For cat owners... Indoors or Outside?

This post pertains to cats.

If you are thinking of letting your cat go outside on their own, here’s a few facts: the average lifespan of a cat is 15 to 18 yrs of age. For most cats allowed outside their average life is only about 2-5 years. There are so many dangers outside that can kill or maim your kitty.


If your kitty is an outside kitty, or you are considering letting them be outside, please consider these items (and ask yourself honestly if you could completely prevent any or every one of these things from happening to your kitty).

• Injury from fighting with another cat or fighting to get away from another animal. Most bite wounds aren’t visible until they are abscesses.


• Picking up diseases from other cats, feline leukemia, rabies, etc. All of which will shorten his or her lifespan.


• Injury or death by a motor vehicle or even a bicyclist, or being hit and left to suffer in pain.


• Injury or death from a stationary vehicle, like some cats will seek warmth in the winter under a car hood, fan belts are an awful way to kill.


• Antifreeze poisoning, just walking through a leak then washing their paws is enough to kill them by causing kidney failure. Death can happen within days sometimes a week at most and it is a very painful way to die.


• Dog attacks, kitty may not only die from the injuries but also from the extreme fear they’ve experienced.


• Stolen and sold for lab research or dissection, or to be used as bait for dog fighting or in rituals. People are paid to catch live cats and sell them to biological supply companies for dissection.


• Stolen to be killed and eaten by people. Some cultures this is normal behavior.


• Abused by young people or children of any age, by beating, shot, stabbed, dissected alive, etc.


• Encounters with a poisonous animal, rattlesnakes etc.


• Predators; besides people, there are a lot of other animals that would kill or hurt a cat. Depending on where you live they could be: Alligators, Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Coyotes, Foxes, Raccoons, Skunks, Mountain Lions, Bobcats.


• Traps and snares.


• Impoundment by animal control, an annoyed neighbor, or local cat hater.


• Parasites, fleas, ticks, heartworms (yes,cats get heartworms, and they are more deadly to a cat as there is no cure for cats with heartworms), etc.


• Light colored cats can get skin cancer from too much sunlight exposure.


• Hanging and choking from a non-safety collar, or a malfunctioning safety collar.


• Accidental poisoning from eating a poisoned rodent or bird, or walking through herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.


• Intentional poisoning from animal haters, etc.


• Exposure to weather without access to shelter.


• Being accidentally trapped in a garage or someone’s car.

 Face it, as a human you simply do not have the means or capability to protect your kitty in time or stop everything that could possibly happen to them. However, there are safe alternatives to just simply opening the door and letting them out. You can build a fully enclosed kitty run or area off of a room of the house where they can be outside but still be fully protected. Even taking them out on a leash is not fully protecting them, you are not as fast as they are or as fast a predator. Coyotes are losing their fear of humans, and if they are hungry enough, will snatch your kitty from right next to you. 

 While it's your choice, it's your cat's life, so I will make the plea to please think twice before letting your kitty be an outside kitty. And for those of you with livestock and barns, you have provided shelter and some protection from predators. And as always, please spay or neuter your pets. They'll be much happier without all the hormones and live a longer and healthier life.

iDignity sold separately. The things we do to our pets....

Let me start off with this pic of this adorable pug picture, I think it sums up a lot about what people will do to their pets for fun or they think perhaps the pet will enjoy this.



Poor pup.... but we do it all the time to our furkids. Here's some more sites that are totally demented:

www.yogakitty.com    

They claim the Purr-fect yoga for you and your cat. I mean come on! Who can be serious with a cat on your head?

Or how about www.stuffonmycat.com ? Pictures of people putting the strangest things on their beloved cats, and I think there is a site for stuff on my dog too.  Or what about just pictures of kitties with a Hitler style moustache? Don't believe me? Check it out at www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com



And we wonder why our pets bite us, or find ways to wreak havoc when you aren't at home for revenge. Ah yes, the pictures of a kitty getting a bath.  And people think the poor traumatized kitty is funny when wet. Hello! There is a reason cats hate water, they can bathe themselves folks! Yeah, then you forget they have front feet full of switchblades, that they know how to use quite effectively. And you wonder why the dog shreds anything it can find when you leave the house.

Oh yes, our pets are very, very intelligent and very creative in their ways to seek revenge on us for besmirching their dignity.

