EVERYDAY CAT CARE

Its clear as day to me that the readers of Catnip love their cats dearly. It resonates in the letters and Emails we receive each month, sometimes with adorable photos attached. Occasionally, a letter will include a reference to a beloved cat long gone - which isnt surprising to me because the bond we share with the extra-special ones can certainly live within our hearts for a lifetime. …

Are you headed to Graceland this summer, but the thought of leaving your feline friend behind is giving you the blues? No need to check in to the Heartbreak Hotel just yet. The U.S. Travel Association reports that over 49 percent of American leisure travelers consider their pet to be part of the family, and that 18 percent take them along when they travel. …

Former North Texas pet sitter Cathy Phillips relates that after caring for hundreds of animals over her 12-year career, the experience she remembers most vividly is being ambushed by a clients cat during a visit to the home. She initially found him hiding under the bed, but says he then pounced on her as she was about to open the front door to leave. …

After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the Boston Athletic Association, which puts on the event, organized a series of therapeutic debriefings for volunteers at a local hotel. Therapy cats are particularly suited to such situations.

A pile of cat feces in the corner of the dining room, urine-soaked carpets in a guest room closet - such discoveries get too many cats kicked outdoors for good, or surrendered to shelters. But it doesnt have to be that way. In their scrub-desert habitats in northern Africa, our cats ancestors buried their waste in the ubiquitous soft, sandy soil. Most cats take readily to a properly-prepared substitute for the desert sands: a litter box.

If youre interested, and your cat has a good disposition, heres how to explore pet therapy: First, visit the Pet Partners website (petpartners.org) for more information. Find your state or a nearby state, locate an affiliate group, and contact it to see if training is available. Training sessions are generally eight hours long, often held on Sundays, and are fun interactive workshops with stuffed animals for practice. They are offered three or four times a year. The cost…

Paying a relatively low monthly insurance premium can help you leave cost out of the equation when your cat is facing a life-threatening illness that might be prohibitively expensive to treat out-of-pocket. I cant quite remember all the details, Harry Winter says, but Simone was suddenly getting sicker and sicker, and my wife and I dreaded taking her to the veterinarian because we knew we didnt have the money to treat her. …

Recently, I was doing some weeding in my garden when I heard a familiar female voice calling, Jackie! Jackie! Jackie! I knew that this was the nickname (spoken with a slight French accent) of one of the cats that lives next door. I quickly caught up to Suzanne, my neighbor, who was frantically searching up and down the block for her missing cat, Jack. The elderly orange-and-white fellow apparently made a dash out of the slow-closing…

Car sickness, an affliction marked chiefly by an animals inability to ride in an automobile for any length of time without becoming physically ill, psychologically disoriented, or both, affects a high percentage - perhaps as many as half - of all household cats in the U.S. In some cases, the disorder and its alarming manifestations may be caused by a fleeting disturbance of a cats vestibular system - the complex array of nerves and other…

Dangerous holiday decorations. The pretty and festive adornments on your Christmas tree can pose a serious danger to your cat. Tinsel and other small ornaments can be very enticing - and potentially fatal if swallowed. The same can be said for tantalizing ribbon on packages under the tree. Stability of Christmas tree. Surprise, surprise! Cats who climb Christmas trees often bring them down. This can result in a big mess, many broken ornaments and possibly damage…

Among all external feline parasites, the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis felis) is by far the most common, and the presence of these minute critters - vast numbers of them - in a cats fur and on the animals skin is very likely to be exceedingly uncomfortable. Still worse, flea bites can cause such severe,persistent scratching that the skin becomes abraded and vulnerable to infection. …

There are only two ways to counter flea infestation and its impact on your cats health, says Dr. Stone. First, of course, you must rid your cat of the insect. Second, you must do your best to get the little creatures out of your home and away from your outdoor property - an effort requiring your meticulous attention and probably the services of a professional exterminator. Here are a few things that you can do…