CAT FACTS

Cat Collars

If you want to put a collar on your cat or kitten please please make sure it is one that snaps off or stretches because if the cat gets caught in a tree branch it may result in the cat choking. We do not want to frighten anyone but solid collars do choke cats and kittens so its better to loose the collar than loose the cat or kitten.

General Facts

· Kittens are born with both eyes and ears closed. When the eyes open, they are always blue at first. They change colour over a period of months to the final eye colour.
· A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find titbits on the floor.
· You can tell a cat's mood by looking into its eyes. A frightened or excited cat will have large, round pupils. An angry cat will have narrow pupils. The pupil size is related as much to the cat's emotions as to the degree of light.
· The chlorine in fresh tap water irritates sensitive parts of the cat's nose. Let tap water sit for 24 hours before giving it to a cat. Many enjoy rain water and this may be why they ignore their indoor water bowl and head off outside to drink the rain water. 
· If your cat gets trapped in a tree, put an open can of her/his favorite food at the bottom of the tree and go inside. Most cats will find their way down within a few hours. 
· A cat's night vision is six times better a human's. 
· A cat retracts its claws by flexing its toes. This protects their sharpness and lets him walk quietly when stalking prey.
· Don't be alarmed when your cats bring you gifts of birds, mice or other wild critters. This is a natural part of their gift ritual, and they do it to please you.
· Cats respond most readily to names that end in an "ee" sound. 
· Many cats love having their forehead gently stroked. 
· If a cat is frightened, put your hand over its eyes and forehead, or let him bury his head in your armpit to help calm him. 
· A cat will tremble or shiver when it is in extreme pain. 
· Cats should not be fed tuna exclusively, as it lacks taurine, an essential nutrient required for good feline health. 
· Purring does not always indicate that a cat is happy and healthy - some cats will purr loudly when they are terrified or in pain. 
· Not every cat gets "high" from catnip. If the cat doesn't have a specific gene, it won't react (about 20% do not have the gene). Catnip is non-addictive. 
· Cats must have meat in their diet. 
· While many cats enjoy milk, it will give some cats diarrhea. 
· A cat will spend nearly 30% of it's life grooming itself. So a cat needs access to grass in order to rid itself of hairballs.
· It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one's blood pressure and that owning a cat is good for our    health  and can decrease the occurrence of high blood pressure and other illnesses.
· Stroking a cat can help to relieve stress, and the feel of a purring cat on your lap conveys a strong sense of security and comfort.
· The cat's tail is used to maintain balance. 
· Cats eat grass to aid their digestion and to help them get rid of any fur in their stomachs.
· If your cat snores or rolls over on his back to expose his belly, it means he trusts you. 
· When your cat rubs up against you, she is actually marking you as "hers" with her scent. If your cat pushes his face against your head, it is a sign of acceptance and affection. 
· Cat families usually play best in even numbers. Cats and kittens should be acquired in pairs whenever possible. 
· Blue-eyed, white cats are often prone to deafness.
· Most deaf cats do not meow.
· The cat's front paw has 5 toes and the back paws have 4. Cats born with 6 or 7 front toes and extra back toes are called polydactl. 
· A cat has 30 teeth, which consist of 12 incisors, 10 premolars, 4 canines and 4 molars.
· A cat has a third eye called a haw, which is only visible when the cat is not feeling well.
· A cat has 24 whiskers, which it uses for measuring distances.
· Kittens usually open their eyes between 7 to 10 days
· "Kindle," is the name given to a group of kittens. 
· "Clowder, " is what a group of grown cats are called.

