Learning to bite and scratch is a main part of a cat’s development. These accomplishments are especially essential for cats that live mainly out-of-doors, as they provide their sole means of defense. These two activities will also form the main staple of your cat’s leisure time, playing out conflicts with toys, other cats or humans.

If you do not want to be bitten by your cat, the 1st rule of thumb is to train your cat not to bite your hands. If your cat thinks your hands are play toys, their little talons and fangs will soon find their way to your flesh.

However, if it is too late for that rule, there are some steps you are able to take to minimize the damage done from cat biting attacks.

First of all, as you train your cat to behave in new ways, you should trim his claws (don’t declaw, as this is severely painful for the cat). This will take a lot of the razor-sharpness away and make your encounters less painful.

Once your cat latches on to your hand, react with a loud and firm, “Ouch!Don’t scream, and don’t yank your hand away or your cat may think it is playtime and follow it again. Remove your hand slowly from his mouth after your determined “Ouch!”

Most of the time, your cat is scratching and biting because he is bored and would like to play. Setting aside time to play with a fun cat toy should help stop boredom.

Aggression is an inherent aspect of your cat’s predatory nature: behaviors like stalking, chasing, leaping, pouncing, swatting, and biting are all common displays, and are always a major component of any play session.

Usually, this does not constitute a problem: it’s just how cats like to play, and catering to your cat’s innate whims can be pretty fun. When your finished, your cat will give you a break so you can watch som Animal Planet on Direct TV.

Did you just bring home a new kitten? If so, you are probably looking forward to the fun and friendship that your new pet will bring. Besides playing with your cat, you also need to teach which behaviors please you and those that upset you. Cats are easiest to train while kittens, so you need to start right away. The main areas to cover in your kitten training are discussed in this article.

Cat Toys Versus Your Breakables

Kittens love to play and will make a toy of anything that catches their interest, even if that thing is an expensive work of art. Keep your breakables in locked cabinets if possible. Otherwise, you will need to teach kitty that certain shelves or areas are off limits.

Training to Use the Litter Box

Unless you want to replace your flooring soon, you will need to teach kitty to use the litter box. Be sure you have at least two litter boxes, and that your feline can access them at all times. Most felines will instinctively use the litter box once they know the location.

Approved Scratching Places

Your kitten’s little claws may not cause damage yet, but as an adult cat, you could find your possessions shredded to ruins. You need to offer a variety of scratching toys for your pet to use. If you catch kitty scratching your furniture, quickly redirect him or her to a scratching toy.

Places that Are Forbidden

Since cats like to climb, they can quickly get in trouble. You probably do not want your kitty to climb your curtains or walk around on your kitchen counters. If you find your feline in an area that is off-limits, move him or her quickly to a different area.

Socializing

Your new cat may not have had the opportunity to be around many people, other animals, or children. Introduce your pet to people of different ages. Also, you will need to cautiously introduce the cat to any other animal members of your family. Move slowly with this process, and keep kitty from harm.

By beginning ;your kitten training effort early and using the tips in this article, you will help to ensure that your pet is also a well-behaved adult.

Visit Kitten Training for more tips on training your cat.

You may be the proud owner of a lovely pet cat. In such case you would consider caring for the cat and looking after its health to be your responsibility. It is important for you to provide little time and extend a bit of effort on your part to ensure that your pet cat stays healthy, fit and fine. You may, if you wish, get hold of some good pet cat care books that are available in local bookstores for reference. You can get some useful cat care tips from there.

Awareness about cat health needs to be made beforehand if you are planning to get a pet cat. This does not require much learning though. A bit of learning about the normal habits, behavior and temperament of a cat is what is required of you. This will enable you to detect when there is any sudden change in habits of the cat so as to take care of it. Behavioral changes, changes in eating and sleeping habits etc. need to be taken note of to decide whether some health problem has arisen. Usually it is the vet who takes the final decision about health concerns of the pet cat though you can provide preliminary attendance.

Problems with cat’s health are quite common and cat owners can appropriately control such problems by gaining knowledge about cat health. This can go a long way to ensure that your pet cat stays healthy and playful. Isn’t it a rewarding experience to cuddle and have fun with a healthy pet cat?

Taking the pet cat to the veterinary specialist on a regular basis is of crucial importance. The vet needs to conduct checkups on a yearly or half yearly basis even if apparently no problems are there. Only then can you remain sure that the health condition of your loved feline pet is sound. At other times during the year if it comes to notice that there has been the development of behavior or mood changes in your cat then the vet needs to be approached at the earliest possible.

Common problems that cats usually develop are lumps, ticks, black specs in the ears, eye gunk or rashes. These can generally be detected pretty easily and upon detection of these problems the vet is to be immediately consulted. Medical attention can thus be provided quickly, remedial action measures adopted and relief from the problem obtained soon.

Grooming of the pet cat frequently is an important health endowing measure. A lot of dead hair gets removed in the process. Getting hold of the special combs available that can help extract ticks and fleas from the fur of the cat provides further help. A trim of the claws of the pet cat may be needed to from time to time to promote cat health. It must be noted, however, that the nails of the cat are not cut too short.