And mine don't need any prompting to wreak havoc, they just have to be pissed at us for anything or any imagined affront. I can come home to any number of exciting things. The dogs are probably the most creative in their revenge. From shredded paper or tissues, to jumping from the couch to the coffee table to push everything on top onto the floor while another pees on the items. Or Lil'Shit when he was younger, he never liked being left behind, and worse not having a window to watch out of for my return. Once upon a time I brought him up with me when we came to visit my folks. My mom had a big long window at the front of the house with miniblinds, metal miniblinds mind you. The sill to this window was 2 maybe 2.5 feet from the floor. We all were going to go out to supper, she closed and dropped the blinds, I told her not to do that, that my dog would tear through them to be able to watch for me to come back. Sad thing is, she thought I was lying. Nope, I was speaking from experience. Sure enough we came back and he was on the sill watching for us, and you could see the big chewed through hole in the blinds where he had eaten his way through the blinds so he could sit on the sill to watch for me. Now, mind you he's a chihuahua, not a big dog at all. Mom was so taken by surprise she started laughing. She replaced the damaged slats, but left a couple to remind her of his tenacity.

Cats, oh cats, are just plain sneaky and spiteful in their revenge, they don't stop at one thing, they have a list planned out for revenge for a slight. From peeing on you or something you hold dear, to sharpening their claws on your leg, to pushing something breakable off from a high spot, and the list goes on.

Anyhow, while we find these things humorous and yes we do because we love our pets and the silly things they can do on their own brings us much laughter and joy, there are some things perhaps  we shouldn't do to them or put on them.

One last thing I want to share, and this sadly is true of some of our cats, so heed these words of wisdom. And if this one doesn't outright have you laughing so hard you pee your pants, then you need your funny bone replaced.

How to give your cat a pill:

Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby.  Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand.  As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
* Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa.
Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
* Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
* Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand.  Force jaws open and push
pill to back of mouth with right forefinger.  Hold mouth shut for a count of 10.
* Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe.  Call spouse from garden.
* Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, holding front and rear paws.  Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold cat's head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth.  Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.
* Retrieve cat from curtain rail.  Get another pill from foil wrap.  Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
* Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with its head just visible from below spouse's armpit.  Put pill in drinking straw, force cat's mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
* Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink glass of water to take taste away.  Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
* Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed.  Get another pill.
Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon.  Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
* Fetch screwdriver from garage and put door back on hinges.  Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot.  Throw T-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
* Ring fire brigade to retrieve cat from tree across the road.  Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat.  Take last pill from foil wrap.
* Tie cat's front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table.  Find heavy duty pruning gloves from shed.  Force cat's mouth open with small spanner.  Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak.  Hold head vertically and pour 1/2 pint of water down throat to wash pill down.
* Get spouse to drive you to emergency room; sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye.  Stop by furniture shop on way home to order new table.
* Arrange for vet to make a house call

Life is better with pets? It's certainly more humorous....

Mornings with my crew of cats can be interesting. At least 2 of them insist on being on the counter, with Yum usually underfoot. I don't understand how a cat could have this magnetic attraction in his tail to know when to swish it and place it exactly where your foot is coming down! It's a rough way to wake up in the morning..... Who needs an alarm clock? Needless to say those abrupt and "startling" yeowls and screams aren't good for the husband's blood pressure (mine either for that matter) and tends to make him cranky. So you learn to shuffle your feet and get creative about putting contact lenses in with a counter full of furry beasts, who by the way if you put them down, will run out one door and quickly come in the other and back up on the counter before you can get the lens case open. I believe they think that by being pests it will get them fed that much sooner. These hurry up antics can include peeking around the shower curtain to make sure you haven't drowned so that they will still get breakfast. And if the checking on you in the shower determines that you are just lollygagging in the shower the other who is still on the counter starts knocking small important things off, like lens cases, combs, other sundry and small items, and then gets down to carry them off somewhere. It's a conspiracy! And while humorous, it can be a bit challenging! Certainly gets your brain working in the mornings.

And then there was this morning a bit of humor on my husband. He gets every other Friday off, and had intended to sleep in this morning. HA! He had gotten up to answer the call of nature and as he was shuffling back to bed,  Djinn, our Russian Blue, decided that he would race into the room, run across the bed, and jump over to my dresser to grab my husband to get his attention. Well, for the most part it might have worked, except that as he was in leaving the bed for the dresser, he collided with my husband. Startling wake up call for both there. Husband had to chuckle because Djinn just sat on the floor looking totally befuddled and a "what the hell happened?" look on his face.

