Lifestyle

Several years ago, I was at a Thanksgiving celebration with my relatives. Most of the food had made it onto the dining room table, but for some reason all of the people were still in the kitchen or in the living room. We migrated en masse to the dining room and found the cat on

As the owner of a diabetic cat who, fortunately, has been in remission for a few years now, I get asked about feline diabetes quite a bit. One question a lot of people have is how they can keep their cats from getting the disease. The good news is that for the vast majority of

My husband, Ed, bought a cat laser pointer for the sole purpose of using it to play with our four cats. Although my cats go crazy-lunatic when chasing the light around, I’m not so sure they are enjoying the game. Ed, bless his soul, bought the laser pointer only so that I can play with

A blind cat or visually-impaired cat is often seen as unadoptable. Blind cats may look strange or they may be seen as too much of a burden — and why “waste” valuable cage space that could be used for a cat who’s more likely to find a home? They and other special-needs cats are often the first to be

What is cat head pressing, and why does it happen? Let me start by saying that the type of head pressing I’m discussing in this article is not the same as the cat headbutt. By head butting, I am referring to the affectionate behavior exhibited by cats in which they bump their head and then

I plan to bring a new cat into my family. She’s a beautiful girl who has the very appropriate name Bella (short for Belladonna). She’s particularly special because she has feline diabetes. She’ll need ongoing care and attention for the rest of her life, but I’ve found that the basics of keeping a diabetic cat healthy

You bring your newly adopted cat into your home, looking forward to years of happiness, purrs and snuggles. But as soon as you open the carrier door, she bolts for the smallest, darkest corner she can find. What’s a cat caretaker to do in a situation like this? You know this cat is stressed and

Arthritis in cats is an unfortunate and nearly ubiquitous feature of aging. The most common form occurs as the tissues and structures in joints degenerate naturally. This process, called degenerative joint disease (DJD), leads to stiffness, pain, decreased range of motion and limping on affected limbs. Arthritis is very common in older individuals of almost

Cats are usually pretty good about staying regular, but every once in a while they too can find themselves getting constipated. It’s not any more fun for your cat than it is for you. Here’s some information on cat constipation and what you can do to help when your kitties get bound up: What are the symptoms

Is your cat sleeping in your bed with you? I’ve experienced all sides of sleeping with cats. When I was single, I had cats. They got to share the bed and it was no big deal. They loved it, and it made me happy to see them happy. But things changed a little when two

My husband and I have been painting our house, so we’ve got a bunch of paint sample cards. I hate just throwing them in the recycling basket, so I’ve been keeping them in a junk drawer. Then I found this fun project for making kitty bookmarks while playing around on Pinterest. What you’ll need: Large

It seems simple at first glance, but how to play with your cat is a bit more complicated than you might think. The way you play with your cat now will set the stage for the strength of your bond and encourage her to play in ways that don’t hurt you or other people. Appropriate cat play

Can you train a cat? Somewhere along the line, people got it in their heads that cats are untrainable. Maybe they think that cats are either too dumb or too strong-willed to train because they don’t respond like dogs. But if you understand what motivates cat behavior, you can use that knowledge to train your

Have you had this experience? You’re thrilled about your new cat, and you’re anxious to give her the loving forever-home and warm lap you know she’s been yearning for. But as soon as you open the carrier, she flees. For days, you see no sign of her, except maybe some food missing from the dish

A friend in Hawai’i during dinner a few years ago mentioned that a black cat had crossed his path the previous day while he was en route to some big, math-related test for his big, math-related master’s degree. When he specified that it was a black community cat (the University of Hawai’i has a big

When I’m in the thick of homing foster kittens, I often have to educate potential families on the needs of their new critters. I tell them these kitties have been “deflea’d, dewormed, and had two rounds of distemper!” They usually reply by asking about distemper in cats. So, what exactly is feline distemper? I know it’s

Years ago, at a job I’ve mostly forgotten, our boss had us all take the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) personality profile. While I’m not always a fan of labeling or pigeonholing people, this test changed my life. It helped me understand myself and the people I worked with. Many of you may have heard of

Do cats dream? All signs point to yes! Scientists have found that rapid eye movement (REM), and important component of dreaming, occurs in most mammals. The process of sleep does vary between species. Humans have five stages of sleep, while cats only have two (REM and non-REM). For the kitties, it occurs every 25 minutes

Taken at face value, asking, “How do cats taste?” may seem like a provocative, even horrifying, question. The Internet can be a vast and terrifying chasm, and a search-engine query entered in the spirit of honest intellectual edification can lead you to encounter at least a few results that force you to confront the darker corners of

Although some debate if cats even need other cats, I’m in the process of slowly integrating my formerly feral Zorro into the rest of the clowder, and I’m trying to keep everybody happy. It’s my nature to want to keep everything in harmony, so that’s not a stretch for me. But sometimes my cats have

Some of the most profoundly heartbreaking moments of my cat-caretaking life revolve around being unable to tell how much pain my beloved friends were suffering. Even though I know cats are very good at disguising their pain, I can’t help but guilt-trip myself sometimes over this health issue, because as a person who’s lived with

When my mother-in-law decided to adopt another cat, she wanted to go through a rescue. She chose a local cage-free rescue, where she chose an orange tabby (red, if you want to get technical) named Goldie. She had to fill out a brief adoption form, and received instructions to meet the director on a certain

There’s a lot more to a cat nose and a cat sense of smell than you might think. Yes, the cat nose is a cute little spot to “boop,” but that colorful little nugget plays a huge role in your kitty’s life. Here’s how. 1. A cat nose is your cat’s most important sense organ A closeup of a pink

Has your cat ever experienced pimples or blackheads on her mouth, face or other parts of her body? Yes, cat acne is a thing, and your cats don’t have to be teenagers, either. I didn’t think this was possible until I spotted a white-headed pimple near on corner of my cat Charles’ mouth. As I looked

We all know someone who thinks of cat lovers as “crazy cat people,” especially if those cat lovers happen to be individuals who go out of their way to help their feline friends. There will always be people who don’t understand the appeal of cats or the reasons why we would take so much time

Of all the things non-cat-lovers damn our feline friends for, chief among them is the belief that cats never listen to us, and if they do, they don’t care one single iota about what we say. Sure, if you’re used to the fawning adoration and obvious expressions of a dog, you might not think cats

One of the most frustrating things that can happen to a cat guardian is inappropriate cat urination, especially if it happens to take place on your furniture. Here are some cat urine cleaner methods using enzymatic cleaners or alternative methods. STEP 1: Blot and press — don’t scrub — to clean up cat pee Here’s how to

Long ago, I was single and I liked to attend cocktail parties. I quickly learned that my testicle stories nearly always could get tipsy female partygoers giggling. To be clear, my testicle stories were not stories about my testicles. I may have been young and dumb, but I was not as clueless as Anthony Weiner.

The discovery of non-identical twins fed by a single blood supply proved humans have more than one blood type, allowing for a future where engineered beings with recombined DNA become the norm — basically a chimera, according to Medicine.net.com. Although, a future filled with human-animal chimera may sound unsettling, it would be quite a treat

Losing a cat is devastating for a household’s humans and other pets. While no cat can replace another beloved cat — each pet, like each person, is unique — hopefully, you will open your heart and home to a new cat at some point. But how long after your cat dies should you get a new