I adopted a sweet little female kitty in the fall. She has quirky little rituals which are very cute, and … well, very quirky, especially with her food and water. After she’s done eating, or if she doesn’t want to eat when you put her food down, she will “cover it up.” She walks around tbe bowl and paws around it like she’s covering her litter. I’ve read this is a trait from the wild. Is it a habit I can break or should I just let her do this? A few times she has dragged kitchen towels out of the kitchen and also covered her food/water with them.

Also, she constantly knocks over her water bowl. I put fresh water down every day and she stares into it, steps a little back from it like she’s scared of it, paws at it like she’s not sure what it is, and then moves it around until she knocks it all over the floor. Then, she will only drink her water from the side of the bowl, almost like she’s licking the inside of the bowl with minimal water in it. I’m so confused and frustrated because she spills so much water every day. What gives and how can I help her?

~ Jennie

Some cats have very strange drinking habits. Photo by Yuval V, distributed under a Creative Commons-Attribution-Share Alike license

Siouxsie: First, let’s talk about the food burying. That is behavior from the wild: big cats will often hide the food they catch if they’re not ready to eat it yet. I guess you’re lucky she’s not dragging it to the top of the cat tree and leaving it there like leopards do with their prey.

Thomas: That’s probably a behavior that’s going to continue until she starts realizing that nobody’s going to eat her food when she’s not around.

Siouxsie: As for the water bowl tipping — well, there are a few ways you might be able to deal with that.

Thomas: First of all, we’d recommend a water dish that’s wider on the bottom than it is on the top. This will make it a lot harder for her to knock it over.

Stainless steel dish with non-skid bottom

Siouxsie: It’s pretty easy to find stainless steel dishes with a non-slip rubber mat on the bottom, and you might try one of those.

Thomas: Our water dish is made of food-grade ceramic, and it’s wider on the bottom too.

Siouxsie: Mama got that because when Sinéad and Siouxsie were kittens, they used to paw in the water and knock the dish over, too.

Thomas: A heavy crockery-style dish could also help because the weight could keep her from moving it.

Siouxsie: We’d recommend that you not use plastic dishes: first of all, they’re too light to be safe for cats that like to move their dishes around; and secondly, they can develop very small scratches in them that harbor germs.

DIY spill-catcher

Thomas: Another solution to the water spillage problem is to get a plastic cafeteria tray or a cookie sheet with a small rim and place your cat’s water dish in that. The sides will contain the water spill, and also make it harder for her to drag her bowl all over the floor.

Siouxsie: If your cat is knocking her water over because she doesn’t like the taste, consider getting a filter pitcher or a faucet-mounted water filter and run her drinking water through that.

Thomas: City tap water can taste pretty yucky to cats because it has chlorine in it. So can hard water, because sometimes it has a metallic or sulfury taste.

Siouxsie: We’d recommend that you start with all of these tips, and if the wide-base water dish keeps her from knocking over her bowl, you can remove the cookie sheet and see what happens.

Thomas: Sometimes a pet drinking fountain can also help water-tippers. If your cat prefers to drink from shallow water or moving water (for example, lapping water dripping from the faucet), a fountain could resolve this problem.

Siouxsie: Again, we’d recommend a stainless steel or ceramic fountain rather than a plastic one.

Thomas: Good luck, Jennie. We hope this helps.

In Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love and Coming Clean, Jackson is brutally honest about his struggles with addiction — and his simultaneous struggles to figure out the behavior of his cat, Benny, whom he sometimes refers to as the original cat from hell.

I was fortunate to get an advance review copy of the book. As soon as I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Jackson does a lot more than tell his story: he paints a picture of life in the world of animal shelters and how his work at a Boulder, Colorado, shelter was the beginning of his evolution from a wounded and (as he confessed) impatient and childish person to the man he is today: clean, sober, and an angel for troubled cats all over the country.

How does he do it? Well, it’s really all about understanding energy.

That may sound pretty “woo-woo” to some of you, but even if you’re the most logical and rational person in the world, I bet you’ve sensed the energy of an environment or person and reacted to it.

“I was actually doing an interview with someone who was highly skeptical about my approach and he said something like, ‘I kind of live in the world of science. What is this energy thing you’re talking about?’” Jackson told me. “But energy is the basis of science. Do you ever walk into a room and say, ‘You could cut [the atmosphere] with a knife?’” Yeah, that’s energy. Or vibes. Or whatever you want to call it.

Cats mirror our emotions and the general atmosphere of their environment. Their behavior is a reaction to the energy they sense. I’ve even seen cats develop physical illnesses that happen to “just coincidentally” follow their caretakers’ problems.

