Is your cat microchipped? If not, one of the best and safest ways to increase the chances of finding your lost cat is to have it microchipped. One in three pets get lost during their lifetime and without microchips, 90 percent never return home. Unfortunately, only about 2-5 percent of cats that come into animal shelters have microchips and are successfully reunited with their owners.
A microchip is the size of a grain of rice (12 mm), implanted in the subcutaneous tissue of your cat’s skin, typically between the shoulder blades. The procedure is done in a matter of seconds using a needle, similar to a routine shot, and is considered relatively painless.
Cats love routine, consistency and familiarity, so when we go on vacation our absence can be stressful for them. Hiring an in-home pet sitter can reduce the stress and anxiety your cat can experience while you’re away. Keeping your cat in the safety and comfort of your home with an experienced pet sitter provides the best alternative to the physical and emotional stress caused by kenneling or boarding your cat away from home. If you plan to leave your cat home alone for more than a night, it’s best to hire a pet sitter for the time you’re away. Here’s how to find a great pet sitter for your cat.
Why Hire a Pet Sitter?
Cats can become anxious and worried while we’re away from them for longer periods than normal. They may be independent, but cats don’t like changes in their daily routine or being away from home. Leaving them alone for several days can be a risk to their physical and emotional health and overall well being. Hiring an in-home pet sitter can reduce your cat’s stress and provide the quality of care, attention and reassurance she needs while you’re away, and give you peace of mind too.
Sometimes change is unavoidable for our cats, like moving into a new home, bringing home a new baby, having house guests, or adopting a new dog or cat. All of these can truly rock a cat’s world and trigger behavior changes. Sometimes even the slightest change can cause some cats to become uncomfortable, fearful, stressed, and anxious. Here’s how to create a happier, stress-free environment for your cat and ways to enrich their environment at home.
Cats are very vulnerable to changes in their life, and they will often show us when they are feeling anxious and uncomfortable by hiding more often, obsessively licking or vocalizing more, uncontrollably chewing or drooling, sleeping all day or more than normal, urine marking or even potting outside the litter box. Sometimes external changes in the cat’s home environment can even negatively impact your cat’s overall health and quality of life.
Looking for a cat rescue group near you? Wanting to adopt a rescue cat or volunteer for a rescue group?
Here are resource lists of cat rescue groups in the U.S.
State List of Shelters and Rescue Organizations
There are public and private animal rescue organizations located in all 50 United States and the District of Columbia. These shelters, rescues, and organizations are there to provide assistance to animals in need as well as assisting those who can no longer take care of their animals.
Alley Cat Allies recommends that feral cat colonies have proper protection from inclement weather. Following are detailed instructions they have provided in a PDF download that are needed to build a feral cat shelter. These building plans are recommended for use throughout the United States. For extremely harsh, cold, and wet climates, insulation (as described) is advised. Alley Cat Allies recommends using straw bedding to keep the shelter warm, and not hay. They recommend against using blankets, carpeting or any materials like towels that will hold moisture. They also suggest using hardwood shavings, but not softwood shavings due to toxicity (and not cedar and pine).
Pasha was a survivor. She was born fighting for her life, and her life ended the same way. Pasha was a fighter with a fierce life force and spirit to live, even when confronted with the most challenging physical problems to overcome. From the day Pasha was born in the drop box of the Martinez Animal Shelter, Pasha fought with all of her might to stay alive. She and her three newborn siblings and her mama were deathly sick with Feline Viral Rhinotacheitis (FVR), a common virus that spreads in animal shelters that can quickly devastate fragile, vulnerable kittens. When we brought Pasha, kittens and mama cat home to foster—one by one, the kittens succumbed to the virus following several visits to the emergency hospital to revive and treat them. But their tiny bodies could not defend against the virulent virus and they surrendered to the disease. Only Pasha survived along with her beautiful mother. Pasha had the life force of four lives in one. Now 18 years later, Pasha is fighting for her life again with every weak breath that is slowly taking her life and her vibrant, beautiful spirit with her. It is with so much sadness and heartbreak that we witness Pasha losing her battle to stay alive. In the last 24 hours, Pasha has developed rapid labored breathing, lethargy, weakness, and has stopped eating—as her physical body is letting go of life. And now, we are facing the toughest challenge, a day we wish would never come, the day we need to help our little Pasha go, to alleviate any further suffering for her.
Ever been curious how old your cat is in cat years versus human years? Well, there’s no absolute or reliable scientific calculation for determining exactly how old your cat is in cat years, but there are good calculations that come close to estimating your cat’s approximate age. So here’s how to determine your cat’s age in cat years.
What Factors Determine How a Cat Ages?
There are many factors that go into a cat’s aging and lifespan including how well they have been cared for, whether they are indoor or outdoor cats, their daily diet and quality of food, whether they have received good veterinary care and annual wellness exams, whether chronic diseases and short-term illnesses have been treated in a timely manner, if they have received good dental care, the environmental stresses they have been subjected to, and their genetic predisposition to disease. Continue reading How to Determine Your Cat’s Age in Cat Years→
Your cat’s body is made up of 70-80% water or three-quarters of your cat’s body weight is water, so it’s critical that your cat gets enough fluids daily to maintain good health and prevent dehydration. Water is essential for cat’s urinary and kidney health, circulation, digestion, and waste removal. With hot summer days now upon us, it’s even more important that your cat has access to and drinks enough water, as dehydration can lead to a number of serious medical problems and even death. Here are the signs of dehydration in cats and why it’s so important to treat dehydration immediately.
Why Hydration is So Important
Dehydration happens when your cat loses body fluids faster than he can replace them, and it can happen when your cat is either not drinking enough water or is losing too many fluids. Fluids lost through daily urination, elimination and respiration all need to be replaced to normal levels everyday. But if your cat hasn’t been drinking enough water; has been vomiting or has diarrhea; or has been ill or had a fever; or your cat is old, then rehydration is even more critical as all of these can leave your cat severely dehydrated.
On Saturday, we became painfully aware it was finally time to say goodbye to our beautiful, loving cat Angus. A neurological condition had developed in the past couple of years, causing increasing discomfort and stiffness in Angus’s hind legs and back end, and it finally overtook him on Saturday. Angus could no longer walk or stand up, his hind legs collapsing and folding underneath him. The truth is Angus’s strong, once-muscled, 18-year-old athletic body—finally gave out and broke. He died the day before the anniversary of my father’s death and two days before my mother’s birthday—on July 11, 2020. But Angus was dearly loved by his human and feline family, and had a most wonderful life.
