Feline Lifestyle

Birdwatching: Environmental Enrichment for Indoor Cats

Feline Behavior, Feline Lifestyle| 9 Comments

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Cats often get a bad reputation with regards to birds. A few years ago, I wrote Faulty Science Spread Lies About Cats and Their Impact on Wildlife, and even though the post is a few years old, the information is still relevant. But there is a way for birds to not only coexist peacefully with cats, they can also provide stimulating entertainment for indoor cats, and the best part: nobody gets hurt.Continue Reading

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Don’t Believe These 6 Common Myths About Cats

Feline Lifestyle| 14 Comments

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Cats don’t have nine lives, and they don’t suck the breath out of babies. While it’s pretty obvious to most rational human being that these two myths are not true, there are many other tall tales about cats that are completely false. Perhaps this is because cats, despite having lived with humans for thousands of years, still remain a mystery even to those of us who know and love them.

Some myths and misconceptions are simply silly, but many myths can be dangerous and may actually harm cats. The following six are some of the most common myths about cats that are not true.Continue Reading

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You Don’t Need to Give Up Your Cat When You’re Pregnant

Feline Lifestyle| 6 Comments

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Cats, pregnant women and babies have coexisted happily for thousands of years, and there is absolutely no reason you have to give up your cat when you’re pregnant. A few common sense precautions will keep mom, baby and kitty safe.Continue Reading

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How to Help Animals Affected by the California Wildfires

Feline Lifestyle| 3 Comments

 sonoma-fires-rescued-cat

I really hope and pray that soon there will come a time where there won’t be a need for these types of posts – they’ve been coming much too frequently over this last month with back to back disasters on both coasts. On Sunday, I wrote about how to decide where to donate when there’s so much need everywhere, and I promised you a round up of organizations who are helping animals affected by the California wildfires.Continue Reading

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How You Can Help Animals in Puerto Rico Affected by Hurricane Maria

Feline Lifestyle| 6 Comments

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The devastation in Puerto Rico following hurricane Maria is staggering, and the territory will need our help for a long time to come. As with all disasters of this kind, animals are suffering, too. Animal rescue groups from all around the country poured into the areas affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma relatively quickly after the storms passed, but logistics to help humans, let alone animals, in Puerto Rico have been complicated due to its location.Continue Reading

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Who Gets Custody of the Cat in a Divorce

Feline Lifestyle| 7 Comments

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Divorce is an emotional minefield, and custody issues make a difficult time even more challenging. Most cat guardians consider cats family members, and cat custody can turn into a battle very much like child custody.

Even though pets are considered property in most jurisdictions, courts are starting to recognize the relationship with a pet is different than the relationship with other property. Since a pet isn’t something that can easily be replaced or have a monetary value assigned, courts may be more open to considering custody arrangements for pets.Continue Reading

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How You Can Help Animals Affected by Hurricane Irma

Feline Lifestyle| 14 Comments

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I was nervously watching last weekend as Hurricane Irma made its way through Florida. I have a lot of friends in the state. Many evacuated with their cats, some stayed behind. Thankfully, everyone I’ve been worried about is okay, even though some still don’t have power back. Sadly, not everyone in Florida was as fortunate, and it breaks my heart to think of what so many people and animals went through and are still going through.Continue Reading

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The Terrific Tabby Cat

Feline Lifestyle| 13 Comments

tabby-cat

Tabby cats, also referred to as tiger cats, are cats with a coat featuring a pattern of distinctive stripes, lines, dots or swirling patterns. Tabby cats have pencil like lines on their faces, and almost all tabbies have markings shaped like the letter “M” on their foreheads. Tabby is not a breed. The tabby pattern is found in domestic cats as well as many purebred cats. The tabby pattern looks very similar to the coloration of the domestic cat’s ancestor, the African wildcat.Continue Reading

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How You Can Help Pets Affected by Hurricane Harvey

Feline Lifestyle| 11 Comments

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It’s impossible for me to wrap my mind around the devastation in Texas following hurricane Harvey. To think about what the people and the animals in the flooded and destroyed areas are going through just breaks my heart. The one bright spot in all of this, to me, has been to see the many images of pets being rescued – a marked difference from what we watched twelve years ago after hurricane Katrina.

Animal rescue groups from all over the country have mobilized to help the animals affected by the storm,Continue Reading

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Air Travel with Your Cat

Feline Lifestyle| 5 Comments

Sleepypod-air

This post is sponsored by Sleepyod

Air travel is challenging enough for humans these days, and the thought of having to fly with a cat adds an additional layer of stress. However, sometimes, it may be unavoidable. You may be moving across country, or you may be leaving on an extended absence and even leaving your cat with a trusted cat sitter may not work out for you. If you must travel with your cat, it’s important to be prepared.Continue Reading

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Animal Welfare League of Arlington Opens First Kitten Nursery in the Washington DC Area

Feline Lifestyle| 4 Comments

Last week, I had a chance to attend the grand opening of the first neonatal kitten nursery in the Washington DC area. The Animal Welfare League of Arlington opened its “Kitten Academy” to help kittens that are less than three weeks old, an age when a kitten is the most vulnerable.Continue Reading

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