Cat Ownership 101

I have four cats and one dog.  Cats are considered by most folk to be low maintenance. You don’t have to walk them in the rain or play fetch. They are usually content to honor your will the ability to pet them for only a brief period of time. My cats have now problem kindly alerting ‘me’ with oh so ever gentle feral sounding meowing every time they think it is time to eat. 

Yes cats are easier than dog to take care of, but they do require some human attention. Below I have a quick list of cat care basics. The personality issues and stupid kitty games that occur at three in the morning these I have no advice on.

 When you first get your cat be sure to have things ready. Have a food bowl out with something the cat is somewhat used to eating and fresh water. Place the cat box far away from where the cat eats. Cat on the whole are sanitary creatures and do not like to be reminded of the unpleasantness of the litter box. It is best to bring your cat home as in a cat carrier. This way you will not have to explain to the officer why you hit the nice lady’s car while you were distracted removing a kitten from your hair.

Before you decide your adorable fuzz ball of a kitten can be a porch cat check out the surrounding. I lost a wonderful cat to the attack of a neighbor’s dog. I had never considered the dog issue because I have always kept my dogs easily with my cat. I have the reverse experience when my dogs killed a neighbor’s kitten when it got into the yard. My point is that dogs accept the cats that think belong in their territory and well try to eat the ones they think do not.

 You have to consider traffic as well. You young cat will want to find out what is on the other side of the road. The last warning about outside is never let a cat that is not fixed outdoors. I had a cat that was not six months old come home knocked up just because she escaped out the front door for a few hours.

 Lastly health issues are different for cats and dogs. Again I lost a very young cat to urinary crystals. I did not know the signs of urinary problems in cats. They are very common.  If you’re normally healthy cat becomes sluggish and stops using the litter box properly see the vet. I was able to see these signs in my now 15 year old Manx and get very expensive intervention. I am of course glad I did because he was only five at the time and we have enjoyed his company for years.

 The frequency of urinary a kidney problem is cat can be an issue of diet. For many years I feed only the urinary tract specialty food to my brood of cat. Now with a multi-cat house hold with very young and very old cats I have gone back to a general adult cat diet.  It was simply too hard to feed the cats all separately and they tended to just eat each others food anyway.

 Cats like other cats and I suggest if you have one and are gone a lot that your consider getting your cat a friend. Having four cats I would suggest unless you live on a farm that stop at two.  Don’t advertise your love of cats or all your relatives will be offering you the one’s they can no longer keep. That is how I got my herd of cats.