It happened in my own life. My cats, Sinéad and Siouxsie pretty much saved my life when I was going through a months-long bout of severe depression. No matter how crappy or suicidal I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to traumatize them by ending my own life. Besides, my energy level was so low that if thy were sitting on me, I wouldn’t even be able to get out of my chair.

Shortly after I recovered, Sinéad developed hepatitis. There was no reason why it should have happened; even my vet was mystified. But I had an idea why. And I learned a very important lesson about the need to be responsible for my emotional well-being and recognize when I was on a downward spiral before I got that sick again.

“Your job is to loosen the noose on your cat and appreciate what she’s trying to bring to your life. If they are trying to heal you; let them.” ~ Jackson Galaxy

I told Jackson that the book seemed to me to be a story about Benny serving as a mirror for his caretaker’s problems. This “mirror syndrome” also seems painfully obvious when you watch Jackson work with troubled cats on his show, My Cat From Hell (which, by the way, has been renewed for a third season).

“All that stuff about Benny’s behavior mirroring me didn’t even occur to me until I was writing the book,” he told me. But “from that point on when you recognize the depth of the mirror and you recognize you have this responsibility, you can’t just let them be a witness to your crisis.”

“Lots of people don’t want to cop to having that level of responsibility for their own energetic output — but when they see the difference, it’s amazing.”

Cats really are amazing creatures: teachers, healers, and little cuddly bundles of purring love all at once. When we respect our cats as individuals and realize the gifts they bring to us, the results can be amazing.

Pick up a copy of Cat Daddy today. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed! Not only will the story of Jackson and Benny’s life together touch you, but you’ll get tips on how to deal with various behavior issues and a wonderful discussion about the importance of the no-kill movement.

The Cat Daddy Book Tour launches today in Los Angeles, California. Tour dates so far include stops at independent bookstores in New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado and Oregon. More dates are being booked, too. For more information, go to Jackson’s website or keep up to date with Jackson on Facebook and Twitter.

Better yet, the Who’s Your Cat Daddy Book Launch Festival Contest is going to be unleashed (ahem) soon. Check here for more details.

My Rating: Four Paws Up

Full disclosure: I received a free advance review copy of “Cat Daddy,” but I received no other compensation. The opinions expressed in this post are my own.

My cat Mary is sneezing and sneezing. Sometimes she has a clear runny nose. The vet has treated her with three different types of antibiotics, and has even given her steroids and an allergy shot — and she’s still sneezing! She was tested for feline leukemia and FIV, and both tests were negative. I had a scope put up her nose to see if there was anything in there that was causing irritation. The vet found nothing, and Mary is still sneezing. Any ideas?

~ Sharon

Siouxsie: You’ve certainly done all the right things, Sharon, and we commend you for that. This must be tremendously frustrating for you and for your kitty!

Thomas: If she’s been on several rounds of antibiotics, that would most likely rule out any bacterial infection.

Siouxsie: Antibiotics don’t treat viruses, though, so if your kitty has some kind of chronic viral infection like feline herpesvirus (also known as feline viral rhinotracheitis), which can come and go, that could still be causing problems.

Thomas: But as you’ll see if you click on the link in Siouxsie’s answer, herpesvirus infections often involve purulent eye discharge as well as sneezing.

Siouxsie: We assume your vet has ruled out herpesvirus and other chronic infections, since it seems he or she has been very thorough in trying to figure this out.

Thomas: In that case, she may be sneezing so much because there’s something in her environment that’s causing an allergic reaction.

Siouxsie: Has Mary always been sneezy? If not, about when did it start? Did you change something back then? For example, did you move to a new house? Start using a new laundry detergent, cat litter or air freshener? Bring in a new carpet? Change your heating or air conditioning system?

Thomas: Is your cat’s sneezing worse at different times of the year? If so, she may be suffering from hay fever (hey, don’t laugh — cats can get hay fever).

Siouxsie: Does she sneeze more after she’s used the litterbox? If so, the dust may be bothering her.

Thomas: There are some things you can do to keep the allergens in check, which may make Mary’s life easier and more sneeze-free.

Siouxsie: First of all, stop using any kind of scented detergents, fabric softeners, dryer sheets, plug-in or spray air fresheners. They might smell nice to you humans, but our noses are much more sensitive than yours — and to us they reek!

Thomas: If you smoke in your house and you’re not ready to quit, we’d strongly recommend that you only smoke outdoors. Cigarette smoke is very irritating even for kitties that don’t have allergies. You probably should cut out burning incense, too.

