One of my cats is close to 24 years old. I gather that works out to over 100 years translated into people years. I really love him and take the best care of him that I can manage. I expect that has something to do with him reaching this advanced age in good health.
Two things that I watch out for especially with his health care are how he is doing with his poop and his urinating. I believe problems with these two health indicators kills most cats before they need to go.
I do all kinds of things that I have already mentioned in previous posts to make sure my cats can urinate and poop without health problems preventing it.
One of these things is cat litter. I make sure my cats like their litter okay and once I find a good litter that both my cats and I like, I stick with it for years.
I have run into a problem with a cat litter that my cats and I have liked and used for several years. The litter is called, "Scoop Away". It is made by Colgate corporation. I liked it because not only did it meet kitty approval, but it also came in bags instead of plastic buckets that they had used before. This container is less polluting than the pails, even though considerably more awkward to carry and store at home.
Scoop Away seems to have made a change in their litter. This change is not good. It no longer clumps as well and it is not possible to get the litter as clean as it was before their change. My cats do not like it and started trying to hold in their poop and urine in order to avoid using the litter box because they dislike it so much.
This can cause health problems that can kill a cat in a short time. It is life threatening.
I called the company and left a message with their customer service as soon as I noticed this problem. There has been no response. I believe this is because they have probably been inundated with complaints about their litter.
They do not care enough about their customers or their cats to even respond to a serious complaint about their
Scoop Away cat litter product.
This reminds me of a huge mess a few years back with cat food. Several companies bought a cat food ingredient from China that had been deliberately contaminated to increase profits. This contamination caused the suffering and death of many cats.
A friend had cats that ate the contaminated cat food and suffered permanent health damage from it. She had vet bills that ran $1,000.00 a month for several years until they finally died from it. Many owners sued the cat food companies over this problem. My friend did not have enough proof available for her to feel that she had a chance to win a lawsuit over her cats being injured by the cat food companies' products. Instead, she paid thousands of extra dollars to keep them alive for a little longer.
I believe that Scoop Away makers are doing something with their litter that is probably even more harmful to cats than the cat food debacle.
I did not post about this problem without a lot of thought. I finally decided to do this post because I will not feel right if I do not share information that may help others to protect the health of their cats.
I am changing the brand of cat litter that I use for my cats because I care about protecting their health. I am posting this to allow others to consider doing the same.
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Celebration Of The 300th Post On This Blog
Monday I reached my magical number of 300 posts on this blog. I decided a little while back that once I reached this number, I would give myself a break and reduce the number of posts that I do on here to five a week or less.
I intend to try five and see what happens for a little bit and then decide from that whether I want to keep doing that many. One of the things that I intend to watch when I drop to five posts a week is what Google does.
Google sends out "bots" or "spiders", which are automated programs that catalog information out on the internet and put it into a format that is convenient for search engines to use when they answer queries.
When you enter something into a search engine that you want to find, you are usually given the results of what the spiders found.
The Google spiders seem to have grown very fond of my blog. I can tell by the statistics about what searches are sent to my blog. I believe my blog has become the default answer for weird queries that Google doesn't know what else to do with. It is like, "It's weird and we don't know what to do with this question, so we'll send it to yvonnessilverlinings.blogspot.com.
Many people who end up on my blog with a weird search engine query come back to look at it some more. Thank you Google, and Google spiders.
I did not post this yesterday, because I was in the middle of telling about the school for spiritual gifts. That is very dear to my heart, and this had to wait. However, the 300th post published does rate some cheers, a cuppa choco DE and a couple of good cat hugs.
I also treated myself to some fluffy pajama bottoms on sale at Wal Mart. They are turquoise and have snowflakes and feel like wearing a warm cloud. I also got a nice piece of black fluffy material to make a top to go with it. I'm using the part cut off from hemming the bottom to trim the top to match. That satisfies my matchy-poo urges.
Anyway. I am going to take a little vacation and cut back and take weekends off from posting here. I will probably use the time to start at least one other blog. I think I want to write one about the school for spiritual gifts and a place to live in that goes with it. It will be a good place for preppers.
I used to write ten blogs quite few years ago. I gave it up because of constant hacker attacks. Google seems to defend this one much better than AOL did.
