Cats and Coupons

I’ve mentioned once or twice before that pet clothing amuses me. I don’t dress my cats now, but as a child I could frequently be found putting baby doll clothes onto my cat and then pushing the cat around in the baby doll carriage. I came across formalwear for pets on a site called CozyPetClothes that made me giggle. Yes that’s right, formalwear! I’m not talking about Oscar de la Renta or anything, but I am talking about gowns and tuxes. I thought the little outfits were pretty amusing until I saw the prices. I can’t imagine ever spending $50 or more dollars on a pet outfit. Can you?

When we got our first Himalayan kitten Nikki we wanted to get him a scratching post. All of the simple little ones I saw were $20-$25. I saw one that was almost six foot tall which was covered in carpet, built on a tree limb and had four levels that was priced at $125. It seemed the better buy so I got it. Nikki loved it. He played on that thing for years, and used it for scratching his claws. There were actually threadbare areas where he’d demolished it. We got rid of it after he passed. I would recommend any cat owner have recommend some sort of scratching furniture, to protect their home and to provide their cats with their own space.

I was surfing today, looking at different cat trees and forts. It’s amazing what’s out there now compared to twenty years ago. They make all sorts of cat furniture now, about the only thing I didn’t see was home theater seating for cats. I really like this really cool looking one, the Savvy Tabby Tree House Fort, at FreshPets for $206.99. If I were shopping for a cat tree now and had two or more cats, there’s an excellent chance I’d get this one.

Sites just for pet owners are becoming quite popular. I recently learned about another community just for pet lovers called Animal Attraction. It’s free to sign up for membership. Once you’ve joined you can create a profile for you and your pets. There’s a search enging to help members find new friends with common interests. Members can communicate with each other using chat rooms, message boards and instant messaging.  On the site you can share photos and stories, as well as look for and offer advice. Every day that a member logs in Animal Attraction makes a small donation to an animal charity. If someone joins as a new member on your recommendation Animal Attraction will donate $1. The site is a terrific way to meet others with the same interests while helping animals.

If you’re a cat person and want to get a bit more exercise, consider bringing your cat along as an exercise partner. Walks are the best fat burners there are. You can train your cat to walk outdoors with you. Get your cat used to wearing a harness inside the house. Then add a leash (or rope) to the harness and let the cat walk around with it on for a few days to get used to the change in weight and feel. When he’s comfortable wearing the harness with the leash, pick up the leash and walk him around the house or yard. When your cat does well walking on the harness in the house try it in the yard during a quieter time of day. Once they’ve got that down you can try the side of a street. Bring treats.

My brother has this crazy tabby cat. When I opened his door today I found her and two toy alligators on the floor. For a minute I thought of the movie Toy Story, because the two toys had not been there two days before. I moved the toys and left the room with her water bowl to get fresh water. Downstairs I found that my parents had put in one of those really fancy Kohler faucets so I had to take a minute and check that out. When I finally returned to the room the alligators had been moved again. That’s when I realized she plays with them. They’re big, I think they might even be dog toys. So that’s what my brother’s cat does that’s strange. For me, my cats stand in the sink for a bath. They don’t squirm or try to run, they seem to enjoy it. We had a cat once that always tried to steal Doritos. Does your cat do anything strange?

We have a huge litter box that currently is kept in the old bathroom. It does not have a lid or dome on it. RB has been having small fits lately because one of the cats has not been doing a very good job of covering his business lately and RB doesn’t like to look at it when he’s using the toilet. He actually carried on a lot about it at the end of last week until we had a fight about the litter box. At one point he told me if the cat couldn’t cover its’ turds then he’d squat over the box and do his business and see how the cat liked looking at it. I burst out laughing when he said it and almost choked on my glass of water. If he’s going to keep coming up with these crazy things to say I might have to check my life insurance rates in case I do choke to death from bursting into sudden fits of laughter. I was almost too embarrassed to type this but it’s so funny that I had to share it. So, who uses the litter box in your house?

Rennie is still sleeping on the chair under the kitchen table. Shadow is now sleeping on the back of one of the dining room chairs. Now just so you know, it isn’t a wide backed chair or anything, it’s actually an old office chair that I got when my work upgraded furniture. I can’t believe he sleeps there without falling, it’s only about two inches wide. It could be worse, he could be sleeping on top of the baby bedding I’ve started getting together for my sister in law.