Siouxsie: Use a scent-free cat litter that’s as dust-free as possible. Usually the pellet types are the least dusty and clay litters are the most dusty. However, a lot of the organic-based litters like wheat-, pine- and corn-based can be very dusty, too.

Thomas: If you’re into using non-clay litters and want to keep the dust to a minimum, try Blue Naturally Fresh. It’s made of walnut shells, and Mama’s been using the multi-cat clumping formula with us. It’s almost totally dust-free, it clumps like concrete, and it works really well to keep the odors down.

Siouxsie: We’d recommend that you invest in a high-quality air purifier and put it in the room where your cat spends the most time. This will filter out most environmental contaminants such as mold, pollen and dust mites.

Thomas: A humidifier might also be a good idea. If she’ll tolerate it, you could even bring her in the bathroom with you while you take a shower so she can breathe some nice warm steamy air.

Siouxsie: One more thing to consider: If your vet hasn’t already looked in your cat’s mouth to see if her teeth are OK, you might have him or her do that. Sometimes cats sneeze a lot because they get dental abscesses which can irritate the sinuses.

Thomas: Good luck, Sharon. We hope you and your vet can help your sneezy girl be less sneezy.

Siouxsie: And just to close this off on an amusing and cute note, here’s a video compilation of sneezing cats:

(In a reader? Watch the video here.)

I have a 4-year-old cat who had a bladder blockage a few days ago. I got to take him home from the vet today. What can I do to prvent this problem from happening again?

~ Britney

Siouxsie: Wow, you’re lucky that you realized what was going on and got your cat to the vet right away. Blockages can be fatal within just a few days because toxins build up in the body and damage the organs.

Thomas: We don’t know how much your vet told you about urinary tract blockages, so we’re going to give you a very quick overview of how cats get blocked.

X-ray of a struvite bladder stone in a cat. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Siouxsie: First of all, blockages are a lot more common in male cats because they have longer, narrower urethras (the tube that sends pee from the bladder out through the penis) than female cats.

Thomas: Blockages are caused by a buildup of little tiny stones made of either struvite or calcium oxalate crystals. Blockages can also be caused by a plug made of mucus, which can result when the bladder gets inflamed.

Siouxsie: A lot of vets have noticed that cats that eat a dry-food diet tend to be more at risk for bladder stones or other urinary problems.

Thomas: You see, cats as a species originated in the desert, and we have a very low thirst drive. We’re designed to get the moisture we need from the food we eat — so if we eat an exclusively dry diet, we may not get enough water to flush any crystals or sediment out of our bladders.

Siouxsie: My sister Sinéad got a couple of urinary tract infections, and here’s what the vet told Mama to do in order to keep her from having any more UTIs.

Thomas: First of all, always provide lots of pure water! If you have hard water or you get your tap water from a municipal water supply, run your water through a purifier. The easiest and least expensive way to do this is to invest in a pitcher filter or a filter you attach to your faucet

Siouxsie: Getting rid of the chlorine or other minerals that cause hard water can make that water’s acid-alkaline balance more neutral and eliminate nasty tastes that keep cats from drinking.

Thomas: The vet also said Mama shouldn’t feed us seafood-flavored cat food, ever. Tuna and other seafoods can irritate some cats’ bladders and may contribute to the development of stones or crystals.

Siouxsie: Make sure your cat’s litterbox is clean, and use unscented litter. Dirty boxes and chemical scents can cause a cat to be reluctant to use the box.

Thomas: Feed your cat a grain-free canned food. Grains can irritate some cats’ bladders and cause inflammation.

Siouxsie: Canned cat food will also help your cat get enough water in his diet. As we said, cats are designed to get the water they need from the food they eat.

Thomas: Try to minimize your cat’s stress by keeping his environment as stable as possible.

Cat having a catheter installed. Photo by Ariel Palmon, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license

Siouxsie: If your cat gets more than three bladder blockages, your vet may recommend a surgery called a perineal urethrostomy, which involves shortening the urinary tract by removing the penis and making the urethra drain directly out the cat’s backside, just like a girl cat does.

Thomas: Jeez, just thinking about that makes me want to clench my back legs and curl my tail around me VERY tightly!

Siouxsie: But if you’re able to prevent urinary tract blockages by feeding your cat good-quality grain-free canned food and providing filtered water for him to drink, the odds are good that your kitty won’t have to go through this.

Thomas: For more information about urinary obstructions, including diagnosis, symptoms and treatment, we recommend this Petplace article — it has lots of information and it’s written in language that ordinary people can understand.