A Review Of Clumping Cat Litter Foes’ Arguments

Lately, there have been some people arguing that clumping cat litter is dangerous – even deadly – to our cats and kittens. If this is the claim, should we all instantly change our litter for a different type – maybe a biodegradable one as the articles suggest? What are the real facts in the situation? Let’s review the clumping cat litter information. 

The Pet Owners’ Claims

Pet owners claim that there are two components of clumping cat litter that cause problems for cats. First, there is the sodium bentonite. This is the “expandable cement” that absorbs the cat urine. It can swell to 15-18 times the dry size. It makes it wonderfully absorbent for a litter box, but the pet owners worry about the litter if the cat ingests it. This is a logical concern, as cats do lick themselves to clean off after using the litter box.

Also, the dust from these litters can give the cats respiratory problems, as they can coat the cat’s lungs when they breathe it in. This component, sodium bentonite, is dangerous for humans to ingest, why should we think it would be safe on our cats and kittens?

The other ingredient some pet owners are concerned about is the quartz silica. This substance is a known carcinogen, and not considered safe for humans. It likely isn’t safe for the cats, either.

Reviewing these clumping cat litter complaints shows some seemingly valid concerns. What do the opposition say?

The Critics’ Rebuttal

The manufacturers of clumping cat litter, upon reviewing the claims of damage, state that they are very careful with their litter, and go to great lengths to keep pets safe. Also, they manufacture some brands of clumping cat litter that are clean, with much less dust. It is wise to choose one of these “dust free litters.

The Scientists Say…

While there are several anecdotal stories and claims, scientists state about clumping cat litter that after review there was “no post-mortum, no hisopathology findings, or any scientific data presented.” They fully believe these clumping kitty litters to be safe. 

Take Home Message

The “take home message” is that each pet owner needs to act in harmony with their gut instincts. If the anecdotal stories scare you, or if you’ve had a similar situation involving your own pet, you will probably want to change your cat’s litter. There are plant-based materials available as kitty litter, made from corn cobs, newspaper, cedar, or pine shavings.
If, on the other hand, reviewing information about clumping cat litter has settled some of your fears, perhaps you don’t need to jump ship quite yet.

Being a animal friend likely you probably are aware of a usual cat health concern that affects cats:  cat hairballs.  But how much are you aware of a hairball’s signs, root causes, and medicines?

What Causes Hairballs?

The typical hairball is caused by the tough exterior of a feline’s tongue extracting loose hair during washing themselves.  This hair is then swallowed and drawn into the digestive tract.  In the ordinary situation, this hair would not get digested, but would get excreted when the cat uses the litter tray or goes outside.  After all, cats are predators, and are intended to be capable to handle eating fur, like from some poor mouse it catches.   When it hardens into a ball, the kitty will likely suffer the unpleasant experience of throwing it back up.  In certain situations however, this might not occur and the hairball can get trapped inside your kitty, likely resulting in potentially disastrous health problems.

Hairballs - A Cat Health Problem

Cat hairballs are irritating enough all by themselves, but can in addition bring on a few corollary concerns, rapidly growing unhealthy if not expelled or resolved promptly.  Aside from the obvious and unpleasant throwing up, of course, the lodged-in hair can induce digestive difficulties and constipation.  Your kitty well could stop eating and act lethargic as the hairball increases in size, while the poor things are still unable to expell it.  Their guts can bloat and this can clearly create several unsafe problems that you’d certainly not want have to worry about.  This problem could even wind up requiring surgical intervention to remove the hairball, which is a disastrously big cost and jeopardy to your feline, certainly given the simplicity of preventing hairballs in the first place.  Left untreated, it could become a mortal affliction.

Curing Hairballs

Cats naturally try to treat themselves by throwing up.  They can do this by consuming grass, which usually causes cats to vomit due to the irritating fiber content.  Other options to cure hairballs involve petroleum or mineral oil based materials meant to coat the intestinal tract in such a means to ease the natural removal of the hairball.  Products such as Laxatone or Petromalt have been made to eliminate hairballs.  They are a semi-solid crème that you administer to your kitties before meals.  This encourages the impediment through the digestive process and would also be helpful to ease non-hairball induced constipation in addition.  They tend to be obtainable in a multitude of flavors like tuna or catnip flavoring.  One dose each day for 2 or 3 days, and your problem is resolved.

Prevention of Hairballs

Prevention of hairballs is realized by certain varying methods, some of them complementary.  One is a dab of Laxatone or Petromalt 2 or 3 times per week.  Petromalt is highly approved by veterinarians and pet owners alike. There exist also particular “hairball prevention” formulated diets available.  A large part of hairball prevention is of course correct grooming.  Definitely brush the short-haired cats but comb the long-haired kitties regularly.  They adore it and it’s a super way to spend time being sure your feline stays happy and healthy.