Just answering some questions.

Hi everyone and thank you for the private mails with compliments about my blog, encouraging me to continue on with it.

Not everyone seems to know how Blogspot works. On the right hand side there is a blog archive where you can look at my older posts. When you click on the months, the posts will show.

People have been asking me about cat food. I wrote a blog entry about it. You can find it here. In this entry I promote canned/tinned food. One person wrote to me that I should be promoting raw food as that is the best food for cats.

I totally agree, but not a lot of people have a meat grinder that can grind meat and bones at home. Not everyone can or will invest the time in making raw food. Making raw food is a responsibility. You have to get it right. You have to make sure that your cats get the right amount of taurine and vitamins and minerals in their food. High quality canned/tinned food is the next best option. Even the cheap supermarket wet food would be better than the dry food. In some countries you may find ready-made raw food in the freezer section of your pet store.

Other people were asking me about the website I promote: zooplus.ie.

From the information I got, zooplus operates in at least 20 European countries. Try it out: zooplus.nl, zooplus.it, zooplus.es, zooplus.ch etc. It’s all there. So you might find the one for your country too. What I like about zooplus is that they offer good quality products at a reasonable price. You don’t pay delivery costs when you order over a certain amount.

Your local shops might have those products as well so make sure to check them out. I can’t get certain products here, or sometimes the products that I can get are much dearer so then I buy them at zooplus. They are reliable and delivery only takes a few days.

Somebody asked me where I get all my information. Well, I read books, watch TV programmes and I do a lot of research on the internet. On the internet especially, you have to be careful as there is also a lot of misinformation available. Common sense and using more than one source is the way to go. When I decided to give my cats topical treatment for the ringworm, I spent hours reading up on it first, before I decided on what to do. Some people recommended teatree oil but I read elsewhere, in several places, that teatree oil can be very bad for cats. So: no teatree oil or products containing teatree oil.

When I finally decided on what to buy, I asked for additional information in the chemist shop and health food shop and carefully read the leaflet before even going near them with the stuff.

If you’re not sure if your cats are healthy, go to the vet. If you’re not sure about health issues concerning your cats, always go with the vet’s advice.

It’s the safest way. If you’re not sure about the advice your vet gave you, go to another vet for a second opinion.

Ringworm is not life threatening. That’s why I tried out less invasive topical treatment first. If I don’t know what’s going on, I will always go to the vet.

Last but not least I want to thank everyone for their encouragement and compliments. And yes, I am a photographer also. You can find my work on my photography blogspot, on facebook and on Flickr.

Playtime.

Whenever I watch an episode of “My Cat From Hell”, in which Jackson Galaxy goes to houses with troubled cats, I’m surprised at how people who call themselves cat lovers know absolutely nothing about cats.

What often strikes me is that a lot of these people, who have so-called troubled cats, don’t have any cat toys in the house and never really play with them.

It is such a misconception that cats do their own thing and don’t need a lot of attention. Indoor cats in particular need plenty of playtime. Playtime replaces the hunt. Get toys that you can drag along. Feather boas on a string and other dangly toys. Let them stalk and run after the toys and then catch them. Hide the end behind a corner or under a chair. Play with them for at least 15 minutes at a time, several times a day. A good routine would be: playtime, food, sleep. It is the most logical sequence. Cats sleep a lot during the day but in between they hunt and eat. So get them used to regular meal times and don’t leave food out all day and play (hunt) before meals.

Toys don’t have to be expensive. Have a look at zooplus.ie. Only a few Euros for a feather boa and there are often special offers with toys. Don’t throw out the boa once all the feathers have been ripped off. The fast moving plastic bit moves even faster and they will hunt that too. You can also attach a bit of cardboard or some grass at the end. One of Cato’s favourite toys was a shoestring. He loved to chase it and then sit down and chew on it.

Tina and Charlie’s favourites from Zooplus at the moment are:

The cat dangler pole feather boa (package of two for € 4.99). These don’t live that long but even without the feathers you can still play with them.

The cat dangler pole bird (at the moment of writing € 2.39). This is a long pole with a string and real feathers at the end. When you move it through the air, the feathers turn and make it look like a small bird.

Leather tassel dangler pole. This one is a bit more expensive at € 8.99, but it is also a lot sturdier than the other ones. It took the two a little while to get used to it but now they love it.

Also get a few toys that they can play with on their own. Bouncy balls (1 Euro or less in a discount store), fabric mice filled with catnip, a roundabout cat toy (€ 3.99 at Zooplus at the time of writing) or simply a cardboard box. Tina and Charlie are having great fun tearing at a cardboard box and jumping in and out while chasing each other. Don’t assume that two cats are fine playing together all the time. Cats are solitary hunters so give them some personal hunting time.

