While we were away on vacation this year our friends, who were keeping an eye on our cats, taped them with their camcorder. This is a very precious gift that we will always treasure. We've lost 5 of our cats and it would have been so nice to have had them on tape. I will continue to camcord them yearly. Even though we don't own a camcorder, I will borrow or rent one.

It might be something people who have pets, but not children might want to do. If you have a child you tape them and the pets get taped right along. But if you don't have children you might not think to get tapes of the pets.

EMERGENCIES:

Living along the Jersey Shore, not very far from the water; we have had our share of hurricanes and damaging storms. Chris is a real weather watcher and so we have never evacuated. This past hurricane season I decided we should have an evacuation plan in place and proceeded to develop one. Some of the points involved are: arranging a place to go ahead of time, having food, litter and boxes ready to go. Remember even though you have inside cats, they should be wearing a collar with tags with name and phone number. If there is an emergency, ie. storm, fire etc. lost pets have a better chance of being returned to their owners.

In our case I spoke with my father, who gladly would take us in and the cats could be put down in his cellar. That posed a problem of keeping them from wandering around and getting into stuff that could be harmful to them. We purchased caging so that we know they can be confined to a safe area of the cellar. REMEMBER DON'T WAIT FOR A TRAGEDY TO HAPPEN-BE READY FOR IT!

PETS AND SMOKING:

SMOKERS WHO SMOKE, SMOKE AWAY FROM THE CHILDREN, AT LEAST I WOULD HOPE THEY DO. HOWEVER, PET OWNERS WHO ARE SMOKERS DON'T NECESSARILY CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES OF SECOND HAND SMOKE ON THEIR PETS' HEALTH. THEIR LUNGS ARE TINY AND STAY THAT SIZE. PLEASE IF YOU SMOKE AND HAVE PETS, FIND A WAY SO THAT YOU DO NOT EXPOSE THEM TO YOUR SMOKING. WE ARE BOTH SMOKERS AND NOW SMOKE IN THE BATHROOM OR OUTSIDE. WE REGRET NOT HAVING MADE THIS MOVE SOONER. PLEASE IF YOU CANNOT QUIT FOR YOURSELF, AT LEAST ATTEMPT TO MODIFY THE AREA WHERE YOU SMOKE SO THAT YOUR PETS ARE NOT HAVING TO PAY THE PRICE FOR YOUR ADDICTION.*****

PETS AND CHILDREN:

As much as Chris and I would have loved to have had a houseful of children, it just wasn't meant to be. We do have many visitors who are children. They are all enthralled by the cats. Our biggest challenge over the years has been dealing with the youngest ones and their interactions with the cats. Little ones get so excited and their first reaction is to run after the cat to "pet kitty." Of course, kitty is long gone with the first sound of the first pounding foot step.

Last year we babysat for Amy, an 18 month old. That first day I sent Chris out to get a babygate. It worked out great. Amy was able to see the cats and the cats could decide on their own if they wanted to enter Amy's space. We were very surprised to discover that they all did at various points. After this past year doing quite a bit of kid watching of various ages; we are finding the cats adapting to this intrusion on their space with amazing acceptance. You have to remember they had been "Onlies" for so long. LOL

ANOTHER KID NOTE:

We have several of the feather or mouse feet on poles. Of course the children want to play with the cats with them. Becca our four year old visitor loved playing with Skipper with the pole. However, after some observation, I realized her co-ordination for this activity placed Skipper at risk of being poked in the eye with the pole. I then gave Becca the string and toy that we had taken off one of the poles. This way she could drag the mouse for Skipper to chase or even swing it in the air. Everyone was satisfied this way

LITTER BOX PROBLEMS????

We've had a few with LBAS- Litterbox Advoidance Sydrome and have tried numerous methods to correct this problem. Your first step however, should always be to RULE OUT ANY PHYSICAL PROBLEMS. We've gone the route of trying different type litter, moving the boxes to different areas, medication, etc. One of the things that has worked for us with our current delinquent, Gilligan (who by the way IS prone to bladder infections), is placing an empty litter box for his use. This is easy enough; it just takes dumping and quick rinsing. However, he was still having accidents on soft areas particularly the beds. I added rags to the box (the empty one) and this seems to be working quite well. I had a whole pile of ratty pillow cases that I have employed for this use, just the right size and I quess layering. When he's soiled them, I drop them in a covered bucket to be washed, rinse the box and add fresh rags. It's been working quite well and it is at least better than dealing with accidents whose cleanups can be much more involved.

CAT HAIR ON FURNITURE!!!!

