Sometimes we like to sit with our friends, discussing random cat topics. One curious through that popped up brought the issue of cat communication to the table. Can cats of different countries communicate one another? How universal is cat language? Linguistics is vast field with respect to human languages and we can only imagine how amazing Dr. Dolittle was when getting into animal lingo. Random discussion leads us on to our next query, do cats have accents depending when they are from? Let’s have a light hearted look at everything meowing in the household.
Cats are generally deemed to possess universal language skills. One cat can effectively communicate its pleasure or anger to another perfectly fine. Yet there are some subtle differences between cats when they communicate in their daily lives, and that’s the voice or accent of a cat.
Cats residing in different origins will possess slightly different tones and meowing structure depending on their environment. Meows are the first line of communication that humans can hear and as loving owners, we always pay attention to our fluffy friends. Whether they are happy, angry, hungry or scared. The meows of our cats are very telling and this extends as a variation between country to country too.
Research points out that vocalization of cats is a specific behavior that is tailored towards their human companions. This is a special communication tool that is reserved for us humans from an early stage of life. As kittens grow, they retain their meowing vocalization abilities as effective means of communications with us humans who have a hard time understanding cat language as it is. We are ever so thankful to cats for taking the time to develop their own communication network, showing us that talking is so last meowllennium.
Cat to cat interactions are not usually facilitated by meowing at all. These intelligent feline friends spend their time with experimental meows that discover their desired means of communication. One meow might be for formal requests of food, others might be a gentle greeting. It’s an amazing yet understated ability that cats possess when meowing for humans. We might even compare artificial intelligence and machine learning to a similar process as your cat keeps a database of universal meows that it will need to use in the future.
Further studies carried out in Sweden investigated the differences between international meows, exploring differences in sound with results confirming variations based on region. This means that cats actually inherit their ‘accents’ from you, their owner. Your own voice and language will shape the way a cat responds.
While this research is not an insight into how cats communicate with each other, it does reveal that cats possess an intelligent ability to adjust their own voices when exposed to different form of vocal communication. These accents however, do not affect cat-cat conversations at all.
Researchers suggest that cats are capable of vocalizing in 100 different calls, but these sounds are not their main medium of communication. It’s simply the open channel that they use to guide us humans. Rather than vocalizing and meowing at each other as we might when having a gathering, cats will resort to body language, purrs, grows, hisses and maybe a yelp or two.
Understanding cat language is not an easy task. Through careful observation however, we can just about pick up the nature of an interaction. We might compare this to watching a movie without subtitles. We can kind of get a feel of what’s going on, in the most basic sense. If a cat is observed to growl, hiss or yelp, these are signs of defense or offence. We like to group this under the cat hostility scene, an interaction that is universal and can be compared to heated argument between humans. Keeping a close eye on things isn’t a bad idea in case a few paws start flying.
Cats who maintain an amicable relationship will produce softer purring sounds towards one another. This is a positive indication that the cats in question are comfortable around one another and wish to express their happiness. It’s sweet and shows that cats can enjoy a loving and caring friendship. Life is simpler in the cat world, we might even call it efficient in comparison to the complex meowing system that our lovely kitties have created to communicate with us.
Language is reliant on a need to communicate, this is clear from the fact that cats create an intelligent system to get their way around us humans. Cats interact with each other without this complexity but an instinctual set of communication tools are used universally between these feline friends. Where language is not required, cats rely on body language, smell, ear posture, tail movement and many other forms to get their messages across.
So if you were wondering, if I take my cat on holiday or a foreign kitty comes visiting, will they be able to communicate? Sure, cats don’t need to vocalize using speech and can communicate perfectly fine no matter where they’re from. We are lucky that cats have decided to meow at us with instructions. If your cat meows at you, remember how special you are and be sure to respond as soon as possible. Nobody likes to be left on read in DMs and if your cat is talking to you, they must need something.
References:
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1.Crown Bow Collar
Celebrate a festive holiday this winter with your pet in jolly good spirits. Santa’s little helpers are coming to town and your pets will be meowing and barking in excitement as they join the rest of the family this Christmas. Let your pet jingle all the way with this Christmas Crown Bow Pet Collar and luxury golden bell that completes an adorable look this winter holiday.
2.Whack a Mole Cat Toy
Cats are natural hunters. A simple wooden cat toy can not only stimulates your cat's hunting nature and curiosity, but also bring out mutual feelings of joy and satisfaction through an interactive playing session. You can play this game with your cat, or train them to play by themselves. Enjoy endless hours of fun and laughter with your precious kitties. Some cat owners have said they have way too much fun with this toy, it’s almost addictive!
3. Floppy Fish Cat Toy
A perfect gift for your beloved cat(s)! Enjoy interactive play time with this Waggling Fish Toy for Cats. This fish toy will stimulate your cat’s natural instincts for fun and adventurous fun as it dances around with your kitty.
4.Cat Tunnel Bed
Cats hunt and pounce as natural predators. Let your furry soldier infiltrate this cat tunnel to fulfil their hunting desires as they shroud themselves out of sight. Cats love enclosed spaces and have a habit of hiding in darker places as they wait for prey, or in your case, toys. Observe your cat as they carry out reconnaissance. Their night vision lets them feel right at home, if you like to tease your cat with small toys, tunnels are perfect.
5. Marshmallow Cat Bed
Give your cat a comfortable and satisfying resting spot with the Marshmallow Cat Bed. This pet bed is super soft and warm, giving your cat the perfect maximum comfort and security to snuggle and snooze on.
6.Wooden Modern Cat Tree
The cat tree is the ultimate way to satisfy your cat's natural desire to climb and scratch (and they may just save your furniture and curtains). Climbing is fun, good exercise and key to muscle development. Cats can spend up to a third of their lives asleep, conserving up all of the energy they need for hunting and playing in between meals.
7. Geometry Raised Cat Bowl
This hexagonal shaped pet bowl looks great and promotes healthy eating to your cat. The raised cat bowl design provides a comfortable height for your pet to eat their food from, a perfect solution for pets that have inflammation issues such as arthritis, neck and back problems.
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1. Floofy Paw Slippers
2020, has been a year of lockdowns and social distancing, keeping us at home far more than we’re used to. With the winter season in full swing, it’s important to have the right home wear. Spending time at home during this winter holiday, what could be sweeter than a pair of soft, comfortable and warm slippers for your friends?
The Aipaws Floofy Cat Paw Slippers are wonderful gifts for your cat lover friends and family this chillingly cold weather. The fuzzy and cute cat paw design will let your beloved cat lover friends scream with joy when they open their special gift package this holiday. Featuring high quality fluffy faux fur, it’s soft as a real bunny but of course without any animal cruelty, a sacred rule of ours!
Every cat lady needs a few great accessories that nods to the devotion she has to her furry friends. This macaroon cat paw pillow is perfect for your friends who love cute home cat themed items. Soft cat paw design with an accompanying fleece blanket filled inside, making it a both cute and practical gift. Simply unzip the macaroon cat paw pillow and grab the travel blanket from its dedicated compartment for a warm and snuggly snooze. Five absolutely pretty and luxurious colors to choose.
This is a great gift idea for friends that are obsessed with cats or your child’s young friends who need a cat companion this wonder for a snuggly and calm sleep. Made of high quality cotton, these long cat body pillows are the perfect cat themed gift, even for those who suffer from allergies. Incredibly plush to snuggle, accompany your cat pillow friend anytime for sweet and cuddly relaxation! Choose from a variety sizes, find the best fit for your friends!
This cute and lovely gift is purrfect for anyone you might know with an iPhone. Colleagues, relatives and friends will appreciate this stylish and protective phone case. A simple and adorable phone case that is also great value to meet any gift budget. Built with Ergonomics, style and a touch of cuteness makes this an essential mobile accessory. The little embossed fabric cat will protect your friend’s iPhone every day.
We're sure a pair of elegant and beautifully designed gold cat earrings are something that your cat lady friend will fall in love with. These beautiful handmade cat earrings feature 14K gold plated and imitation pearls. Each earring set comes with either a precious enamel cat face, gold plated cat paw for you to choose from. Mixed set featuring one of each design available. They are sure to earn you plenty meows of approval too!
]]>Cats comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Whether you’re curious about cats or absolutely obsessed with them, it’s highly likely you’ve encountered several cats. Aside from stature, the cat world is full of different colors, patterns and markings, making cats the purrfect companion to marvel around. Genetic diversity is a wonderful thing and these give rise to beautiful coats through breeding. We enjoy admiring various kitties as they stroll by.
If you’re curious about how cats get their color and markings, come with us and let’s explore the colorful world cat coats.
Colorful Cats
Cats have become the cute and cuddly friends we adore as pet lovers. If you own a cat or have an interest in them, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll start taking notice of the friendly street cats around the neighborhood. The many colors and patterns are a result of many years of genetic adaptation and gene pool mixing. Natural selection has had its processes in place and cats who have survived in their environments have contributed to generations of forthcoming cats, this is the element of survival. As the world began to discover itself and eventually cats, human domestication introduced its own form of selective breeding. The various breeding regimes introduced over the years have provided even greater variation in the genetic pool, producing the broad range of colors, patterns and markings that we know of today.
Genetics and Color
Melanin is responsible for color in many parts of the body. It gives color to eyes, skin and of course fur coat too. Regardless of fur color, melanin is responsible for the pigmentation of a cat’s coat. Varying arrangement and size of melanin gives rise to the variety seen in patterning and colors seen in our feline friends. Pigmentation is a product of phaeomelanins, responsible for yellow/red hues and eumelanin, responsible for darker black/brown colors. Genetic combinations result in various dominant and recessive genes that will determine the overall color of a cat’s coat.
Deficiencies and Genetic Conditions
Did you know that some cats can lose their color? An interesting piece of research explores the dietary effects in cats that can influence the color of a cat’s coat. In this case, if a cat is observed to be losing their fur color a red/brown tinge may appear, an indication of Tyrosine deficiency. To supplement, research suggests feeding prescribed amounts of amino acids during growth.
White cats have melanin present and their eye color can be many different wonderful colors. In some cases however, the presence of the albino gene is linked to a mutation of Tyrosinase, an enzyme that is partially responsible for the production of melanin as a catalyst (meow). The lack of melanin production means there is no pigment to produce color around the body, this isn’t restricted to just the coat either. It influences the color of eyes and skin too. Not all white cats possess this genetic condition and it’s important to make a clear distinction that white cats and those with albino gene are not the same. Partial albinism can also be observed in cats of different colored coats too. A distinct trait of albinism is the pink appearance of the skin.
Love All Cats
Genetic mixing comes from the available gene pool of the parent sire and queen. In some instances, a new litter may yield kittens that are different from their parents. This is due to the combination of genes that have been present in their lineage, passed down over time. If you’re a CryptoKitties enthusiast, it’s a similar concept of pairing and waiting to see which genes dominate their overall genetic makeup. Selective breeding and regulation has created segregated genetic pools that guarantee certain traits in pure breeds. While this limits the color variation in cats, it does ensure that chance genetic defects are kept out of the pool, avoiding known health concerns.
Cats come in all varieties of shape, size and color. We adore them all the same and beyond these visual appearances, pet owners should get to know the personality of their cats too. As intelligent animals, forming a special bond with your kitty is a magical relationship that should be cherished. Meow!
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Dog owners everywhere will have experienced many unique events when spending time with their dog, revealing behavioral tendencies and general quirks of their personalities. One strange occurrence that some owners have faced is the peculiar state of limping within perfectly fine dogs. Limping is often associated with injury yet just minutes or hours later, they will be up and running again. This might have happened sometimes if your dog has been told off after a misdeed, it can be alarming if your beloved pooch suddenly starts limping. Let’s take a closer look at this abnormal behavior found in domestic dogs.
Learn to Distinguish Between Injury and Behavioral Actions
Dogs have undergone years of domestication and have exhibited high level of IQ during numerous tests. They are a loyal and intelligent pet that cohabit with humans in pleasant harmonious living. Spending time with your dog is only a rewarding experience and many memories will be shared throughout your journey together. It is for this reason that many will feel great concern when their pup shows signs of injury. It is important to remain composed and take a closer look at the situation, you may be surprised to discover that your dog is capable of fake limping.
Fake limping is a rare behavioral action and if your dog is seen to be moving with a limp, immediate medical review is required. After closer inspection however, there is a chance that this behavior may be psychologically induced. Dogs suffering from physical pain that hinders movement will typically show expressions of anguish and loss of appetite, if your canine buddy is showing a combination of symptoms, an urgent visit to a local vet is in order. There may be a number of physiological issues to investigate and it is best to support healthy development and maintenance of your dog through a well-balanced diet, promoting muscle, joint and bone health.
In some rare cases, dogs will be observed to walk with a concerning limp. Yet, when greeting them or offering tasty snacks, this limp magically disappears as if it had never existed in the first place. Watch your pup break Olympic world records as they race towards you, injury free.
Why Dogs ‘Fake’ Injury
As caring owners, we want the best for our dogs and understanding reasons behind actions is essential. Fake limping in a dog currently lacks scientific studies to investigate this exact behavior but it is commonly known that dogs can fake injury based on personal desires. Dogs that have been denied their most desired wishes may start to demonstrate this behavior in a form of protest when playtime has been cute short or they feel their meal is slightly off the fulfilling side. Taking your dog for long and enjoyable walks and serving accurate meal portions are only some of the possible solutions to try. To summarize this bucket of behavioral actions, it is a plea for attention from your dog. Dogs seem to be conscious of the fact that an injury is a valid key to communicate they want attention for one reason or another from their owner. We emphasize focus on communication here as it is an opportunity to figure out why your dog needs more attention and what can be done to resolve the matter that is causing your dog to limp without injury.
Emotional influence is also a factor in this observed behavior. Dogs that play the lame game may do so because they feel it’s a way to further bond with their owner. An initial trial of this observed behavior may result in hearty laughs as you may wonder what on earth has gotten into your dog all of a sudden. Positive reinforcement through facial expressions and laughs will mistakenly communicate that walking with a limp makes your happy. In some cases, reward may be associated with ‘play limping’, a connection that should be avoided. Dogs are clever but reactions against certain habits can send false signals and it’s best to think about how you act around your lovely pet.
Should I Correct This Behavior?
Dogs that pretend to have a limp on the rare occasion are not a cause for concern. It’s best to spend time with your lovely pup and figure out if anything is amiss and to fulfill their request for attention. Dogs that start to observe habitual limping for basic needs will need guidance to prevent fake limping out of compulsion. Limping often can yield negative effects on the physiology of your pet and it’s best to encourage correct posture and mobility. A simple approach of sending the right signals when this behavior is observed will help fix things. Ignoring fake limping is important to prevent further connection with positive reinforcement. When your dog behaves normally, shower them with love, care and perhaps a treat or two. They will soon get the message and fake limping will be left as a distant memory. Woof!
