners still look to it as a potential source of powerful, but as yet undiscovered, herbal remedies. Although this hope might seem to some like wishful thinking, the example of cat's claw suggests that it may not be entirely fanciful; because although the herb has only very recently become known in the West, it has been used as health tonic and treatment by the indigenous peoples of the region for many centuries. But the claims made for the benefits of cat's claw need to be treated with some caution, because there are those who would have you regard it as something akin to a miracle herb or universal panacea; and orthodox medicine, as always, is rightly sceptical of the wilder claims of the herbal or "natural" remedy lobby.
Rendered into liquid form, however, extracts of cat's claw have been found to have potent adaptogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, and these are therefore used by herbal therapists to tackle a wide variety of common ailments. The anti-inflammatory qualities of the herb indicate potential benefits in the treatment of arthritis, rheumatism and bursitis; as well as digestive problems and ulcers, whilst as an adaptogen and anti-oxidant cat's claw is believed to boost the immune system, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and even help in the fight against cancer.
Serious research into the benefits of cat's claw has been underway in Europe since the 1970s, and although, as noted above, conventional medicine remains reluctant to confirm the herb's therapeutic value, the fact that cat's claw is only available on prescription in certain countries is a clear indication of its biochemical potency. Cat's claw's power as an immune system booster appears to be related to unique properties in the alkaloids derived from it, certain of which appear directly to enhance the ability of the body's white blood cells to destroy potentially harmful foreign matter. These alkaloids also seem to stimulate the production of the vital T4 lymphocyte and leucocyte immune system cells which are crucial in fighting viral infections.
One particular such alkaloid, rynchophylline, is also believed to be of great benefit to the cardio-vascular system in preventing blood "stickiness", or the potentially catastrophic formation of clots in circulating blood in the heart and brain. Like other anti-oxidants, cat's claw may also help to prevent the oxidation of low density lipids (LDL), or "bad cholesterol", and the consequent build up of deposits inside the arteries leading to atherosclerosis. Recent research also suggests that the anti-oxidant action of cat's claw may also help to prevent the deposit of the plaques within brain tissue which are implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in direct marketing and with a particular interest in health products. Find out more at http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/Information.htm
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Cat's claw, known as una de gato in Spanish, is a herb derived from a vine-type plant which grows widely in the countries of Central and South America, and is particularly common in the Amazon rainforests and Peru. So vast and botanically rich are the wilds of the Amazon rain forest that many herbal practitioners still look to it as a potential source of powerful, but as yet undiscovered, herbal remedies. Although this hope might seem to some like wishful thinking, the example of cat's claw suggests that it may not be entirely fanciful; because although the herb has only very recently become known in the West, it has been used as health tonic and treatment by the indigenous peoples of the region for many centuries. But the claims made for the benefits of cat's claw need to be treated with some caution, because there are those who would have you regard it as something akin to a miracle herb or universal panacea; and orthodox medicine, as always, is rightly sceptical of the wilder claims of the herbal or "natural" remedy lobby.
Rendered into liquid form, however, extracts of cat's claw have been found to have potent adaptogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, and these are therefore used by herbal therapists to tackle a wide variety of common ailments. The anti-inflammatory qualities of the herb indicate potential benefits in the treatment of arthritis, rheumatism and bursitis; as well as digestive problems and ulcers, whilst as an adaptogen and anti-oxidant cat's claw is believed to boost the immune system, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and even help in the fight against cancer.
Serious research into the benefits of cat's claw has been underway in Europe since the 1970s, and although, as noted above, conventional medicine remains reluctant to confirm the herb's therapeutic value, the fact that cat's claw is only available on prescription in certain countries is a clear indication of its biochemical potency. Cat's claw's power as an immune system booster appears to be related to unique properties in the alkaloids derived from it, certain of which appear directly to enhance the ability of the body's white blood cells to destroy potentially harmful foreign matter. These alkaloids also seem to stimulate the production of the vital T4 lymphocyte and leucocyte immune system cells which are crucial in fighting viral infections.
One particular such alkaloid, rynchophylline, is also believed to be of great benefit to the cardio-vascular system in preventing blood "stickiness", or the potentially catastrophic formation of clots in circulating blood in the heart and brain. Like other anti-oxidants, cat's claw may also help to prevent the oxidation of low density lipids (LDL), or "bad cholesterol", and the consequent build up of deposits inside the arteries leading to atherosclerosis. Recent research also suggests that the anti-oxidant action of cat's claw may also help to prevent the deposit of the plaques within brain tissue which are implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in direct marketing and with a particular interest in health products. Find out more at http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/Information.htm
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com