Kitty Kondos online specialize and sell tons of outdoor play pens for cats so that they can enjoy being outdoors, but within the limits you set.

Now, although they come in tons of different shapes and sizes, they aren’t the cheapest things in the world. This kitty teepee is $369.99.

But something more simple can only run you around $40.00 like this enclosure here. So it depends on what you want to provide your cat with.

Either way, your cat should be enjoying what the outdoors has to offer so finding a safe way to do so is your responsibility.

I think most of us girls fall victim to buying the insanely cute cat collars out there. I know my cat has around 6 collars even now as I write this! She has the zebra pattern one, she lost the tiger print one but that was probably my favorite. Now she has a travel collar with all her information on it (rabies vaccines and contact info) as well as some of those that if they get caught on something, break away. They’re meant for outdoor cats so they don’t ever choke to death by their collars. You name it, I got it.

However, collars do damage to the neck area by constant rubbing. They eventually take the hair off your cat (or dog) and can rub their skin raw from there. I remember as a kid our dog, Max, was scratching a lot at his collar that we kept on him 24/7. My dad took it off one day because it was obvious it was irritating him and we found giant red sores on Max’s neck.

Recently with my own cat I noticed I left one of her collar’s on too long and she was missing hair. Where the black hair was gone, was white skin. I usually rotate collars and go through periods of keeping my cat indoors and without a collar at all to let her fur and skin rest but I just hadn’t been thinking about it lately and as she sat on my desk last night I took her collar off thinking I’d left it on a while… sure enough, the evidence was there.

So as great as collars are for the accidental escape and carrying their information of you and just showing that they actually belong to someone else, make sure to rotate your cat’s collars and to leave them off as much as possible for the health of your cat’s fur and skin.

Foraging is a great method to use to feed your cat, it is stimulating them mentally and physically and especially if you have an INDOOR cat, it NEEDS this!

If you aren’t familiar with what foraging is, check out my first article on this topic of How to Entertain a Bored Cat.

Here are some great and helpful links for ways to encourage your cat to forage for his food:

1. The Rock n Roll Cat Feeder
2. Make your own at home
3. Forage balls for dogs & cats
4. Complete foraging instructions & trouble shooting

Anyway, aside from using it during travel (car, airlines) she shows zero interest in it for the house. Which is fine by me, I don’t really have a great place to put it anyway.

But some cats LOVE these things (like the one in this first photo) and deserve to have their wishes met say… on Christmas this year?

Or some other holiday that you can make up just to get it for your kitty sooner!

From my experience, my parents have always had animal beds and they’ve always used the heck out of them (sprinkle a little cat nip around it if your cat shows no interest…) but also I’ve known people who don’t use them and their cats still find great places to sleep and hang their heads!

If you’re still sold on the cat bed, at least get a cool looking one. Here’s a link to get you started on your cat bed shopping! Cat bed galore!

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!

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.

However, my gym bag stank forever! I washed it time and time again to no avail. I aired it out outside, still no help at all… the smell was over bearing that I threw out the bag and bought a new one.

If only I would have known about the cheaper cures…

The secret answer? Vinegar! And baking soda if it’s in your carpet and not your laundry or gym bag.

Here’s how to clean urine up from spots around your house:

Carpet Recipe:

1. Try to dry up as much of the urine as possible with paper towels.
2. Mix 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar and completely soak the spot of urine. Dry it with a towel and follow up the spot with sprinkled baking soda.
3. Mix hydrogen peroxide solution with dish detergent (three fourths of a cup of peroxide and maybe a teaspoon of the detergent) and put that over the baking soda.
4. Work in the solution into the carpet and wait for it to dry so you can then vacuum over it.
5. If there’s anymore odor, just repeat until the odor has gone. And watch out for the peroxide possibly changing the color of your carpet!

Laundry (or gym bag) Recipe:

1. Put a fourth of a cup of apple cider vinegar along with whatever current soap you use in your laundry now and wash normally.

A container of vinegar is a lot cheaper than a new gym bag.

Collars aren’t always the safest things to have on our pets but when it comes to holidays, I love getting the cats involved! I went out and bought collars for every cat (there were a total of 3) as well as the dog (can’t leave him out!) and made presents of wrapped cat toys in capnip and treats wrapped in wrapping paper as well so that everyone had presents to open.

Simba, the long haired cat on the left, was a little hard to keep a collar on and I actually got him a small dog’s collar because of his thick fur. We also kept taking it on and off because he was most bothered by it. It must have not made it in this photo, sadly.

My cat, Ninja, wore a cute peppermint collar! I got them all from our local PetSmart.

Simba got one that matched the dog’s collar, the jester theme.

You can also choose to go a bit more all out and get actual clothing/costumes. I got some that were meant for dogs and used them on Ninja. I didn’t keep her in them, but did have them on long enough to get some photos!

Never estimate being able to use the dog sized clothing on your cat!

Aside from fun themed collars and Santa suits for your cat, they also have fun themed gifts for your cat around Christmas. In our family we get cards and gifts from the animals to the other person’s animals making it a lot of fun, especially when they all decide they don’t want to give it after all but really just want it for themselves!

And it was fun last year watching Ninja teach my mom’s cats just HOW Christmas goes and how to open those presents! They caught on quick from watching her dig right in and nothing is more fun then cat nip presents, shredding wrapping paper and hiding in leaps and bounds of it along the way!

Ninja had to lose some weight to make this costume work last year but I think she pulled it off!

I’m really into animal training and recently decided I want to train my cat everything I can. After teaching her the “rise” I felt like she was having fun learning just like any other animal.

Plus, the Pets Ahoy! show at Sea World should inspire everyone who has any animal at all! If you have never seen the show, check it out on you tube, but nothing beats seeing it in person!

I got a course called Complete Cat Training. You can find the complete cat training system here. And the cool thing is you get it almost instantly (for those impatient people like me)! I had a few hiccups in getting mine, but it’s 3 PDF downloads and some reading and you are there. Don’t worry, the reading material has pictures to break it up a bit!

This course teaches you how to use operant conditioning, and talks about the differences of postivie/negative punishment and reinforcement and how to apply them with your cat.

Some basic teachings this course covers with your cat:

• Come
• Sit
• Stay
• Jump up
• Twirling
• Stand

Then it has more “advanced” behaviors like:

• Wave
• Shake
• Kiss
• Snuggle
• Crawl
• Retrieve