It is pretty likely that I will try out some other blogs as well. The next most likely one is one about my cats. They are always doing cute stuff and they seem to be at least resigned to being photographed. They do tricks and say some recognizable words. They say some words that are pretty hard to understand, but I mostly figure them out eventually. I have recorded a few of their words already and may see if I can learn enough (ick) techy stuff to share them on a blog.
I intend to try five and see what happens for a little bit and then decide from that whether I want to keep doing that many. One of the things that I intend to watch when I drop to five posts a week is what Google does.
Google sends out "bots" or "spiders", which are automated programs that catalog information out on the internet and put it into a format that is convenient for search engines to use when they answer queries.
When you enter something into a search engine that you want to find, you are usually given the results of what the spiders found.
The Google spiders seem to have grown very fond of my blog. I can tell by the statistics about what searches are sent to my blog. I believe my blog has become the default answer for weird queries that Google doesn't know what else to do with. It is like, "It's weird and we don't know what to do with this question, so we'll send it to yvonnessilverlinings.blogspot.com.
Many people who end up on my blog with a weird search engine query come back to look at it some more. Thank you Google, and Google spiders.
I did not post this yesterday, because I was in the middle of telling about the school for spiritual gifts. That is very dear to my heart, and this had to wait. However, the 300th post published does rate some cheers, a cuppa choco DE and a couple of good cat hugs.
I also treated myself to some fluffy pajama bottoms on sale at Wal Mart. They are turquoise and have snowflakes and feel like wearing a warm cloud. I also got a nice piece of black fluffy material to make a top to go with it. I'm using the part cut off from hemming the bottom to trim the top to match. That satisfies my matchy-poo urges.
Anyway. I am going to take a little vacation and cut back and take weekends off from posting here. I will probably use the time to start at least one other blog. I think I want to write one about the school for spiritual gifts and a place to live in that goes with it. It will be a good place for preppers.
I used to write ten blogs quite few years ago. I gave it up because of constant hacker attacks. Google seems to defend this one much better than AOL did.
It is pretty likely that I will try out some other blogs as well. The next most likely one is one about my cats. They are always doing cute stuff and they seem to be at least resigned to being photographed. They do tricks and say some recognizable words. They say some words that are pretty hard to understand, but I mostly figure them out eventually. I have recorded a few of their words already and may see if I can learn enough (ick) techy stuff to share them on a blog.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
22-Year-Old Cat Playing And Doing Tricks
Grass (oat grass)
Brother.
He does a lot of tricks and talks too. I am going to video tape and record him so people can see him doing these things. Some people don't know cats can do tricks or talk. His brother does tricks and talks also, but he is only about three and does not do very many yet.
Some of the things he says:
Goodies.
More.
Ow!
I love you.
Out.
Eat.
Breakfast.
Dinner.
Food.
Wawa or warer (water)
Play.
Bird.
Hand.
Ear.
Nose.
Eye.
Face.
Kissy. (Kiss)
Fur. He uses more of a V sound than an F.
Purr. He says it like "Rurr." He usually purrs when I ask him to. If he is not in the mood he will do a short purr and stop. If I ask again he says, "Rurr!" in an aggrieved tone and won't do it any more.
Uh uh! He says this to me when I am getting ready to do something he doesn't like. One of these is putting him in his carrier to go to the vet or picking him up when he doesn't want me to.
Ah ah ah! He says this when I am already doing something he doesn't like. He has said this to vets giving him a shot.
A a a a a! He uses this for both the above.
Bad boy! He says bad boy to his brother sometimes.
He uses all of those appropriately and seems to understand them. He also appears to understand more words that he does not say.
Some of these are commands for doing tricks and behavior:
Shake hands.
Give me a kiss.
Talk.
Back.
Out.
Cover your poop.
Up.
No, bad.
Down.
Eat.
Around. (for turn around)
Do your kitten laundry. ( I tell him this when I want him to lick medicine off his paw.)
Good boy.
Come on up. (Jump up in my lap.)
Be a baby.. I tell him this when I want him to knead his afghan and pretend to be nursing. (It calms him when he is upset.)
He used to roll over when I told him to, but it seems to bother him to do it and I don't want him to hurt himself because of his age, so we stopped that trick.
