Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Facebook Updates Happening

Hiya!

It's taken me forever, but I finally figured out how to post stuff to the page from my newsfeed. Whether I just never noticed it or wasn't paying attention or whatever.... I've got it working and now there are new posts at least once each time I log in - IF there is something worthy of being posted on FLOC-Facebook.

I consider myself tech-savvy, but I never could figure that out. Now that I have, I hope you will come, join in the discussions, and meet other cat lovers like yourself.

Morgen



Sunday, June 16, 2013

Foods That Are Bad For Cats

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I'm still around.


I found this article and thought I would share it...

http://www.petco.com/Content/ArticleList/Article/18/2/190/Dangerous-Foods-for-Cats.aspx


Thursday, May 09, 2013

What About Declawing?

I have a cat who came declawed and spayed, turned into the animal shelter as a stray. I don't think she was a stray, do you?

Anyway, this poor cat was timid, scared of feet, and hid under the bed for several months when she first came to live with us. I'm talking about Princess. It's hard to get a photo of her because she is still pretty timid.

Princess used to bite all the time. She would bite to kiss, bite to get my attention, and bite to let me know she was disturbed with me. It was a matter of figuring out what she was saying. She "patty-pats" my arm when she wants attention, too.  She jumps up on my lap, but didn't start that till after a surgery in late 2009. I think I posted about that at the time.

Well, I figured out that she was afraid of feet because she used to get kicked a lot. I actually walked into her recently, and she stayed away from me for a whole day. It was unintentional, but she didn't want to be anywhere near me for a while. After she slept with me that night, she was OK with me again. I've been able to walk up to her now and stroke her back, but she still doesn't like being caught on the bed during the day. She will run away from me if I try to pet her.

What changed things was my realizing that her biting was probably why she was turned into the shelter. I figured it had something to do with that, and likely she was owned by a bed-ridden individual, too. I figured that out by her complete acceptance of me when I was in bed, compared to her agitation and fear during the day when I was upright. I was not threatening to her when I was in bed.

Since then, she has come to accept me when I am sitting down, and will come to my chair and jump on my lap. She has even come to accept me when I bring her food to her and allow me to stroke her back as she goes to the food bowl. She still insists on eating away from the others.

She no longer bites me, either. She loves to get under-the-chin scratches, and will let me stroke her.

A delawed cat is more likely to bite. It's a way for them to get your attention and let you know that they are displeased. And all cats bite to kiss. It's just their way. If you are contemplating declawing your cat, you need to know about this.

One other VERY IMPORTANT thing to consider when declawing a cat: The litter box. When you declaw a cat, the top-most joint is removed to remove the claw. This is amputation. There is no other way to say it. So, think about having all your fingers shortened by one knuckle. And a cat uses the litter box, scratching with that exposed joint. Use a rounded, self-clumping litter. Expect that your cat may have difficulty covering their deposits in the litter box. And you MUST keep the litter clean, or your cat may develop an infection in the paw. This can happen any time after the cat is declawed, since scar tissue can break, being less-elastic than normal skin tissue. 

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On the flip side, there is Bugs. She never quite learned to keep her claws in, so I'm always getting scratched by her. I try to turn her body so that her feet are pointing away from me, but she is pretty insistent on being nose-to-nose with me. She wants to bury herself in my side and curl up on my lap. And she "makes biscuits" all the while. I get real tired of her claws. She ruins every piece of clothing I put on!

Trimming her claws is quite difficult. She never got into the grooming habit with her claws. She allows brushing and combing, to remove mats, loose hair and fleas; but not claw-clipping. I can get one, maybe two claws at each sitting. The dew claws are the worst, and longest of her claws.She is a candidate for declawing if ever there was one! She ruins carpets and furniture daily.

So, having the experience of both types of cats, and having declawed a cat myself in the past, I know what to look for.

Make your decision carefully. Consider all other options, first. If you MUST declaw your cat, consider my information. Work with your cat to adjust. Don't hit or discipline your cat for biting. Instead, try to figure out what she or he is trying to tell you.

Talk to myself, or Jackson Galaxy, if you have questions.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

How Do You Feel About This?

According to a report by the BBC, cats are much more detrimental to wildlife than previously thought. What are your thoughts on this?  Please comment.

BBC Article - Cats Killing Billions of Wild Animals

Then, in another report, the FDA says that farmed salmon is OK to eat. However, I've done my own research into this and find that feeding salmon a diet of "pellets" and antibiotics so that they don't get sick only gives humans more antibiotics. I have to eat chicken that is not fed antibiotics, because I have a sensitivity to antibiotics. What are your thoughts on this?

Farmed Salmon for Your Pet - by Dr. Becker

Friday, January 25, 2013

Weather!

We're having an ice storm here. When I lived in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I didn't understand the difficulties of folks in East Tennessee, but now I do. There's no going anywhere today.

The parking lot is pretty much a sheet of ice, and if I can even get out, I've got a downhill trek to the road, then an uphill trek pretty much anywhere else. It doesn't matter if your car is 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive, you only have 4 little patches of rubber on the road. If they are in contact with ice, you aren't moving.

