I might sometimes complain about my human — especially regarding her unfair policies about diets — but overall, I would say I am a very lucky cat and that I picked my human quite well. Many humans are kind and loving, like my human is, but I also enjoy a great number of additional benefits thanks to my good luck and the wise guidance of my discerning feline heart — my human loves all kinds of crafts, and as such, I always have a steady supply of new and fascinating crafty things to taste, sit on, sit in, and examine. She keeps me entertained with her ever-growing stash of craft supplies. Every day there’s something new. New bags, new baskets, new yarn, new snacks. I wait until she goes to sleep, because that is my golden hour when I will be undisturbed, and then I begin my explorations.
So much to do, so much to paw, so much to eat! Yarn and ribbon and fabric and string! Glitter and plastic and pom poms and more! Paint to step in! Lace to tear! Paper to eat! So many edible, scratchable, bitable things — shiny things, stringy things, glittery things, papery things, ribbony things!
The possibilities are limitless — I can kick the yarn and break its neck. I can eat the ribbon and the string. I can nibble the craft paper and bite the plastic. I can claw the boxes and pounce inside. I can roll in the cloth and eat the fleece. I can knock over the beads. I can bat the pom poms. There is always something fun to do at night. Her closet is my jungle gym, and her craft supplies are my treasure.
I am a fit, lively explorer, the explorer of shiny, edible things! Every cat should have a crafty human to keep them young at heart!
Disclaimer: the staff writers here are not vets nor are they qualified to give medical advice. This article’s purpose is strictly to share stories/information and should not be used for diagnostic purposes. Please take your cat to the vet if you suspect anything might be wrong with them. Your vet will know best what to do in your specific situation.
In light of this month’s article about all the tasty crafty things that Julius (and many other cats) enjoy, it seemed appropriate to discuss intestinal blockages and obstructions in this installment of Cat Care. Many cats, especially younger ones, will often ingest or attempt to ingest items that are not actually edible. Common items that cats ingest include ribbons, rubber bands, string, and plastic items, among many others. Some of these items, although not technically “edible”, can pass through the digestive tract without causing problems. Sometimes, however, these inedible items can cause potentially serious health problems for the feline who has ingested them.
Ingested foreign bodies can get stuck in and obstruct the stomach, small intestine, and/or colon. If left untreated, an obstruction can become a perforation, in which the object pokes or cuts a hole in the intestines, and this can lead to a dangerous systemic infection. The obstruction can also sometimes result in a condition called bowel ischemia, in which blood supply to the bowels is restricted or cut off, and this can result in tissue death and other serious complications.
Signs that your cat could have a gastrointestinal obstruction include:
Vomiting
No appetite
Weight loss
Diarrhea/constipation
Pain or discomfort when abdomen is touched
General lethargy or unusual behavior
Obstructions, as well as their resulting complications, can result in the death of the cat if not treated appropriately. Therefore, if you suspect your cat has ingested something it shouldn’t have, or if it’s showing symptoms of obstruction, it’s important that it receive veterinary treatment as soon as possible. Vets can diagnose obstructions via x-rays, physical examinations, ultrasounds, and endoscopies. Obstructions can often be successfully treated with surgery or other procedures, especially if they are caught early. Although common and usually treatable, obstructions are still a serious health condition and should not be taken lightly.
Prevention is also important when it comes to obstructions. Rather than having to treat the obstruction through surgery and other invasive means, it’s even better to prevent the obstruction from occurring in the first place. Items that your cat might find tasty or tempting should be kept out of its reach or otherwise concealed where your cat won’t be able to get to them. It is especially important to note that ingesting string or yarn is extremely dangerous for cats. For this reason, cats should be supervised when playing with yarn or string, and every attempt should be made to prevent them from ingesting it.
Cats are curious creatures, and their curiosity can often get the better of them. Remember, curiosity killed the cat, so as much as our kitties might love their shiny, stringy things, pet parents need to beware and make sure such toys are carefully put away when playtime is over.
This month’s cat vocabulary is a term from Twitter known as ambassacat which is a cat who defends their area from evil. There are hundreds of ambassacats on Twitter currently. Of course many have died and new ones take over. I have never lived with an ambassacat. I’m not sure Nuri would be interested.
But I do know Sir Socks Le Chat would pass as he is retired from the world.
The ambassacats are led by a cat known as Gladstone who works in the treasury department in London, United Kingdom. He is a rather dapper black cat with an unusual expression. He enjoys living and working there. He also encourages people to donate to less fortunate cats, as he himself was adopted from Battersea in his local area.
There are parties the ambassacats throw complete with the diplojet to pick the cats in different parts of the world. It’s quite the sight to see what they do on Twitter and all the things they do to keep their area safe from evil.
