Archive for October, 2008

Oct 28th 2008 Training a Cat That Bites

Learning to bite and scratch is a main part of a cat’s development. These accomplishments are especially essential for cats that live mainly out-of-doors, as they provide their sole means of defense. These two activities will also form the main staple of your cat’s leisure time, playing out conflicts with toys, other cats or humans.

If you do not want to be bitten by your cat, the 1st rule of thumb is to train your cat not to bite your hands. If your cat thinks your hands are play toys, their little talons and fangs will soon find their way to your flesh.

However, if it is too late for that rule, there are some steps you are able to take to minimize the damage done from cat biting attacks.

First of all, as you train your cat to behave in new ways, you should trim his claws (don’t declaw, as this is severely painful for the cat). This will take a lot of the razor-sharpness away and make your encounters less painful.

Once your cat grabs on to your hand, react with a loud and firm, “Ouch!Do not scream, and don’t yank your arm away quickly or the cat may think it is a toy and follow it again. Take away your hand slowly from his mouth after your determined “Ouch!”

Most of the time, your cat is scratching and biting because he is bored and would like to play. Using time set aside to play with a fun cat toy should help relieve boredom.

Aggression is an inherent aspect of your cat’s predatory nature: behaviors like stalking, chasing, leaping, pouncing, swatting, and biting are all common displays, and are always a major component of any play session.

Usually, this does not constitute an issue: it’s just how cats play, and catering to your cat’s innate behavior can be pretty fun. When your finished, your cat will give you a break so you can watch som Animal Planet on DirecTV.

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Oct 26th 2008 Feliway Diffuser Refill

Certainly, you are innately familiar with Feliway, the feline facial pheromone product that makes incredible strides for decreasing your cat’s stress and helping make a unsettled home significantly more relaxed and stopping inappropriate urination, at least on the part of felines, that is! You’ve ordered a diffuser and now require a Feliway refill so as to make the system completely operational.

A Feliway diffuser refill unit is in a nutshell the essential oils distilled in a liquid form in a vial filled with the spray itself. These are quite often put together in a 6 pack package, for ease. When plugged into the diffuser section and plugged in, the element heats up so as to cause evaporation, diffusing around the area. Each unit does cover roughly 60 square feet. You should ensure they are not put behind curtains or furniture, since this will stop the evaporate from spreading throughout the room and preventing the beneficial effect achieved from getting them period. You will also want to be sure that the evaporator is open to the air on account of the fact the heating element can turn out to be quite warm and you should make sure this does not become a concern. Used safely, they are quite beneficial to for cat health care problems.

Each Feliway diffuser refill vial is good for a time of some 4-6 weeks. It’s a wonderful means to keep continuous flow of the easing and soothing feline pheromones continuously circulating throughout your cat-friendly locations. Using a few different diffusers located throughout any veterinary clinic will help to keep the moggy population contented, chilled, and low stress, which helps keep you from going crazy. For this reason the 6 pack Feliway diffuser refill, which provides 288 milliliters total measure, and makes it better to order and have sent. It’s much simpler to purchase en masse, instead of finding it necessary to order solitary packages on a repeated basis.

The vials are usually listed for sale combined with the diffuser, to be certain it is quick enough to locate them available separately as well, if you already purchased the diffuser and simply must get the Feliway diffuser refill by itself, or of course the six pack packages that are also quite often sold.

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Oct 26th 2008 Hairballs and Prevention

If you’re a feline friend of course you are aware of a common problem that antagonizes felines:  hairballs.  But what have you learned of a hairball’s indications, causes, and reliefs?

Hairball Causes

The typical hairball is caused by the harsh top of a cat’s tongue extracting free hairs in the course of washing themselves.  The hair is then swallowed and moved into the digestive tract.  Ordinarily, this hair wouldn’t be digested, but would get flushed when the cat uses the litter tray or goes outside.  Naturally, felines are killers, and are evolved to be able to handle ingesting fur, like from any poor rat it catches.   When hair congeals into a plug, the kitty will probably not enjoy the unrewarding experience of puking it back up.  In particular situations however, this might not work and the hairball can get trapped inside your feline, potentially resulting in major health problems.

Hairballs and Your Cat’s Health

Cat hairballs are inconvenient in their own right, but can additionally cause several corollary issues, quickly becoming unhealthy if not expelled or cured with a quickness.  In addition to the open and irritating vomiting, of course, the lodged-in hair can induce intestinal distress and constipation.  Your cat well could cease eating and start being lethargic as the hairball multiplies in size, while the poor things are still unable to get rid of it.  Their guts can become swollen and this can clearly create many kinds of unpleasant issues that you’d hate to be stuck with.  This condition could even end up necessitating surgical intervention to remove the hairball, which is a disastrously unwelcome financial impact and danger to your kitty, especially given the trivial nature of preventing it in the first place.  Left alone, it could end up in a fatal condition.

Hairball Cures

Felines naturally attempt to treat themselves by throwing up.  They can do this by consuming grass, which most of the time makes cats to puke due to the grass fibers irritating their stomaches.  Other ways to cure hairballs in cats revolve around petroleum or mineral oil based materials designed to lubricate the intestinal tract in order to ease the natural passage of the hairball.  Products such as Laxatone or Petromalt hairball remedy have been made to treat hairballs in cats.  They are a semi-solid paste that you feed your felines before meals.  This moves the hairball through the system and acts in a manner very helpful to ameliorate non-hairball related constipation also.  They tend to be available in a cornucopia of flavors like tuna or catnip flavoring.  One dose each day for 2 or 3 days, and your issue is resolved.

Prevention of Hairballs

Hairball prevention is achieved by a few varying ways, some of them complementary.  One is a 1/2 dose of Laxatone or Petromalt 2 or 3 times per week.  Petromalt hairball remedy comes highly approved by veterinarians and pet owners alike. There are also particular “hairball prevention” diets available.  A large part of hairball prevention is always correct grooming.  Always brush your short-haired cats but comb the long-haired kitties regularly.  They enjoy it and it’s a great method to spend time being sure your feline continues to be happy and healthy.

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