Playing doesn’t just replace the hunt; it also makes cats feel secure in their surroundings and is a great way of bonding with them.

Toys that are not such a great idea are laser pointers. Oh, don’t get me wrong. They love chasing the light but it is very frustrating as there is nothing to catch. You also have to be very careful not to shine it in their eyes.

Laser pointers do have their uses as they can be used to distract cats that are in a fight or get a cat to go back to a food bowl or into a carrier. Make sure though you give a reward after the cat is in the carrier (a little snack will do). You can make your own toys as well. All you need is a stick, some string and material that will dangle at the end. It could be anything like feathers, some fabric from an old shirt, a little strip of cardboard etc. Oh, and simply move a piece of paper under a door or between the hinges. They love it. Variation is the word.

Cats who get plenty of playtime are happy cats. They are less likely to become obese and are more confident in their surroundings.

Click on a photo to see a bigger version.

 Tina chasing a ball.

 Charlie playing with the left overs of a dangling toy.

 Tina fascinated by the roundabout toy.

 Charlie going for the ball in the roundabout toy.

 

 Tina sticking her paw through the hole she created and Charlie thinking of attacking her. :)

 Tina looking through the hole in the box, she created herself.

Feline food (with a lot of important information)

When we decided to take a cat again, I had already done a lot of research on-line and come accross several interesting sites and forums.

The one that I found a real eye-opener was catinfo.org, a site by an American veterinarian who really cares about cats and did a great write-up on feline food. Read if you really care for your cat or cats.

The main message of the site is: Feed your cat canned food as a main food, not dry food.

Dry food contains only about 7 percent moisture. Canned food about 80 percent.

When I told this to a pet shop owner in the Netherlands, he replied with: "canned food contains too much water. They won't get enough nutrients from it" BULLSHIT!!! What an idiot. Muscle meat is about 75 percent water, 2/3 of our human body weight is water.

Good brands of tinned food contain mostly meat: muscle meat and innards and often a few percent of grains. There are also added vitamins, minerals and taurine which is important.

Dried food on the other hand, even the better brands, don't have a meat content that high and contain a lot of plant-based fillers like maize to bulk up the food and make it cheaper so the profit margin is higher. They also have added vitamins, minerals and taurine, but the fillers are bad for your cat's kidneys.

Dry food has been boiled and dehydrated. Canned food is fresh meat that has been canned and hasn't had the crap boiled out of it.

Cats don't really have a thirst thrive. That means that they don't drink enough. In nature cats get most of their moisture from their prey, which contains about 75 percent of moisture. You never see a cat dry his food before eating it, so dried food is not natural to a cat.

This means that on dry food they would have to drink a LOT more to compensate, which they don't. Even cats who drink quite often only get maybe half of the moisture they need.

 Their urine is already concentrated. With dry food the kidneys have to work really hard to process all the plant-based fillers and there isn't really quite enough moisture to flush it through properly. NOT GOOD!

"But my cats really love dry food" Yes, the food industry makes it smell and taste nice.

Your kids probably love McDonalds, but do you bring them there every single day and give them junk food a few times a day? Because that's what it is. Dry cat food is junk food.

"But dry food is better for their teeth" That's what the industry likes you to think. Most of it is swallowed whole as cats can't chew. They don't have molars. Their teeth are made to rip and tear. The food is so brittle that the bit they do crunch, isn't in contact with their teeth long enough to have much effect.

"But in the wild they don't eat canned food either" No, they don't but it's the closest you can get to their natural food if you don't want to go make your own raw food. With a cat living in a human environment, you have to make food compromises.

"So what do you give your cats?"

 I give my cats canned food from Maxi Zoo's own brand (Real Nature and Select Gold)

Thinking of changing to Grau's grain free which you can buy at zooplus.ie

 I also give them some fresh chicken fillet every now and then. They love it. Chop it up as fine as they need it but let them tear at it if they want to. Chicken wings are great too. They can crunch the bones.

 Don't be squeamish about that. Our Cato once brought in a dead bird and insisted on eating it inside, on the kitchen floor. He devoured it feathers and all, only left the tiny head behind.

Now, I do give my cats dried food as a snack every now and then. Applaws makes dry food that has no grain fillers in it. It is the best dry food you can get because of the high meat content. You can buy it at zooplus.ie

There is a lot more information at catinfo.org, so please take some time to read it (downloadable versions available on the site) if you really care about your cat's health.