The Best Deal Apollo Ever Had

My husband and I like to travel. The problem (aside from our limited checkbooks) is what to do with our beloved kitties while we are gone. Usually, my Mom will stop by and feed them every couple of days. The last time, my brother stayed at the house, because we can't leave food out for the cats to eat at their leisure because the kitten, Emma, will eat every morsel long before the other two even realized we're gone. With my brother there, feeding times remained controlled.

This time, we have the added wrinkle of Molly's daily medicine. My least friendly cat, Molly is the cat none of my family or friends could identify if their lives depended on it. She doesn't enjoy company, is not a fan of being touched, and hates having things stuffed down her throat. This is a recipe for disaster when it's me and hubby trying to medicate her. No way I could put that on my family. As a friend once said about the situation, "it's like putting socks on a rooster." Yep, it kind of is...

So, we solved this problem by boarding Molly at the veterinarian's office so they could deal with medicating her. As she's not terribly social, this seems like a reasonable solution for her since she doesn't much care for Apollo or Emma in the first place.

To solve Emma's overeating problem, we purchased a $70 automatic feeder. We pre-program the feeding times and quantity of food and it supposedly releases only that amount of food, only on those preselected times. I'm writing this from vacation and the brand name escapes me, but let me tell you, it won't outsmart even the average intelligent cat. No lie, it took Emma all of 10 minutes to figure out she needed to reach up inside the machine from the bowl to where the food is released. From there, it took maybe another hour for her to figure out that if she bumped the machine hard enough, she could get it to release food whenever she wanted. Cat smarts notwithstanding, the machine itself has some very obvious flaws. It releases varying quantities of food -- usually more than you requested, but sometimes far less. It will also release food at random times NOT selected on your pre-programmed feeding program.

In any event, we solved this problem by sequestering Emma in two rooms of the house with only enough food in the feeder to get her through until Mom visits to check on her.

This all means Apollo has the run of the house with no picking from the kitten or crabbing from Molly.  He doesn't get randomly attacked or hissed at. He gets the best napping spots on the sofa, and he gets food in the kitchen to eat when every he pleases. Aside from missing a lap to sit on, Apollo is living a little bit of kitty heaven.  

You Purr Like a Lawnmower

A cat out of England might have the loudest purr in the world. Smokey's family have submitted his purr to the Guiness Book of World Records. Have a listen for yourself.

No Outdoor Cats, Example 2

This is more of a problem in specific locations, but I've heard reports of coyote in the city. Depending on where you live, mountain lions and bears could be problems as well. Coyote runs off with family cat.

No Outdoor Cats, Example 1

For those who think the bad things I mentioned in an earlier blog post couldn't happen to their outdoor cat. Check this out: abandoned cat was also shot in the face.

Cat Towers, Anyone?

Check this out on BuzzFeed.com.  Photos of some of the best cat towers anywhere.  My favorites are the suspended-in-mid-air tower and the kitty loft.

Too Many Cats

Fifty-seven cats were removed from an apartment in Newark, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Eight of them were nursing kittens, many of the cats were ill and one even had a form of a herpes virus. Urine and feces covered the floor.

It seems more and more of these kinds of stories are popping up all over the country. As a cat lover, let me just say that anyone keeping that many cats in their home does not love cats, they have an illness. These folks think they are doing the cats a favor, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what that favor might be. You're giving them eye infections, respiratory problems and herpes viruses. Most cats from these types of environments are malnourished. Really look at yourself, cat hoarder, and ask yourself what do you think you are doing that isn't making things worse for this animal.

I would love to save every cat I see at the humane society or the local pet store, but realistically, I know darn well that three is plenty for my home. I know a few people who are successfully maintaining 4 or 5 cats in their home, but truly, after that, it starts to spiral out of control quickly. If you don't have the space and assistance to maintain these cats in a shelter type atmosphere, including proper veterinary care, with a goal of placing these cats in proper homes, than you are really only making the problem worse.

