Every Cat

Posts Tagged ‘cats’

Throughout history cats have been considered to have a magnetic or even magical appeal.  To many of us, the cat is a lovable pet and valued member of the family, whose appeal is very much tied up to its personality.  The cat embodies many contradictory characteristics, at once mysterious and sublime yet also mysterious, independent and aloof yet also affectionate and demanding, these graceful, beautiful animals have fascinated mankind for ages.

In ancient Egypt’s, the cat was worshipped as a sacred or even Godlike animal.  Cats are valued highly and were domesticated and brought into houses.Those who harms cats were punished very severely, and anyone who killed the cat could be executed for their crime.  In addition to their role as adored and worshipped creatures, cats also performed useful functions such as killing vermin like rats and mice, and even snakes.  In arts, human and cat features were often combined to convey a sub lime gracefulness to the features of a human being, and people were proud to wear cat tattoos.

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, cats were valued for their practical role in controlling vermin and protecting vital food supplies.Also, they were worshipped as protecting spirits who looks over the household and prevented harm.

However, this is all to change.The belief in even magic and witchcraft was widespread during the dark ages.  At this time, cats were considered to be evil, doing the work of the Devil at night.Due to a widespread belief that witches could turn themselves into animals like bats, the average person and started to think that sll cats WERE actually witches in disguise.  There are recorded cases of people being tortured and executed simply for helping cats who were injured.Cat owners were often tried and executed as witches merely from the fact of owning a cat.

There are many recorded reports of panicing swarms of people sweeping through villages towns and even cities killing every single cats in sight.  This was organised and led by the Catholic church which resulted in the almost complete extinction of cats in Europe by 1400.  Due to the massive reduction in the cat population, the vermin population boomed and this left the door open to plauges carried by rats. Europe was brought to its knees by these awful diseases that killed more than half of all the people alive at the time. This is a lesson will never be forgotten.

After this had occurred, people discovered that cats were more important than they had thought, and so the feline population started growing again.  As a result, ships sailing to the New World either with colonists, or simply to trade, often carried cats on board.The cats that live in North America now are the descendants of those early cats.

Many cat owners are probably not aware that cat pet training can actually work. You can train cats to do lots of things but there are certain things that will be very challenging.

If you want your cat to fetch you your morning paper, fetch a stick that you have thrown or rollover and play dead, then don't buy a cat, get yourself a dog.

Training your cat is a million miles away from training a dog. A cat by its very nature is a creature of independence, but cats, like many other animals are reward orientated, they work on a "what's in it for me" attitude. Throw a stick for a cat to fetch and it will look at you and think "what do I want the stick for? If it's important to you, well you fetch it".

Don't use punishment as a method for training your cat, it will associate "punishment" with you, and it will start to avoid you. The only way to train your cat is by reward. This is about giving your cat a reward when it does something that you want it to, not when it does something that you don't want it to.

Punishing your cat when it misbehaves is the wrong approach, you will get further by ignoring what it has done and depriving your cat of any attention, each time it misbehaves. Although it is not always obvious, cats do need and want praise from you. Cats are clever creatures and need interesting things to do to stop them becoming bored. When your cat misbehaves and you don’t supply any attention or stimulus, it will register this in its brain, and your cats problems with behaviour can increase.

However cat pet training will work when you give your cat rewards, attention, and stimulus. You give the cat this every time you see it doing something right. Give your cat lots of attention and a treat if it uses it's litter tray. When it uses it's scratching post instead of your couch, reward it with attention and some treats. Your cat will soon learn that it will get some kind of reward for behaving in a particular way.

From when your cat is a kitten, make sure that you spend plenty of time with it and offer it plenty of attention, so that it becomes normal for you to act in this way with your cat. Your cat will soon learn that it gets treats and praise by doing certain things, and gets nothing by doing other things.

Cat pet training does work, it’s just a question of doing the right things, and knowing how your cat’s mind works, realise this and cat training becomes easier.

Do you have a cat? Then, it’s time you need to toilet train your cat and save yourself from headaches, even “noseaches” and “lung aches” when you are inhaling those foul smell of cat droppings all over your house. There are many advantages of toilet training a cat that a car owner can enjoy or get benefit from training your cat to use the toilet. For one, cat litter boxes are expensive. Buying cat litter boxes can really damage your financial resources. Secondly, cat litter boxes needs to be cleaned regularly especially when you are very meticulous and very concerned with health and cleaning it regularly can also be a great disturbance for the other important things that you do everyday. With cat toilet training, the water in the toilet masks most of the offending smell and all you need to do is flush regularly – much simpler and easier than cleaning a litter box. Going away for weekends or holidays also becomes easier for your neighbor – instead of asking someone to clean out the litter box, all they need to do is flush your toilet once in a while.