Djinn is also the bathroom counter item thief, and the most inconspicuous imp in the household. Oh he looks cute and innocent, but believe me he is an instigator.



Then when you are finally dressed, and ready to head downstairs, you must make sure there is a light on. Otherwise you are running the moving obstacle course blind. And the cats won't go downstairs until they know for certain you are right there with them. Never dull round our place, no siree.

Then there is the grabbing snipers. One of my previous cats taught the others this lovely trick. Find someplace to perch at least human waist height or above them. Then as the unsuspecting human goes by, and they think they should be paid homage by that human, a fully weaponized (paw with switchieblades extended) will grab you. And they are good at this law of grabbity, and snagging the most sensitive place they can that will elicit the most exciting reactions. So, unless I am very very distracted, I have learned to watch ahead for grabbers.
However, I do have to say that bedtime is nice with the cats, especially in the winter as they all cuddle and purr you to sleep. The husband laughs and says I am a purr addict, and I certainly don't deny it.

For all the challenges, I wouldn't be without them, Love them all and they do return it. So anyone who says animals don't have personalities or only know what you teach them, I would probably invite them to spend time with my crew. :o)

Pets with Diabetes, some info and gripes

Several years ago, one of my beloved rescue kitties came down very ill and we couldn't figure out what was going on until the veterinarian diagnosed her with feline diabetes.  At first I was simply in shock that this was the case, secondly angry at one of the vets who felt we should just give up on her and put her to sleep, and then I got determined to learn how to care for her fully and to the best of my abilities.

The first veterinarian did not give me much information on it, and the only good thing she did was to tell me to home test, but she wanted to sell me a glucometer just for pets that was mucho bucks.  So, after a quick vertical learning curve on diabetes in cats and possible causes, I found that human glucometers work just like the pet ones and they really are the same. My mom was diabetic so she had an extra meter that she gave me to use. And I set out learning how to use it with the help of some amazing people at felinediabetes.com. I also knew that her diabetes had an underlying cause and when I brought it up to the vet she told me I knew nothing basically and to just keep bringing my girl in for them to manage the insulin etc.

To put it lightly, I got mad then, I knew there was an underlying issue and that the diabetes was a secondary issue. So I changed veterinarians. I learned about diet and how important it is to sugar kitties, and I learned all about insulins, dosages, and how to manage it at home. WOW. I also spent time with my friends in the healthcare ed business and friends who teach anatomy and physiology to learn as much as I possibly could about all of their systems. And what I learned helped me to manage it as best I could while the vet and I figured out what was the underlying cause.

I learned that diet to begin with plays a very big part in feline and pet diabetes. Alot of the initial causes are by improper diet. Most animals cannot digest certain grains, and cats especially are obligate carnivores, not "carb"ivores. Diet can cause pancreatitis, which if it goes on long enough will cause a malfunction of the insulin producing part of the pancreas creating diabetes.

It turned out that pancreatitis was my girl's underlying cause. And what we didn't know when we switched her to a longer acting insulin was that she was also developing cancer in the form of pancreatic and adrenal. We found later that the synthetic insulin the vet had put her on, accelerated the cancer growth.

My main gripe about the way veterinary care is still today about care of pet diabetes, is that it is long behind how we treat ourselves for diabetes. Most (not all) vets do not want you to learn to manage it at home. They want your money, they want to sell you awful prescription food that is worse for them than plain old purina. And the list goes on. It is  the owners who are determined to care for their animal who make the connections and breakthroughs in the care of diabetes.

My usual lament is why oh why are they almost 10 yrs behind how humans approach and care for themselves with diabetes and their doctors. I get it that not many people really have or want to take the time to care for a diabetic animal, but if they truly cared for their companion why wouldn't they care for it like their own child? It isn't much different. But Veterinarians just seem to refuse to teach and encourage the pet owners to at least test before dosing their pets with the insulin. It is so simple to do, and you develop an amazing bond with your pet while you care for them. Just like with a person though, dosing insulin blindly without knowing where the bloodsugar levels are, can put them into a coma or kill them by bottoming out their sugars. And can cause irreparable brain damage. Why would a vet subject any animal to this possibility by lack of educating the owner? Human diabetics adjust their insulin dose based on their blood sugar level, and we need to do the same for our pet. And many vets discourage us from doing this, and instead say oh bring them in each week for a fructose test (which only will give an average of the levels, not tell you if they had a hypoglycemic episode). Or the vet clinic wants to run a curve which is useless data, simply because the most stressful place for a pet is the Vet's office and stress sends their numbers way up. And is very very costly to us the owner and in some cases rather than face those costs, many animals are put to sleep because the owner cannot face the cost. Home care is so much cheaper and so much easier to do.

