Category Archives: Living with cats

Claws story

Since we spend a lot of time outdoors, we regularly walk on rough surfaces, which regularly wears out our claws. Claire doesn’t clip them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a little maintenance. Our favorite trunk is ideal for a good pawdicure.

In an indoor cat or an elderly cat, it’s important to trim the claws regularly, because they don’t wear out so quickly. In fact, too long claws can cause discomfort or embarrassment (the cat clings everywhere while walking), or even painful infections if the claws become long enough to grow into the paw pad.

iCatCare shows you how to do it :

One last thing : don’t declaw your cat !!

Our claws are essential to our cat life : they allow us to mark our territory, to defend ourselves, to hunt, to climb, we need them. Onychectomy is barbaric and cruel, and most countries prohibit this practice.

Unfortunately, it’s still allowed in some countries like USA or Canada : however, attitudes are slowly changing. If you want to help cats keep their claws and put an end to these useless mutilations, you can support The Paw Project which is fighting for the abolition of this practice.

Chain reaction

You know what a chain reaction is ? No ? I’ll explain…

First, television has shown serious signs of weakness. As long as we had to change it, Claire and Momo thought they could take a bigger one. They realized that the current furniture would be too small.

Since the cheap cabinets in Momo’s office had already been patched up many times and they were no longer really closing, our humans thought they could be replaced by the cabinets in the living room. So they made that change. Our living room looked like this :

After a trip to Ikea, a few hours of putting shelves together, and a good series of swearing, our living room was back to normal. You could again pass from the cat tree (right) to the staircase (left). But we could no longer go on our beloved cabinets, as they were now in Momo’s office…

Momo then decided to catify his office ; instead, see what he did so that we could walk around our cabinets again :

Cool, huh ?

How to protect your cat from the heat ?

It’s gonna be hot there ! MeteoSwiss announces a heat wave for the whole of next week : temperatures will exceed 30 degrees during the day and 20 degrees at night.

Although we can handle heat better than dogs, we also suffer when it’s too hot. We cannot lower our body temperature by sweating like a human, because we only sweat from paw pads, which is not enough. In the worst case scenario, we can even have a dangerous heat stroke.

The tips that apply to humans are the same for cats : stay cool and hydrated.

How to protect your cat from the heat ?

Here are a few simple things to do :

If possible, encourage your cat to chill inside the house.
Close windows and shutters to prevent heat from entering the house too much.
Turn on air conditioning if you have one (not too cold!).
Pet your cat with a damp washcloth.
Encourage your cat to drink and play with water : put an ice cube in his water bowl, place toys in a water basin, place water bowls in different places where your cat likes to rest, if possible in the shade.
Offer your cat a cooling mat : you can find some in pet stores, or put gel pockets you place in the freezer under his favourite blanket (folded in two or four).