According to Toilet Train Your Cat Reviews, toilet training your cat is an easier task, easier than you might think. However, it usually relies upon your cat’s attitude. Toilet training sociable cats that love being praised makes the training task much easier. It will take between 2 weeks up to even 3 months, depending on the response or the personality of a cat.

Training your cat to use the toilet can take anything between 2 weeks up to 3 months, depending on the individual cat’s personality.

However, many cat owners really do find this kind of responsibility quite difficult and time-consuming but this can all be dealt with, with the help of a guide that can be found in this Toilet Train Your Cat review site called “toilettrainyourcatreview.com” and not only you will find one guide but several top training programs to help you out with this concern. Go ahead, try to read the reviews, that is, if you really care for your family’s health and for your cat’s welfare.

Pet adoption should never be done spontaneously.  There are numerous reasons why pets are being surrendered in shelters and rescue organization, most common reason is deciding spontaneously about getting a pet and then failing to do the responsibility that taking care of pets requires.

Therefore, before adopting an animal from rescuers or shelters it is important that the animal that you are choosing will be a life-long companion.  Otherwise, this defeats the mission and goal of animal shelters and animal rescue organizations. 

Shelters and rescue groups have wide selection of puppies and full-grown cats and dogs.  It is important to identify which animal will be most suitable for the adopter’s personality and temperament. adoptable dogs and cats (whether it is mixed bred/purebred) displays unusual uniqueness.  It is best not to rely only on the physical characteristics of these animals but focus more on their attitude and behaviour. 

Choosing Your Feline Companion

Cats make wonderful pets.  Although they value their independence, they crave for love and companionship.  What is good about cats is that they can easily adjust to different lifestyles and types of residences. 

When choosing cats in an animal shelter, it is best to ask permission or assistance from the adoption counsellor to spend some time with the animals. This is for understanding the temperament and behaviour of the animals better.There are cats that tend to be passive, timid or frightened even if they are social by nature due to it’s lack of familiarity with the new environment. 

Having young children at home is another thing to consider.  Young children usually cannot handle the responsibility of kittens.  A cat, at least four months old will be a good choice. 

If the adopter have other animals at home, it is best to help the new member of the family to adjust to its surroundings.  Adopters can try isolating their new cats in a room and then slowly exposing them to the other animals.By this, they can gradually mix up together and accept the new feline presence in the same house. 

Choosing the Best Dog

Adopters sometimes get overwhelmed with the wide selection of purebreds and mixed bred animals in shelters.  The best way to narrow down the choices is identifying the adopter’s characteristics or personality.  Another thing is learning about the different personalities and temperaments of purebreds and mixes. 

With this process, you can do a process of elimination by removing those breeds and mixes that do not match or complement the adopter’s lifestyle. 
When visiting animals in shelters; always keep in mind that this is a stressful and unfamiliar environment for the dogs.It the dogs are in a safe and secure place then the real character will come up for display. 

Again, ask for the adoption counsellor’s attention to known several information about the dogs you are interested.Inquire about the behaviour, the age, and also about its behaviour with children.Before proceeding to the shelter it is essential that you should narrow down the search, it also applies for adoption of cat. 

Remember that the pets that you are adopting will be your companion for the next 10 until 15 years – or even longer.This stands out as the key reason why the pet adopter’s should choose their ideal pet carefully.  Pet adoption makes the most wonderful unions between pets and owners, as long as the decisions were made in no rush and with guidance. 

Cats which have been ill-treated can easily be identified with damaged and maimed  exteriors.  Some may appear to be in perfect shape on the outside, although all of the damage they sustained may be internal or emotional.  Even though physical damage is bad, emotional damage is much tougher to fix.  Cats who have physical abuse will still answer to a soft touch and soft voice, as long as they know that the abuse has come to an end.

When you have a cat that has been emotionally abused, you’ll need to wait until the cat comes to you.  You’ll need to use patience, as the cat will be confused and not know if you plan to hurt him or not.  If you take your time and let him know that you are nothing to fear, he will eventually come to you.As soon as he starts to come near you, allow him to sniff you and pet him affectionately.  After a while, he will learn that he can trust you and he will come to you when you call him.

Raising your voice, yelling, or using disciplinary tools like water guns or flyswatters on them can bring about emotional damage to your cat.  If you continue to use the wrong means of discipline on an emotionally damaged cat, the cat can become mean or lethargic.  When a cat turns mean, it’s not always a bad thing.  Meaner cats are easier to reach, as they still care a bit about what happens to them – while lethargic cats could really care less.