]]>Cats are natural born hunters that seek out all things that go bump in the night. They remain alert at all times and will exercise a number of techniques to pursue their prey in a stealthy and cunning manner. Domesticated cats that live at home live a slightly different lifestyle in comparison to feral cats, they are sheltered and fed with lots of time to rest and play indoors. You may notice however, your cat will take regular looks out of nearby windows, scanning the vicinity. Our cats like to do this often and it’s their way of expanding their interactions with the outside world. We often muse about just what cats think when they gaze outside, observing all. Perhaps they wish to fly with the birds and have picnics with the other neighborhood cats (unlikely).
Cats are curious and can be compared to behave like energetic children. If left alone, life can become boring very quickly. This is why keeping your cat company and occupied is essential. Providing as much as possible to stimulate your cat to fuel their emotions of happiness will allow them to better adopt a healthy lifestyle that is filled exercise and joy.
The modern pet accessory market is filled with interesting cat toys that will do away with cat boredom. As responsible pet owners, we like to provide our cats with their essential needs. Entertainment and exercise is a big part of cat life and cat toys are a big part of this. However, it’s important to note that filling your home with cat toys isn’t the solution to fixing cat boredom and loneliness, it’s only part of the answer. Let’s take a closer look at how a particular smart toy is making cat life fun and enjoyable for both pets and owners.
About Homerun
Homerun Smart specialize in artificial intelligence and in the modern pet market, new and exciting smart pet toys are appearing on the market. Based in Guangzhou, China. The company was created in 2015 and have since diligently worked on multiple research and development projects, including the pet industry.
Homerun Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy
Playing with your cat on a daily basis is fun and interactive but it’s hard to commit time throughout the day to play with your precious kitty. Work, studies and other things might get in the way sometimes, leaving your cat all alone without a playmate. Cat wands have been a great way to tease and engage cats into chasing but they are reliant on human operation. For those times where you can’t be around, a smart and automated pet toy may be the solution you need to eliminate cat boredom.
Nobody wants their cat to feel lonely, the Homerun Smart Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy is an ideal solution to giving your cat some much deserved playtime when you can’t be there with them. The Doughnut shaped robotic toy is a fully automatic and smart pet toy that extends teaser feathers randomly from 6 of its holes throughout the day. It’s bound to pique your cat’s curious interest and will keep them engaged until you get back for some more fun, a worry free experience.
Design:
Homerun’s Electronic Cat Toy is both simple and elegant in design. It carries a doughnut like aesthetic, we also call it the donut cat toy because of its ring shaped appearance. Usage of the device has been one of the simplest we’ve seen among smart pet toys through its single button operation positioned in the middle. One press activates the toy, a long press switches between modes and an LED will indicate which mode is currently active. It’s equipped with multiple cat teaser toys that are made from colorful turkey feathers that dance and dazzle for your cat’s attention.
Quality:
Electronic cat toys can be hit and miss, quite literally. We have tested multiple toys that have not been able to handle paw force that our kitties are able to dish out. Durability is a big factor, especially in a household that has multiple pets or for cats that may suddenly engage in biting. These are possible events that need to be accounted for in the design by manufacturers and safety is imperative. Unattended usage also means that the toy must also account for multiple cats coming along to engage with the toy. Drop tests have been conducted and the smart donut cat toy stood up pretty well and continued to function as normal. Cosmetic damage was little to none and the batter cover remained firmly in place. Cat play can sometimes be dangerous with synthetic feathers that may cause choking or eye injury. The feather teasers are made from real turkey feathers, a safer alternative that is ready to be destroyed by your little bundle of feline fun. They’re easily replaceable and it’s best to do so every so often to keep the toy sanitary.
Cat Proof:
Perhaps the most important factor of any pet toy is usability. To be useful, a toy must be liked by your pet and want to play with it. We’ve introduced younger kittens and older adult cats to the donut cat toy and they love what the smart pet toy offers. Kittens are able to channel their abundance of energy into pouncing from all corners of the room on the teaser feathers. Adult cats who are less curious but were seen to be actively interested in the donut cat toy that used motion and color to pique the cats’ attention.
Smart and unattended testing was an important aspect of this product and we wanted to see if our cats would be entertained while we were away. Plugging in our trusty pet camera, we monitored their responses. In a place with multiple cats, the Homerun Smart Electronic Doughnut cat toy was able to periodically capture the attention of the cats. They happily played at home with the toy with great enthusiasm and gave them a great workout throughout the day without being overly tedious. Energy was saved each time that it went into rest mode and there was no visible damage to the toy, aside from the feathers that were pawed apart a little.
Some observations made that are worth mentioning include the audible operation of the toy. The mechanical function of the toy is not pin drop silent and there is some noise during operation. However, this exact noise may have contributed to attracting cats that were not directly in contact with the toy. When a play session was engaged, the cats would enthusiastically approach the toy for some rapid feather chasing fun. This is a perfect choice for curious cats that like a challenge. If your cat is a little timid, a slow introduction process is needed to help them feel at ease with the toy, you can sit with them and play together until they’re ready for a hands off trial.
For future iterations we would have liked to see WiFi functionality along with camera integration that could track activity and let owners see how things were going while away. It might even be the perfect tool for cat content creation, capturing cat play up close and personal. Mode selection via an app would be a great option too, we are big fans of seamless automation and pet toys will naturally gravitate towards integration into smart home ecosystems. Interacting with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and more. The Homerun Smart Doughnut Cat Toy is a great entry to smart pet toys and solves cat boredom in a safe and efficient way.
Click here to get the Homerun Electronic Doughnut Cat Toy today!
Meow!
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Ultimate Comfort
Many cat owners have dwelled over the reasons of this peculiar posture, the reality is that there special reason for this behavior. It’s simply comfortable for your kitty. Just as you might want lounge around on the sofa on your back for some well-deserved relaxation, cats also like to get in their comfiest positions. The loaf position allows cats to remove tension and ease their joints by stretching out with their paws. Supporting their frame when lying down is an important part of feeling relaxed. Supporting their torso on their paws allows them to relax to their maximum comfort levels.
Keeping Warm
Cats are known to have less than desirable sweat glands, relying on the minimal pores on their paws. Perspiration will occur at the surface of their paws and their setup isn’t the best for body heat retention. As colder temperatures set in, the lack of hair on their paws makes our feline companions relatively poor at retaining heat. Dips in surrounding temperatures will often see them tuck their paws away when they lie down, a simple yet effective method in achieving extra heat retention without much effort. Cats may also sometimes wrap their tails around their bodies as an extra addition to their warmth and comfort efforts.
An Emotional Expression of Trust
Cat loaf is more than just a posture, it’s an expression of complete trust and security of its surrounding environment. This posture is not optimum for hunting and fleeing, it’s a vulnerable stance that enables relaxation and comfort. If your cat is seen to assume the cat loaf position at home, it may be indication that they feel safe and secure in your care. A special place in our pets’ hearts is always satisfying and cats are highly alert when it comes to their everyday surroundings. Folding their paws and lounging around is not something they would be seen to do in front of unfamiliar visitors or unknown environments. Congratulations, we would advise kicking back and keeping your cat company for some rest together. Meow!
]]>Cats are wonderful and fluffy and many cat lovers feel their hearts melt when a big chonky kitty presents themselves with their spherically round head. While most cats are fluffy and cuddly, a fat cat does not necessarily mean it is healthy. In fact, weight watching your cat is as important as keeping our own weight in check. Domestic indoor cats are not exposed to the same daily adventures in the outdoors like dogs who go out on lengthy walks. Older cats tend to adopt a sedentary life where they will sleep for most of the day and general calorie expenditure begins to drop, obesity can become a problem very quickly. Let’s take a look at the dangers of obesity in cats and how we can help our feline partners lose weight safely for a happy and healthy lifestyle!
Dangers of Cat Obesity
We appreciate a podgy cat when we see one, their beautiful eyes and rounded face create huggable exterior that many find adorable. Yet the body of a chunky cat is a cause for concern when it is apparent that a cat has excessive amounts of fat in its body composition. If a cat carries excess fat during its lifespan it puts them at a number of health hazards including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Fat may even envelope vital organs, causing obstruction internally which can eventually lead to organ failure.
Weight considerations are very important for your cat’s long term health, even during its younger years. Cats should feature a lean body structure that scales to their natural body composition. If a cat carries extra weight, joints and bone problems can occur as additional stress is exerted on the supporting frame of your lovely cat. Skeletal and joint problems such as arthritis can arise. High fats in cats can shave five years or more off of your cat’s life expectancy and its best to act before they get to a state of obesity.
Finding Out if Your Cat is Obese
Cats come in different shapes and sizes, sometimes identifying obesity in your cat can be a little hard to determine from a glance. Weighing your cat is the best way to get an accurate idea of how heavy your cat is. A home scale should suffice but a visit from your local vet for a physical examination will also help to set the record straight. An average sterilized male cat will grow to around 5kg in weight, females will be a kilogram or so less. This is only an average estimate and different cat breeds will have their own diet and natural weight requirements.
How Do Fat Cats Lose Weight?
Cats are not accustomed to gym sessions of hitting the treadmill but just like us humans, diet combined with sufficient exercise will pave the way to healthy weight loss. Reducing calorie intake of your cat will help to create a deficit that will help to shed fat over time as it loses weight. Exercise is the other side of calorie expenditure as muscles, organs and the entire body need to work in order to improve overall performance and health of your cat. While reducing food intake is an ideal way to kick off weight loss regimes, it’s important to consider that a cat needs sufficient nutrition and energy to go about its daily life and intended exercise. Don’t let your cat go hungry and try to split smaller meals throughout the day.
Achieving an ideal diet is no easy task but a lean and healthy source of proteins and vitamins will help get things on track. We like to use a gradual approach to diet changes, switching foods and portion sizes suddenly can lead to detrimental effects on your cat. If you’re thinking about switching food sources, do this in increments so that their stomach and body may acclimate to the new foods. The portion sizes should gradually change and eventually splitting up meals throughout the day will help to encourage better digestion and eating habits in your cat. It can be tough to keep track of exactly how much your cat is eating throughout the day, picking up a Smart Pet Bowl ensures that the correct amounts of food are being served and consumed without serving too little or too much.
Low-calorie cat foods or vet prescribed diets are a great way to ensure the right food choices are being made for your cat. Avoid food sources that are high in fats, reading and understanding what is inside your cat’s meals is very important. For some, switching to homemade solutions have been difficult to master but rewarding long term. Feeding your cat smaller meals for up to 4-6 times a day is an ideal number to target, a little but often goes a long way in supporting metabolism and energy expenditure throughout the day. Fat cat be stubborn but with a consistent effort, your cat will start to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle.
Working Out With Your Cat
Stimulating your cat’s physical activity level is a key component to weight loss. We can’t expect our precious kitties to start running marathons or bench pressing. A gradual increase in activity will ensure that their bodies slowly strengthen and adjust to elevated levels of physical exertion. Going too fast from the very beginning can overload muscles, joints and the feline cardiovascular system. If your cat has been trained or is willing to go out on walks, you can slowly introduce a daily walk with a gradual increase in walk time as the days go by. For most obese house cats, going outside is not an option and indoor solutions are needed to stimulate activity. Picking up some cat toys for personal interaction will help you monitor the level of exercise they receive every day. We like to play with our cats using feathers toys and laser pens for short bursts of pursuit action that will get them moving. Cats also love to engage with teasing cat wands and cat climbing trees. You can be creative in discovering things that will keep them motivated and occupied to move and burn calories. Try to avoid rewarding them with too many snacks during or after exercise as this may negatively impact weight loss goals.
A New and Healthy Cat Lifestyle
Weight loss and fat burning is a marathon than needs to be observed consistently. Cats are susceptible to weight gain rebounds just like us humans. A consistent and steady approach is an introduction to a new and improved lifestyle. Persistence is key, be sure to monitor your cat’s weight changes on a regular basis and continue to do so once their target body composition has been met. Once they are have reached a healthy weight, avoid reverting back to old habits. Stick to healthy sources of foods and maintain regular levels of exercise. Your vet will be able to advise you about a new diet plan to support maintenance of your cat depending on their individual needs.
Keeping our cats healthy is a priority for any cat owner and it’s important that we take responsibility when discovering a cat has become overweight. Using these simple yet effective tips will help to strengthen your bond with a cat while leading them to healthier and happier lifestyle. It might take some time and continuous effort but patience will eventually yield wonderful results for both you and your purrfect cat. Remember, exercising and eating smart is the gateway to a healthy and active lifestyle for your cat. Meow!
]]>Living life with a canine companion is a wonderful thing. It can sometimes come as a shock when a lovely dog who has been healthy for all these years suddenly experiences health deterioration at the hands of cancer. Cancer has been a killer in both humans and animals alike and can occur in many parts of the body including the lungs, reproductive organs, skin and elsewhere. Certain breeds of cats and dogs have been observed to have an increased probability of developing certain cancer, this risk increases as our pets age. It’s important to look out for the signs of cancer to seek the best course of treatment and management.
Unknown Masses or Sarcoma
Finding lumps around the body is a possible sign that cancer has affects your dog. Not all lumps or sarcomas develop into cancer but if you find that your dog has one on their body, an immediate visit to your local vet is in order for investigation. Lumps around the body are always a cause for concern, especially those that continue to grow or have not gone away in shorter amounts of time.
Abnormal Body Fluid or Bleeding in the Mouth
Oral health is very important to monitor in your dog. If abnormal fluids or bleeding occur in the mouth, gums or nasal passage this may be an indication that something is amiss. A combination of bleeding, pus, diarrhea and vomiting are all signs that need to be monitored and investigated by your vet. It’s important to observe and communicate as much as you can to your vet so that they may begin proper investigation and diagnosis. It’s important to pay particular attention to any abdominal swelling as this is indication of abnormal bodily fluid that is accumulating in the affected area.
Abnormal Defecation Habits
Monitoring your pup when they go to the toilet and after is an important part of looking for signs of cancer. Certain cancers such as those that affect the stomach and digestive system will affect both stool a urine. If your dog is observed to experience a change in defecation habits, a visit to the vet is in order. Serious signs include bloody stools and urine and are indicative of possible cancers.
Open Wounds That Don’t Heal
Wounds and ulcer can occur in healthy animals but those that do not heal up with time could be a sign of possible infection, skin disease or cancer. It’s important to deduce why wounds do not heal in your dog with the help of your vet.