He started talking when he was a kitten and heard my older cat talking then. She had a much larger vocabulary than he does, but I had to teach her a lot of what she said. I have not had to teach him much of what he says. He still learns new things to say. "Bad boy", is a new one. It freaks out his brother when he says it to him. He seems to like that.
His brother sounds like a siamese and has a bigger repoirtoire of sounds that he can make. This means he can speak more clearly because he can get sounds that are closer to English. He may talk better and have a bigger vocabulary eventually. He only says a few words so far. He is just starting to realize that talking gets him what he wants, so he is interested now. His favorite word is, "Play". He uses it a lot, but not if he can wait for his brother to say it first.
I believe all cats are capable of talking because neighbors cats have often started doing it when they heard mine talking. A friend called my first talking cat the "hundredth monkey." I am not sure if that is true, but all my talking cats so far, started because they heard another cat talking. I have seen cats on the internet, especially youtube talking, so maybe they don't need to hear another cat talking first.
I think all cats can do tricks, although some won't do more than one or two. I have been able to teach friends cats to do tricks and have taught a few people to teach their cats to do tricks. Training the people is a lot harder.
The first time I taught a cat to do a trick was a race between my sister and I. My sister had a dog and I had a cat and we were going to see whose pet learned to roll over first. My cat won by about a week.
Brother.
 |
| This is my 22-year-old cat playing in a box. |
 |
| He is getting ready to attack his brother. |
 |
| He is getting ready to shake hands with me. |
 |
| He is shaking hands here. |
 |
| He is sitting up begging for a treat. |
He does a lot of tricks and talks too. I am going to video tape and record him so people can see him doing these things. Some people don't know cats can do tricks or talk. His brother does tricks and talks also, but he is only about three and does not do very many yet.
Some of the things he says:
Goodies.
More.
Ow!
I love you.
Out.
Eat.
Breakfast.
Dinner.
Food.
Wawa or warer (water)
Play.
Bird.
Ear.
Nose.
Eye.
Face.
Kissy. (Kiss)
Fur. He uses more of a V sound than an F.
Purr. He says it like "Rurr." He usually purrs when I ask him to. If he is not in the mood he will do a short purr and stop. If I ask again he says, "Rurr!" in an aggrieved tone and won't do it any more.
Uh uh! He says this to me when I am getting ready to do something he doesn't like. One of these is putting him in his carrier to go to the vet or picking him up when he doesn't want me to.
Ah ah ah! He says this when I am already doing something he doesn't like. He has said this to vets giving him a shot.
A a a a a! He uses this for both the above.
Bad boy! He says bad boy to his brother sometimes.
He uses all of those appropriately and seems to understand them. He also appears to understand more words that he does not say.
Some of these are commands for doing tricks and behavior:
Shake hands.
Give me a kiss.
Talk.
Back.
Out.
Cover your poop.
Up.
No, bad.
Down.
Eat.
Around. (for turn around)
Do your kitten laundry. ( I tell him this when I want him to lick medicine off his paw.)
Good boy.
Come on up. (Jump up in my lap.)
Be a baby.. I tell him this when I want him to knead his afghan and pretend to be nursing. (It calms him when he is upset.)
He used to roll over when I told him to, but it seems to bother him to do it and I don't want him to hurt himself because of his age, so we stopped that trick.
He started talking when he was a kitten and heard my older cat talking then. She had a much larger vocabulary than he does, but I had to teach her a lot of what she said. I have not had to teach him much of what he says. He still learns new things to say. "Bad boy", is a new one. It freaks out his brother when he says it to him. He seems to like that.
His brother sounds like a siamese and has a bigger repoirtoire of sounds that he can make. This means he can speak more clearly because he can get sounds that are closer to English. He may talk better and have a bigger vocabulary eventually. He only says a few words so far. He is just starting to realize that talking gets him what he wants, so he is interested now. His favorite word is, "Play". He uses it a lot, but not if he can wait for his brother to say it first.
I believe all cats are capable of talking because neighbors cats have often started doing it when they heard mine talking. A friend called my first talking cat the "hundredth monkey." I am not sure if that is true, but all my talking cats so far, started because they heard another cat talking. I have seen cats on the internet, especially youtube talking, so maybe they don't need to hear another cat talking first.
