Author: Jayne Masham
Many people assume that an old sick cat automatically has kidney disease. This is incorrect, and my own cat (Prada's predecessor!) Humpy was living proof of it. A young cat, Humpy developed the symptoms early, and the cause was probably an inferior diet in the 2 years before he took charge of me.
In case you aren't sure why kidneys are important, they are basically the waste disposal systems of cat bodies. They eliminate toxins from the blood and also filter out waste products from the food your cat eats.
The higher quality the food your cat gets, the less work the kidneys have to do, and the less likely there will be problems. This is why I feed Prada nothing but the best. There are many symptoms to watch out for - they include constant scratching, tiredness, constant drinking and going to the kitty litter tray. Note that none of these symptoms is definitive - it could be something else, so don't panic if your cat suddenly gets an itch!
The safest way to determine how well your cat's kidneys are functioning is a BUN test (blood, urea, nitrogen concentration) together with a urine test, and only your vet can do this for you. Once a year is best because the earlier you catch a problem, the easier it is to fix. But what's better than fixing a problem? Preventing it! Here are my top tips for preventing kidney disease and keeping Prada fit as a fiddle.
1) Only feed your cat high biological value protein food. Twice daily is best.
2) A fat cat is an unfit cat. Exercise before food!
3) Give her dietary supplements - crushed garlic that contains potassium is good, as are B vitamins.
4) Plenty of fresh water. Change the water in the bowl regularly.
These tips are helping keep Prada fit and heathy - don't you owe your cat the same? She'd look after YOU if things were reversed!
Please feel free to show your appreciation for my little essay by voting for Prada here - http://www.petmillions.com/vote.asp?vote=3140. If she wins, you can be sure plenty of winnings will find their way back to rescue cats!
About The Author
Ms Jayne Marsham is the carer for Prada, a beautiful rescue cat entered in the petmillions Grand Prize Draw. You can vote for Prada at http://www.petmillions.com/vote.asp?vote=3140
What to do With a Finicky Cat
Author: Laurie Buckley
In theory, no cat owner should have a finicky cat - as most cats, if they are hungry enough will eat whatever is put in front of them. But as every cat owner knows, cats can be notoriously finicky and if a cat won’t eat, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is sick.
If your cat is finicky, there may be other reasons than the actual food. A cat may actually have trouble eating from a bowl that is too small or too light. And some cats don’t like where their food bowl is placed – try simply changing its location.
If you have other cats or pets, a finicky cat may be intimidated by other animals. A cat may find it difficult to eat from a bowl placed near a dog’s bed, near a noisy appliance or near a busy area of the house. Many dogs will instinctively try to eat cat food when it is placed down.
And consider how long a bowl of cat food has been left out – food left out overnight or in hot weather may be unappetizing to your cat. And cats – even indoor cats - tend to eat less in warm weather.
If you are changing the type of food your cat eats, one effective method is to gradually mix in the new food with the old over a period of several days. On the first day, the serving should consist of ¾ old food and ¼ new food, on the nest day ½ and ½ and so on, until it consists of entirely new food.
If your cat’s diet consists of mostly dry cat food, try giving it a treat of canned cat food occasionally, or add a little broth to its food. Some older cats or cats with sore gums or teeth can find dry food difficult to chew.
Variety really is the spice of life – even for cats. A finicky cat may simply just be bored if it is eating the same flavor of food all the time. To prevent your cat from becoming a finicky eater, try to vary the flavors and varieties of food – ideally, starting when your cat is a kitten.
About The Author
Laurie Buckley is a long time pet lover and owner. Find more articles and resources about cats at http://www.4yourcatshealth.com.
Work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/.
In theory, no cat owner should have a finicky cat - as most cats, if they are hungry enough will eat whatever is put in front of them. But as every cat owner knows, cats can be notoriously finicky and if a cat won’t eat, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is sick.
If your cat is finicky, there may be other reasons than the actual food. A cat may actually have trouble eating from a bowl that is too small or too light. And some cats don’t like where their food bowl is placed – try simply changing its location.
If you have other cats or pets, a finicky cat may be intimidated by other animals. A cat may find it difficult to eat from a bowl placed near a dog’s bed, near a noisy appliance or near a busy area of the house. Many dogs will instinctively try to eat cat food when it is placed down.
And consider how long a bowl of cat food has been left out – food left out overnight or in hot weather may be unappetizing to your cat. And cats – even indoor cats - tend to eat less in warm weather.
If you are changing the type of food your cat eats, one effective method is to gradually mix in the new food with the old over a period of several days. On the first day, the serving should consist of ¾ old food and ¼ new food, on the nest day ½ and ½ and so on, until it consists of entirely new food.
If your cat’s diet consists of mostly dry cat food, try giving it a treat of canned cat food occasionally, or add a little broth to its food. Some older cats or cats with sore gums or teeth can find dry food difficult to chew.
Variety really is the spice of life – even for cats. A finicky cat may simply just be bored if it is eating the same flavor of food all the time. To prevent your cat from becoming a finicky eater, try to vary the flavors and varieties of food – ideally, starting when your cat is a kitten.
About The Author
Laurie Buckley is a long time pet lover and owner. Find more articles and resources about cats at http://www.4yourcatshealth.com.
Work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/.
Cat litterbox training – How to encourage faithful litterbox use
by: Liz Barton
Cats don't necessarily need to be trained to use the litter box the same way a dog needs to be housetrained or a child potty trained. It's actually a natural born instinct for them to want to bury their waste in a soft, diggable material such as litter.