Stiff limbs or Lameness
Dogs are mobile creatures and any sign of gradual stiffness in their limbs or general lameness is a cause for concern. If your dog is showing signs of pain or disgruntlement when moving around, a physical examination is in order. It’s important to regularly check your dog’s physical condition and any specific limbs inducing pain when touched should be reported to your vet for investigation. Dogs will show displeasure when they feel pain and this may be potential presence of a degenerative disease in the joints and possibly development of certain bone cancers.
The above conditions are typical early symptoms of cancer that should not be taken lightly. Cancer is hard to spot and some may develop silently with your pet showing any obvious signs and some symptoms also overlap with other diseases and conditions. All abnormal signs should be noted and it’s best to consult your vet as early as possible to see if there is anything serious, early detection and treatment are only beneficial to your pet.
Treatment and Living Strong
Dealing with cancer is not an easy task and lifestyles may change accordingly. If your pet has been diagnosed with a form of cancer, your vet will provide the best treatment and management through various living arrangements, surgery or chemotherapy. Detecting cancers as early as possible is important to maximize treatment effectiveness. Pet remedies have also been seen to be an effective form of managing and supplementing a dog’s cancer therapy.
HomeoAnimal is a pet remedy brand that specializes in offering products to help fight cancer. PIPTOPET is featuring Piptoporus Betulinus (a mushroom) as its active ingredient which helps to boost a dog’s immune system and to reduce the effects of developing cancer. Fellow pet lovers have claimed that its most optimal when used in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments such as radiotherapy. A discussion with your vet should always be taken beforehand.
Cancer and dealing with the deterioration of your pet’s health is an incredibly hard situation to deal with. Yet with medical science in the modern world today, we remain hopeful that our pets will live on and recover. Even the slimmest of chances must be grasped. We hope that all those around the world, both humans and animals, will continue to struggle and prevail over disease.
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Cancer is a troublesome condition that can develop into a life threatening state. Cancer affects a large population of both dogs and cats around the world and it has been observed that cancer rates are rising among the modern domestic pet population. Research determined that 23% of dogs passed away with cancer in 2002 with 45% of them being in the senior age bracket.
Discovering your dog has cancer is no easy task, we covered recognizing symptoms of cancer in your dog in our previous post. Determining that your dog has cancer through careful daily observation is a developed habit and owners will eventually notice that something is amiss with their lovely doggo’s health. Prevention is a big part of a dog’s healthy lifestyle, let’s take a look at a how we can actively prevent our precious dog’s from developing cancer.
Sterilization
Sterilization is the process of permanently removing the reproductive functions of your pet’s body. In addition to reproductive control, it will also prevent cancers linked to the reproductive organs in your dog. It’s recommended to bring your pet when feasible to do so for sterilization surgery to put this preventive cancer measure into place as soon as possible. For female dogs, sterilization is known to be most effective before their first estrus to regulate hormonal levels which are linked to associated cancers. Keep in mind that sterilization must be undertaken after a dog has sufficiently matured. Smaller dogs will usually have the surgery after at least one year of age while larger breeds will typically be mature for surgery after 18 months. Sterilization can sometimes be seen as double edged preventative measure. Preventing cancers linked to reproductive organs is a benefit but researchers highlight this fundamental change in the body also increases the risk of vascular cancers. Sterilization has its benefits and drawbacks and should be carefully considered before proceeding, it’s best to consult your vet beforehand.
Beware of Commercial Food Recipes
Growth in cancer rates have seen a relationship to commercial dog food sales, not a sudden coincidence. Vast choices of dog food is a great way to accommodate to a variety of dietary needs, however standards across commercial dog foods can be of both good and bad quality. Researching the contents in commercial dog foods is a must for all dog owners, pay particular attention to the origin and volume of raw ingredients. Avoid food pigments/colorants and preservatives. Look out for potential carcinogens and avoid foods that are high in sodium. A healthy source of food is essential to contributing to a healthy lifestyle and minimizing risk of cancer.
Healthy and Natural Diet
Feeding homemade dog food to your pup is a great way to accommodate their dietary needs with complete knowledge of what is in each and every meal. It’s important to maintain a balanced and nutritious diet when opting for a homemade approach to your dog’s diet. Close attention to fat content and non-organic meats are important. Choose foods that are known to be anti-carcinogens, otherwise known as superfoods for your pup. A healthy selection of vegetables, lean meat and distilled water are examples of healthy food sources. Broccoli and cabbages are our favorite choices as a detox/anti-oxidant that also serve as anti-cancer components.
Early Diagnosis and Treatment
It is currently still difficult to pinpoint the root cause of cancer manifestation and guaranteed prevention is not certain. Keeping a close eye on your dog through its daily activities is important and looking out for any abnormal symptoms is key to discovering early diagnosis and intervention. Treating early stage cancer provides a much better chance for a dog’s survival and it’s recommended that you bring your pup to a local vet for routine health screenings. This is especially important for dogs who are reaching their senior years above the age of seven years. Regularly screenings will diagnosis cancer in its early stages and considerably boost the chance of survival.
Manage Your Environment
Cancer does not appear overnight but its presence slowly grows in the body as time goes by. Lifestyle and living environment are important to all animals and it’s important to consider the environment in which they are living in. Second-hand smoking, use of harmful chemical cleaning agents, unhygienic conditions and other detrimental living conditions need to be taken care of immediately. Taking of your dog’s hygiene is also important and you should regularly wash their body, paws and take care of oral hygiene.
Living a healthy life with your pet is an active approach to preventing cancer. In some cases, the unfortunate may occur and illness may strike. It’s important to stay calm and keep looking out for these symptoms, your vet will be the next stop for consultation. Swift diagnosis and treatment will yield great benefits to therapy and operative effectiveness.
Images used in this post are taken from sources with no attribution required
]]>Despite the world being in a state of suspension during the pandemic brought by COVD-19, your cat might still embark on its daily adventures in the great outdoors. Picking up an automatic paw washer is an excellent choice to carry out a deep clean of their paws whenever they come back home. The Automatic Paw Washer automatically rotate super soft silicone bristles to wash and clean dog or cat paws quickly and efficiently. We have been impressed with this quick and easy electric paw washer and it’s even more important during these tough times where health and hygiene are paramount.
Cats are natural hunters. A simple wooden cat toy can not only stimulates your cat's hunting nature and curiosity, but also bring out mutual feelings of joy and satisfaction through an interactive playing session. You can play this game with your cat, or train them to play by themselves. Enjoy endless hours of fun and laughter with your precious kitties. Some cat owners have said they have way too much fun with this toy, it’s almost addictive!
Have you ever found copious amounts of cat litter tracking around your house? Does your cat make a mess after visiting their sacred toilet sanctuary that is the litter box? If this happens at home on a regular bases, it’s best to look at picking up a cat litter mat. Prevent litter tracking by making use of the double layered honeycomb design cat litter mat, capturing and holding litter particles as your cat enters and leaves the litter box. Save and reuse litter while keeping clean, it’s a win-win situation. Features safe and durable materials that are comfortable for your pet and easy to clean.
Cat’s come from ancestors of the desert and it’s well known that cats are fussy drinkers that need considerable encouragement to stay adequately hydrated. It’s a tough and strange situation, especially when their diets are protein rich. Static water containers can rapidly collect surface bacteria and become “stale”. If your cat avoids drinking from its water bowl, they may regard their current water bowl as unclean. Regular water changes will be needed to provide a fresh and clean source for them to drink from.
Cats have a natural instinct to approach running streams of fresh water, they will generally see running water as attractive and clean. A pet water fountain can greatly increase the frequency and volume of water that your cat drinks in day, helping them reach their daily water intake goals. A water fountain with a filter is essential to remove hair, dust and other debris particles that might find their way to your cat’s drinking source. Water is constantly cleaned and flows back for your cat to drink at its leisure.
Cats hunt and pounce as natural predators. Let your furry soldier infiltrate this cat tunnel to fulfil their hunting desires as they shroud themselves out of sight. Cats love enclosed spaces and have a habit of hiding in darker places as they wait for prey, or in your case, toys. Observe your cat as they carry out reconnaissance. Their night vision lets them feel right at home, if you like to tease your cat with small toys, tunnels are perfect.
As your cat rests in this stylish and flexible tunnel, they’ll react to incoming targets as they approach. It’s a perfect retreat for cats that want to rest in a safe and comfortable space. If your cat is shy, a tunnel bed might be an ideal choice as it can be an ideal retreat as your cat builds confidence at home. They’ll make use of the detachable cushion as a comfy bed. Use the cat tunnel bed as you want by making use of this completely modular design that lets you connect multiple together.
Cat grooming is important for any cat breed. Most indoor cats will shed their fur throughout the year, moulting season is commonly seen in the warmer seasons of the year. If you’ve sat through a period where your cat is changing its coat, you will know that the household can quickly become a fluffy situation. Regular grooming is needed to keep things under control, requiring persistence and patience.
It’s not always easy to groom your cat, catching them at a time that suits them might be a tricky task. If your cat refuses a grooming session, a softer alternative such as this Furrytail grooming brush, made from super soft silicon material will hit the spot. Its jelly fish structure is both aesthetic and ergonomically designed. Silicone is an ideal material that generates static electricity as its massages your cat, collecting bundles of hair on every stroke. Avoid any accidental harm to your cat by using the combs soft and gentle teeth. Listen to your cat’s purrs of approval as you deliver an enjoyable and comfortable grooming experience.
Things are heating up, summer is around the corner and temperatures are starting to climb to point that gets anyone at home hot under the collar or fur coat. High body temperatures mean excessive sweating and water loss. Cats are already at risk of dehydration and high temperatures further amplifies the risk to heat stroke, heart issues and other health problems.
Keeping things cool is important and a pet cooling mat can be placed anywhere to deliver a constant cool surface. The cute fruit cooling mat is an essential item for the ensuing hot summer weather. It’s easy to use, and doesn’t require prior freezing or chilling. Rely on the pressure responsive gel that handles heat transfer from your pet efficiently, keeping them cool and comfy while delivering relief against high heat and joint pains.
Cats are cute and adorable, but there’s no escaping the foul odours that reside in the litter box. Smells can travel far and wide around the household and it can be tough to deal with. A mini pet odour eliminator is a new piece of technology that keeps your indoors smelling fresh from pet odours. It’s smart and intelligent, quickly regulating smells at home through ionization, leaving your home smelling fresh and clean. Ionization is also helpful in assisting with bacterial and dust problems, hence assisting in reducing allergen levels in the environment.
We love smart pet technology and the modern pet keeper has access to many types of innovative products. You won’t want to miss this Petkit smart bowl if you’re thinking about trying smart pet tech at home. It’s important to keep your pet’s eating bowls clean and free of dust and nasty bacteria. Petkit smart bowls feature anti-bacterial surfaces, helping to promote your pet’s healthy lifestyle, keeping them away from infection and illness. It has a built-in digital scale that can weigh food with accuracy. If you need to track and know exactly how much your pet is consuming, this is the perfect pet weight management product for your cat. Connect to the Petkit mobile App for a scientific and smart feeding suite that helps you understand what’s going on with your pet’s food consumption.
A soft collar is more than just a cute accessory. It serves as a replacement for your cat’s Elizabethan collar after surgery or injury. If you’ve ever needed to have your cat wear a traditional E-collar, you’’ probably realize just how much your cat hats wearing it. They feel vulnerable not only due to restricted movement but also heavily reduced hearing and vision. A soft collar introduces a viable alternative that is safe and functional for your cat while stopping grooming of the wounds to prevent infection. Let your cat get on with its daily life safely, avoiding unnecessary stress and impaired senses. The soft material makes it much more comfortable for your cat to wear. Your cat will be able to rest comfortably by using the collar as a soft pillow too. Meow!
]]>Summer time is here and the heat waves continue to make the rounds. We are certainly feeling hot under the collar. There’s no escaping these high temperatures, regardless of shorts and T-shirts. While sweating away, we can’t help but look over to our fluffy feline companions and ponder how our cute and cuddly pets are dealing with such heat during the summer. Let’s take a closer look at your cat in the summer.
Cats Are Not Heat Resistant
Cats and dogs are different, one may meow while the other barks but there are also other differences that convey heat homeostasis. Body temperature regulation is very important and it’s important to keep an eye on your cat when the weather begins to get toasty. Sweat glands within dogs are located on the tongue, nose and lungs where heat dissipation occurs via evaporation. If your dog pants with their tongue out, it’s their way of cooling off. Cats however, are a little more subtle and even during the hottest days, they may show distinct effort in getting rid of this elevated heat. Perhaps they take a page from Big Shaq’s book, “Skrrat, skidi-kat-kat, Cat’s not hot!”
The reality is, cats feel heat just as much as us, and their composure may be due to a long standing trait taken from ancestors who thrived in the dessert. Keep calm and stay cool, this is something we would all love to do but the reality is that cats are not immune to heatstroke during these summer temperatures. Cats that stay exposed in the sun for prolonged periods can suffer from heatstroke, a life threatening situation that requires immediate medical attention. Cats are fluffy bundles of fun that are covered in hair. Absence of sweat glands around the body’s surface means that cats have relatively poor system to maintain homeostasis. Things can quickly get hot and if left unchecked, certain symptoms can begin to manifest. This includes shortness of breath, increased urination levels and even fainting. Cats are susceptible to heatstroke and it’s very important to provide an environment that makes cooling off easier.
Cats Need to Sweat
Relatively poor function of sweat glands in a cat means their ability to dissipate heat from the body is poor. They sweat from their paws and it’s very common to find your cat’s soft paw a little wet as their glands work to release heat through sweat. Cats can sometimes be seen frequently licking their paws to accelerate this process. Grooming your cat is especially important during these warm months, <a href=https://aipaws.com/collections/beds-mats/products/pawbby-smart-portable-pet-shaver”>”trimming</a> hair around their paws is an effective way to relieve hair that may be covering sweat glands. You don’t need to give your kitty a full blown haircut in the summer, they will usually shed their fur as the season changes.
Image: Summer Ice Silk Cooling Mat
Help Your Cat Cool Off
Cats licking themselves to cool down is the feline way to bring heat levels lower. It’s important to monitor your cat as this natural method of heat dissipation can only go so far. On hot summer days, it’s important to provide enough shade and where possible, ventilation so that your precious pet can cool off. Be sure to remember that your cat’s bed should be moved to a cool and preferably shaded area. Avoid placing litter in the sun at all costs, it can heat up very quickly and your cat will not want to set foot in a baking litter box.
