I’ve always fed my cat dry food for the most part. Why?

• It’s easy to buy anywhere, from gas stations to grocery stores, petstores and online.
• It comes in organic, always a good thing, right?
• It doesn’t smell bad like wet food.
• It’s not as messy as wet food.
• Somewhere along the lines, I heard it’s good for their teeth?

Not that I’ve left out wet food, but it was more like a “treat” then an every day thing. My parents always did 50/50 with dry and wet food which is now what most owners do. The best of both worlds since they don’t know which one to leave out. Makes sense, because that’s what I started doing when I heard they weren’t JUST supposed to get dry food. Something to do with water content and my cat goes through lots of water. But goes through less with wet food. Point proven to me!

But when you really do a little digging on the proper cat diet… you find out a lot about wet food and how a completely RAW MEAT diet is best. Who would have thought? Well, if you really think about what they would eat WITHOUT a human’s help… it’s pretty “duh”.

I know I won’t do these sites any justice in what they share, so I will just tell you where to look!

1. Raw Fed Cats
2. Raw Food Diets for Cats
3. Feeding Your Cat
4. Meat Patties by Only Natural

It may sound funny to direct you guys to a website that is called Dr. Dog, but Dr. Dog has some good advice on heat stroke for cats! Believe it or not. So you can check out Dr. Dog here.

In hot temperatures whether you’re in the car or a travel trailer, a house or outside in the natural heat, you always need to make sure your cat has enough cool water.

It’s also important to be realistic. My house stays between 73 degrees and all the way up to 80 and sometimes 85 but not usually. In those temperatures, my cat will lay under the hottest lamp she can find or in the sun coming in through the window and on the floor. She still craves heat! So don’t freak out about regular temperatures, they have a fur coat but they like warmth, too. (And did you know feathers are actually warmer than fur? Interesting…)

But if you know the temperature may be getting out of hand for your cat, make sure they have shade and lots of water available. My cat finds the shade outside here in Florida, she has to. She can only play in the heat for so long.

1. White
2. Black
3. Orange

Once again, this more of a genetic post on calico colored cats as most tend to be female. Why? Pure genetics, again.

To go into detail on this topic, I am going to quote a great article by Janet Crosby. She wrote,

“Coat color in cats is a sex-linked trait, a physical characteristic (coat color) related to gender. Female animals have two X chromosomes (XX), males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY). The genetic coding for displaying black or orange color is found on the X chromosome. The coding for white is a completely separate gene.

Since females have two X chromosomes, they are able to “display” two colors (orange and black, or variations thereof) and white; creating the 3-color calico mix. Since males have only one X chromosome, they can only be orange OR black. It is more complicated than simply having the color genes — it is a complex process of dominant and non-dominate genes interacting on the X chromosomes, but that is the basis for coat color in calico cats. For those of you interested in the detailed coat color genetics, please see the “Related Reading” articles at the bottom of this FAQ.

Can a calico cat ever be male? Yes, in rare instances. In this situation, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). Cats with this chromosomal configuration are usually sterile (not able to breed).”

For more on calico cats, check out the following links:

• Genetics
• Calico cat gallery

When I first saw this cat in the picture, Katie, I was astounded! I’d never ever seen a cat with two different colored eyes, though I’ve seen it in huskies (dogs). As I looked into it further, I started to hear myths that these cats are blind in one eye so I dug even deeper and found out the truth about these beautiful genetics!

First of all, different colored eyes does NOT equal blindness. That myth comes from the fact that usually blind eye has a milky-blue color to it. The eyes are simply different due to pure genetics…

Although the eye color doesn’t mean blindness, it more often DOES mean deafness.

• They’re often deaf (though not ALL are)
• They’re often deaf in at least one ear which is more often than not the ear on the side of the blue eye.

For more interesting facts on white colored cat genetics, check out this article here.