Cats that have become lethargic won’t play, take treats, or respond to anything you say to them.  With a lethargic cat, the ideal way to get him to respond is to bring in a companion cat.  Over time, a lethargic cat will eventually look for attention, normally a scratch or a pat.  When this happens, you should always use a soft voice and snuggle with him.  Never raise your voice at this point, and make sure you let the cat know that his behavior is a lot better.

You should make slow movements around a lethargic cat, as he is still quite traumatic.  Once he is coming around and letting you touch him again, he is getting back to his normal self.  Keep in mind that it may take some time, which is to be expected with this type of situation.  If your cat starts to get upset again or if you raise your voice, he will hide again.  If you continue to use a soft voice and have patience, your cat will eventually get past this.  If you get a cat that is lethargic, you should prepare yourself for a long and very intensive healing period.

Angry or mean cats on the other hand, will either fight and scratch with you, or simply run away from you.  With mean cats, the best thing to do is use gentle treatment with a soft voice.  You can never try to raise your voice or use strict discipline, as it will only make the cat meaner.  Never attempt to trap the cat either, as trapping it will only make the cat react.  If you take your time and let the cat know that you are there for him, he will eventually calm down. 

Abused cats are truly a sad thing, although they are out there.  Abused cats can be a sad thing to see indeed, especially those that were physically abused.  Abused cats need a loving home and a loving owner who will give them the type of lifestyle they deserve.  Always remember that if you are dealing with an abused cat – you should always be as gentle as you possibly can.

Animal euthanasia is the act of inducing death to an animal.  Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress.  Most of the times, it is called the act of “putting asleep” an animal forever.Meanwhile animal rights organizations and animal rescue groups are strictly against this method.  They say pet adoption could dramatically reduce the number of animals being “put to sleep”.

There are many reasons for animal euthanasia.  Terminal illness, behavioural problems like aggression can be reasons for euthanasia.  While there are animal owners inducing their animals or pets to euthanasia when they have illnesses or broken limbs that requires big medical and financial attention.

Old age is also a common reason for animal or pet euthanasia.  Meanwhile for animal shelters, they induce euthanasia since they do not have enough space or room for an abandoned animal. 

According to Humane Society of the United States, there is an estimated 4 to 5 million of adoptable animals in animal shelters euthanized due to lack of facilities.  While American Humane Association cites even a bigger number, Every year in United States about 9.6 million animals are getting euthanized. 

According to the survey conducted by the American Humane Association, out of the 1000 shelters who responded to the survey, 2.7 million of 4.3 million animals (64 percent) are being euthanized.  Out of this euthanized number, 56 percent are dogs and 71 percent are cats.  There 15 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats were reunited with their owners.  Just a dismal 25 percent of dogs and 24 percent of cats were adopted. 

Majority of the animals in shelters were being euthanized since there is a standard period of time (ranging from several days to weeks for unclaimed stray animals).Although, animal welfare organizations and many other private organizations manage “no kill” shelters.  These “no kill” shelters make it an official policy never to euthanize animals for medical reasons.  

Another reason why animal euthanasia is creeping to our culture is because of pet overpopulation.  There are numerous pet owners surrendering their pet due to personal reasons and inadequacy in taking responsibility for their pets.There are quite a few people who love to have only puppies, once the puppy grows, they totally neglect it and finally surrender to the rescue groups or to the shelters. 

There are owners who due to failure of spaying or neutering their animals tend to reproduce.  There are thousands of litters being born in American homes every day.  It is important to consider the financial and medical attention and responsibility these huge numbers of pet reproduction.  We do not want to contribute to the raising number of people surrendering their pets for adoption.  Eventually, leading to not being adopted and euthanasia.

Clearly, there is crisis in the pet population of the United States.  Too many animal companions competing for a few good homes than will take them is a clear effect of uncontrolled breeding.

Dog bite victims are now ranging to 4.5 million each year, due to uncontrolled breeding. Some of the victims fall prey to homeless and stray animals in the streets.They cause danger for public, and the government is paying the money collected through tax for the maintenance of animal shelters and controlling these animals. 

Pet adoption is a great way of lessening the impact of the crisis in pet population. Instead of buying pets from puppy mills or companies that breeds animals for profit, adopting an animal is a great way of reducing the number of euthanized animals in shelters.

There are countless benefits of pet adoption.  There are studies conducted saying the adopted pets are more loyal and devoted since they have already experienced the worst.  Pet adoption is a great way of reducing the number of animals in shelters and making way for another one.  Pet adoption battles euthanasia – one pet at a time.

