Cat Litter Box Tips-6

If your cat is not using the litter box consistently or even at all, here are 6 things to try that could make a huge difference to your cat and you.

1. Keep it Clean--Your cat's nose is much more sensitive than human noses. So keeping the litter box clean and inviting is one of the easiest ways you can entice your cat to use the litter box rather than your carpet or rugs.

2. Fine Tune the Location--Cats need their privacy too. Placing the litter box in a place that is easily accessible to your cat, but is out of the main traffic pattern through your home will make a big difference.

You probably don't necessarily want to watch your cat defecate, and it would probably enjoy privacy as well. The laundry room, bath room or hallways are all great picks. Be sure to put plenty of space between the food and litter box.

3. Check on Health--Sometimes a cat who suddenly develops improper elimination issues has a urinary tract infection or some other health problem that presents this way. Seek immediate advice from your vet.

4. If the problem stems from a physical problem, quick diagnosis and treatment can avoid having this behavior turn into a habit.

5. Maintain a Routine in the Midst of Change--Cats are creatures of habit, and a disruption to their schedule can wreak havoc with their elimination habits. A new baby, another pet, a move to a new home, or even a change in work hours of the primary care giver can all cause your cat to be stressed.

Stress often translates into inappropriate elimination. Reduce your cat's stress by gently guiding it to the litter box when it makes a mistake. Harsh treatment, perish the thought, only increases stress and will cause even more problems.

Pick a spot for the box that is always accessible and does not depend on your opening a door for your cat to use it, and leave it in the same place so your cat always knows where to find it.

6. Try a Different Type of Litter--Cats do have a reputation for being finicky, and maybe it just doesn't like your pick of litter. Try changing from one type to another by slowing adding more of the new as you decrease the old. Scents can be off-putting, so try a brand without an odor.

7. Don't Make Them Share--If you have more than one cat, provide a box for each one. Even though we think nothing of sharing a bathroom, cats don't like it, and you will probably have more success if each has a litter box of its own.

Cat on the Cutting Edge

In full scrubs and armed with a scalpel, Clare Gregory hovers over an anesthetized light-brown tabby named Wink. He cuts through the vessels connecting the cat's kidney to its circulatory system and drops the walnut-sized organ in a dish of ice. A nurse sets the hands of a large timer on the wall of the operating room, which begins the countdown from 60 minutes. That's the amount of time the vets have to connect Wink's kidney inside Binky, a very sick kitty, whose own kidneys have failed.


Joe Toreno
Forget lab rats: Household pets are being used to refine advanced cloning and surgical techniques, and to pinpoint our DNA trouble spots.
In the operating room, the two cats are tied down on adjacent tables, paws taped back in spread-eagle fashion. Breathing tubes are stuck down their throats, and drip tubes deliver anesthesia through veins in their wrists. Their tongues hang out of their mouths, and their eyes are open and glassy. They seem dead except for their opened chests, which move up and down in a slow rhythm controlled by expensive machinery. They look nearly identical.

In fact, though, they're quite different. With Binky's kidneys failing, his blood chemistry has gone haywire. At 11 years old, he's highly anemic and unable to flush his own blood of nitrogen, urea, and other respiration by-products. His emaciated and shaved body looks more like a skinned rabbit than a cat that once weighed a hefty 14 pounds - he's now shrunk to 8. Wink, on the other hand, is downright porky. Just 2 years old, he's spent his entire life as a research animal in a nutrition study at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where he did nothing but eat and sleep. Now he's been selected to donate an organ. The deal is that in exchange for one kidney, the recipient's owner must adopt donor pet Wink, liberating him from the lab. So to save one cat, you get two.

Now, sitting over Binky's draped body, Gregory and fellow surgeon Lynda Bernsteen peer into the patient's abdominal cavity through a giant microscope built for two. Gregory asks that no one bump the table as he begins cutting into the aorta and vena cava to plug in the new organ. "Time?" Bernsteen asks between careful incisions and minute sutures. She moves so quickly it almost looks easy. A quick cut here, an expert stitch there. The doctors work the miracle of modern surgery, and it's hard to remember that the patient is a cat. After what seems like only moments, a nurse reports that 32 minutes have passed. That leaves only 28 to finish.