Keeping hydrated is very important during these periods where body liquids are constantly evaporating. Prepare sufficient fresh water for your cat every day, encouraging drinking to keep hydration at a safe level. Don’t forget to use a pet trimmer to safely trim your cat’s paw hair. For other moments around the house, we recommend using a pet cooling mat for your cat so that they may experience a cool surface to rest on. Avoid playing outdoors during sunny spells as it’s sure to cause exhaustion within minutes.
]]>Just like humans, dogs can suffer from allergies that can be triggered by a number of things with varying degrees of reaction. Allergic reaction in dog’s spells trouble and come in the form of itchy skin, causing excessive scratching all over the body. Allergies in dogs are a major issue and need to be managed, if your dog is seen scratching constantly every day, it’s time to pay your vet a visit.
The Allergy Problem
Allergic reactions can be induced from the environment or a dog’s diet. With multiple possible causes, diagnosis can be challenging as symptoms are usually similar without distinction towards the root cause. Dogs are naturally carnivorous and their digestive systems are designed for optimum protein and fat content. Their bodies do not take kindly to foods filled with carbohydrates and this could lead to a potential allergic reaction.
Allergies are commonly linked to nutrition but there is another source of allergen triggers that are based on exposure in the living environment. Your dog’s living environment will need to be inspected for possible triggers. While diet related allergies are relatively easy to solve once identified, problems in the home environment are harder to discern and solve. Nonetheless, we must continue in pursuit of identifying culprit allergens and where they reside. Possible sources of environmental based allergens could come from exposure to dust, pollen, perfumes and more.
We love to feed our dogs tasty treats, homemade dog food and staple foods from manufacturers. There are benefits to each solution but it’s important to know what is in your dog’s food. Food based allergies will often be related to intake of both proteins and carbohydrates. Check with your vet to see if your dog may be allergic to specific protein sources such as beef, chicken, eggs and lamb. Carbohydrate sources will also need to be tested.
Symptoms of Allergic Reactions
Dogs with food allergies may experience the following symptoms (a combination of symptoms are possible):
Your dog may suffer from seasonal environmental allergens. You may be able to link certain symptoms to specific times of the year. For instance, we link pollen allergies due to elevated levels in spring. Your dog may start to show visible forms of allergic reactions as they mature after a year of growth.
Treating and Managing Allergies in Your Dog
If your dog has a sudden allergic reaction, immediate action is required. Contact your local vet for advice and emergency consultation. Providing information is key and your vet may refer your dog for allergen testing which involves a small amount of blood being sent to a laboratory. Pharmaceutical management will often be prescribed, in some cases a lifestyle change will be prescribed.
Diet changes can help all round, as mentioned above, it’s important to know what’s in your dog’s diet. Analyzing the ingredients of manufactured foods may reveal a huge pool of chemicals that may contribute to allergic reactions. Homemade dog foods are fresh and most importantly, allow owners to control what is being fed to their pup. Fresh foods at home greatly reduce the presence of additives and complex carbohydrates. A balanced diet is always best, raw diets are a great choice but may not always ensure complete solution to an allergy problem.
Figuring out environmental allergen sources is a little tricky, isolation and investigation is crucial. We like to divide our time indoors and outdoors with our dogs and observation indoors to see if a dog still suffers from allergies at home is the first clue to finding the allergy triggering component. Outdoor allergens are usually related to seasonal changes, work with your vet to figure out a triggering source and a management plan.
Elimination of environmental allergens is no easy task but it can be done. Routine house cleaning is important to remove dust and dander from the household. Pay attention to zones that accumulate dust and dirt, upholstery, carpets and similar surfaces. Grooming your dog and giving regular showers will help to keep allergen levels at bay, a similar approach should be taken after going outdoors with your dog.
Aside from cleaning and diet changes, we can make lifestyle changes to help reduce and prevent allergen introduction in the household. Smoking indoors should be avoided and use of pet safe cleaning products are important. We like to use a HEPA filtered air purifier for our own allergies and this also helps your dog. While environmental allergens can’t entirely be removed, we can at least take measures to reduce them significantly. With enough effort and understanding, allergies can be managed to an acceptable level. Woof!
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Cat's ancestors lived around the desert, there were few opportunities to access large volumes of water sources. The unknown is a scary place for many and cats eventually became adverse to exposure in water.
Anyone with a cat will come to know about the challenges of bathing their cat. Some cats may enjoy time in water and the experience may be smooth sailing. However, where a cat fears water, scenes of struggle and discontent are to be expected. It’s best to continuously comfort your and gradually introduce them to water.
Cats dislike anything that possesses an extreme sour taste. Lemons, vinegar and similar smelling items will quickly enter a cat’s list of things to hate.
Sometimes this can be used to an owner’s advantage as cats will generally avoid interacting with areas carrying this smell. If you have an issue with a cat doing naughty things in a specific place, try spraying a little lemon in that area as a passive form of deterrence.
The hair dryer is not seen the same way by cats as us humans, it’s seen as a full blown air canon! Blow drying a cat after a shower may be essential in some cases but be aware of a vengeful personality. Loud noises made by a hair dryer makes cats feel scared. Hot and rapid air blowing makes them feel uncomfortable. Plus, after having a bath a cat will certainly not take kindly to such treatment. It’s best to source a quiet and gentle dryer, keeping a treat on hand to help calm your cat may help.
If the cat does not bathe regularly, the experience will feel alien and perhaps even tarrying for them. Regular grooming and exposure will help a cat adapt to the sounds and feeling of blow dying.
Cats are potential catnip "addicts". Once they encounter catnip, they become ‘high’ in minutes and may become disorientated as a result. Even the toughest cats will become sluggish, it’s disco time when catnip is in the equation. It can be a slightly scary experience for some but they eventually come to love the scent and feeling of catnip.
Catnip can be used to calm and tame a cat when things get a little out of hand.
Cats possess have highly accurate senses, allowing them to react rapidly to potential signs of danger. The term ‘scaredy cat’ holds true and a cat will retreat at any given moment.
Popular social media posts saw that secretly placing a cucumber behind a cat will cause a scare and even a jump. Rumors emerged that cats had begun to fear cucumbers. The truth is, cats are brave but will be taken aback by sudden appearances if they are focused on something else. Whether a cucumber or watermelon, they are easily startled. Meow!
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The Best Time for Cat Breeding
Female cats (queens) enter a state of estrus after reaching physical maturity as they grow from an infant kitten to a prime adult cat. Depending on the breed of your cat, their age of maturity will vary, and some cats reach this point after just five months of growth. At this point, seasonal estrus cycles will begin. Depending on where you are in the world, your cat will experience estrus cycles during the seasons that are typically warmer with longer daylight hours. In some locations, it’s breeding season all year round.
Recognizing your sweet cat’s estrus cycle is important, signs of heat will come in different behavioral changes. Subtle changes like reduction of appetite and increased urination levels are signs to look out for. Another endearing habit will see your cat rub her body on you affectionately, she will also roll on the ground and rub her stomach against the ground. If your cat shows a combination of these actions, it’s highly likely they are in heat.
For male studs, a slightly colder reaction will be expected as they become a little more sensitive at home and will want their own space in the coming days. Loss of appetite and sudden spraying may also accompany their state of estrus. If a female is in the vicinity, her scent will be picked up and her calls will be heard. Spraying is a direct reaction to this as the male entices the female to make contact.
Let’s Date Before We Mate
Female cats have specific fertility windows and cats who have only observed a single estrus cycle are deemed too immature to birth and raise kittens. Pregnancy in young queens can lead to birth complications and general agnostic behavior in relation to maternal instinct. Multiple cycles are recommended to enhance maturity for both body and mind to prepare your queen for pregnancy, birth and raising her sweet kittens to be.
Males will generally be adequate studs after growth of a couple of years. Their mating abilities will develop with experience, novice studs are advised to have their first mating sessions with an experienced female and vice versa.
Matchmaking is no easy task, and chemistry is important before any mating can occur. An introduction or ‘blind date’ session at the stud’s residence is recommended. A queen will embark on a temporary stay at the residence of their prospective stud for a few days. Provide enough food and litter for their stay which will normally be for a duration of around 2-3 days before successful mating.
If a pair of cats don’t seem to get along, there is no need to force the issue. It’s risky to impose breeding conditions between a queen and stud who experience conflict, sudden “war” can break out between the pair. Changing of breeding partner is possible but if multiple studs are brushed off, your queen may not be in a state of estrus or has elevated standards.
Some Facts About Cat Reproduction
Cats have an ovulation cycle that normally occurs a day after successful mating, the egg releases for fertilization by the stud’s sperm. Aligning this timing is a little difficult and multiple mating session will be needed over a course of up to 5 days.
When a queen experiences estrus, she remains in a state of excitement as she seeks to mate with a partner. Her appetite will become a secondary priority as a result. To make up for this loss in appetite, be sure to provide highly nutritious quality foods and an abundance of drinking water to maintain hydration levels against increased urination levels.
Female cats that do not mate will cycle on an average for three weeks, but the length of time spent in a state of estrus is influenced by several factors including age and breed. Maintaining a state of estrus is stressful on the body and can sometimes impact health and growth. If you don’t intend to let your cat mate, consider spaying or neutering as soon as possible.
]]>Folded-eared cats have a distinct appearance where their ears visibly fold downward. As a super docile and loving breed, many owners around the world have taken a liking for this cute and cuddly type of cat. Folds carry a round headed aesthetic of cuteness but behind this adorable exterior there are serious underlying health conditions that need to be understood. Inherent genetic defects cause cartilage deficiency and will lead to long term health difficulties. If you have a fold kitty, or are considering welcoming one home, let’s look at some essential facts around these cats.
Cats with folded ears are referred to as Scottish Fold cats. These cats originated from a native Scottish cat and British Shorthair pairing. Not all Scottish cats are folds, those with the inherited genetic mutation will emerge with folded ears. Gene pool diversification is especially important in this breed. It should be noted that this variant of fold has front folding ears, a distinct difference to that seen in cats that have backward folding ears.
Over the years, the Scottish Fold cat has become a popular choice for cat lovers. It should be highlighted that due to this popularity, profiteering breeders deliberately breed folded eared cats. Pairing two folded eared cats can lead to further genetic defect and may even result in early death and other complications. It’s important to ask questions and understand the background every animal that you might welcome to your loving home, the Scottish Fold is no exception to this rule.
Folding of the ears is a genetic defect that causes cartilage deficiency. Cartilage is essential for both humans cats, it’s the connective tissue found between joints. Scottish folds are to be expected to live with hereditary condition named Osteochondrodysplasia, a condition that affects both bone growth and cartilage. Research shows that purebred Scottish Fold cats will progressively develop skeletal deformities as time goes on, leading to serious mobility impairment.
The accompanying effects of Osteochondrodysplasia will induce varying degrees of pain. Its effects will differ between homozygous and heterozygote offspring. The former means a pairing between two folds while the latter will have just one parent with the fold gene. Homozygous decedents have been seen to have severe disorders that manifest at an earlier age. Heterozygote fold cats will still experience Osteochondrodysplasia but its severity will be seen to be significantly less and has been observed to manifest at a much later stage in life.
Early signs of this disorder can be seen in a number of ways. Scottish fold cats that have affected bone and cartilage growth will often show reluctance to engage in basic maneuverability such as jumping, running and other joint dependent movements. General lameness and lack of enthusiasm around their daily activities are other signs of developing joint pain and more.
Homozygous Cats:
- Stunted tail development and flexibility
- Abnormal gate causing difficulty in movement
- Joint swelling and general arthritis
- Thicker thick compared to other cats
- Abnormal nail growth
Heterozygous Cats:
Heterozygous folds don’t show severe symptoms during their early stages of life but these kitties will still face a level of bone disorder after a few years. Increasing joint inflammation and bone deformity are still to be expected with varying degrees of severity. Diversity in the gene pool helps to provide a delayed and milder development of Osteochondrodysplasia.
Slower development and milder symptoms can sometimes falsely mask underlying conditions if not examined properly. A cat may eat, drink and play happily during their day to day kitty antics but radiography has discerned that these cats still suffer from accelerated join fatigue and wear. Cats will not show signs of immediate pain but these disorders still to continue to cause discomfort, it’s best to take a cat for regular health scans to monitor the development of their limbs.
Image: Abnormal posture can also be an indication of discomfort felt due to inherent disorders.
Accelerated aging also means that folded ear cats tend to have much shorter life spans compared to other cats in unregulated breeding conditions. However, for heterozygous kittens that come from a broader genetic pool, 15 years of prime time cat years can be expected.
Other Potential Health Conditions
There are currently no known methods of curing this associated genetic disorder. A preventative stance has been deemed as the solution by not breeding cats with those that have genes that will cause detrimental health effects. What may have started out as a cute journey can develop into a sad and painful experience later, for both cat and owner.
The fold gene is unfortunately a defect that causes many health issues and pain. Slowing its effects and alleviating its induced pain is the best that can be done. Dietary changes, radiotherapy and a number of other lifestyle changes can be made to help to curb some of these problems. It’s best to consult a vet to find the best course of action when living with a Scottish Fold cat.
There are a number of supplements that may help over time. Research points to administration of organic supplements such as glucosamine can assist with joint swelling and general cartilage degradation. This is a much safer course of health support as opposed to drugs and other invasive treatments that may yield side effects.
While breeding practices around the Scottish Fold cats are deemed to be unethical, any cat is a life worth caring for. It’s our responsibility as loving paw parents to love our fur babies and to provide the best care possible, regardless of their state of health. If your cat exhibits any of the aforementioned symptoms, its best to act swiftly and understand the situation in detail. An immediate visit to the vet for testing and advice will be needed.
We never give up on our beloved feline friends and you shouldn’t either. Even if your cat has not shown any of the above symptoms, it’s best to take a proactive approach and to get professional advice from a vet who will be able to run the necessary tests and to provide the best lifestyle changes. Tailoring your cat’s daily activities will also be a task to be undertaken. Careful consideration to surface hardness and jumping heights should be taken into account. If your cat dislikes to be held, it may be due to their everlasting pain that is felt.
It’s best not to support the breeding of Scottish fold cats as the domestic feline market continues to grow. Scottish fold cats are not at fault, they are a product of human intervention and trading of these cats based solely on aesthetic appeal with regard of health and wellbeing is non-ethical. However, if you are willing to welcome a folded ear friend home, visiting a shelter and rehoming through adoption would be a great way to avoid profiteering breeders and to support a greater cause. Regardless of their health, Scottish fold cats are adoring animals that deserve love and attention in any household. Taking on this responsibility will mean that one should consciously accept that it’s best not to breed from cats who have folded ears and to never give up on caring and loving their feline companion. Meow!