So most of the litter training is already done for you! However, the litterbox should always be the best bathroom option available – otherwise you can run into problems.
But let's start at the beginning.
Just because a cat naturally is driven to use the litterbox, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't litterbox train a stubborn cat or encourage appropriate elimination behavior. Whether dealing with a young kitten who hasn't learned any bathroom habits, or an older cat who's decided to stop using the litterbox – there are certainly things you can do to encourage faithful litterbox use.
The first thing I would do, especially when dealing with a kitten, is to have scheduled feeding times throughout the day. (this way, you will know when your kitten/cat is going to need to go to potty)
It's much easier to predict when a kitten is going to start looking for a place to go potty, because they typically need to go anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes after eating. With an older cat, bathroom time will be harder to predict but through careful and persistent observation you will be able to pick up on a pattern.
A young cat (4 months and younger) should eat 3-4 times a day. 5-15 minutes after your kitten is done eating, gently place him or her in the litter box.
If you see the kitten showing signs of wanting to go elsewhere (sniffing around, squatting) gently pick the kitten up and place him/her in the litter box. Yelling at or scolding a cat or kitten for inappropriate elimination will not help. In fact, it will simply make your cat fear you.
What's more, if you scold your cat or kitten and then put them in the litterbox – this only worsens the problem as the cat starts to view the litterbox as a punishment.
This may also cause them to be afraid of going potty in front of you – which can lead to anxiety and stress, and also be a huge problem. So make sure you always make it a pleasant and happy experience for your cat or kitten to use the litter box.
During the early stages of training, I'd suggest rewarding appropriate litterbox use with loads of praise and a delicious treat.
On top of that, make sure the litterbox fits the cat.
What I mean by that is, a small kitten needs a shallow litterbox with short sides that he or she can actually climb into without help.
While at the same time, a large cat will get frustrated by a litterbox that isn't big enough to scratch, dig and move around in.
If you keep finding kitty surprises right next to the litterbox rather than inside it, your cat may actually be going potty inside the litterbox, but the waste doesn't land where it's supposed to because there isn't enough room.
If you are still struggling with litterbox training your cat after following these suggestions, I'd like to invite you to visit www.secretsofcats.com to get more information about solving common cat behavior problems.
About The Author
This article was written by cat expert Liz Barton, writer for the regular cat e-newsletter Secrets of Cats and author of Cat Secrets Revealed.
If you're even remotely interested in getting more information about cat training, behavior, grooming, health or care.....visit http://www.secretsofcats.com today to sign up for the free newsletter and free 6-day cat training e-course.
Cats don't necessarily need to be trained to use the litter box the same way a dog needs to be housetrained or a child potty trained. It's actually a natural born instinct for them to want to bury their waste in a soft, diggable material such as litter.
So most of the litter training is already done for you! However, the litterbox should always be the best bathroom option available – otherwise you can run into problems.
But let's start at the beginning.
Just because a cat naturally is driven to use the litterbox, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't litterbox train a stubborn cat or encourage appropriate elimination behavior. Whether dealing with a young kitten who hasn't learned any bathroom habits, or an older cat who's decided to stop using the litterbox – there are certainly things you can do to encourage faithful litterbox use.
The first thing I would do, especially when dealing with a kitten, is to have scheduled feeding times throughout the day. (this way, you will know when your kitten/cat is going to need to go to potty)
It's much easier to predict when a kitten is going to start looking for a place to go potty, because they typically need to go anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes after eating. With an older cat, bathroom time will be harder to predict but through careful and persistent observation you will be able to pick up on a pattern.
A young cat (4 months and younger) should eat 3-4 times a day. 5-15 minutes after your kitten is done eating, gently place him or her in the litter box.
If you see the kitten showing signs of wanting to go elsewhere (sniffing around, squatting) gently pick the kitten up and place him/her in the litter box. Yelling at or scolding a cat or kitten for inappropriate elimination will not help. In fact, it will simply make your cat fear you.
What's more, if you scold your cat or kitten and then put them in the litterbox – this only worsens the problem as the cat starts to view the litterbox as a punishment.
This may also cause them to be afraid of going potty in front of you – which can lead to anxiety and stress, and also be a huge problem. So make sure you always make it a pleasant and happy experience for your cat or kitten to use the litter box.
During the early stages of training, I'd suggest rewarding appropriate litterbox use with loads of praise and a delicious treat.
On top of that, make sure the litterbox fits the cat.
What I mean by that is, a small kitten needs a shallow litterbox with short sides that he or she can actually climb into without help.
While at the same time, a large cat will get frustrated by a litterbox that isn't big enough to scratch, dig and move around in.
If you keep finding kitty surprises right next to the litterbox rather than inside it, your cat may actually be going potty inside the litterbox, but the waste doesn't land where it's supposed to because there isn't enough room.
If you are still struggling with litterbox training your cat after following these suggestions, I'd like to invite you to visit www.secretsofcats.com to get more information about solving common cat behavior problems.
About The Author
This article was written by cat expert Liz Barton, writer for the regular cat e-newsletter Secrets of Cats and author of Cat Secrets Revealed.
If you're even remotely interested in getting more information about cat training, behavior, grooming, health or care.....visit http://www.secretsofcats.com today to sign up for the free newsletter and free 6-day cat training e-course.