Oh yes, one of the joys of cat ownership---THE HAIR!!!! Huge clumps of it, tiny tumbleweeds of it blowing in the breeze. And does it cling to bedding, you bet! One of the things I've discovered that it doesn't cling to is those cheap, nylon sleeping bags. I've taken to throwing those over the bedding to keep a handle on the hairacane that blows through here. They come in a few colors so you might even be able to get one to match your decor. We have to replace the two we have here. They have lasted for quite a few years and are still doable. However, with painting the apartment, I wanted to see if I could get a few new ones to match the color themes we've used in redoing the rooms. Of course, we have a few critters who like it better under the sleeping bag, and there is still some hair that clutters underneath. Just not as much. Hey every little bit helps. After all it's less taxing on the washer when that hair isn't all clinging to the blankets. Old fashioned broom power gets those tumbleweeds blowing across the floor. LOL

SLOB CATS:

Well did you ever hear of one of these. I didn't until Malachi came along. She is a beautiful long-haired calico who knows it, but doesn't want to work to keep it up. David did her "Do" all the time. Since he is no longer with us, Mali had become quite lax in her grooming habits. In fact I was finding mats in her fur on a regular basis. However, she does not submit to grooming easily. In fact, she is a regular "Hell Cat" when it comes to doing any type of grooming with her. Just pull out the nail clippers and she is "OUTTA HERE!!!"

Well I decided to try something new and different. She had to have her teeth cleaned which meant she would be "under" for the procedure. While she was sedated for having her teeth cleaned; we had them shave her. I thought if she had a chance to groom when the fur wasn't so overwhelming she might get into the habit of regular grooming. The vet also mentioned that when long-haired cats are shaved, they develop greater sensation to petting and cuddling. Bottom line so far is that she does seem to be doing more grooming.

It took a bit getting use to her new "look," but it has grown on us. She looks like a "little lioness." If she doesn't get the hang of grooming it is definitely a look we can live with.

NOTE: This is also a good hint if you have long-haired cats and fleas are a major problem. Fleas are carriers of parasites and can cause skin problems which can affect your cat's health.

HEALTHCARE:

Your cats are part of your family. Like you, they need regular health maintenance checkups to keep them healthy. When you bring an animal into your family it should be seen by a vet as soon as possible to establish it's health needs. This gives him the chance to observe the animal and get to know the animal's temperment and personality. Since our pets can't tell us when they are feeling "out of sorts," we often have to take a cue from their behavior. It helps to have a caring Health Care Person help us to interpret and determine when there are problems occurring with our pets.

The best way of finding a vet for your pet is to talk to other pet owners and find out how they feel about the care their animals receive. We have been very fornunate to find such a caring and helpful vet. He takes the time to answer our questions and his entire staff follows his lead. If he can not give us the answers immediately, HE ALWAYS gets back to us as soon as it is possible! You can tell by his manner that he truly cares for all the pets who are in his charge. He and his staff have always been supportive and there for us when our cats have been in need of their care. Believe me, when you have a sick cat, it helps to have a vet you trust and you know that he cares about your pet.

STRINGING THINGS AND CATS:

Cats love to play. They are the original party animals. One of their favorite things to play with are strings. Skipper, our youngest. loves her fishing poles and any thing with a string. She helps me cut the string on newspapers when I am trying to tie them and once she "killed" a shoelace on my brand new sneakers. Strings, however, should not be left out for unsupervised play and strings that are attached to blinds should be adjusted so that kitty CANNOT reach them. One night, when I was already in bed, Skipper was playing with the strings on the blinds. I heard a banging noise and just thought she had knocked something over. At first I was just going to let it go and take care of it in the morning. THANK GOD, I thought better of that and got up to check. Skipper was HANGING from the cord of one of the blinds! Well needless to say, I cut the loop in the cord and trimmed the length. I than proceeded to wrap the cord so that it was out of her reach.

Please remember, cats are like infants that never grow up. Kittyproof your house just like you would for an infant. Get down at their level and observe those things that would be attractive to your cat and might cause harm to him. Cat proof your house so kitty has a long healthy life.

You might think balls of yarn and kitties go together, but pieces of that yarn can get stuck in kitties internal organs and cause fatal consequences. Those cat toys you buy are cute, but kitty really doesn't need those felt eyes and bells to enjoy his new toy. Either remove them or only allow kitty to play with it when you are supervising his play. Goliath, as a younger cat, would chomp on just about anything. Once he got hold of a tube of topical medication. Well I felt embarassed, but I did call the Poison Hotline to check and they actually were very helpful and checked for me. Goliath survived and so did my ego. The point is: CATS ARE CURIOUS CREATURES THAT CAN GET THEMSELVES INTO PLENTY OF TROUBLE IF WE ARE NOT AWARE AND THERE TO LOOK OUT FOR THEIR SAFETY AND WELLBEING! Please keep your pets safe and make sure their enviroment is safe.