]]>Cats are peculiar, their ancestors came from the desert and it’s well known that cats avoid drinking water. Even when some cats are thirsty, they will avoid drinking altogether. It’s a tough and strange situation, especially when their diets are protein rich. Consumption of protein in cats can lead to the production of urea in the body as a byproduct, leading to kidney damage and urinary tract issues.
Cats are recommended to drink around 60ml of water per kilogram of weight. Simply multiply your cat’s weight by this unit to get an estimate of how much they should be drinking throughout a 24-hour period. As any cat owner would quickly come to know, getting your cat to drink water is not an easy task. Cats will stubbornly avoid your best efforts to provide refreshing clean water and instead sample dirty waters from the toilet, washing machines or plant pots. It can be a headache at times but as responsible cat parents, we should make sure our lovely fur babies avoid drinking unsanitary water.
Cats have a preference of drinking from water sources that are kept fresh and running. Water that sits still can collect bacteria on its surface quickly and becomes “stale” in minimal time. Cats have an instinct to approach running streams of fresh water from which they will drink if they perceive it as clean and safe. To emulate a running stream of water, there are several cat fountains have emerged for the pet market. You might be wondering, are cat water dispensers really worth buying? What are the benefits of using a fountain compared with an ordinary drinking water bowl? Let’s take a look.
Why Cats Need a Water Fountain
Cats have unique personalities, and their attitudes towards drinking water varies too. For some, it may prove to be an arduous journey of persuasion while other cats might enjoy sipping on water without any effort. Knowing your cat and monitoring their drinking habits is the first step in figuring out how to get them to drink more if the minimum amount is not being met. For cats who generally find it difficult to drink their fill of water in a day, a regular drinking bowl may not suit their requirement. Buying a cat water fountain may be a potential solution to encourage healthy water drinking habits.
Changing water often throughout the day helps to maintain a fresh supply of water for your cat to sip on but bacteria can settle quickly without any surface agitation and lack of movement. You may be surprised that instead of drinking from their bowls, a supposedly hydrophobic cat might drink directly from a running tap. If you’ve ever seen your cat do this, a cat water fountain might be the perfect choice for them. Fountains feature a stead flow of water that attracts a cat’s curiosity and helps to encourage them to drink from its source. Not every cat will find confidence in drinking from a water fountain but for most cats, a pet water fountain can greatly increase the frequency of drinking in a day, promoting a volume much closer to their recommended water consumption levels. A fountain with a filter is essential to filter out hair, dust and other debris particles that find their way into the water. Water is constantly cleaned and flows back for your cat to drink at its leisure.
Cat Water Fountain vs Water Bowl
Image: A large capacity cat water bowl
Cat drinking volume
Cat water fountain ★★★★★
Water bowl ★★
Most cats will drink more water when using a water fountain than when drinking from a standard water bowl. Monitoring and encouraging water consumption for your cat is high priority.
Ease of Cleaning
Cat water fountain ★★★
Water bowl ★★★★
Cat water bowls are simple and clean easily, simply throw out the old water, rinse and replace. However, they do require frequent water changes as dust, hair and bacteria settles on the water surface. Avoid letting your cat ingest anything harmful through consistent water changes throughout the day.
Cat water fountains will often require disassembly and care when cleaning, they will often be easy to disassemble and clean. On the upside, you’ll only need to clean your water fountain once a week.
Degree of Convenience
Cat water fountain ★★★★
Water bowl ★★★
Water in a bowl must be changed multiple times in a day. Large water bowls can handle bigger volumes of water to last entire days if you won’t be home, but dirt accumulation and lack of filtration causes the water to become dirty rapidly.
Large-capacity water fountain is also available, serving cat’s water requirements for a few days without the need for refill or cleaning.
Water Sanitation
Cat water fountain ★★★★★
Water bowl ★
Built in filtration in cat water fountains keeps water clean over an extended period but keep in mind a power outlet is required to operate the fountain every day. Cat water fountains provide fresh and clean water for much longer when compared to regular bowls.
Image: Furrytail cat water fountain with 5 deep purification
Price
Cat water fountain ★★
Water bowl ★★★★★
Water fountain are generally more expensive and require regular filter replacement. Water bowls are generally cheaper, their space requirements will be similar.
How to Correctly Use a Pet Drinking Fountain
Using a pet water fountain is by no means a hands-off drinking solution to forget about. Maintenance is important and cleaning is many times more involved in comparison to drinking bowls. Failing to clean your pet water fountain can lead to bacterial build up that will enter all water refills. Clean your pet water fountain at least once a week and around every 3 days during hot summer periods where bacteria are out in abundance.
Cat hair, dust and other debris may fall into the pet water dispense. You’ll need to make sure to replace the filtration system in a timely manner. It’s recommended that this be replaced every 3 months. If the filter media is left unchanged, particles will begin to build up and clog, leading to noisy operation and potential damage to the pump
]]>Ever since the 1800s, Fried Chicken has been a tasty American food that is loved all over the world. That’s some finger lickin’ good chicken and we tend to indulge now and then in a salty and crispy helping of coated poultry, yum! When there’s something tasty going down in the kitchen, our fluffy fur friends will often come snooping as they waft the glorious flavors of our meals. Biting into a crunchy and delightful piece of KFC will often be met with a pair of longing eyes that are fixated on the piece of chicken in hand. It’s a moment of those ‘puppy dog eyes’ that many owners can’t help but feel sorry for and wish to share their joy with their favorite companion. However, dogs can’t indulge in some foods that we enjoy and it’s important to understand your pup’s digestive system.
Aside from all the usual considerations of fried foods being unhealthy for the general population, there are other aspects of the meal that should be in an owner’s mind when on the look out for new snacks. While dogs have no issue in chewing on a healthy sized bone, often gnawing for a long time, cooked chicken contains brittle and smaller bones that will shatter into smaller fragments. Smaller bone shards can cause oral injury, choking and bleeding within the digestive tract. It’s an awful situation that is deemed life threatening and should be prevented.
Bones are bad, so how about a tasty piece of fried chicken breast or other boneless variant? Fried chicken in particular contains many additives that would cause adverse health effects. Tasty seasonings that we find exquisite can be harmful to a dog’s health and may even cause allergy with dire consequences. Knowing what we put into our foods is very important and it’s ever more important to keep this in mind when preparing food for your canine partner.
Cooking methods are important when preparing meals for your pup and frying is just bad all round for animals and humans. A diet of fried chicken for a dog is sure to introduce cardio, weight and retained fat issues. Continuous consumption can be life threatening and may even contribute to cancer, diabetes and heart failure. It’s best to prepare food in a healthy manner without adding additives.
Dogs love chicken and it’s easy on their digestive system for a great source of protein without causing an upset stomach. We don’t use any seasoning; simplicity is best when cooking for your pet. Boiling boneless chicken is one of our preferred methods of cooking for our pups and it goes down a tasty treat every time. Cutting cooked chicken breast into bite sized pieces is advisable. So, the next time you have a tasty helping of KFC, be sure to prepare a special boiled treat for your friend. Woof!
]]>Sustainable living is an important part of life and it is important that any action taken by humans is done consciously with responsibility. Continents are no longer shifting, and the demise of any species will be a tragedy that shouldn’t occur if resources are deployed effectively.
Mammals going extinct is a very rare event and might even occur only once a millennium. Yet, we are not living in an era that is without drastic change and issues. The rate of biological extinction today is gauged to be hundreds or even thousands of times more than previous eras. The last mass extinction was due to asteroids, and the causes of biological extinction today are attributed to a variety of reasons: logging, poaching, pathogens, climate change, overfishing, ocean acidification, and so on. With this in mind, let’s take a look at some beloved animals that once walked the earth before being driven to extinction.
10 species of animals that have driven to extinction:
Our planet has always been inhabited by relatively large creatures at different times in history, yet as time has gone on, these titans have vanished from sight. A large, fierce, and perhaps most peculiar animal would be the mammoth. The extinction of the mammoth happened at a time that is far away from modern times but there are lessons to be learned. Taking a closer look, we can identify just how this majestic animal was driven to extinction due to humans.
Hunting Mammoth as food was common, their fur, bones and skin all served purpose. It could be said that at the time, their population faced no struggle for survival. Yet, the question remains as to how a primitive and relatively small human population could drive these ginormous animals to extinction?
The answer lies within some basic calculations: An elephant's pregnancy period is 22 months, and the baby elephants will not be able to reproduce until their teens, that’s a whopping decade of life before they reach sexual maturity. Their sturdy and large frames made them a hard target for most natural predators, and they continued to thrive in peace. This would all change however, when humans would walk the Earth in search of food, warmth and resource.
In the modern age, elephants and other animals that are generally high up on the food chain would be expected to survive with relative ease. As the human population explodes, hunting activities, loss of habitat and other events pose a deep threat to animals. The mammoth is just a single example of how humans diminished a stable population of gentle giants.
Dodo birds are one of the most famous species in extinction. As ancient dinosaurs before, when someone mentions the Dodo, it is symbolic of extinction. 1598, Dutch sailors first discovered the Dodo in Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean on the coast of Africa. Dodo birds were humungous in size and remained flightless. The hefty birds were almost one meter in height and weighed a chunky ten kilograms.
Dodos once lived on the island of Mauritius without any threat from predators. They lived in peace on the island and enjoyed a diet of various fruits, nuts seeds and perhaps even shellfish. Since there had never been any human activity in Mauritius, the dodo had no concept of survival when humans arrived. Dutch sailors found the big birds to be easy targets and would hunt them with mere wooden sticks. Humans and other animals transported on ships to Mauritius became natural enemies of the Dodo. Hunted by humans, destruction of their habitat caused by a foreign invasion eventually resulted the Dodo being hunted down to extinction in less than 100 years. It’s thought that the last dodo met its timely demise in 1681. Sadly, no preserved specimen of the bird was kept and it’s records are scattered through remains and drawings.
image: In 2002, the last white beaked dolphin Kiki, who was raised in captivity, died in the Baiji house of the Institute of Aquatic Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Baiji, also known as the Yangtze River Dolphin, is a unique freshwater cetacean (aquatic mammal) in China. This dolphin resided in lower reaches of the Yangtze River. If you didn’t know, it’s the longest river in Asia and only bested by the Nile and Amazon river!
In 2006, the baiji was tragically declared extinct. It’s believed to be one of the oldest freshwater mammals in the world. Although the shape does not seem to be as streamlined as a dolphin, its sonar positioning system is highly developed and is ranked as outstanding in the dolphin family, even unparalleled: it can precisely pinpoint the location of fish in the water. Unfortunately, this very gift would be detrimental to the river dolphin’s survival. Pollution caused by travelling fishing vessels, container freight, and other human based activities made water conditions uninhabitable. The Baiji dolphin was highly sensitive to these changes and was ultimately intolerable, causing survival issues into eventual extinction.
Why are there penguins in the Antarctic and not in the North Pole? In fact, in the northern hemisphere, there was once a kind of water bird that was good at swimming but could not fly, and looked like penguins. They were big puffins. From North America to Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, puffins have been seen everywhere. This bird is about 80 centimeters tall, has penguin-like thick plump wings but cannot fly, and is fat and round. In order to treat them as food and obtain their feathers, they are always the target of human killing. Around 1500, when European seafarers found abundant fishing grounds in the Newfoundland, hunting for puffins became more intense.
Like penguins, Great auks are excellent swimmers. This bird can swim astoundingly fast in the water. Also similar to penguins, Great auks live in the sea most of their lives. However, during the breeding season in May and June, they would hobble up the coast in groups, which exposing their weaknesses. In addition to food, great auk have been used as fishing bait, unplugged and shipped back to Europe to make pillows or women's fur hats, and even used as fuel. In 1844, the last pair of puffins were killed during the incubation period. Ironically, the reason why the pair of great auk were killed was that many museums at that time offered high-price for a great auk specimens to publicize the significance of protecting puffins.
Caribbean monk seal has been found in the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast of Central America and the north coast of South America. Because their fat can extract seal oil, they are over hunted. At the same time, the food they need such as fish, shrimp, and sea creatures are becoming scarce due to human overfishing. The number of Caribbean monk seals has dropped sharply, and it was last seen in 1952, on the small island of Serana in the Western Caribbean, between Jamaica and Nicaragua.
This is a giant tortoise that lives only on small islands in the Indian Ocean. During the Geographical Discovery era, Mauritius was discovered by European colonists. Dutch sailors who came here first found that there were such large tortoises living on the island. They move slowly and are not afraid of people. They are very easy to be caught. They are huge in size, delicious in meat, and thick in fat. These are exactly the food supply problems for sailors. So in just over a hundred years, tortoises were captured and killed by sailors and colonists. Domed Mauritius giant tortoise was still found in 1845, but it has never been seen since.
Today, if you travel to Mauritius, you can still see a lot of giant tortoises on the island, but in fact this is not the native Mauritius giant tortoise, but Aldabra giant tortoise imported from Seychelles.
When European colonists first arrived in North America, the number of North American Passenger pigeons could have reached billions. It was once described that a migrating group of Passenger pigeons is like a river flowing in the sky. It takes up to three days for the entire group of Passenger pigeons to fly over an area.
Since the late 19th century, however, the number of Passenger pigeons has declined rapidly. At that time, with the development of the American population, the market’s demand for meat was even stronger. Many hunters flocked to the west to hunt travel pigeons. Tons of Passenger pigeon meat were loaded on trains and transported to various parts of the United States. Passenger pigeons were often captured as dining tables Food or minced as feed for pigs. In addition to hunting with traditional bows and arrows, slingshots and guns, hunters will burn down a tree. In this way, each tree can capture about a thousand Passenger pigeons. In just 50 years (mid to late 19th century), the number of Passenger pigeons has dropped from billions to only thousands. In 1900, the last wild Passenger pigeon was shot in Ohio by a 14-year-old boy.
The Atlas brown bear is a subspecies of the brown bear and the only bear in Africa. The distribution area used to be from Morocco to Libya, inhabiting the Atlas Mountains and adjacent areas. Atlas brown bears have brown-black fur, no white markings on the chest, orange-red fur on the upper abdomen, strong body, and thicker fur, but the muzzle and claws are shorter than American black bears, omnivorous, and mainly plant rhizomes and nuts food.
Atlas is close to the Mediterranean, where the climate is humid and the forest is vast, providing a continuous living space for brown bears and other wild animals. Atlas brown bears have been devastated by humans because of their delicious meat and wide range of fur. Kill, skin and meat were shipped back to the European market for sale. The last recorded Atlas brown bear was hunted in the Rif Mountains of Morocco in the 1870s. Since then, no Atlas brown bear has ever been found. Since then, this kind of bear Lei who has lived in North Africa for thousands of years has been declared extinct by humans, and the African continent has no more bears.