Dogs can be so complacent compared to cats. They don’t mind having owners. They just want to keep us happy. Cats refuse to be owned by anyone. They let us feed them, but we can never own them. They don’t care if they make us happy. They just want us to serve them. They know who will serve them and who won’t.
Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well. —Missy Dizick
Of course cats are sneaky and they kill bugs and mice. I’m glad they do. Mice can be dangerous to humans. Bugs can just be annoying. Cats can also be adorable at the same time they are sneaky. Or on a murderous rampage.
All cats have whiskers. My girl likes them. They do help with balance. Once when I was looking after Spot, he annoyed me so badly that I bit his whiskers off. The little kitten didn’t seem to know any better. He’d walk around our place and fall over. He never got hurt. He was so small and so happy go lucky that he didn’t seem to notice whenever he had tumbled or fallen over.
My girl thought he was cute whenever he did that. Kittens are just plain annoying. This one wanted to play all the time. He drove me crazy. I only bit off his whiskers once. I couldn’t be that mean to him over time. It just wasn’t possible. And he didn’t get the message the first time. *Sigh.* I knew I had gone too far with him. So, I never did bite off his whiskers ever again. He still annoyed me, but I suppose it was just going to be that way.
My girl was and still is quite the klutz. I swear the first month we lived together, she kept dropping things for no reason at all. *Sigh.* She even walked into me in the dark! It startled me so much. She apologized and said she couldn’t see me once she had turned out the lights. It was her eyes. She told me she can’t see as well in the dark as I can. So, after that whenever it was dark, I told her when she was stepping too close to me. At least she has good hearing. Otherwise, I don’t think we could have gotten along as well as we do.
Oh, it was annoying to hear her dropping things on the floor. I’d be sleeping or meditating and bam! Ugh, it was too much at times. I wasn’t used to this kind of noise unless someone was about to cause some serious harm. I honestly believed her when she told me she was just a klutz. She really didn’t spill my food or water on purpose. I could tell. She typically would get down on the floor and clean up her mess. If it had been deliberate, she wouldn’t have bothered to clean up after herself. Or had bothered to apologize.
She always cleaned up her messes. That was something new and different. The place we shared was much cleaner and neater than my first home. It was amazing, but also scary whenever she cleaned. It was loud and she would move things around. I wondered if moving everything around was actually worth it. I wasn’t kidding when I call her a whirlwind… She is one in more ways than just one…
With her cleaning so much, I bathed myself until I was clean enough to be there too. I know she appreciated it. Perhaps she didn’t need to clean every week, but she seemed to think so. I don’t know why, she believed that, but I did like living in a clean place.
The blind guy wasn’t klutzy. He had never walked into me in the dark. I don’t understand why she had so much trouble. But at least she could tell me and we worked together to prevent her from stepping on me in the dark. I am glad she listened and was willing to work with me. If she had ignored me, we wouldn’t have stayed together as we have.
After that first month, I no longer woke up from a nap whenever she had dropped something. She is still a klutz, but I’m just used to her now. I am glad she’s not deliberately dropping things to scare me or to torment me. She is kind and considerate. She is what I need in a caregiver and caretaker.
I am glad she’s a part of my life even though she’s not as coordinated as I am. And there is the matter of her violin playing…
*Sigh.* The whirlwind played a violin. When I had first heard it, I cringed. I protested. I hid. I don’t know what the problem was with the violin. I didn’t know if it was her playing. I liked it whenever she played the piano as long as it’s not too loud. Her electric piano was never too loud for me. It was always pleasant, unless she got carried away with too much force. Perhaps she was just hyper?
But the violin was different. There was a horrible and hideous sound coming from it that I couldn’t stand. I don’t know why she couldn’t hear it. Something just didn’t sound right with her violin playing. I’m not entirely sure it was her. But she didn’t stop playing and eventually that horrible and hideous sound went away.
At that point, her violin playing was quite beautiful and I could sleep and meditate in peace. She had learned how to make the violin sing. But then she stopped playing it for a long time. When she picked it up again to resume her studies, the horrible and hideous sound had come back too.
So, when she was playing it everyday she had gotten the horrible and hideous sound to go away. But after she hadn’t played it often, the horrible and hideous sound was back. I have to draw the conclusion that it wasn’t her. I would have to say there must have been something wrong with that particular violin.
I don’t think she was trying to hurt my ears. She was genuinely shocked that it bothered me so much when she played the violin. I do hope if she takes up the instrument again, that she finds a better violin that won’t ever make that horrible and hideous sound.
Another month is over and not much has changed. If nothing changes between now and October, then the last Financial Report I will do will be for September. Until then, this is how we’re doing.