Keeping Indoor Cats Happy

You may need to keep a kitten and a cat in for its own protection if you live in an apartment or maybe the cat has a condition such as FIV.
Samantha Kavanagha has two such cats and keeps her cats indoors except for when she takes them for a daily walk on a leash and harness.  Her intention in the future is to enclose an area of her garden which will allow them limited safe access to the outside.  At present she keeps them happy and entertained as follows in her own words: 

• I think the key to my two cats being happy is that they have each other for company.  That way they have a companion at all times.  My two are very close (apart from the occasional fight over a toy) and I wouldn’t dream of separating them. They snuggle up to each other and wash each others faces. They would be lost without each other. It also helped immensely that they were only 8 weeks old when they came to me.  
• I keep a cat tree in the sitting room which they love.  If they are not running up and down it they are asleep on one of the perches. There is also scratching posts on the tree.  I also keep a small scratch post upstairs where they sleep as they love to use the post in the morning when they wake for a stretch and a scratch.
• I have a variety of different shapes and sizes of cardboard boxes.  They adore them.  They jump in and out of them playing and also often sleep inside them.  Every so I often I recycle the existing boxes and replace them with new ones and they spend ages smelling and checking them out. They also love shopping bags – the bags for life rather than the plastic ones as these are dangerous. One of them will go into the big bag and the other will jump on top. 
• I have a large selection of toys which I keep in a basket. I leave out a few toys and every few days I will put away the toys that were left out and replace them with different ones. Their favourite toys are golf tees, a laser light, a furry mouse, and wand toys. I make time each evening to play with them for some exercise. I also have toy mice and balls that you can hide treats or some kibbles inside them to make them work for the treat.

I find the hardest thing with an indoor cat it to keep the weight off.  Especially once they are neutered.  You have to make time to exercise them and also to feed them at specific times of the day rather than free feeding. 

• In the kitchen windowsill I keep some cat grass which they nibble on. I also have a cat fountain as they love drinking from the tap which also encourages them to drink water.  
• My house is a two storey so I keep a litter tray on both floors of the house. I also have a bowl of water on both levels as well as the cat fountain in the kitchen. 
• I have blankets on some of my windowsills as they love napping on them when it’s sunny. They also have a blanket on one of the couches and also my bed.  They actually love sitting on towels on my breakfast counter stools looking out the double doors at the birds.  

If it is at all possible you can give your cat the best of both worlds. You could have a screened in porch or outdoor cat enclosure.  Enclosures come in all shapes and sizes, or they can be home made. It’s also possible to enclose an area of your garden with a fence and then cat proof the fence. There are companies which provide the kits to cat proof an existing fence and then you can install it yourself.  There is actually one company who provides a full system that doesn’t require an existing fence. 

If it is not possible to do any of the above, second best is to walk your cat on a leash and harness.  The earlier you start the better.  The minute I pull out the harnesses my two run to the back door.  It took a few weeks for them to get comfortable with the idea but they adore it now. I got them to get used to the harness and leash by following the points below (I got this info from catsabout.com) and it worked out very well for me: 

1.      Purchase a comfortably-fitting harness and lightweight leash with a secure clip. You want the leash to pull from the chest rather than the throat.  I bought a jacket type cat harness and for a leash I bought a toy dog retractable leash that lets them go for 3 meters, as I find the cat leashes are very short and doesn’t give them enough freedom.

2.      Put the harness and leash somewhere near the cats sleeping area and leave it there for several days to accustom him to it's appearance and smell.

3.      Wait until just before his normal mealtime, then put the harness on the cat. You should be able to comfortably slip two fingers between the harness and his skin. Found this to be essential.  They knew that if they put on the harness they would get some chicken.

4.      Immediately feed him his favorite meal and praise him when he is finished.

5.      Let him wear the harness for awhile. If it seems to bother him, distract him by playing with a favorite toy.

6.      When your cats seems to be accustomed to the harness, take it off.

7.      Repeat steps 3 through 6 for several days, leaving the harness on longer each time.

8.      Next, attach the leash to the harness and let kitty walk around the house, dragging the leash. Watch him carefully that he doesn't get tangled up around furniture.

9.      Praise him for being such a good cat, and give him some loving hugs.

10.  Repeat steps 8 and 9 for a few days, until the cat seems to accept the harness and leash.

11.  Now, let him walk around as usual, but pick up the business end of the leash and follow him in his wanderings. Keep the tension slack, so as not to restrict his movement.