It is a tiger that once lived on the island of Java, Indonesia. It has a length of about 155 cm and a shoulder height of about 80 cm. It belongs to a small tropical island tiger and is the second smallest tiger. Tiger's body hair varies in light yellow and orange-red colors. Their huge bodies are covered with black or dark brown horizontal stripes that extend all the way to the chest and abdomen. The hair underneath in that area is very light, usually milky. Java tiger males are 2.35-2.55 meters long and weigh 100-155 kg. Females are 2.1-2.3 meters in length and weigh 95-115 kg. During the one hundred years from the 20th century to the 21st century, humans have hunted Java tigers in large numbers because of their delicious meat, beautiful fur, and medicinal bones. In addition, the occupation of the Java Tigers by human agricultural production and the large-scale destruction of the ecological environment of the Java Tigers' habitat have further exacerbated the extinction of this species. In 1979, it was estimated that there were only three left. This year was also the last time that someone had witnessed a wild Javan tiger, and then there was no news about the wild Javan tiger. The last wild Javan tiger in the world is estimated to have died in 1982. In 1988, the Indonesian government frustratedly and helplessly officially announced that the Java Tiger had also
Extinct in the 1980s, this is the extinction of another tiger species in Indonesia following the extinction of the Bali Tiger in 1937.
Japanese wolf lives on the islands of Shikoku, Kyushu, and Honshu. It is the smallest wolf species in the canis lupus family, with a length of about 1 meter and a shoulder length of 30 cm. Japanese wolves like to live in groups, usually only up to 20 per group. They are good at running and jumping, mainly hunting deer, hare and other herbivores in groups, and sometimes go to the stream to hunt some fish or eat the carrion of dead animals. The Japanese wolf likes to howl collectively in the morning light. At this time, the wolf's howl sounds through the valley, so the Japanese wolf is called the mountain god
In 1732, rabies transmitted by animals imported from foreign trade was introduced into the Honshu wolf population. This disease killed a large number of animals and made the Japanese wolf more aggressive to humans. As their natural habitats were deforested, their contact with humans became more and more frequent, and their aggressiveness led to their extensive hunting. Until 1905, the world's last wild Japanese wolf was in Higashiyoshino, Nara Prefecture. The village was hunted and killed, and this animal, once regarded as a "mountain god", could not escape the doom.
The book "The Sixth Extinction" states: "The disappearance of species is omnipresent: in the South Pacific and the North Atlantic, in the Arctic and in the Sahara, in lakes and islands, on top of mountains and in valleys .If you know how to find it, it is possible to trace the extinction event that is happening in your own courtyard. "In the ecosystem, all living things provide this world with greater or lesser value. Once there is some kind of ecological extinction, there will be a huge chain reaction. In the end, due to the disorder of the food chain, it will be us humans who are directly affected.
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When seasons change, hot becomes cold and cold becomes hot. Your cat will naturally make adjustments to prepare for the upcoming season through moulting. Summer periods bring the heat, a great time to shed some fur weight and get the purrfect cat body. Winters are cold, a time to carry a thick and wooly coat. If you’ve got a cat or a few cats at home, you will understand the frustration and pain when dealing with moulting season. Cat hair flies through the air, covering your home furniture, sofas, bed sheets and even clothes that you haven’t even worn yet. Keep an eye out when sipping on your drink, you may find a few hair strands floating if cat hair has taken flight.
Cats living indoors can become agnostic to season changes and instead malt all year round, it can be quite troublesome, especially for long hair breeds with thick coats. You might find this a little annoying but take one look at your cat’s innocent and loving eyes and you’ll quickly realize how cute and adorable this situation really is. All is not lost, there are a few things that can be done to survive the ongoing saga of cat hair shedding at home.
When cats lose their hair, especially during the months of spring and autumn, you’ll need to be up and ready to actively reduce cat hair around the house through cleaning. Hair removal isn’t easy and living in an environment that is full of cat dander can make those with allergies suffer greatly. Coughing, skin conditions, respiratory conditions and many more can be triggered if the cat hair issue is not managed properly. If you’ve got children at home the emphasis on cleaning becomes paramount.
Furniture gaps are the ultimate trap for cat hair during moulting season. Accumulation is easy in these regions and regular vacuum cleaning is needed. Smaller attachments might be required to reach between these smaller gaps, you may also want to use a pet specific cleaning head. Controlling air quality is also helpful, make use of an air purifier at home to remove floating dander in the air. A humidifier can also help to prevent thin hair fibers from taking flight around your home.
Cleaning isn’t the ultimate solution to cat hair problems. To remedy the situation, an approach to the root cause is needed, that is your cat’s coat. It’s time to get out your grooming kit and to comb your cat’s beautiful hair at least once to three times a day. Keeping up with this routine will yield great results in reducing flying cat hair at home. Hair loss care and general coat maintenance requires the right tools and usage. There are several types of cat brushes available today on the pet accessory market and you’ll be able to choose a brush that suits you and your cat. During the moulting season we like to use a trusty silicone soft brush and slicker brush ombination. They often cover rooming needs for most cats.
Pet Slicker brush
Grooming your cat needs patience and grace. Your cat needs to feel relaxed and most importantly, they should enjoy their grooming sessions. Start from your cat’s back with gentle strokes and eventually work around the body. If your cat is sensitive in certain areas, such as their belly area, it’s best to avoid brushing in these places to avoid complaints and perhaps even a sudden paw to the face. We like to start with a silicone soft brush to brush and massage from head to tail. Silicone is a magical material that generates static electricity as its massages your cat, collecting bundles of hair on every stroke. If your cat has lots of trapped hair within its coat, consider picking up a silicone brush to make the most of your grooming time while maximizing safety and comfort. Silicone is soft and won’t hurt your precious kitty if accidental force is applied. It doubles up with its massage effect that definitely gets a cat’s purr of approval.
Silicone brush can comb a lot of losing hair
A silicone comb is great for collecting looser hair fibers on your cat’s coat but deeper hairs that are trapped will need to make use of something a little more firm and thorough. After a few passes of the silicone comb, it’s time to go once over again with a slicker brush. The dense needle-like teeth of a slicker brush are perfect for removing hairs that are lodged a little deeper in your cat’s coat. This brush can also help to relieve light mattes through gentle untangling. Slowly work your way through with this brush, applying gentle strokes. The main drawback with this type of brush is its inability to remove larger volumes of loose hair, we like to use both silicone and slicker brush for maximum results. Some brushes have single button hair removal mechanisms, making life much easier. Your cat’s coat should be left feeling silky smooth after a few rounds with these brushes.
Use slicker brush to brush your cat from head to tail
Consistency and patience will eventually yield results as you groom daily. You will notice that loose cat hair around the house will drop considerably, but it can’t be avoided entirely. Places of rest and interacting with your cat through cuddles will leave a trail of hairs behind. Managing this with the right tools makes surviving moulting season all the more achievable. Use of sticker rollers can remove hairs stuck to surfaces, however, this is not the most environmentally approach. Avoiding disposable materials and opting for a reusable pet hair remover is a great alternative for you, your cat and the environment. Simply roll and free your clothes from the barrage of fluff that has been left behind. If you’re in a hurry or travelling around, consider a portable clothing hair remover that can be carried with you always for a quick fur removal rescue.
Pet hair remover
Clothing hair remover
Remember, our cats are precious and moulting is a natural allowance that we should accommodate with open arms. Maintaining patience and consistency is the key to surviving moulting season with your cat and we hope the tips given in this post will reduce your cat hair troubles all over.
Winter, a cold and chilly season that can be most unforgiving in different parts of the world when unsheltered. With climate change leading to extreme weather conditions in some places, we humans can wrap up warm while our furry street cat friends brave the hardest of days without an opportunity to escape the violent chill. Stray cats in the city have a relatively short life and a number of environmental conditions effect their probability of living. Traffic, disease, malnutrition and even the weather have an impact on a cat’s life expectancy and significantly reduces the time a cat will be able to live for. The weather is particularly dangerous to cats with thinner fur coats who lack the genetic adaption for harsh weather conditions.
Did you know that 60% of stray cats won’t survive the coming winter? Most of them will vanish from our street by next year.
Differences Between Stray Cats and Feral Cats
There is a distinct difference between stray and feral cats. Stray cats are those fur babies which once lived a life of domestication and were eventually abandoned or lost. If you’ve seen an overly friendly cat approaching you on the street, it often means they have had plenty of human exposure and have previously developed a connection with humans beforehand. Stray cats will appreciate any food given to them with delight.
Feral cats are those who have always lived the street life. The thug life chose meow, and the streets are ever unforgiving. Battle hardened by life itself, feral cats will not often show a similar amicable approach to humans and may growl at those who invade their personal space. This group of cats have much on their mind and grooming is not their first priority, they may appear to be unclean without regard for personal cleansing. They are also known to be bold in comparison to stray cats as they will own territory and will occupy certain areas.
Many Feral cats lack human socialization and will not show any form of affection towards humans. Their need for survival in tough conditions holds no sympathy from humans. If you approach a feral kitty they will probably give you the cold shoulder, if you can meet one at all that is. Feral street cats follow their natural body clock, natural predators of the night, they can commonly be seen on the prowl after sunset or into the late hours of the night or early morning.
Feral cats prioritize survival, they have versatile survival traits and will do their best to win their next scrap of food or fend off intruders in their territory. If you wish to feed a feral cat, leaving food on the floor and watching from a distance is often as close as one will get to helping a kitty in need.
Our love for animals all over begins to arrive at the next question of discussion, what is to become of these wonderful wild cats during the difficult winter months? Is there anything we can do to help our neighborhood felines?
Helping Cats in the Winter
As responsible citizens, we care for our neighbors and this extends to being caring and considerate of our cat citizens.
Grit Salt on Ice
Avoid using grit salts to de-ice your road, salts contain harmful chemicals that are toxic to kitties. Cats walk over salt on icy roads, leading them to eventually lick their paws during grooming sessions. Ingestion eventually leads to many health complications that can end in loss of life. If use of grit salt is unavoidable, plan where to lay it and avoid any usual feeding or resting spots cats frequent.
Keep Cats Away from Antifreeze
Antifreeze, is known to consist mostly of Ethylene Glycol. This compound is highly potent is just as toxic to animals. Ingestion of just small amounts can cause immediate health damage, fatality is possible if not treated immediately.
Drive Safe
Winter months make driving conditions difficult, stopping distances increase and visibility can be obscured by bad weather and less daylight hours means you will most likely be driving in darkness. Take extra care to check every corner of you before setting off, cats will seek sources of warmth during these cold and hard times. It’s not uncommon for a wandering cat to find shelter beneath warm car engines, which is in fact a dangerous location for anyone to be resting. Some cats may even find their way to into the engine space itself, keep a keen ear when driving around and stop at any abnormality sounds for a check.
Feed Street Cats Safely
Feeding stray and feral cats from a distance is a much appreciated gesture of care. Feeding them in a safe and dedicated space will make sure they get the food and drink they need without being expose to other dangers. Continue to use the same designated space to show cats that their nutritious goodness can be found at this safe spot, they will eventually turn up when they need food, limiting time on the roads in the cold, sourcing food. Regularly check food or water hasn’t frozen and bowls are made from appropriate materials that won’t split and break in the cold.
Provide a Safe Sanctuary
It’s our dream to provide a safe sanctuary that cats can freely visit in tougher times. When freezing temperatures arrive, cats will most likely need to face harmful cases of frostbite and eventual death. If you’re able to open a space that will provide warmth and security for stray cats, their chances of survival in winter will dramatically increase. Meow!
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Though there are lots of automatic cat toys, cats are social animals and will enjoy your company the most. Simple interactive cat toys can build and enhance the relationship between you and your cat. Let’s have a look at the latest Interactive cat toys of 2019.
Cat teaser wand a common favorite toy, they come in many different styles. Cats go wild, chasing the ends of the wand with enthusiasm. A simple cat wand can promote a healthy relationship between you and your cat, bringing you both lots of fun and exercise.
When buying a cat teaser wand, look for choices that feature a bell or tassel, this will make it easier to grab your cat's attention. Wand material of the cat wand should be soft and safe. It’s best to avoid loose feathers when playing with young kittens.
There is ‘Whack a Mole’ toy for cats! Whack a mole cat toy for cats is very popular choice in 2019. A simple wooden cat toy not only stimulates your cat's hunting nature and curiosity, but also bring you joy and satisfaction! You can play this game with your cat, or train your cat to play by themselves.
Your cat will make you laugh when they play this interactive game. Some cat owners have said they have way too much with this toy, it’s almost addictive!
If you don't want your furniture being clawed at by your fur baby, a cat scratching post is a must-have toy. The traditional cat scratch post is a simple carton board, in a short period of playtime it will be reduced to confetti and will be all over the house not long after.
Now in 2019, we have new and cool cat scratch board toys for cats. This Furrytail Brand Cloud Scratching post is an innovative and aesthetic design that gives a cat their scratching fix along with some fun.
The cat scratching board is enclosed within a track that holds a small ball with bell inside. The cat scratching board in the middle allows cats to play and relax. Debris caused by clawing will fall into the track and keep your room tidy and clean.
Silvervine is similar to catnip, when a cat smells the wooden scent that it carries, they will show much excitement. Silvervine also functions as a dental cleaning tool, cats can clean their teeth when biting. They feel at ease with this wood and natural scent.
The Silvervine Catnip Ball is a perfect combination of Silvervine and catnip, the outer layer is silvervine, housing a catnip ball in the center. Watch your cat go crazy with joy when they play with this ball!
5. Cat tunnel
Have you found that no matter what kind of cat bed you buy for your cat, they tend to go off and sleep in other bizarre vacant spaces? Cat tunnels are a perfect solution to this issue! Cats are naturally curious about enclosed spaces such as tunnels. A cute cat Tunnel bed can be used not only as a cat toy, but also as a warm cat bed as they feel secure in the enclosed space.
Cats love fish, especially fish that can flop. A wagging fish toy is a perfect gift for your active cat. This fish toy will stimulate your cat’s natural instincts for fun and adventurous fun as it dances around with your kitty.Made from soft plush material for fun and safe play session. Each fish comes with catnip inside which is sure to catch your cat’s attention every time!
7. Tissue paper
Cats love the more simple pleasures in life. Aside from Cardboard boxes, another toy that makes cats go crazy is tissue paper. Yes, you didn't misread. Scrunching a piece of tissue paper into a ball to play with your cat can yield hours of exciting playtime. Have you followed this simple and easy-to-follow cat toy tutorial yet?