As most pet owners already know, heartworm treatment for cats and dogs isn’t the same. Never, under any circumstances, should you give your cat heartworm treatment that is designed for a dog – or vice versa.Although you may have both cats and dogs as your pets, but you should always use the medicine which is made for that particular species.

No matter how you look at it, heartworm treatment isn’t easy.  Your goal is to get rid of the heartworms, although there are several factors that you’ll need to consider.First thing is take your cat to the vet, so that he will able to start the tests to examine just how many heartworms your pet has.  He can also find out how the worms are affecting your cat and if your cat can deal with any side effects that the treatment medicine may impose.

The worms will feast on the important areas of your feline’s heart, so heartworms are too serious condition to be ignored.  Treatment can be serious as well, especially if something goes wrong.  Veterinarians are trained to deal with heartworms though, in both cats and dogs.  Even though you may be able to buy treatment medicine at your local department store, you should always consult with your vet before you give anything to your pet.

Treating your cat for heartworms may indeed be no treatment at all, as cats are extremely difficult to treat.  The dying worms have side effects as well, often times causing more than 1/3 of the treated cats to end up with serious problems.  Dying worms can become lodged in the arteries of the heart, which are already inflamed due to the worms being there.  When a lodged worm starts to decompose, it can lead to very serious problems.  Pets that have a serious infestation with heartworms may need to spend some time at the hospital, to ensure that they are properly treated.

Some cats may not be able to take a certain type of heartworm treatment medicine.Considering on the affects and side affects of a particular medicine upon cats, few breeds may not capable of tolarating a particular medicine.Your vet will conduct some tests, in order to decide about the best treatment option for your pet cat.  Once the tests have concluded, your vet will be able to tell you the best options available for treatment.

With all diseases, prevention is a lot better and safer than treatment.  Be sure to talk to your vet and find out what heartworm prevention medication is the best to use.  Your vet can tell you what you need to get, and how to use it.  This way, you can prevent your pet from getting heartworms – and the serious side effects and life threatening issues that go along with them.

A cat whisper is somewhat similar to a dog or horse whisperer, although cat whisperers relate quite well with cats.  These types of people are unusually lucky and very successfully with cats.  In most cases, a cat will be abandoned or just show up at someone’s door.  In this event, the cat will adopt this individual as the cat whisperer.

Often times, alley cats and black cats will show up at someone’s door and decide to move into their homes.  This can be a result of abandonment, or the cat’s family moving away and simply leaving the cat behind.  Sometimes, the cat may decide that he likes someone else’s home better and decide to move there instead of staying with his owner.

Many a people will explain you that a cat whisperer can be taken as a therapist for cats.Normally all cat whisperers have not gone through any training, it seems that what they know is by birth.  These types of people understand the way a cat thinks and knows how to work with the cat to achieve the results they want.Although many think that cat whisperer are a therapist, it really could not be related to the truth.

Cats who have been abused or mistreated, often times won’t respond to anyone but a cat whisperer.  Although others may have tried to help the cat, it will only make matters worse by making the cat feel scared and afraid.  In most cases, these cats will end up in a pound.  This is very tragic, as the cats have already endured more than they ever should have.  A majority of the cats who have been abused were once loved pets.  Along the way, they were abandoned, mistreated, attacked by dogs, and in some cases tortured.

Cats who have been treated unfairly often times won’t trust anyone. They are often times confused, in a lot of pain, and not sure what they should do.  Like humans, cats feel pain.  Those that have been physically abused are a sad sight indeed.A cat which is damaged emotionally may appear to be fit in health, but its emotions might be ruining it.  Emotionally abused cats are much harder to get through to, especially if they were stray cats to begin with.

Cat whisperers on the other hand, can communicate with physically and emotionally abused cats.  Cats know who they will choose to be their cat whisperer, which is normally an individual they sense trust with.  Cat whisperers are common with cats, although most people have never heard of them before.  Even though a cat whisperer may be able to communicate better with cats, it will still take time to heal a cat that has been abused.

A Cat uses it’s claws for multiple purposes.The claws are essential to cats, as they are an important factor of balancing.  If you’ve ever noticed a cat jumping and latching on to a high object, you’ve probably noticed that he uses his claws to pull himself up.  When climbing trees, cats tend to use their claws to latch onto the bark and climb towards their destination.

Additionally Cat employs it’s claws for walking running as well as stretching.Cat’s primary source of defense against any human or a hostile animal is it’s claw.  Most cats keep their claws extremely sharp, as their claws and teeth are basically their only weapons.  The claws are also essential for using the bathroom as well, as cats use them to cover up their mess with dirt.

