Tag Archives: Safety

Miscellaneous

Nose-to-Nose Awards 2016

The Nose-to-Nose Awards 48 finalists were announced on Tuesday, and we are very happy to see that some of our favourite blogs appear in the list. Concatulations and good luck for the continuation !

Fair zu Pfoten Award

We are not finalist for Nose-to-Nose Awards, but we are proud and happy to have received the Fair zu Pfoten Award on behalf of the Hermit. He asked us three questions :

What animals do live at your home, or of what animals do you take care ?
We are two cats, and we live with two humans. Claire always lived with cats.
How did you receive animals, or where do they come from ?
We adopted our humans while we were still kittens (Zorro at the beginning of 2013, and Pixie at the middle 2014). We met them thanks to common acquaintances.
Are you vegan or vegetarian ?
Oh no, that would make us feel sick ! We are cats after all… But we appreciate some fresh grass from time to time.

Keep your pet safe

The nice people from Wayfair realized the infographic below which presents several tips to improve the safety of cats (and dogs) at home, outside, or on travel. We chose to share it with you because we like it :

Have a good week !

How to enclose my garden so that my cats can safely go out ?

The use of electric fencings not visible by animals as well as the use of anti-runaway devices compounds of a thread buried on the verge of the ground and of a necklace which sends an electric shock to the cat as soon as it approaches this invisible limit are strictly forbidden in Switzerland. We thus do not speak about it in this article.

PIXIE : Look, Zorro, look at the gift that offered me Claire and Momo ! It’s immense ! We have now access to all the garden in front of the house !
ZORRO : Pixie, you exaggerate … This present is not only for you.
PIXIE : Yes it is ! It was my birthday on Wednesday, it’s MY park !
ZORRO : *sigh* The fate makes that our new fence was installed the same week of your second birthday, Pixie, that’s it. We already had an enclosure (see here and here for the story of the enclosure), but for financial reasons, it was small. This time, our humans made every effort to offer us a dream enclosure !

What are the characteristics of a good fence for cats ?

It is high enough : cats can jump on average until a height of 1 m 80 (5,9 ft).
It has a “return angle” of 60 cm (23,6 in) : cats climb everywhere. Without a “return angle”, a cat can easily cross a 2 m (6,5 ft) high fence by climbing and passing over.
It goes up to the ground : a motivated 4 kg (8,8 lb) cat passes easily under a 8 cm (3,1 in) high space (we tested !).
It has stitches from 3 to 5 cm (1-2 in) wide : young cats manage to sneak through wider spaces (if the head passes, all the cat passes).
There is no tree, no table, or no wall too close which allows the cat to jump directly on the return.
It is in compliance with the local regulations : it’s better to ask competent authorities before building a special fence : it would be really stupid to have to remove it hardly installed, right ?

If you have a garden, did you secure it in one way or another for your cat ? Or can your cat walk as he pleases ?

How to bring together your Christmas tree and your cats

We’ve been very busy by the preparations for Christmas this weekend. Our tree is now up and decorated !

Claire is born with cats in the house, then let’s tell you that she knows all the tricks to bring a Christmas tree and cats together.

The fir tree

Choose rather a medium-sized artificial tree. Indeed, the real fir trees have a much more attractive smell, their needles can be toxic, and the water of the bowl also.
Assure that your fir tree has a stable and solid base.
Place it on a table if it’s quite small, or in a clear space. It would be necessary to avoid that a too close piece of furniture can serve as springboard.
The perfectionists will still fix their fir tree to the wall or to the ceiling to prevent it from falling over ; Claire prefers to leave the principle which the fir tree CAN fall over without damage for it or for the cats. You can also place your fir tree in a room which you can close during the night. Our fir tree, for example, is 80 cm high and is put on a stool.

The decorations

Use plastic or cloth unbreakable decorations, and which do not contain small parts which can get loose.
Avoid : garlands, ribbons, and “angel-hair” (risk of breathlessness or intestinal obstruction in case of ingestion), artificial snow (toxin), chocolates (toxin), and real candles.
Fix firmly the decorations to the fir tree.
Don’t let hang the cord of fairy lights ; connect the lights in presence of an adult in the room, otherwise disconnect them and roll up the thread around the trunk. Protect your cords if your cat tends to chew on electric cords.
Be double watchful if your cat is a kitten !

As Claire didn’t find what she wanted, she made herself the small cloth hearts.

Et moi, j’ai vérifié que les décorations étaient solidement fixées.

Tiens, on dirait que cette boule est de travers…

Oooooh ! Un cadeau ! Vous croyez qu’il est pour moi ?