Caring for you pet as you would your child if they had diabetes, with diet changes, and monitoring is the least stressful and best way to heal your pet. And YES they can go into total remission, cats more so than dogs.
They give us unconditional love, shouldn't we care for them in the best way possible?

If you have a pet with diabetes, please go to one of the info links I have posted on diet, and diabetic sites. Learn about it, realize it isn't as scary to deal with as you might think.  And you really will develop a bond with your pet that is beyond words. And YES pets if properly cared for at home can go into remission and off of insulin.

Pet loss and grief

I have a friend who is grieving terribly over the recent unexpected loss of her beloved dog. And her grief has me wishing to write a bit on grief at the loss of a companion.

It is never ever easy to let our cherished companions go before what we feel is their "time". We know when we accept them to share our lives with us, that they are really only with us a short time, and yet they leave an indelible mark on our lives and hearts. And while we all do our best in caring for them, loving them, sharing our souls and lives with them, the hardest part is also the most compassionate part sometimes.

Not all of our pets are able to pass from us gracefully from old age, some need our help to pass gracefully. And truly the most compassionate thing we can do, is our final act of loving them, and allowing them to pass without pain, without suffering and without fear. I have had too many little souls share my life that I have had to help them pass, it is never the easy choice but is the hard one and the right one to make. And believe me, we all feel when we do make that choice that perhaps there is something we could have done to make it different, we all almost always end up blaming ourselves or feeling guilty that we could have noticed sooner, etc. Sometimes the whole thing just happens way too fast to be prepared or even accept that it is happening.

After my last heartbreaking loss, I pray daily that I get another day to love and cherish those who still share my life. And I have to stop sometimes and realize they are all headed into their geratric years, with two in their twilight years. And those in their twilight years, can develop some interesting new habits or compulsive habits. Sometimes these new habits can be annoying, but then I have to stop and think about how little precious time I may actually have with them, and put up with it or adapt. I also finally realized that some of these habits are a form of senility, and sometimes fear, and that these obsessive habits are a form of a security blanket for them because they don't understand what is happening. Usually they will very rarely allow us out of their sight anymore, as being close is a comfort to them and they need to feel our touch or the vibrations from our speaking to them for comfort.

So I try my best, I love my furkids, I try to spoil them a bit, I work to keep their routine so there is comfort for them in it, and I watch and learn from them every day they are with me. I revel in the beauty they have brought my life, and the compassion they teach me daily, reminding me to keep loving unconditionally. And I cherish those gifts. And I cry for every friend who loses their beloved companion before "their time", because I truly can relate to their feelings of loss and wish I could help them with their pain. But knowing the best thing I can do for them is to be there for them, just listen, and let them talk, cry or be angry.

One of my peeves....

I live in the Southwest. They call it the "high" desert here. It's still desert here whether or not we're high is debatable. However, living in the desert has dangers to pets and the mountains can add to those dangers. Add in ignorant and angry drivers and it's just downright dangerous for any pet or animal to be loose and running around. Oh, and then there's young people who are bored and will torment an animal that is outdoors or running loose.

My peeve is this, PLEASE if you are a caring and responsible pet owner, DO NOT allow your cats to run loose, or your dogs. Everyday I see animals running loose, or dead by the side of the road, it's plain heartbreaking.

Cats can not only be hit by cars, shot by an irate neighbor or a neighbor who just doesn't like cats, they are snacks and yummy to coyotes and dog packs, they are shot with blow darts by bored kids, they are used as bait animals for training fighting dogs, and the list goes on. Dogs, if running loose will pack with other dogs, kill livestock, get shot at, hit by cars, eaten by cougars and even coyotes, tormented by kids if left in a yard that isn't protected, and this list goes on also.

Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING breaks my heart more than to have seen a beloved pet, dead on the road, and leave me hoping that it was quick and they didn't suffer. I cry for every one of them I see. It is far, far crueler to let them run loose than to keep them safely confined. Personally I don't believe cats that are pets shouldn't be allowed outside. They truly are much happier inside. And believe me, nothing is more shocking or heartbreaking than seeing a coyote chase and grab a cat and eat them alive. And don't for a minute be fooled that coyotes are only out in the countryside, they come right into towns, we even have cougars and bears downtown quite often.

Dogs should be either kept safely indoors or in a safe yard, or run. Where kids cannot torment them, where they cannot be hit and left to die slowly, or even stolen and sold to animal research facilities, or medical schools, like a story in South America this week. And if they aren't loose and in a pack, they are not a menace to other pets or small children. Dog packs and the pack mentality is dangerous.

Don't assume that everyone on the planet is a pet lover or animal lover. I have seen people driving aim for a animal to run it over. Or how about someone who deliberately poisons an animal and lets it suffer a long agonizing death.

And please spay and neuter, because roaming pets that are not altered create more unwanted pets that usually end up being euthanized. Spaying or neutering will not take anything away from your pet. He'll still be a male, and won't become a wuss, your girl will be just fine without having to have a litter.  And you'll be increasing their life overall.

Ok, gripe over for now. Please be responsible for your pet. Even the Humane Society, and ASPCA will all tell you that pets are happier when inside and in safe surroundings.

The antics of a rhino in kitty clothes

Yummy, is our big beautiful blue eyed Siamese cross, who is very fluffy and very, very large. He is somewhere in the range of 23 to 25 pounds. And no matter what I try to do to get him to lose the weight, it doesn't work. Oh don't get me wrong, he's certainly not lazy and is very fleet on his feet. But he has all the grace of a Rhino. And if you are downstairs you can hear him when he does his "Santa Fe 500" laps upstairs being full of himself. He even sounds like a Rhino or an Elephant thumping around up there.

We all know that cats usually are known for their grace and stealth, but there is usually one like Yummy who defies this description the majority of the time. Bless his big blue eyes, he can be stealthy when he's sneaking up on you, but he will never be called graceful. Perhaps this is the reason for the "muscle" bulk, to make up for grace, he gets the power. He's not klutzy, he's just not graceful. And you certainly know it if he steps on you or has you well tucked into bed. He can sneak into bed with you, then claim you as his comfy spot. And moving him off you or off the covers that are between you and the side of the bed, is about like trying to move a liquid lead lump. He sleeps heavy and heaven help you if you need to get out of bed in a hurry. We have discovered though that you can roll him down the covers as it were to get enough space to get out of bed. The frustrating thing is that he then has the audacity to actually show up to the bathroom before you, when you were positive that he was still in bed.

Mornings can be especially entertaining. I am usually up first while my husband will try to grab a few more Z's before he has to climb out of bed. It isn't long after I am up before Yum will decide that he must chase his tail as if it is a demon following him on the bed. Yes, he'll pretend his tail is an alien. One morning he caught it and actually bit himself. Talk about startling! He scared himself and went flying off the bed and downstairs before you could say "Holy Moly!" I don't think his feet touched the floor from the bed to the stairs. Needless to say though, it doesn't help the husband catch many more Z's. The bed feels like a little trampoline when Yum is playing like this on it. Which is why we don't own a waterbed anymore. One the occasional  leak occurred, two, you got seasick.

He considers my husband his pet. And will dole out his nose kisses to me very sparingly should he be feeling generous or pestering me for something. Otherwise I only get love bites, while his "pet" gets "exfoliated".  My lord he must have the roughest tongue of any cat I have ever had. The only thing rougher I have felt (although slimier) was a bull I knew who would use his tongue to wrap around your wrist to take hay from your hand. That being said, we are very fond of our Rhino in kitty clothes, he provides us with love and A LOT of humor. For example, watching him run when he's being full of himself and then go flying over one of the child gates we use for the dogs. He can even clear a child gate from a sitting position. However, these leaps are definitely NOT graceful, they are more like watching a moose or something go over a hurdle. Actually, I believe the moose may be more graceful.

So, if anyone dares to tell you that an animal has absolutely no personality (my high school anatomy & physiology teacher said this) or that they only know what you teach them; ask the person what planet did they come from? They are obviously stupid.