]]> http://www.simplecattraining.com/kitty-genetics/feed/ 5 http://www.simplecattraining.com/cat-related-diseases/ http://www.simplecattraining.com/cat-related-diseases/#comments Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:55:20 +0000 admin http://www.simplecattraining.com/?p=214 Just because cats carry some diseases doesn’t mean you’re going to get sick from owning a cat as a pet. So there’s no need for panic. Lots of animals carry diseases, because at one time they were all wild instead of domesticated.

For a list of cat-related diseases, I suggest browsing the CDC website here.

In most cases you aren’t likely to get many of these diseases from your cat, but more likely from eating raw meat and things of that nature that also spread those kinds of bacteria infections.

Ever since finding their organic cat food online (which they have MANY brands whether you want hard food or wet food or both!) I have become a huge fan of the Only Natural Pet Store. It’s for dogs and cats (I only have a cat) but nice to know you can get both.

Oh, and I love their slogan!

Natural products, holistic remedies, organic food, and more for your dog and cat!

I never really thought that there was a need for kitten proofing a home when a friend of mine gave me a kitten as a gift after I lost my cat, Tommy, in high school. I was so used to having “cats” that a kitten was something new and I was too young at the time to remember everything my parents went through when raising my cat as a kitten.

But kittens will pretty much get into everything dangerous, anything that will tangle them up, anything that might hurt them when chewed on… anything!

Which is why it is so important to kitten proof your home before bringing one of their cute little faces home. Though I am sure there are things you will forget about that your new kitten will bring to your attention once home.

Some tips and things to think about when kitten proofing:

• Toxic plants are a no-no, get them out
• If you like your files, homework, paperwork, stitch work, sewing tools or scrapbooking tools organized… put them in a container that you kitten can’t open
• Tie up loose ends (hanging cords of any sort)
• Keep toilet lids shut and washer/dryer lids closed so kitty doesn’t find its way into them
• Watch your floors for rubber bands or stray parts that your kitten might find interesting to eat
• If you don’t want your drapes climbed, tie them up high away from your kitten
• Close drawers and cupboards, or expect your kitten to go inside and make a mess of things (my cat STILL does this, but she waits for them to come open for a split second before diving in)
• Remove breakables, no height is too high for your cat to jump or figure out how to get up to
• Keep harmful cleaners out of areas your kitten might go
• Remember antifreeze can be deadly

Well, a fairly new friend of mine (Cate) told me about the litter robot, or as she calls it in her household, the “poo poo igloo”!

This litter box, or robot, makes it so that you don’t have to clean it up like usual. And as big of a fan I am of my current box, this one is just way above and beyond! Who knew this thing existed?!

This is from the Litter Robot website…

“The Litter-Robot™ frees you from the chore of litter box scooping.  You can be confident that your cats have a litter box that is cleaned automatically and reliably, again and again.  The large waste drawer holds several days’ worth of waste, giving you the time and freedom to do the things you enjoy.  You can take that weekend trip or leave town for a short business trip without having to worry about your cat’s litter box.

Cleaning the litter box is now as simple as changing a kitchen garbage bag every few days.  If you have several cats, the Litter-Robot™ drawer may still need to be emptied daily, but you’ll never again have to scoop a dirty litter box by hand!”

To learn more about this thing, check out their website here.

If bleach is combined with a cat’s urine (ammonia) it can create a noxious gas.

So whenever you go about thoroughly cleaning your cat’s litter box where there may be traces of urine, make sure to use a cat safe soap first to clean it as well as you can and then use the diluted bleach if necessary.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to our pets!

However, there is some debate over how often your cat may need a bath. And luckily for me, my cat doesn’t seem to know when the rain is always coming and gets a pretty thorough bath via the Florida rainy weather! Hehe…

But if you’re a do-it-yourself-er then this article is for you.

Between 2 weeks a every month is pretty good for your cat to be getting a real bath. The more outdoorsy your cat is, the more it needs to be cleaned. The less outdoorsy it is, the less likely it will need that manybaths.

Yes, it really is that simple.