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It’s a difficult period for all around the world with the recent coronavirus epidemic, COVID-19. For our pet lovers around the world we wanted to talk about daily living with your dog and the current state of the environment. Going out of the house just isn’t feasible in some parts of the world right now. Aside from our own safety, we will need to consider the physical needs of our canine companions at home. Going for regular walks is essential, especially for larger dogs who need space to move around in. If you’re planning to take your dog out for a walk, extra attention needs to be given to hygiene and safety. Let’s take a look at a few simple yet effective methods to safely walk your dog during a viral outbreak.
Can pets get infected?
The World Health Organization has stated, “While there has been one instance of a dog being infected in Hong Kong, to date, there is no evidence that a dog, cat or any pet can transmit COVID-19. COVID-19 is mainly spread through droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or speaks. To protect yourself, clean your hands frequently and thoroughly.”
There is no evidence that cats and dogs can transmit coronavirus to humans, it’s recommended that pets also observe a period of social distancing just as humans. It’s a perfect time to stay home and bond with your pet.
If you want to walk your dog, in addition to wearing a mask yourself, be sure to clean your dogs or cats thoroughly after returning home. Observing high levels of hygiene will be the best method in preventing viral infection.
What do you need to prepare for your dog walking?
Walking your dog is simple, so long as you’re prepared. Take along a Dog leash, poop collection bag and some hand sanitizer for good measure. If your walking route is usually crowded, letting your dog wear a piece of weatherproof apparel or other clothing may protect most of their body from coming into contact with pathogens. Clothing can quickly be removed and put aside for disinfection upon returning home.
How can I walk my dog safely during an epidemic?
Protect yourself and your pup, fasten your dog’s leash and double check that it is secure. Controlling the walking path is important and you should avoid letting your dog rummaging around trash cans and walking in tall grass. Keep moving to avoid letting your pup sniff the ground too much where suspect fluids may be lingering. Avoid walking routes that will be congested with people or other dogs to reduce probability of cross-infection.
Once your dog has had an adequate walk and perhaps relived itself, promptly head home. Don’t forget to pick up after your dog and be sure to dispose of any unsanitary items safely. Washing your hands is one of the most effective ways to avoid viral infection, use soap and take your time to thoroughly clean your hands. You might want to sing a song or two to pass the time!
Cleaning Your Dog After a Walk
With a highly infectious virus looming around our streets, keeping the home in a sanitary state is the top priority. Protect yourself, pets, family and especially those who are young or elderly through a strict cleaning protocol. Virus carried from the outdoors is a serious matter, prevention is the only course of action. We recommend bathing your dog in a pet friendly antibacterial shampoo, spending time to wash all areas. Your dog(s) should not be allowed to roam around the house upon returning from a walk, it’s a straight pathway to the washroom for cleaning.
Don’t forget to clean your dog’s leash, muzzle and other dog walking accessories you may have taken out with you. A sufficient cleaning fluid, commonly alcohol-based should be used to disinfect these items, allow them to dry in a well-ventilated area and store for future use.
It might be a little hard to get into those little corners of our pets paws, for those hard to reach place you should sterilize your dog’s paw. DIY homemade sterile gauze can be made using alcohol. Alcohol evaporates in minutes; however, we don’t recommend use of alcohol to carry out sterilizing, some substances may be toxic and this approach should only be taken under guidance from your vet. Woof!
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Sudden Jump Scares
Cats are docile and sensitive to their environments The world is big and cats stay vigilant at all times for their own safety and survival Frightening your cat inflicts stress which can yield harmful results in the way of urinary issues caused by damage to the kidneys. Nobody wants to intentionally harm their cat, but actions have consequences and it’s best to be aware and love your cat in all possible ways.
Cat Cheese Challenge - Throwing a cheese slice on cat
Are Cats Afraid of Heights?
The saying “Cats have 9 lives”, is nonsense and as respectable pet keepers we value our precious cats with much love and adoration. When caring for your kitty, it’s important to consider the risks and hazards at home. Many owners are not cognizant of the dangers of simply leaving a window open and this becomes increasingly fatal at elevated heights. Cats are agile but they are not immortal, and they are sure to suffer a painful fate should they slip and fall from a ledge.
Cats falling from a ground level window have a relatively low chance or mortality but beyond the second-floor height, injury and death are very possible. Cats cannot defy the laws of physics and gravity will cause damage no matter what. Leaving your window open at height is dangerous and a risk not worth taking. Cats are intelligent and curious, and they will approach opportunities to explore. We have seen firsthand the mishaps of a window being left open and a cat suffering a fatal fall, we are considerate of everyone’s circumstances and decisions at home but prevention without compromise is our preferred approach.
Giving Your Cat Candy
Candy is sweet, thick and has texture that might interest your cat. You might want to share a delicious sugary sweet, packed with chemicals for your cats to gnaw on but the resulting mess and hazards are not worth this gesture of sharing. Cats cannot process the same foods as humans, and we recommend investing in healthy and nutritious cat treats. Homemade snacks are perhaps the best option!
Walking Your Cat
If you have an indoor domestic cat that has remained indoors for most of its life, you may suddenly desire to go on a walk together. Unfortunately, cats who have remained indoors for most of their lives without exposure from a young age can become hypersensitive to outdoor walking. It becomes a stressful activity that induces panic and overall displeasure.
Your cat will visibly show its approval or horror once taken outside. It’s best to consider your fur baby’s mental state and refrain from going outdoors for walks if they cannot adjust. A harness is essential and cats who flee in a panic can be lost for long periods of time or permanently. It’s a tough world out there and domestic cats who get lost outdoors will not survive for long.
Letting Your Cat Have Some Flower Power
Flowers are a great way to freshen up a house but it’s important to consider the risks that real flowers introduce to your cat companion at home. Pollen in flowers can induce allergies in cats, not to mention the risk in your cat taking a sizeable chomp out of one of your plants. Ingestion of toxic plants such as tulips, daffodils and others can cause poisoning. Resulting issues include internal organ damage, vomiting and other harmful reactions. An artificial choice will still provide an aesthetic change at home, if fresh flowers are a must, they should be in an area not accessible by cats.
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The great outdoors brings excitement and much needed exercise for your dog. Going for a walk is a daily activity most owners will enjoy with their dogs and a breath of fresh air is always welcome. Dogs don’t wear socks, shoes or any of the sort and their paws will no doubt encounter dust, dirt and any other forms of unsanitary particles. Best practice for keeping your fur friend clean and healthy is to clean their paws immediately upon return home.
Dog paws are bare and exposed outside and cleaning serves a number of benefits to both your dog and home. Removal of dirt will eradicate bacteria that can infect your dog, this is especially important to remove before allowing your pup to roam freely around the house. Spreading of dirt and bacteria around the home is to be avoided at all costs. Be sure to check your dog’s body and paws for any signs of injury that will need some special care to prevent infection.
How do I clean my dog’s paws after going out for a walk?
Assessing the level of dirt picked up by your dog should be done through close visual inspection. Finding loose particles of dirt can be wiped away with a dry or wet towel. Sometimes a muddy puddle or two can leave quite the mess and a towel just won’t cut it. It’s time to prepare an appropriately sized basin of warm water. Apply a minimal amount of dog shampoo and work into a lather and wash off. It’s essential to make sure all shampoo is washed out as dogs will lick and groom themselves shortly after. Dry your pup’s paws thoroughly using a towel and blow dry if needed, this will help to prevent potential inflammatory skin disease.
When it comes to water, dogs have a mixed bag of feelings towards anything aquatic. Regardless of using a damp towel or a basin full of water, expect some resistance. If you’re having trouble cleaning your dog’s paws, consider using cleaning tools for an easier time and better quality of life for you and your dog. Pet cleaning foam is a better alternative to shampoo for washing convenience and an automatic dog paw washer can speed up the cleaning considerably. Use this tool by gently putting your pet’s paw into the washing cup, the device will automatically rotate the soft silicone bristles to wash and clean paws quickly and efficiently.
How do I make my dog’s paws even cleaner?
Going the extra step or mile to ensure your dog has the cleanest paws to prevent bacteria spread is a worthwhile endeavor. Bacteria can latch onto long hair fibers and you might think that keeping your dog’s hair shorter in these areas would support hygiene, however, this isn’t the case entirely. Keeping hair around your dog’s paws serves as a self-form of cleaning as fibers trap remove dirt lodged between their paws. They also prevent dirt particles from seeping too deep. Keeping their fur and claws clean is important, make sure to regularly check claw length and condition, trimming them when needed.
Keeping your home in a sanitary state is a priority, especially when a young child or baby is in the household. Bacteria carried from the outdoors can be a serious matter, contamination and infection is possible and needs to be prevented. Cleaning and applying antibacterial shampoo is an effective way to eradicate bacteria and prevent infection at home.
In emergency situations, you may need to sterilize an area of your dog’s paw. A DIY homemade sterile gauze can be made using alcohol. Alcohol promptly applied in minimal amounts can kill bacteria effectively but this should be avoided as much as possible. Alcohol evaporates in minutes, however, we don’t recommend use of alcohol to carry out sterilizing, some substances may be toxic and this approach should only be taken under guidance from your vet. Woof!
It’s time to check out another beloved breed in the cat world, this time we have the elegant and adorable Chinchilla in the cat spotlight.
Chinchilla cats have rapidly become one of the world’s most popular cat breeds. They have unique identifiable traits and are known to be a cat of luxury and certainly look the part. Their beautifully long fur coat accompanied by diamond like eyes that shine in various colors make this cat a beauty to behold. Let’s take a look at some of the special features and requirements of this fancy beauty, the Chinchilla cat.
Chinchilla Cat’s Inception
Not to be confused with the Chinchilla rodent, this cat is related to the Persian cat family and is a product of selective breeding that sought to establish a new breed. This breed has been successfully maintained since its conception and is recognized by numerous cat associations. Featuring an almost flamboyant coat, they are soft and fluffy all round. Continuous and controlled breeding would eventually realize the desired traits within this cat and a benchmark standard created.
Place of Origin
Hailing from jolly England in the late 1880’s, this was the birthplace of the original Chinchilla breed. Since then, its popularity has grown exponentially, reaching all corners of the world. Variation within this breed has been observed as the genetic pool has naturally expanded through selective breeding. While these variations are very similar in appearance and features, the vanilla and most pure Chinchillas are from England.
The Fancy and Fabulous Look
Beautiful and adorable, is how we would describe our Chinchilla friends. Their longhair coats create a balanced form that makes them appear cloudlike and chubby. Fluffy coats are just that however, and this cat is not known to be on the larger side of the feline cat scale. Their long and thick hair envelopes their entire body, almost becoming cloud like in form. Even its ears can be encompassed in this shroud of hair, they are like miniature clouds from the sky walking around your house. We love the Chinchilla tail, it’s short yet wispy with volume.
The Smart One
Chinchillas are regarded as an intelligent cat that displays great aptitude for learning new habits and understanding situations. Their bodies are small yet sturdy as they carry themselves with a gentle composure. Life is calm and collected in the way of the Chinchilla and we love their docile attitude to general living. Owners and cats can feel proud as this cat carries itself with pride, keeping itself clean and often standing out from a group of other cats. If you have other cats at home, you may notice something a little special about the Chinchilla that goes beyond just visual appearance. With loving personality, we think they are a perfect family choice for a home.
Some Considerations When Getting a Chinchilla Cat
Chinchilla cats are cuddly and charming, whether you are gifted, adopt or buy, there are a few things to know when opening your home to this specific cat. Understanding its needs are an essential requirement and its best to think about whether you and your household can be committed to offering all the necessary resources to fulfil this cat’s needs.
As with most other long hair breeds, Chinchilla cats will require a regular and frequent grooming routine. Failure to do so will lead to matting, which can tighten and harden around the skin, causing major discomfort. Keeping this cat clean is a priority as dirt and other particles can lodge themselves deep within a coat, spending time to inspect and bathe when required will help to lower the chance of infection around the skin.
Aside from regular grooming, accepting the level of loose hair spreading around your home is a natural part of Chinchilla keeping. Cats groom often and their long hair will continuously shed throughout the year, perhaps even more when a coat change is needed. During malting season this can reach significant levels with hair particles flying through the air, on the sofa and across the floor. Managing this is important and it’s best to think about this issue beforehand.
Beautiful eyes need tender care. Chinchilla eyes glisten and shimmer but without proper care, tear eye problems can be caused. Eye health is important in cats and specific attention to diet is required to make sure that sufficient nutrients are provided. When feeding foods that contain high sodium, excess tearing may occur. A balanced and healthy diet will help to keep their eyes and coat in pristine condition. If your cat is experiencing eye problems, be sure to wipe away any discharge and seek advice from your vet as soon as possible.
]]>Getting close to your dog is part of every owner’s joy and daily activity. We love to cuddle and snuggle with our pups but for some, a slobbering welcome can be a little troublesome when seeking some quality time with your canine companion. No matter the size and breed of your dog, they are likely to greet you with enthusiasm and maybe with a little added drool. Drooling can tell you a lot about what’s going on with your dog and should not be taken lightly. Let’s have a look at the significance of dog drool and why it’s important to monitor drool levels.
Drooling levels can vary between dog breeds. Smaller dogs tend to drool less than bigger dogs and jaw structure also influences volume of saliva. Various lines of bulldogs are known to drool more and it can be indicative of numerous things.
Dogs are emotional friends that will often express joy, hunger and fear. When greeting your pup with a tasty treat, it’s perfectly normal to observe elevated levels of saliva. Just like us humans, it’s a natural reaction to a piqued appetite.
Drooling helps to maintain homeostasis within the body. It acts as additional heat dissipation that primarily relies on the respiratory system. If you’ve just been out on an adventure, exercise will require some form of heat release. Increased breathing is often accompanied by an open mouth, panting along with increased drool to support this cooling process.
Research reveals that dog saliva contains antibacterial properties and is capable of fighting off various pathogens. An increased level of drooling in your dog may be a sign of invading foreign bodies that it's trying to fight off. It’s important to monitor this to ensure adequate hydration levels are maintained.
Saliva carries an important role in both humans and animals. It assists dogs in initial digestion processes as enzymes interact with food, facilitating easier eating and entry into the oesophagus. It doubles up as a buffer for healthy dental care, maintaining a slight yet consistent alkalinity in the mouth. Foul smells and increased saliva production is a sign that immediate care should given by a pet health professional.
If you notice that your dog has been drooling excessively for an extended period of time that is not related to previously mentioned reasons, a closer assessment is needed. A swift visit to your vet will be the best course of action to gain an accurate report of what is causing excess saliva. They will of course provide the most effective of form of treatment to set your pup back on course for recovery.