Cats also use their claws to scratch things, which mark their territory.  Their claws have glands, which contain a secretion.  When they leave their mark on something, the secretion is transferred to the area they scratched.  This is detectable to other cats although not to humans.  Sometimes, they will also scratch something to remove the older claw which will fall off and give them a brand new claw that resides underneath.

As sad as it is, a lot of pet owners choose to put their own possessions above their cat, such as their expensive furniture or carpets.  These cat owners are afraid that they cat will ruin their furniture or carpet, and therefore will choose to get their cat de-clawed.A veterinarian can only remove the cat’s claws appropriately as it is a well defined surgical procedure.  The owner will need a good reason though, as a vet won’t do the surgery just to keep one’s furniture or carpet protected.

If you’ve been thinking of getting your cat de-clawed, you should know that the process can totally change his personality.  Once the cat is de-clawed, he will be in pain and confused.It may happen that he may not be able to reach to the couch or the window, and he may now also not be capable of playing like he played earlier.  Some cats, after being de-clawed, tend to get aggressive and bite with their teeth.  To make a long story short, the cat will be completely miserable – which is a tough thing to bear for those who love their cats.

Those who decide to own cats should know that a cat can scratch on occasion. If someone isn’t prepared to deal with that fact, they shouldn’t own a cat in the first place.  Cats are great pets, although they do have claws and they will use them on occasion.  There are plenty of other great pets out there, if you aren’t up for handling a cat.  If you’re just worried about your furniture or carpet, there are ways that you can keep your cat from scratching on your belongings.

The first thing to do is to get your cat a scratching post and let him know where it is and how to use it.  You can also get a rush mat as well, which will help your cat with his instincts to scratch.Even though your cat should pick it up quickly,  you may have to give demonstration how to use the post or the mat initially.  Once you have shown him the ropes, he will scratch on the post or the mat – and not your furniture or your carpet.

Though most of us don’t believe it, there are other effective options to prevent your things other than having your pet cat de-clawed.  Getting a cat’s claws removed is very painful and confusing to the cat, and may totally change his outlook on things.  Before you decide to take the inhumane path of getting your cat de-clawed, you should look into your other available options- your cat will like these options much better.

A lot of people think that cats work on their own agenda, not paying much attention to their owner – provided they have clean litter, food, and water.  Cats can behave in odd manners at times, which can easily confuse their owners and make it really hard to determine what the cat wants.  As much as cat behavior can be confusing, there are some ways that you can solve common cat behavior mysteries.

A common behavior that almost all cats do is push their heads into any type of object that will allow them to do it.  You’ve probably seen your cat do this before, probably against table legs, TV stands, or another object.  This can be noticed more when you have other people who own animals or those with allergies over at your house.As a cat notices this, he will usually rub his head against the person.  In doing so, he will put a touch of saliva on the individual.  In a cat’s mind, he owns what he puts his saliva on.

By putting his saliva on something, that object or person will have a familiar scent.Since it might be very disturbing, you should know that the other personf of your house are seen as odd or weird to your cat.  When a cat does this, he is simply trying to make the visitor belong.  When he brushes up against them and puts his saliva on them, he is trying to put his scent on them – which in his mind will mean that they belong in his territory.

Even though marking someone or something with saliva is beneficial to the cat, saliva is one of the most common forms of pet allergies.  When someone wipes the saliva off of them, the scent will be gone and the cat will go back and attempt to do it again.  Even though it may appear that cats target those with allergies, cats are actually just trying to make the visitor belong at the house.  If the guest simply cannot take the saliva, allow the cat to rub himself on their pants leg a few times.Generally, this is all that takes a cat to leave the person solitary.

Those of you who an indoor cat should expect the cat to spend quite a bit of time lying near windows.  During this time, you may hear your cat make very strange noises or weird movements.  You shouldn’t fear though, as he is simply acting out his hunting instincts.  Whether it’s another cat or object outside moving about, the cat will see it and simply go into his native hunting instinct.

As most already know, cats love to play.  They love to played with, especially with toys.  They will pounce on things on occasion, which should always be expected.  If you try to prevent this type of behavior, your cat will take a very negative approach and you’ll end up with a lot of broken things in your home.You can play always with your cat using a string, because he would love to chase the string all around the room. 

The longer you own your cat, the more odd behavior you’ll see him exhibit.  Cats behave in strange ways, although they always have a reason for behaving the way they do.  If you can understand why your cat behaves like he does, you’ll have no problems keeping him healthy and happy.  If you simply pay attention to your cat and the way he behaves at times – you’ll be able to understand him better than ever before.