For those of us who truly love and care for our cats, this is the saddest situation we can imagine a cat in. The cats from this apartment have been placed at Tiny Paws Kitten Rescue. They will gladly accept donations of food, litter or money to help save these unfortunate felines. You may also inquire about adoptions. Please contact them at 740-349-3254.   

Cats Pose Threat to Birds...No Big Surprise

I've written about outdoor cats before on my blog for Westallisnow.com. We are all familiar with the reality that cats chase birds. We all watched Sylvester chase Tweety Bird or Tom chase Jerry. The cat/bird predator/prey is nothing unusual. And as it turns out, our cats are far more successful than Sylvester could ever hope to be. The American Bird Conservancy estimates cats kill 500 million to a billion birds every year.

This is a staggering number of deaths simply because some cat owners are convinced cats can't be kept locked up indoors. Certainly house cats aren't the only culprits, as most cities have some kind of feral cat population, but Fluffy certainly isn't helping the situation.

Even if you aren't that concerned about the birds, be concerned about your cat. Outdoor cats don't live as long as cats kept strictly indoors. Cats can be hit by cars, attacked by wild animals or other cats, poisoned, stolen, or contract any number of diseases. You cat cat live a full, happy life without ever leaving the comfort of his living room window perch.

A lot of cat owners who claim to be cat lovers put their cats outside because they feel their cats are somehow missing out and feeling depressed by being cooped up indoors. These folks knowingly set their cats up for injury or death every time they open the front door. If you really loved your cat, you would keep him inside. You do what you can to keep your kids safe from harm, if you are a true cat lover, why would you not do the same for the feline members of your family?  

Review of World's Best Cat Litter

A few posts ago, I was in the process of changing my cat's litter to the World's Best Cat Litter, made from corn. Now that we are completely acclimated to the new litter, I have a few observations:

1) It is NOT dust free. Does it kick up less dust than clay brands, yes, but expect small clouds of corn dust every time you change the litter. On the plus side, the dust smells like a farmer's field and remains in the room. As opposed to clay litters that cling to your lungs like mud and easily float through the air into other parts of the house.

2) The package claims it clumps faster and perhaps it does, but it's not near as strong a clump as clay-based litters create. With clay, you could play golf with the clumps and they would hold together. Corn clumps can barely hold together through the scooping process. Plus, the larger corn particles means it doesn't sift near as well as clay through a traditional kitty litter scoop.

3) It has fine odor control if the cat actually takes the time to cover her business. Apparently, my cats are far too busy to waste time with that.

4) I'm not quite sure what is meant on the package by "lasts longer." I don't find that necessarily to be true. It feels like I'm buying litter more often than I was before and it's more expensive than clay litter. If they mean it goes longer before you have to completely empty the litter box, wash it out, and start completely over...well, the jury is still out on that.

5) World's Best Cat Litter is a little more of a challenge to get your hands on. Clay litters are sold in drug stores and grocery stores everywhere. Even some of your convenience store/gas stations will have some kind of clumping cat litter. If you are looking for World's Best, you have to make a trip to the pet store or Target or another specific retailer. (A list of retailers can be found on their website.) The point is: you can't just buy it anywhere like you can with clay.

6) It seems to track less than clay. Maybe because the corn particles are larger and they don't as easily get caught in between kitty toes, but I find far less corn litter throughout the house than I used to find clay. This makes up for most of my issues with the clumping capabilities because if there's one thing I hate about cat litter it's finding it on the opposite end of the house from where the litter box is located.

I like the fact that I'm being environmentally friendly and it does a good job, but the manufacturer has a little work to do. For most of us, solid clumping is the biggest inconvenience. I can deal with a little dust just so long as I know when I scoop the clump out, it's not going to bust apart, spewing pieces back into the litter box I am desperately trying to clean.

For me, World's Best Cat Litter earns a grade of: B.  Certainly doing it's job, but not doing as good a job as it could be.