If you’ve ever watched or been to a dog show you know there’s a group called working dogs. (Point of interest, there’s no working cat category at a cat show.) The dogs in the AKC working group include the Akita, Alaskan Malamute, Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Boxer, Bernese Mountain Dog, Black Russian Terrier, Bullmastiff, Doberman Pinscher, Dogue de Bordeaux, German Pinscher, Giant Schnauzer, Great Dane, Great Pyrenees, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Komondor, Kuvasz, Mastiff, Neopolitan Mastiff, Newfoundland, Portugese Water Dog, Rottweiler, Saint Bernard, Samoyed, Siberian Husky, Standard Schnauzer and Tibetan Mastiff. Could you imagine if people were like working class dogs? They’d never have to do another job search again, because everyone would know what they can do right from the start. What I find interesting about dog shows is that dogs within one class do different “work” and yet they’re all judged against each other. We have a Siberian Husky, so he’d be in the working group if he were a show dog. Do you have a dog? What group would he be in if he were a show dog?

Let’s talk about feet, our cats’ feet. More specifically, I’d love to hear from people whose cats knead. We’ve always called this action happy feet in my family, but some of the other things I’ve heard people call it include treading on grapes, kneading the dough and making bread. Some people think that this action is recreating kittens expressing milk, others think it’s recreating creating a bed. Every cat my family has ever had that has done this has always been content when they did it. I don’t know what it is but I do know when Shadow is REALLY happy I wish he could show his love with some promotional products rather than by digging his claws into me.

I returned from my trip to Watkins Glen NY today. The cats seemed rather happy to see me. After we’d been home about two hours, I was checking my email and CJ was cuddling on the couch with his Dad. I heard Rennie start meowing. She persisted for a few minutes and I heard CJ trying to say something. His speech isn’t always the easiest to understand, but in this case we didn’t need to be futures trading experts to be able to tell that he was telling Rennie to “shhh, be quiet”. He’d been feeling a little under the weather since almost two hours before we got home so I guess he just wanted a little quiet. I thought it was pretty funny.

I’m fortunate, the two cats we have now don’t scratch the furniture. The reason I say fortunate is because we adopted them, so we really didn’t know what bad habits we might be getting. Anyway. Cats use their claws to defend themselves, so they sharpen them to keep them ready. That’s why a cat scratches its claws.

Unfortunately, cats claws can be very destructive. If your cats are scratching their claws on your furniture there is something you can try. Cats dislike citrus. Get yourself some lemon scented fabric spray and spritz the furniture with it. Also, be sure your cat knows where an acceptable place to scratch their claws is. Get the cat a scratching post or cat tower and put some catnip on it to get their attention. This is a common technique used to get cats to stop scratching furniture. Let me know if you’ve tried it and how it worked or if you need to try it.

Shadow isn’t afraid to get close to us. He’ll even give us a little kiss on the cheek once in a while. Lately, he does this weird thing with his nose. He does it to all of us once in a while, but he does it to my oldest son TJ every time they’re near each other. Shadow rubs his nose on TJ’s nose. Now I don’t mean for a second, I mean for a minute or two and hard. It’s so funny. the very first time he did it I felt like he was checking my skin to see if it was time for me to buy wrinkle cream. So, does your cat get in your face?

I spent some time on the Cat Connection website tonight. They have more great stuff on there for cat lovers than I even realized. If you look at the top tabs and click on Fun and Games, you’ll find all kinds of stuff including this section called “You know you’re a cat lover when…” User submissions are welcomed. I found some really funny things on this list, and some true ones too. My favorites are
* You record the voice of your cat and use that for the ring tone on your cell phone.
* Your have your cats’ names printed on your return address labels.
* You only eat fish and chicken shaped nuggets.
* You don’t have to ask what “mol” stands for.

If you haven’t checked out Cat Connection, you really should. The only thing I can think of that would make it perfect is cat photo contests with pics submitted by readers.

Have you ever given your cats toys with catnip on or in them? Have you ever put catnip on or in one of your cat’s toys? Most of the cats we’ve had in my family have all gone crazy for the scent of catnip. Catnip is part of the mint family of plants, beign related to basil, oregano, and spearmint. Catnip doesn’t do anything for humans but apparently for a cat the scent triggers pheromones. Cats all behave a little differently to it, some may not react at all because it is thought the the reaction to catnip is hereditary. Those cats that do react to it may roll around, jump and paw with a burst of energy, kind of like some people that use Orovo do. Has your cat ever gone enar catnip? What was its reaction?