Category Archives: Living with cats

Why cats are not good Christmas presents

Look at Zorro and me : we have responsible humans, who are very attentive to our needs and to our well-being ; they play every day with us, let us eat food of good quality, we have a well kept litter box, we have some room to live and amuse us, and a veterinarian watches regularly our health. Claire and Momo adore us, and we also like very much them. We’re happy cats.

Cats are adorable companions, but we’re not “objects” which we offer in present. Why ?

First of all, does the person to whom you offer a cat really want it ? Or do you assume the fact that this small cat is going to land in the shelter with more or less brief term ?

Then, will she know how to take care of him correctly during long years ? A cat likes having clean bowls to eat healthy food ; he appreciates a litter box emptied several times a day of his excrement ; he needs to play with his toys, but also with his human, and to be regularly petted.

Has she the financial means to take care of an animal ? A cat is a living being who has specific needs, and it has a cost. It’s necessary to count the expenses of food, veterinarian, litter, diverse accessories and toys during several years, what represents a not insignificant amount every month.

Are you sure that she’s not allergic ? It would be the height all the same that a badly chosen present makes your friend or his child have to go to the hospital, isn’t it ?

Does she have the right to hold an animal in her apartment ? Certain owners don’t authorize animals in apartments, and we’re not sure that a human moves for a kitten-present for which he didn’t ask …

Finally, the adoption of a human by a cat, it’s the story of a meeting, a mutual choice, for the common path which should last for long years…

Then please, don’t offer an animal as present : rather let him adopt the person who will be really ready to welcome him.

How to choose a healthy food for your cat

There are hundreds of food brands for us ; cat food is sold in the supermarket, in specialized stores, or at the veterinarian.
We find wet food, dry food (kibbles), or still semi-wet. Prices can be multiplied by nine between the cheapest and the most expensive product.

In Europe, Nestlé Purina (Félix, Friskies, Gourmet, Vital Balance in supermarket, and Purina in specialized store for example) and Masterfoods (Whiskas, Kitekat, Ronron, Sheba in supermarket, and Royal Canin in specialized store) realizes roughly 2/3 of the sales ; the rest is divided between the own brands of the distributors, Procter and Gamble (Iams), Colgate-Palmolive (Hills), and some rare independent small companies.

How can the humans find themselves there ?

By showing common sense : quality has a price. A wet food containing less than 8 % of meat and ingredients of low quality will be cheap, but won’t have the same nourishing properties as a more expensive food containing at least 25 % of meat developed with good quality ingredients.
By inquiring : veterinarian, specialized literature, specialized web sites. You can give us factory feedstuffs, or prepare us yourself our meals (BARF or cooked dishes); this last option requires however good knowledge in feline nutrition. A cat is a strict carnivore, and his food has to bring to him, in percentage of dry material : 30 to 40 % of proteins, 10 to 15 % of fats, less than 45 % of carbohydrates, as well as several vitamins and key nutriments as taurine and arginine. Wet food will have a bigger proportion of proteins than dry food.
By making the best choice for us : your human has to take into account his budget AND your health ; he must however know that by saving up on the quality of the food, he can maybe find himself with veterinarian’s more important expenses in a few years.

Claire chose to feed us mainly with top-quality wet food ; we just get some kibbles for night, but they’re also top-quality. We’ll explain you in another article why she chose this food brand for us.
In the meantime, here are three books that we recommend you to read about pet food ; we don’t know if there are translations in your human’s language.

In French :
In English :
In German :

Enjoy your meal !

How to catch a cat being wary to go to the veterinarian

No cat really appreciates to go to the vet. Nevertheless, if we are sick, or hurt, it is essential that our human can take us to him quickly. To let us go in the PTU, it’s easy : a treat at the bottom and hup ! Here we go !

Pixie 24 mai 2014

But all the cats are not also cooperative as us. A colleague of Claire, for example, has a very wild cat : she can pet him, but not carry him. She saw that he had an abscess on a cheek, but impossible to catch him.
There are nevertheless various tricks which the human can do to facilitate the task :

Leave the PTU with arrangement permanently (without the door) : we use them as hiding place or as bed. They are familiar objects, and it avoids that we hide immediately as soon as we perceive them.
If your cat can go out freely, close the door when he’s inside as soon as possible, even the day before. Claire missed some appointments early in the afternoon because our angel Loupi had not came back “as usual” at about 11 am in the morning…
Once inside, if your cat hides under the bed, start the vacuum cleaner in the room : we’re so much scared of this thing that we’re immediately going to leave the room ! Close doors one after the other to confine the cat in a single room (or in the less possible rooms).
Put the cat in the PTU ; be firm, and close immediately the door.
For the most contrary cats, you can try to capture them in an old pillowcase : roll the pillowcase as a sock. Put the head of the cat inside coming from above and be VERY fast : slide the pillowcase around the body and especially the back legs, and wrap the cat. Hold firmly the closed pillowcase and slide the wrapped cat in the PTU. Close immediately the door. Don’t worry, the cat has enough air to breathe, and he already probably went out of the pillowcase during the 2 seconds which was necessary to you to close the PTU.

You’re now a traitor in the eyes of your cat : good dose of cuddles and some treats should be able to arrange that once back home !