We often check for any signs of oral disease including gingivitis as bacterial build up over time is common. Diet and hygiene is especially important in dental care and we regularly brush our dog’s teeth to keep their teeth and gums clean and healthy. It also sets a habit for us to check for any injuries that would otherwise be unseen such gum damage, teeth fractures or foreign items lodged somewhere.
Stress can also induce elevated levels of drool and it’s best to figure out if your dog is experiencing some form of unease at home. Remedying this through removal of the source of stress is advised, we like to keep our dogs happy and safe at home. Bark!
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Age Isn’t Just a Number
Age is a crucial part of the introduction process between animals and should even be considered if looking after the same species of animal. Whether you have a wise senior dog or a juvenile kitty, introducing a new pet in the household will generally work out better with younger animals.
Pairing a new kitten and older dog may be a preferable combination when planning your cohabiting pet lifestyle. Young kittens are immature and have plenty of room to learn. Early introduction will allow you to sculpt their behavior and integrate them into a harmonious lifestyle with their peers at home. Kittens will generally be below the age of 12 months, ages beyond this period will have matured to a point where new behaviors will be challenging to shape.
It’s possible to see success with a mature cat at home too, but we suggest bringing a small and young puppy home as soon as possible. This is an uphill challenge that needs much monitoring and assistance. Introducing a puppy to an adult cat is considerably more difficult and a peaceful relationship will heavily rely on the temperament of the puppy, which is harder to shape to suit an adult cat.
Taking it Slow
Introduction between cats and dogs is a delicate and slow process. It’s a stressful time that needs plenty of monitoring and strategy in place to deal with issues. Timing and patience are everything and acclimation can take days to weeks. A new environment, family and animal friends is much to handle. Strategic introduction over time will help instill curiosity into both your animals as they familiarize with each other indirectly.
Living arrangements should initially be segregated without any direct meetings. Allowing exploration and entry of living quarters will help accelerate this process. Take your dogs for walks and let your cat roam around the house to build confidence and intrigue. After a couple of weeks it will be time to carry out supervised interactions. Starting off with slow and closely monitored meetings between both pets to assess reception from both parties. Once a steady relationship has been observed, their bond will grow over time to allow free living with one another. It’s the start of a beautiful family that will look out for one another.
Chemistry Matters
Clash of personalities can lead to dire consequences. We want to keep our pets happy and safe, allowing for stress free co-living. Temperament is often dictated in the gene pool of a breed and should be considered in both cats and dogs. Consider both of your kitty and pup and discern if their personalities will match. Energetic dog breeds may be stressful to docile natured cats, you should seek chemistry that will not provoke hostility between the pair.
Harmony Indoors
Some might want to create independence between cats and dogs, segregating their living arrangements. Keeping your cat indoors and dog outdoors to avoid fights is a measure some owners take. This approach is detrimental to relationship building that is important between the pair. It cultivates an environment where the cat feels it resides alone inside, claiming territory against any intruder. Setting precedence between your kitty and pup as long term strangers is to be avoided and it’s encouraged that cats and dogs should live together in the same space. Harmony will blossom from continuous cohabiting as mutual understanding is achieved through learning and playing. This bond should strengthen as time goes on.
Allow Room for Independence
Just as humans need space for some alone time, animals should have access to personal refuge in the house. A generous space indoors is recommended to allow animals to differentiate between their personal living arrangements. Cats will prefer an undisturbed litter area and use of appropriate litter boxes that are secure from curious pooches will be useful in this living scenario.
Feeding your animals can be done together but it’s best to sufficiently separate these feeding arrangements to avoid consumption of each other’s food. Feeding time shouldn’t be congested and a little room will be appreciated by both your cat and dog, your kitty more so. Cats are solitary at times and will need their own times of peace and quiet when they desire it. This isn’t just to get away from their canine companion, it is a general accommodation that should be provided by all cat owners. Be sure to provide an out of reach area for your cat to get some well-deserved rest.
]]>“Onion / Spring Onion / Garlic”
There are many kinds of onions: ground, raw, boiled, and dehydrated. All varieties can cause anemia in cats due to their effects on red blood cells, dried onion powder has the same effect. Onion powder may be more common than you may think and is even found in baby food.
If your cat ingests a small doe of onion or garlic, there shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but large amounts can be problematic. Garlic and shallots which are in the same family will cause undesirable symptoms including stomach cramping vomiting.
“Milk / Other dairy products”
Do you feed your cat a small dish of milk or a piece of cheese as a treat? Contrary to popular assumption, most cats suffer from lactose intolerance, and their digestive system can't handle dairy products. If given to them, they will be unable to digest dairy, resulting in diarrhea.
“Alcohol”
Beer, spirits, wine, and alcohol in your food are not good for your cat. Like humans, alcohol can affect the liver and brain of a cat, it could even be lethal. 2 teaspoons of whiskey will stun a 5-pound cat. An extra teaspoon is enough to cause fatality.
“Grape / Raisin”
Grapes and raisins are often used to feed pets, without consideration of the damages it can cause. These foods will cause their kidneys to weaken. Even a small amount will make them sick, causing repetitive vomiting. While some cats may not show symptoms of illness, it is best to avoid giving these foods altogether.
“Coffee”
Copious amounts of coffee ingested by a cat can be fatal without any remedy. Various signs will present themselves when caffeine poisoning occurs, including; shortness of breath, heart palpitations, muscle tremors, and paralysis. Caffeine is commonly found in tea and coffee, including coffee beans and coffee powder.
“Chocolate”
Chocolate is another food that can be deadly in large amount. While cats will not normally choose to feed on any type of chocolate, misguided owners or visitors may mistakenly feed. The poisonous agent in chocolate is theobromine. This chemical is included in all chocolate types. Sugar-free, unbaked chocolate or dark chocolates are potent and fast acting. Cats will experience abnormal heart rhythm, trembles, epilepsy and even death.
“Chewing gum/candy”
Candy, chewing gum, toothpaste, baked goods, and some weight loss foods have xylitol. Xylitol causes an increase of insulin flow in the cat's body, causing a cat's blood sugar to drop. Xylitol also causes liver damage. Symptoms include vomiting, somnolence, and inconsistency. Some cats will suffer from epileptic symptoms after ingestion, liver damage will occur within a few days.
“Bone/fat”
Leftovers on the table often contain high fat and brittle bones. Fats and bones can be dangerous foods for felines. Cooked food and raw fat can cause intestinal discomfort, vomiting and diarrhea. Brittle and broken bones can cause a cat's digestive system to become blocked or damaged.
“Raw eggs”
Eggs can be a healthy source of protein but uncooked raw eggs carry a level of risk. Possible presence salmonella or E. coli will poison a cat. Raw eggs carry a white protein called avidin, which interferes with the absorption of B vitamin biotin. This can cause skin problems as well as cat hair problems.
“Raw fish / raw meat”
Raw meat and raw fish, like raw eggs, contain bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Raw fish also contain an enzyme that destroys thiamine, which is important for your cat’s health. Lack of thiamine can cause serious neurological problems and lead to convulsions and coma.
“Dog food”
Occasionally some dog food will not hurt your cat when supplied in emergency. However, dog food is not a substitute for cat food. They have many of the same ingredients, but cat food is specially formulated for feline dietary requirements, including more protein, certain vitamins and fatty acids. Continuous feeding of inappropriate food to your cat can cause weight loss and other consequences.
“Liver”
A small amount of liver given to a cat should pose no problem, but excessive amounts may cause vitamin A poisoning. This can seriously affect your cat's bones. Symptoms include skeletal deformities, growth of the elbow and spine, and osteoporosis. Vitamin A poisoning can also cause death.
“Human medicine”
Human drugs are one of the most common sources of erroneous ingestion leading to cat poisoning. As one would treat a child, putting all the medicine in a place that can’t be reached by a cat is important. Never let your cat eat any OTC medicine unless specific drugs have been prescribed by a vet. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen is a common analgesic and cold medicine ingredient, but it can also be fatal.
“Kitchen: cats and dogs can't enter”
There are many common foods on the kitchen shelf that can damage your cat’s health. Keep food in a place that cats can't reach, and lock all kitchen cabinet doors, which will help protect your pet from dangerous food.
What should I do if a cat eats a dangerous food?
No matter how cautious you are, accidents can happen. Immediate medical help from your vet should be sought after, a call to your local veterinarian followed by an immediate emergency visit. If you think your cat has consumed anything toxic, seek emergency help.
What should a cat eat?
Cats are carnivores and need to eat meat. Your veterinarian understands the biology of your cat and the foods that can provide ample nutrition. Following your vet’s advice and consulting food labels will help to ensure that your cat's diet is balanced. Occasionally serving cooked boneless beef or brown rice can also be a good snack for cats with a modest serving size.
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One case sees a 16-year-old boy undergo reconstruction surgery to correct a severe facial deformity in the hospital. Complication arise when the patient suffers from cardiac arrest on the operating table. He experiences various symptoms including skin poisoning, vomiting, liver failure, intracranial hypertension, and was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, with eventual rescue.
The other episode sees a girl experiencing post-surgery allergies after undergoing a heart transplant. She felt suffocated while chatting with her boyfriend and was taken immediately to the hospital. Investigation unveiled damage to the immune system, drug allergies, sudden heart failure, physical paralysis and respiratory paralysis.
In an extremely urgent situation, House unscrupulously found ticks hidden in the girl's body with consequential diagnosis of tick paralysis, allowing for swift treatment and rescue.
Why do these two cases capture the attention of pet owners? The common cause of the afflicted disease is caused by the same bug-- ticks.
These dramatized episodes are extreme cases in humans and are relatively rare, but ticks are indeed a common threat to cats and dogs at home!
Victims of pets:
Common tick species:
Ticks expand up to 20 times their original size after sucking blood.
How fast / large can ticks grow? Understanding visually:
How serious are tick bites?
Ticks parasitize most living mammals including humans, cats, and dogs, sucking blood from their surfaces. Toxins are released simultaneously, causing pain, dermatitis, anemia, weight loss, paralysis, and in extreme cases, cause serious health problems such as tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme disease, and Babesia.
Lyme disease may lead to localized erythema and pimples on the skin of the patient, gradually developing into round skin lesions, accompanied by symptoms such as headache, fever, and muscle and joint pain. If not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner, it may lead to neuritis, chronic atrophic myoedermatitis, etc., and pose a threat to heart health. Various accompanying symptoms may manifest throughout the course of the patient’s life if not treated.
Famous singer Avril Lavigne also suffered from Lyme disease. In five years of fighting against Lyme disease, her career and life were seriously affected.
How do ticks get to cats and dogs?
Ticks are two main categories of ticks, soft ticks and hard ticks. Among them, hard ticks usually hide in plants during the daytime and use their special mouthparts to penetrate the skin of passing dogs, cats and even humans.
Soft ticks living in animal nests or crevices wait for the night to suck blood as a vampire would. Due to the small size of ticks (it may be only 2mm when no blood is sucked), pet owners may be confused as to why there are no visible signs of these parasites due their miniscule size and nocturnal feeding.
Where do ticks usually bite?
Nowhere is safe, the whole body (even humans) are a buffet dinner for tick bites. Affected areas are normally in the neck and head area.
Precaution For pet
Cats: Avoid outdoor keeping of household cats, and try to keep them strictly indoors;
Dogs: Use a dog leash when going out to avoid playing in the grass, trees, and contact with stray animals in the wild that may be infected.
If you cannot avoid your cat or dog encountering grass and trees, it’s recommended:
1. Use a spray containing non-pironi (such as Flynn) to spray the legs, feet, lower abdomen, head and other exposed body parts before going out (note: except under special circumstances, it cannot be used for cats);
2. Try to stay away from areas with thick grass and dead leaves;
3. After going out, thoroughly check the whole body of your pet before going home.
Some of you may ask:
Are tick sprays the only solution, can I use drops instead? Is oral medicine useful?
These drugs can be used for the prevention and treatment of ticks. However, due to different mechanisms of action, ticks will not be killed or expelled until they start to suck blood and come into contact with the drug. Drops and oral medications tend to be suited for daily regular use to maintain their effectiveness in the sebaceous glands.
Sprays have an immediate effect, they are intended for single use prevention, supporting the use of regular deworming.
Precaution For Human
When playing in wild and urban green environment, especially after rain, try to wear light-colored tight-fitting long pants and trousers instead of shorts and short skirts. Thoroughly check your whole body before entering your home.
What to do if I find ticks on my pet?
The best method is to go directly to the vet for treatment. Do not simply remove or crush the visible ticks by hand, The stimulation of forced tick removal will increase their saliva or harmful contents in the digestive tract, increasing the risk of infection. Tick bites need to be strategically remove without forcibly dislodging the bites that have been lodged to the skin surface.
If an immediate visit to the vet is not possible, handling tick bites at home is possible, but consultation over the phone for advice and direction from a vet is essential.
** Even with tweezers, forceful removal will cause the tick mouthparts to break, remaining in or tearing the skin, causing inflammation!
This is a gadget that specializes in pulling ticks
Thoroughly disinfect pet wounds after removing ticks, soak and seal ticks in alcohol to kill them. Do not throw away immediately, in case your pet has a harmful reaction, the offending tick can be taken to the veterinarian, which will help to make a definitive diagnosis. Always observe your pet’s response.
Usually tick-borne diseases have an incubation period of 3-30 days. After removing ticks that are visible to the naked eye, use of drops, oral medications, systemic sprays or medicated baths as soon as possible for systemic deworming are recommended.
Ticks do not suck blood immediately after latching on to an animal. It takes 4-6 hours to find a suitable blood-sucking site, so body spray or medicated baths are effective ways to instantly kill body ticks; Some drops or sprays can quickly enter blood circulation to reach an effective blood drug concentration before the tick starts to suck blood.
It’s worth remembering that deworming medicines such as dimethypam in medicated baths are usually more toxic and need to be handled with caution in hospitals. Cats are not allowed to use dimethypam.
After removing the ticks, observe whether there are similar red spots on the pet’s skin surface.
Don’t hesitate to act once you find a sore red spot on your pets’ body or any of the following suspected symptoms!
Symptoms of tick infection in pets:
Immediately seek medical attention at your local vet.
Spring, summer and autumn are tick-prone seasons. Their threat to the health of cats and dogs cannot be underestimated, and may even affect the health of family members and friends living together. Parents must be vigilant!
Giving freedom to the outdoors is wonderful for your pet but the threat of a vampire tick invasion is not to be taken lightly, every exposure in the outdoors increases the likelihood for a tick infestation. If your animal is kept indoors the risks are reduced significantly but ticks latch onto humans too and constant surveillance is required to remedy the situation should one arise.
Always remember:
Regular Deworming is key! Prevention is above all else!
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