Archive for the 'Cats' Category
If you decide you want to go through the effort of home-cooking for your cat and feeding her a raw diet, you should know the following:
- As carnivores cats need animal protein of about 60%. The best proteins are found in raw or cooked ground beef, chicken, turkey, and other meats.
- Add a tablespoon of organ meat twice a week.
- 20% of the feline diet should consist of vegetables. Use the broth from boiling the organs to steam the veggies. Steam some carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, whatever your cat favors.
- Another 20% goes to the grains. Cooked brown rice is most digestible grain food out there. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you ever wondered if you cat would do good on a leash where you have more control over her? You might be surprised to hear that just about every cat can be trained to walk on a leash.
Try the following:
- Buy a harness for you cat. Do not use a collar.
- Keep the harness and leash around your cat so she becomes familiar with it.
- After a few days put the harness on your cat and feed her immediately afterwards. Follow the direction on the harness so it won't be too tight. 2 fingers should be able to fit between the harness and the cat's skin.
- Should the harness start to bother him distract him with some treats and toys.
- Remove the harness once he starts to feel comfortable with it.
- Do all the above for a week and leaving the harness for longer each time.
- After that week put the leash on the harness and let the cat drag it behind her. Make sure she doesn't get tangled up! Reward her a lot.
- After he got used to the leash dragging behind him, start picking up the leash, but do not allow tension, just walk behind her with the leash loose in your hand.
- After a few days of that, start pulling on the leash a little bit and encourage your cat to come towards you with a treat. If she is resistant, do not fight her.
- After you are satisfied that your cat is comfortable with the harness and leash, move the exercise to the outdoors.
- Slowly stay out longer and longer and move further and further away from your property. Eventually your cat will walk on the leash like a trained dog!
This post was composed by Oliver Pickford. Oliver also regularly contributes to the London hogwash blog and has started to become a authority to do with equine insurance UK.
Have you ever wondered why your cat seems to enjoy washing your hair and/or face?
This behavior has it’s roots in the kitten’s first minutes, because the mother’s tongue is the first thing it will experience. Cleaning and grooming each other is a sign of affection and love. So what is your cat telling you when he/she starts washing your face and/or hair? I love you and I care for you, that is the message.
Have you ever wondered why a cat kneads with his paws?
Observe a kitten nursing. The paws are kneading constantly to stimulate the mother’s milk flow. After the kitten is weaned, the behavior turns into an expression of just feeling good and safe, as well as contentment.
This article was written by Dakota Mathews, she is also a author on Furrey Lens . Dakota is fast becoming an authority on oak masters.
Worms are internal parasites in the intestine and they affect both cats and dogs. De-worming is a routine treatment for most kittens who can expect to have worms at some point in their lives, usually hookworm or round worms.
Roundworm females can lay a million eggs in five days, so it is important to get early treatment. Often the disease is spread from the mother cat through milk. Once they have a hold on the intestine they feed from the same food the cat has eaten. Whilst diarrhea and vomiting, arte the most common symptoms a side effect of this is dehydration and the younger the animal the more susceptible they are to dehydration.
Roundworm eggs can live for many years and chemicals cannot kill them off. They thrive in warm weather and this is the time of year when pets are most at risk.
Hookworms are so called because they are capable of hooking themselves to the intestinal wall where they feed on blood. Adult cats can become infected when they eat the larvae but kittens can be infected across the milk or they can get them passed on through the placenta before they are even born. If they are allowed to get a serious hold without treatment then it is likely that the cats will suffer anemia, because there red cell count has diminished. The hookworms fortunately release an anti coagulant substance whilst they are feeding and when they move on to feed in another part of the intestine the anti coagulant prevents the blood from clotting. This leaves a telltale tarry stool which is black.
This post was composed by Joshua Foster. Joshua also regularly contributes to the Spot-mail and has published many articles concerning smart lipo.
Constipated Cats
Constipation means having a problem defecating and it normally comes about when an abnormal accumulation of the feces occurs. Unfortunately there are several common ways that this can occur in cats. Sometimes a serious complication cats suffer from obstipation when the colon is completely blocked by fecal matter. Not surprising this condition is painful and it can and does cause behavioral problems, the cats associates the litter tray with pain, and even the most fastidious of cats will try and avoid it and try to use another area to go to the toilet. Another condition is megacolon when the nerves or the muscles of the colon have suffered damage.
Anatomically a cats colon is in the same position as it is in humans it forms part of the gastrointestinal tract leading upwards from the rectum.
The tract itself contains bacteria, which finish the digestion of protein acids, in doing so they produce what is termed as short chain fatty acids. These fatty acids should lubricate the colon by secreting a mucous which is intended to allow the smooth and pain free passage of the stool.
Normally a constipated cat will not defecate every day it may be once every three to four days or even less. When it does defecate the matter that is expelled is very hard and dry and without any obvious lubrication. However sometimes diarrhea is a sign of constipation, though this sounds impossible it happens when the blockage prevents any solid matter from coming out but the liquid can get through.
In general the drier the diet that the cat eats the harder the resultant stool will be, some cases will develop constipation when they are fed a wet diet but it is rarer. Some cats need more fiber in their diets as it is fiber that controls how mobile the food the stool is going to be as it works it way through the colon. It can either slow things down or accelerate the process. A change of diet usually cures constipation but sometimes when a cat needs more fiber pumpkins and squash can be a healthy additive to the diet. Water is another essential part of the digestion process nothing can be digested without water. Exercise aids digestion for cats the more they move the less likely they are to suffer from digestive problems.
Be on the lookout for signs of constipation in cats because whatever is causing it is best treated sooner rather than later.
This entry was submitted by Abigayle Turner, she’s also a author on Spot mail and Smuge. Abigayle is fast becoming an authority on DiamondTome london.
As animal age they lose their full reasoning powers and cognitive factors as do humans. Certainly, they slow down and they are not as fast to respond to outside stimuli. Although this is can be obvious in dogs, it does affect cats as well, even though it is often harder to spot. There are two reasons for this it is a slower and far more gradual process in cats, and it is not always noticed. Sometimes there is a change in the cats behaviour.
Once this occurs, it is advisable to seek veterinarian advice because cats are more at risk of infection and as they age, they take longer to heal and respond to medication. Cats can have urinary infections and they cannot control the bladder as they used to. Often the urine seeps out as they sleep. If they have a level of incontinence or they are urinating more often, they may be suffering from diabetes or kidney infections. These can be treated in the early stages.
It is important to remember as cat’s age their dietary requirements do change.The expression fat cat is often a caricature but cats can get fatter as they exercise less and bask in the sun more. Prolonged over feeding also starts to pile on excessive pound when coupled with reduced exercise. This increases the cats chances of suffering a heart disease.
Special food for the elderly cat does help to offset these problems a little and they will certainly help to control the cat’s weight as they advance into what should be hopefully a healthy age. Cats are no different from humans they do more veterinarian care as they age.
This post was written by Edward Waddingham. Edward is also one of the primary writer for Spot-mail and has published many articles to do with IPL skin rejuvenation clinic.