I think all cats can do tricks, although some won't do more than one or two. I have been able to teach friends cats to do tricks and have taught a few people to teach their cats to do tricks. Training the people is a lot harder.
The first time I taught a cat to do a trick was a race between my sister and I. My sister had a dog and I had a cat and we were going to see whose pet learned to roll over first. My cat won by about a week.
Friday, November 11, 2011
My 22-year-old Cat and His Basic Preventive Healthcare
Snoogies is 22 years old and still in very good shape. He still runs and plays and has wrestling matches with his younger brother. He can run to the top of his six foot cat tree in one shot and likes to sit up there like a fat vulture and survey his domain. He is still shiny and soft and cute.
He is too fat, so he eats a senior cat food for weight control. It also helps prevent hairballs. I put a tiny amount of cheaper food mixed in with it. For some reason they like it better that way. That is their dry food that I leave out in a bowl for him and his brother to eat whenever they want. I keep another bowl of unmixed weight control beside it.
They have a water fountain with a filter in it near their dry food. Pet water fountains are not cheap, but they are much cheaper than vet bills. One vet bill will usually buy you several water fountains with extra filters. I believe that urinary or digestive and elimination problems cause most cats to die too soon, so a filter is a small price to pay to keep my beloved cat with me a few more years. I pre-filter their water before I put it in the fountain so they don't get a lot of chlorine in their systems before it goes through the fountain a few times.
It is hard to get cats to drink enough water. They will drink much more water if it gets aerated through a fountain than if it sits in a bowl. In the past some of my cats had urinary blockages. They can die from this very quickly. I took one of them to the emergency vet in the middle of the night. The vet told me if I had waited another hour she would have been too far gone to save. That was way too close for me. I now do my best to make sure my cats never get like that again.
A cat that I had in my teens died after I took him to the vet several times. She could not find anything wrong with him. The vet asked for permission to do an autopsy on him. She said it would help save other cats if she knew what caused his death. She told me afterwards that it was a urinary blockage that killed him. They were just beginning to find out about Feline Urinary Syndrome then.
Since then, I have learned a lot more about prevention of urinary and bowel problems with cats. I plan to share this with other cat lovers. Much of what I have to say can apply to dogs as well. I am undecided whether to add my dog knowledge here to this blog or not. I do not know as much about dogs as about cats, but I still know a lot of good stuff about dogs. I also have quite a bit of knowledge about some other kinds of animals like goats and chickens. I think I will just write what comes out now, though.
He is too fat, so he eats a senior cat food for weight control. It also helps prevent hairballs. I put a tiny amount of cheaper food mixed in with it. For some reason they like it better that way. That is their dry food that I leave out in a bowl for him and his brother to eat whenever they want. I keep another bowl of unmixed weight control beside it.
They have a water fountain with a filter in it near their dry food. Pet water fountains are not cheap, but they are much cheaper than vet bills. One vet bill will usually buy you several water fountains with extra filters. I believe that urinary or digestive and elimination problems cause most cats to die too soon, so a filter is a small price to pay to keep my beloved cat with me a few more years. I pre-filter their water before I put it in the fountain so they don't get a lot of chlorine in their systems before it goes through the fountain a few times.
It is hard to get cats to drink enough water. They will drink much more water if it gets aerated through a fountain than if it sits in a bowl. In the past some of my cats had urinary blockages. They can die from this very quickly. I took one of them to the emergency vet in the middle of the night. The vet told me if I had waited another hour she would have been too far gone to save. That was way too close for me. I now do my best to make sure my cats never get like that again.
A cat that I had in my teens died after I took him to the vet several times. She could not find anything wrong with him. The vet asked for permission to do an autopsy on him. She said it would help save other cats if she knew what caused his death. She told me afterwards that it was a urinary blockage that killed him. They were just beginning to find out about Feline Urinary Syndrome then.
Since then, I have learned a lot more about prevention of urinary and bowel problems with cats. I plan to share this with other cat lovers. Much of what I have to say can apply to dogs as well. I am undecided whether to add my dog knowledge here to this blog or not. I do not know as much about dogs as about cats, but I still know a lot of good stuff about dogs. I also have quite a bit of knowledge about some other kinds of animals like goats and chickens. I think I will just write what comes out now, though.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)