All this energy to save poor Binky might seem a gross indulgence. But Binky's owner, Gayle Roberts, a vet herself, would willingly part with one of her own kidneys for any member of her family. That clan - in addition to Binky, a husband, and two kids - includes Blackjack, Bedbug, Dark Crystal, Penelope, Helen, Kiwi, and Lucifer. It's hard to remember who is who. Is Dusty her son or the Australian shepherd? Although Binky's kidney transplant will set Roberts back $9,000 for surgery, drugs, and post-op care (for canines, the cost runs upwards of 15 grand), when it's close kin, it's hard to say no. Forced to choose between Binky and mortgage payments, Roberts chose her cat. Since then, her bank has threatened to foreclose on the house.

One hundred years ago, Americans considered cats little more than rat catchers and gave even beloved dogs almost no medical treatment. But as the the middle class grew wealthy enough to include animals in their families, and as the automobile displaced the horse in the early 20th century, urban veterinarians began looking for new markets. They gradually found work spaying, neutering, and fixing the broken bones of a growing population of household pets: cats and dogs. The growth proved contagious. In 1950, there were roughly 9,000 members of the American Veterinary Medical Association; that figure is now 70,000.

As pet owners pour more and more money into advanced treatments, it's not just the Binkys who are benefiting. Animal medical procedures are pushing vets into the most experimental regions of science. Demand for sophisticated pet care has brought terms like gene therapy and MRI into the vet lexicon. Surgeons at UC Davis now complete 25 kidney transplants a year and are trying out experimental drugs on pets with terminal brain tumors. At Iowa State, dogs are getting artificial elbows, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, vets are saving damaged limbs by implanting the bones of dead animals. Over the years, the passion of pet owners has created a discipline poised to inform medicine as a whole.

"Our pets have this huge veterinary profession scrutinizing them, with thousands of observers of disease graduating from veterinary schools each year," says Stephen O'Brien, chief scientific officer at the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Genomic Diversity.

All this data provides a window into human medicine that researchers otherwise wouldn't have. For starters, vet science gathers information that policy or mores make inaccessible in human science. Advanced cloning technologies, for instance, have allowed vets to begin using embryonic stem cells in ways that are against the law in human medicine.

Then there's the quality that drew humans to these animals in the first place - their emotional dimension. Drugs and other therapies affect moods in cats and dogs much as they do in humans. "The dog can look at you, and you can see if he's anxious or uncomfortable," says Stanford medical researcher Emmanuel Mignot. "You can see the side effect of a drug immediately. You can't see that in a mouse."

But a happy patient's wagging tail reveals only a fraction of what pets' congenital health problems can teach medicine in general. In our carefully propagated companions, there's a huge reservoir of diseases and mutations that result from efforts to breed the most skin folds in a shar-pei, the best eye color in a Siamese, perfect contours in a boxer, and herding qualities in a border collie. Generations of refinements have created extremely inbred populations, much more distinct than any found in the human species. Which means: Doberman pinschers get heart disease, schnauzers develop cataracts, and English bulldogs suffer from sleep apnea. By linking mutations in pets to their breed-specific ailments, scientists can find out which genes are active in certain disorders and apply that knowledge to the human model. Animals also share many of humanity's more common ills: Cats suffer from diabetes, hemophilia, retinal degeneration, and more than 250 other human diseases. Veterinary medicine has been cataloging these ailments for decades, creating a massive library of data that's applicable to people.

Cat Carriers for Fun or Fashion

Cat carriers are an essential supply for any pet owner.
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Wether it's simple trips to the vet or traveling, you want to make sure you get a carrier that is safe, easy to use and functional. We'll point you in the right direction whether you want a basic kennel cab, or a designer carry bag that is functional and looks great!
Make sure you purchase a cat carrier that is comfortable for your cat. It should be about 1 ½ times the size of the cat and he should be able to lie flat and turn around inside the carrier. If you are traveling on a plane with your cat, you'll want to check with the airline to make sure your carrier is accepted. Generally, most hard sided carriers are OK for pet travel.
Having tried to shove our cats into front loading kennel cabs many a time, we recommend a top loading carrier like the soft sided Cozy Carrier.
The top loading carriers are much easier, you just scoop up your cat and plop him in before he knows what's happened!
Soft sided carriers can be more comfortable and are accepted by some airlines for traveling with pets under the seat in the passenger cabin. Some soft sided carriers have optional travel tray and travel kits while others have wheels like the Sherpa-On-Wheels. And don't forget a front carrier for taking your pet anywhere and still having your hands free.
You can have your cat carriers and look great too! Check out these designer carriers - how about this great faux animal skin tote or this 1940's style bag, or my favorite, this zebra lined tote that looks like a pair of jeans on the front! Or slip your friend into the faux mink or faux crocodile carrier.