Summary for June 2019:
no money in or out
over 1332 hits on the blog
about 669 people get the posts emailed to them
40 people follow via WordPress
66 copies sold; US$471.50 raised for Dingo Venezia from Cat Tales of the Frisky9 Scarf Army
Disclaimer: the staff writers here are not vets nor are they qualified to give medical advice. This article’s purpose is strictly to share stories/information and should not be used for diagnostic purposes. Please take your cat to the vet if you suspect anything might be wrong with them. Your vet will know best what to do in your specific situation.
Cats, just like humans, often struggle with weight management. It’s not uncommon for cats, especially if they are exclusively indoor cats, to be overweight or even obese. And, just as humans’ health can be negatively impacted because of unhealthy weight, overweight cats can also experience a range of health problems stemming from their bulky figure — including but not limited to diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, and breathing problems. Cats that are older, female, spayed, and kept indoors are at highest risk for becoming overweight or obese, but any cat can have weight problems, even young ones.
Your cat’s vet is your best resource for determining if your cat is overweight. Healthy weight ranges can vary widely, depending on your cat’s age, breed, sex, and personal body build. In general, though, you can determine if your cat is overweight if you cannot feel their ribs when you touch their sides, if your cat struggles to run and play easily, and if your cat does not have an obvious waist. These things could all indicate your cat might benefit from a diet.
There are many ways that pet parents can help their cats obtain and maintain a healthy weight. Encouraging your cat to exercise is an important part of weight management. Getting your cat fun toys and dedicating a fixed amount of time, perhaps 15-20 minutes per day, to playtime is a great way to prompt your cat to exercise. Another important part of weight management is limiting your cat’s access to food. Cats should be fed fixed portion sizes at specific times of day and should not be allowed free access to food or treats. Some vets might recommend or prescribe a special diet cat food to help you cat lose weight.
Your cat’s weight loss journey will likely be a long, ongoing process, but with the help of your vet, you can design a plan that will be perfectly suited to your little one’s needs and that will ensure they will stay healthy and playful long into their old age.
I am very angry right now. I have been angry for a good number of weeks. The humans in my household have taken audacious steps to ruin and interrupt the glorious mealtimes I used to have. Service is worse than ever before, and I no longer enjoy the benefits of a self-serve buffet. Mealtimes have become downright horrendous. Quality is poor. Serving sizes are too small. Everything is awful. I’m going to leave this establishment a terrible review on Yelp, without a doubt.
I had been living a good life until now. My humans were lenient, letting me have all I wanted. Milk, yogurt, chicken, beef–whatever I asked for, I received. But I knew the day would come when they tried to stop me. I laughed in the face of the vet tech who staggered trying to lift me onto the table. I was doing more splendidly than ever before. My cat tree was overflowing with my glory, all 18 pounds of me. Why couldn’t the stupid humans realize that this was a good thing? I saw, in the vet’s disapproving eyes, the confirmation that my good days were coming to an end. I endured jokes and puns about my frame, cruel words thrown around above my head as the humans contrived their evil plan. Garfield. Obese. Big-boned. And then I heard the most dreaded word of all, the death sentence for my happiness. Diet.
That was months ago, and the torture has yet to cease. I am subjected to only two meals a day now, breakfast and dinner, with an agonizing 12 hours in-between, and no more treats from the kitchen. I try, sometimes, to get them for myself. I open cabinets and cupboards; I snuffle around in corners like a pauper, looking for crumbs and scraps to soothe my hunger. I sit in front of the pantry door and cry for hours, bemoaning my fate, lamenting that I lack the thumbs that would allow me to at last open the door and take all the kibble my heart desires. I even ate lettuce once when it fell on the floor. I am that desperate. My dignity has been crushed beyond hope.
I do not know when the vile vet will be appeased. She was happier last time but still demands even more. I am losing strength. I do not know how much longer I can endure this barbarity. I repeat: I only get two meals a day now. Only two. The injustice is incredible. I hope I survive, but I cannot be certain I will. I am surely skin and bones now, a shadow of my former self. I hope to write to you all again, if I do survive this. Maybe the vet will decide to be merciful and release me from this plight. I will return to my habitual post now, sitting resolutely in front of the pantry door, waiting for some angel to come and open it for me. The humans do not care. They watch, they listen, and yet they do nothing. All they say, day after day, is “You’ve already eaten”, but they will never understand the torment of only having two meals a day.
A dog will flatter you but you have to flatter the cat. —George Mikes
Dogs tend to be happy and just want to make us happy too. Cats don’t care if they make us happy. They are far too independent. Yet, if we want them to stick around, we need to let them know and show them we want to make them happy.
You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals. —George Mikes
Dogs are happy to be with us. They assume we are their pack leader. Cats like to have someone looking after them. Then they can relax and play all day long as we take care of them.
Sir Socks Le Chat 