Can Cats Spread Bed Bugs?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: Can cats carry bed bugs, and if they can, how do you get rid of them on the cat? The place where I’m staying has bed bugs and I have three cats. ~ Jammie Siouxsie: Well, Jammie, bed bugs sure are a drag, and they’re the just about single biggest pain-in-the-tail pest of modern life in the U.S. But the good news is that no, your cats will not carry or spread bed bugs. Thomas: Bed bugs generally don’t live on their hosts. They hide in cracks and crevices and come out at night to feed. Once they’ve eaten their fill, they hop off again and go about their nasty business…
Why Is My Cat Scared of Her Toys?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: My cat is approximately 5 years old. I adopted her from the ASPCA over a year ago. She seems to be afraid of her toys — the ones with little stuffed animals or feathers hanging from sticks — and runs away when I try to play with her. She prefers to pounce on my arm and grip it, play biting it. How can I make sure she is getting enough stimulation and exercise without sacrificing my arm? ~ Maureen Siouxsie: This is an odd situation, Maureen, but we think we can help. We cats do love to play, but there’s a right way and a not-so-right way to play…
Please Help Us Win A Readers’ Choice Award
We’re going to take a break from our usual advice-dispensing ways today because we want to ask for your help. About.com is currently accepting nominations for its Readers’ Choice Awards, and we’d really, really like to get one. Through Feb. 15, About.com is seeking nominations for hundreds of award categories, and we want to be a finalist for the Best Website About Cats. The more nominations we get, the better our chances of being selected by About.com’s cat experts to be one of the five finalists. April 2012 will mark the ninth anniversary of Paws and Effect. That’s right, nine years of answering letters from readers every single week. We’re delighted that we’re starting to…
Should I Trim My Cat’s Burned Whiskers?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: Last night I found my 18-year-old cat, Pinky-Boy in front of our space heater, and his whiskers and “eyebrows” are now severely burnt from standing that close. He’s going blind, so maybe he just didn’t realize where he was. I know the space heater seems like a safety hazard, but we have three other cats, and nothing like this has ever happened before. But yes, the heater is now out of reach from Pinky. Anyways, back to my question: can I cut off the burnt edges of his whiskers? I know that whiskers are very sensitive, but because they are so burnt, could the ends be cut? Thank you so much! ~…
Why Are My Male Cats Mounting Each Other?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: I have two male cats. They are brothers but from different litters and this started when they were younger (well on my male cat’s part anyway). My male cat is always trying to “hump” my sister’s male cat. I thought it was because he wasn’t getting to go outside as much as he wanted and so I allowed him to stay out as long as he wanted and hoped that it would help but he does even more so now. I mean he is literally (or so it seems) trying to mate with the male cat. I know that having him fixed might help a little bit but I…
Dahlia Tells All
Dahlia Tells All: Worst. Day. Ever.
Finally! Mama’s found some time in her busy, busy schedule for me! Honestly, you’d think I wasn’t the most important living being on the whole planet, the way she ignores me. Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several weeks thinking about the story I’d tell you the next time Mama gave up her criminal neglect of her most wonderful, awesome and cute feline overlord. After all, even a celebrity cat like me has a life that’s mostly ordinary. But then it came to me–I simply had to tell the story of the worst day I ever had. It all started pretty innocently. Every day for weeks, Mama filled her car with…
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My Cat Is Borderline Diabetic. What Do I Do?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: I have a 7-year old Siamese mix cat who came to my house as a starving kitten. She was terified of humans, but hunger won out, and after many weeks she allowed me to pet her. I brought her inside where she has stayed since then. She only likes dry food, except for tidbits of chicken which I give her for good behavior. She was drinking lots of water and peeing massive amounts, so I took her to the vet about two weeks ago and had a metabolic panel done. It turns out she is borderline diabetic, and the vet put her on Hill’s Prescription diet m/d for weight…
My Cat Chirps When She Watches Birds. Why?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: I am a very new cat owner. Actually, I was adopted by a pregnant 2-year-old California Spangle six months ago. She was not that far along, so I had the pregnancy terminated and had her spayed. Her name is Faith and she is now a house cat and is doing great. Being a “dog person” all of my life, this is my first cat and I am very happy. Here is my question: When Faith is on my enclosed porch, which has many large windows, she looks outside and watches the many birds on the ground. She has just begun making short, low volume, chirping sounds as she is watching the birds eat seed on the…
How Soon Can Newborn Kittens Be Petted?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: I am fostering a mother cat who just gave birth to five kittens. As I write this, the kittens are two days old, and my little girls are dying to pet and hold them. Is this a good idea? I don’t want to see Nala, the momma cat, become resentful toward her kittens if they’ve been touched and handled. Nala’s restless, but I’ve been keeping her in a warm room with the kittens. How much longer should Nala stay in the room without going out of the room to roam around the house? She’s has been a very kind and good mommy to her five kittens. Please give me…
Ellen and Halo: No Plans for Vegan Cat Food
Since we’re part of the crowd that amplified the rumor, we feel ethically obligated to set the record straight. When we responded to a letter from a reader who heard Ellen De Generes and Halo Pet Foods plan to introduce a line of vegan pet foods, we had no idea how much response we’d get to this post and how far it would spread around the blogosphere. We were a little concerned when we were able to source the story to a gossip blog in the Chicago Sun Times, but it didn’t occur to us to ask Halo directly. Yesterday, another blogger asked Halo Pet Foods whether the rumors about a vegan cat food are…
Can A Cat Be Healthy on a Vegan Diet?
Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties: I recently heard on the radio that Ellen DeGeneres is coming out with a line of vegan cat food. Is that even a healthy possibility for our cats? I thought they naturally ate meat proteins. ~ Donna Siouxsie: After all four of us (that would be the three of us cats and Mama too) went “WHAAAAT?!?” when we heard that Ellen’s pet food company is coming out with a line of vegan cat foods, we did some research to verify this fact. It seems that this tidbit has been reported in more than one place, so we’re reasonably certain there’s some truth to it. (Update Dec. 12, 2011: it seems the…
Review: The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey
As I mentioned in the Paws and Effect Holiday Gift Guide, I recently received a review copy of The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey: A Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary by Deborah Barnes. Today during my lunch break, I carved out some time to read the last few pages of the book, and I can finally write the review. At its heart, The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey is the tale of a pair of unlikely feline soul mates and the family with whom they share their lives. Although the publisher’s blurb describes the book with all the hackneyed words you’d expect to hear — heartwarming, humorous, heartfelt, compelling, heartbreaking, and so on — the…