a magazine of cat tales | ISSN: 2769-058X
For any cats, treats are those items they don’t need to help them stay alive. They are those food items which they like to have and may claim they never got them when you ask them. They are small bite size pieces and cats never need much or they could gain weight as many humans can. Treats are something cats like to have when they’re available, but they can get tired of them if they get them too often or too much of them at any time.
Dry food refers to the common food cats get when they live indoors with humans. The food is processed and is small bite size pieces of food. For any vegetarian, the food smells awful, but cats tend to love it because of the high animal content. Dry food is also referred to as crunchies because of all the crunching cats do when eating this food.
For a cat, wet food is a wonderful food treat. The good stuff has plenty of meat to get them excited as soon as they smell it. A human pops the lid off and the cat goes crazy until they can have it just below their mouth. Then they chow down. Depending upon whether they have trouble with their teeth or digestive trouble, wet food could be a necessity so the cat won’t go hungry. Usually, it’s just a treat compared to their regular food they eat.
I’ve noticed when I give wet food to the cats I live with, they tend to clean their teeth more than when they eat dry food. I find that a good thing when cats have complained whenever I’ve tried to brush their teeth.
Cats need shallow bowls to eat out of. It prevents them from getting too dirty while they eat or even just drink water. I suppose plates could do just as well for food, but not for water. Usually cats have bowls for food and water. It seems to be the easiest for their human caretakers to deal with when providing cats with food and water.
Usually the cats I live with don’t tend to get fat when I leave out plenty of food for them. They tend to exercise and of course play quite often. So, I’ve never had to deal with overweight cats.
It doesn’t matter to a cat whether you call their toilet a litter box or a litter tray. A litter box or tray can be a simple as a rectangular low plastic box filled with litter. Some are enclosed so the cat can have privacy. I’ve even seen one that was huge and had stairs so the cat could go down into the litter and walk back up to get out of it. There are some which self clean after the cat is done.
There are many options and it makes me wonder what cats think about those options. I’ve never had one request a fancy self cleaning one because they usually like the job I do when cleaning out their boxes everyday.
Litter can be gritty. It’s usually a form of sand or even pine or ground up wheat or corn. It’s purpose is to absorb cat wastes and make it easy to clean up and get rid of the waste safely. Cats can be very picky and refuse to use the litter if it isn’t what they are used to. I have known one cat not to care and will use the litter if she can find it in a plastic box. I prefer the clumping litter as it makes it much easier to clean up not just poo, but pee as well.
Once I had to give Sir Socks and Spot a litter known as Yesterday’s News. They were hesitant to use it. I stressed to them that I would clean it out just as soon as they used it. It took some time before they used it. Once one did, I cleaned it out as soon as I noticed it. Then they were fine afterwards.
If you live with a cat, you will have to deal with their poo in one form or another. All you have to do is clean it up and throw it away or even compost it. It’s something which can’t be avoided. If you’re good about cleaning it up and throwing it out, any cat you live with will be happy with you. And as long as you clean up their wastes everyday, you won’t run the risk of catching any diseases from cats.
One disease is known as Toxoplasma and is caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. It can be found in infected cat poo. It is a common parasite. That’s also why it’s a good idea to wash your hands after handling cat wastes. If you do become infected, Toxoplasma can cause flu-like symptoms. You may not get any symptoms at all. But it’s not worth risking becoming infected as you could pass it on to someone else. And the cat won’t be happy you didn’t clean up their wastes. They will let you know their displeasure by leaving poo on the floor somewhere where you’ll be sure to see it.
Cat pee is something that is easier to deal with if the cat pees on litter. It’s even better if the litter clumps up. Then it’s very easy to clean it up and throw it out. Otherwise, it can be a real pain to clean it up off the floor. I’d recommend tile flooring, even the cheap polyvinyl tile, with a cat and vinegar to clean up their wastes. The floor will get clean and it won’t matter if the cat comes by to inspect and licks the floor afterwards.
It’s also worth noting why cat pee smells so bad. It has a high ammonia content in it. It is much worse from a cat who isn’t fixed and is going through or has gone through puberty. It smells so bad to me that I can’t understand why people think ammonia is a good cleaner.
This month’s cat vocabulary is a term from Twitter known as the rainbow bridge. It’s an expression used for a cat who has died. They say the cat has crossed the rainbow bridge.
It is a good euphemism to explain what has happened. The cat’s body is dead. No one will argue that. But where does their spirit, their soul, their essence of their being go? Over the rainbow bridge to their next life or even an afterlife. The cat we knew is no longer hindered by a physical body.
It’s always heartbreaking to have a cat die. I’ve gone through it three times already. Yet, I can’t live without a cat. So, I may end up going through it another hundred times. I was with all three cats when they died. I helped them cross the rainbow bridge.
It was the least I could do for such wonderful companions. When they died, there wasn’t much more I could do for any of them. I couldn’t stop death from claiming them. I just hoped they have long, healthy, and happy lives while they live with me.
This month’s cat vocabulary is scent. A very important thing to cats. They have an excellent sense of smell. Probably better than many humans. They can smell their prey, if they hunt. If not, then they smell their food. They even smell us and can learn what our unique smell is. Especially if our appearance changes too much for them to recognize us just by looking at us.
Saying Scent in European Languages (source)
Language Ways to say scent
Albanian: parfum
Basque: usaina
Belarusian: нюх
Bosnian: miris
Bulgarian: аромат
Catalan: olor
Croatian: miris
Czech: vůně
Danish: duft
Dutch: geur
Estonian: lõhn
Finnish: tuoksu
French: parfum
Galician: perfume
German: Duft
Greek: μυρωδιά(myrodiá)
Hungarian: illat
Icelandic: ilmur
Irish: boladh
Italian: profumo
Latvian: smarža
Lithuanian: kvapas
Macedonian: мирис
Maltese: riħa
Norwegian: duft
Polish: zapach
Portuguese: aroma
Romanian: aromă
Russian: нюх(nyukh)
Serbian: мирис(miris)
Slovak: vône
Slovenian: vonj
Spanish: olor
Swedish: doft
Ukrainian: нюх(nyukh)
Welsh: arogl
Yiddish: רייעך
Sir Socks Le Chat 