I really wanted to go back to my house today. I had plans. Oh well. My kitties will have to wait another day. The weather gurus are all saying that this will be gone tomorrow, so I'll get to see my babies then.

You noticed I didn't say "home," didn't you? Well, I'm moving up here, to the mountainous area, so I guess this is "home," now. Or at least it will be once the cats show up.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Missing My Cats and Moving

I'm at school and I can't have the cats here. I currently live on campus, and they just won't allow it. So, I'd been planning on moving closer to school in June this year. However, things changed suddenly at home, and now I'm moving in the middle of February.

I have a LOT going on that week, and I may drop the ball on one of them.  Be that as it may, the cats can't move here till Feb. 11, when I take possession of the apartment. I won't even have my bed here yet, so they will stay alone in the new place for a day or so, while the rest of the house is packed up and my friend with the trailer gets things hauled up here.

I'm really missing the cats. I feel Beasley every night snuggling up to me and sitting on my chest. It makes it hard to breathe with a 15 pound cat on your chest. I'm also missing the girls, but we all know that Beasley is my baby.

I'm concerned for how Queenie is going to be and how I'm going to get her into a carrier. The others, not so much. Queenie is a problem-child when it comes to the carrier, though. I'm thinking I may get an open cage for her. That may be her best bet. She gets claustrophobic, and maybe since she was raised in a cage, that will help her.


Monday, January 14, 2013

Cats Pouting...

My cats are pouting right now. Beasley is so upset, he won't sit on my lap at all.

You see, I drove away for two weeks this morning, heading off for school. I have a new home for the cats (with me) beginning February 1st, but until then, the cat caretaker will have to do.

I began the heavy packing and Beasley just hid out in the bedroom. That gave Queenie license to take over. She is such a little devil-cat! She really wants to run the household.

Queenie sat on the arm of my chair, got in Beasley's face in the morning while I was setting the food out, and chased Princess around the house. She's really getting bold.

Bugsie wanted nothing more than cuddles, and insisted on them for a good three days before I left. She was on my lap, coming up to my pillow at night, and just being a real pain in the you-know-what. She clawed me several times, and the bunny kicks that I've been working with her about came back.

Princess got bold enough to jump on my lap about every hour. She stopped running away from me when I entered the room around her food bowl. Usually, I get my morning coffee after I feed the cats and go sit down in the room where I feed Princess. She has been pretty spooked, and had to be coaxed to return. Not this week - she insisted that she was going to eat her breakfast. I'm glad to see that.

I gave them a couple cans of Fancy Feast that my pet supply store gave me during a promotion. I don't give them fish very often, after Fluffy's reaction, deterioration and consequent death from it. I know it wasn't just the food being such high-quality protein, but knowing that fish can strain their systems, I limit fish-based foods to once a week at the most. Princess really likes this food, so she just chased Queenie and Beasley away from her bowl and then went on to empty theirs. That's a real first for her!

So, it will be a tough couple of weeks before I see them again. And then it will be another week before they get to move here with me. And our "stuff" will follow after that. They will actually have the apartment all to themselves during the crazy packing and moving party going on that I can't even supervise.

Have you ever moved and had to have everything done by others? That's my situation. It's very uncomfortable. I just hope that stuff doesn't grow legs and walk away or become shards instead of the items I'm used to. I trust my friends doing the packing, but it's still an uncomfortable situation.

BTW - the "Professionals" I talked to - they all rubbed me the wrong way. Red flags going off. So, I'm guessing this is what is supposed to happen....



Monday, January 07, 2013

Welcome to Everyone!

Hello, Hello, Hello!!!

I know this is a little unconventional, but it has to work for now. I welcome all my readers from For-the-Love-of-Cats.com.

I post as much as I can, as often as I can. I'm around the internet as often as I can be right now. I'm also in school, so I have a lot of demands on my time. I'm still available for "cat whispering" if you need it.

Latest topics are FLEAS, FLEAS and more FLEAS! I've been doing everything I can, but even Beasley, with his overfed self is getting sensitive to the chemicals. I'm about ready to start bathing the babies (claws and all!) to deflea them. As soon as they go to their beds or cat tree, they get fleas again. It's so frustrating! I don't know how much more of this we can take.

So, we are moving soon, and I'll bomb the place when I get them in their carriers and into the car.  Yes, I do change the litter box every time I do the flea stuff. Yes, I spray the house down and vacuum all the dead fleas and eggs up. It just doesn't seem to help.

I don't know where they are hiding, and I don't know if the cats can take much more of this. I know that Beasley and Princess, my larger cats, both had reactions this month. Bugs was fine, and Queenie was just a little more of a devil than usual (mostly because Beasley and Princess weren't able to keep her in her place).

Princess still attacks Bugsie in the middle of the night. I don't know what that's about. She just walks up to Bugs wherever she may be sleeping and smacks her about 5-7 times in the head. Bugsie is used to this by now, and I do try to stop it, but I almost wonder if Princess is sleepwalking....  Do cats sleepwalk??? 

Well, that's a quick update from the home front. I'll check in again in a few days. Request the Facebook page and I'll approve as fast as I can. It was supposed to be an open group, but somehow it got set up as a group that you have to be approved to join. I'll get that fixed next week when I have more leisurely internet access.

Love to all!!!