The Perfect Cat Foods

Depending on a cat's age and activity level, they will require different types of foods.
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A kitten needs 3-4 times the fat, protein, vitamins and minerals for proper growth, and should eat special kitten food. Adults may require different foods depending on activity level and health needs. Seniors have special nutritional needs too due to their age and level of activity. Luckily, All foods do state which stage of a cats life they are intended for so it is easy to determine which is the right one just by looking at the package.
Adult cats have different activity levels and should eat cat foods designed for those needs. Housebound or sedentary cats can be fed a light food, while cats with hairball problems or urinary tract problems can be fed foods that cater to those conditions.
Please check with your vet to determine if your cat can benefit from one of these types of foods.
Senior cats are less active and do not need as many calories so light foods may be good for your senior. Starting around 7 years of age, you may want to switch your cat from an adult food to a specially formulated senior food. Makes sure you switch gradually, mixing in the foods in graduating amounts over a 2 week time span so that your cat's digestive system can adjust.
There's even special cat foods for overweight cats! If your cat is overweight, try a light food, it has less calories and fat than a reduced calorie food. If your cat is merely slowing down and needs to cut calories but doesn't have a big weight problem, reduced calorie cat may be the way to go.
Dry or canned?
Your cat will probably like canned food better but dry cat foods may be better for him. Dry food is better for teeth and gums and much less messy especially if you tend to leave food out all day. Also canned food has more water in it, thus you are paying more for less actual food. Semi-moist foods are convenient but tend to have more additives and preservatives.

Guide To Cat Training

What type of cat is trainable?

Not all cats are trainable and some of them are not easy to train.

Here is a list of cat breeds ... some of the cats listed below are easy to train and some are not easy to train:

Barman - long hair, easy to manage, once a week grooming, very careless, loves humans, gentle, affectionate, inquisitive, will follow you around the house, very clever.

Siamese - verbal, loving, can be difficult, needs serious daily play and contact to their arousing and mental status, does not like to be left alone.

Snowshoe - An uncommon breed of cat, warm, playful, great personality enjoys the indoor living.

Somali - is a very intelligent, playful, active, extreme elegance, grace, alertness. This type of cat can be gentle, loyal, sensitive, has a sense of humor, requires minimum care for grooming, loves to play, loves water, and loves to be next to you or in the lap napping. Will capture you heart.

Pixie-Bob - is very trainable, bright, loyal, family breed. The hair can be long or short.

American Bobtail - is not a wild nature cat. They have an untamed look, medium to large size.

Anatolian - is a mild, kind cat, elder cats might have trouble adapting to a classic pet cat's life.

Bengal - active, clever companions. Very friendly breed of cat. Most pet Bengal’s may look wild, but not in character.

Ocicat - looks like a small wild spotted cat, household feline, energetic, affectionate, and very public despite their wild look; they are gracious, sociable, people-oriented cats without being clingy or intolerable. They are clever, dedicated, extremely adaptable companions.

Persian - The most familiar and easily the most well-known cat. This cat breed displays a broad array of colors and patterns. Persians are known for their quiet, mild temper and are a loving cat breed. Although easygoing, they are playful in their own way. Their long hair mats easily. General daily grooming is required, at least 20 minutes per day, with a one-hour grooming weekly to keep the hair in good condition.

Selkirk Rex - is a enduring, broadminded, affectionate cat that enjoys a good cuddle. Not a good choice for someone with cat allergies as they shed their undercoat.

Rag doll - has a quiet and easygoing nature. Perhaps it is the gentlest and most laid-back of all cat breeds. It's a big, household loving breed of cat. Their long hair needs minimum care.

Exotic - is a passive, mild cat with a yielding nature. A thoughtful cat that enjoys sitting on laps and likes the comforts of home. Their grooming needs to be done each day with a weekly grooming of at least an hour.

Sphinx - is a contented, friendly cat. A huge outgoing, aware, and very inquisitive cat, enjoys the company of humans and other pets. Their skin feels like warm, soft suede, and does need grooming also without the hair.

This is a list of some cats with some traits to help you look for a trainable cat. There are many different breeds of cats to choose from and choosing the breed that is right for you and your family requires some research. Check out the internet and cat books for more information on the different breeds of cats, before choosing your new pet. After you have researched the different breeds, you might want to consider visiting a humane society. This can give you an idea of the some of the cats that you may be looking for. Remember that cats have different personalities and traits ... some need a lot of attention and some will need a lot of grooming. It's important to find a cat or kitten that you will be able to train and have as a friend.