12.  Practice step 11 for a few days.

13.  Teach kitty to follow you by talking to him in a cajoling manner and lightly pulling on the lead. Don't fight him. Leash-training should be a pleasurable experience for the cat, not an adversarial one. On the other hand, if he tugs at the leash, simply stop until he relaxes, then move on.

14.  You're ready to move outdoors now. Do it gradually, and take your first short excursions in your own back yard, or in a quiet area.

15.  Gradually increase his exposure to the sights, sounds and smells of the outdoors. Soon, the two of you will be able to enter walkathons together. Once they were used to going outside for about two weeks they grew to love going out.

As I mentioned above it took a few weeks to get them into the routine.  The key is patience and to follow the points above rather than rushing in.  The first few times I put on the harness they freaked out but by putting on the harness every evening before dinner they got used to it very fast. At first the minute the dinner was finished they insisted the harness be taken off but day by day they left it on for longer until we were ready to go outside.  Once we were going outside for two weeks I no longer had to put the harness on during dinner and could just take out the harness and they would run over to the back door for the harness to be put on so they could go out.  Seeing as I have two it takes two of us to walk them as inevitable they always go different directions! 

A big thank you to Samantha for writing all of the above on keeping indoors cats and we hope it is of help to everyone out there who has to or wants to keep their cat or cats indoors.

• Hungry cats are not healthy and so do not have the energy to be successful hunters. A well fed cat will hunt and reward you for looking after it. Milk and bread is not cat food. Just because it was done for years on many farms does not make giving a cat only milk and bread right.

• A female cat will have her first litter of kittens at 5 months and will have as many as 4 litters a year. Soon there will be more cats than you bargained for.

• A pregnant and nursing cat is not a successful hunter as she is nursing and minding her kittens.

•  An unneutered male cat will travel miles looking for a mate and will not be on the farm to keep rodents under control.

• Continued breeding among the cats leads to a sick inbred colony that will not hunt.

If you want to keep the farm rodent population under control and have healthy cats

• Neuter both male and female cats.

• Feed your cats proper cat food because milk and scraps are not enough and hungry cats do not make good hunters. A well fed cat is a great hunter.

• Provide a safe warm shelter for your cats. 

• 

  The lighter side of cats

This  is how I heard YOUR day was  going....  

First you had trouble getting out of bed	You had a stiff  neck	You washed your hair and couldn't do a thing with it
Your new diet  really doesn't seem to be working  out	You pulled a muscle when you tried exercise	Your new hat looked better on you at the store
You keep losing  things	The boss keeps chewing you out	You got caught in the  rain at lunchtime
Then the lunch you had   didn't seem to agree with you	You feel  trapped	Uninvited guests showed  up at dinnertime

On top of that you think you're coming down with swine flu

And finally, you're alone in the house at night when you think you  hear a noise in the basement TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER!!

 

"When God Created Kitty Cats" When God created kitty cats, He had no recipe; He knew He wanted something sweet, As sweet as sweet could be. He started out with sugar, Adding just a trace of spice; Then stirred in drops of morning dew, To keep them fresh and nice. He thought cats should be soft to pet, Thus He gave them coats of fur; So they could show they were content, He taught them how to purr. He made for them long tails to wave, While strutting down the walk; Then trained them in meowology, So they could do cat-talk. He made them into acrobats, And gave them grace and poise; Their wide-eyed curiosity, He took from little boys. He put whiskers on their faces, Gave them tiny ears for caps; Then shaped their little bodies, To snugly fit on laps. He gave them eyes as big as saucers, To look into man's soul; Then set a tolerance for mankind, As their purpose and their goal. Benevolent ... and ... generous, He made so many of them; Then charged, with Fatherly Concern, The human race to love them. When one jumped up upon His lap, God gently stroked its head; The cat gave Him a kitty kiss, "What wondrous love," God said. God smiled at His accomplishment, So pleased with His creation; And said, with pride, as He sat back, "At last. . .I've reached purrfection!" Author Unknown