Cats Herd You

Happy Indepdence Day!

Newton: Hello, everyone! It’s time to celebrate something called Independence Day!

We are celebrating with this garland because I was told that it symbolized the holiday. I would have thought that some extra hot dogs would have worked, too, but we have garland so we’ll work with that.

I think you’re supposed to show your appreciation for the holiday by wearing the colors of the holiday and singing.

O beautiful for Neko Flies
for unattended chow mein,
For tall cat tree mjesties
As many treats as I can contain…

This wearing thing is more difficult than it looks! You might not want to try this at home unless you are also a qualified spokescat.

Pierre: What are you DOING?

Newton: I’m celebrating Independence Day. Do you want to sing with me? You have a good voice.

….And crown thy kitties on farms and in cities
At least we don’t have fleas!

Pierre: *sigh* Don’t let your friends get into too much nip today, kitties. You don’t want to end up like this.

Happy Independence Day to all of our readers celebrating today!

Preparing for Fourth of July Fireworks

Ashton: Are you and your cat ready for the fourth of July fireworks? I am! Newton is afraid of thunder but I am not afraid thunder or fireworks. Living near theme parks that have fireworks every night has taught me that they aren’t scary. But lots of you don’t live in places where you are used to those kinds of noises.

So while your humans are making potato salad and counting to be sure they have enough hot dogs for tomorrow’s Independence Day cookout, don’t forget that animal shelters around the country are preparing for their busiest day of the year for lost animals. Cats and dogs, afraid of the noise of fireworks, panic and flee. Remember, our hearing is so much better than yours. That’s why you can never open a treat jar without my hearing it. But it also means that fireworks several miles away that don’t sound so loud to you can be really loud and scary to your cat.

I’m may not be afraid of fireworks, but I’m afraid of lots of other things, and I know awful it is to be really scared of things that you can’t get away from. Most cats will try to hide at home from the noise. But some cats can become so afraid that they do things out of character, like breaking through screens on windows or running through open doors in their panic to try to get away from the terrifying noises. That’s dangerous for everyone.

What can you to do be ready for tomorrow night’s fireworks?

Make sure your cat (and dog, if you have one) are indoors before dusk to be sure they aren’t caught outside when the fireworks begin. If you have calming spray or pheromone plug-ins, it’s a good idea to use them in the house to make it a less scary place. Some of the wall plug-ins may take hours for the scent to distribute through the room where they are, so plan ahead.

At nightfall, close the windows and curtains to help muffle the sounds from outdoors, and turn on some soothing music. Be aware of doors and make sure they are securely shut. If you have a lot of people over for a barbecue before the fireworks, it’s not unusual for people to run in and out of the house to go into the kitchen. Make sure external doors shut completely to keep out the noise, and also make sure that anyone who has to enter or exit after dark is aware that they should shouldn’t let four-legged friends follow them outside during the fireworks display.

Have a comforting place to hide when it gets loud. Your humans should know where you like to hide. They shouldn’t try to block you from your favorite spot under the bed or in the closet or make you come out when you don’t want to. I feel much safer in the closet, and it’s OK if you do, too.

Make sure that you have on identification in case you do escape. It’s best to have a microchip, but even if you don’t, a collar with a name and phone number could help you find your way home if you bolt out of the house and become disoriented. (Always make sure that your collar is a breakaway style for safety in case it gets caught.)

With just a little bit of care and preplanning, the fourth of July can be a less scary experience for everyone!

References

Fireworks, RSPCA
Photo courtesy Colink on Flickr

Wordless Wednesday: Captain Newton Edition

Tuesday Taste Test: Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Bites

Newton: Some of you may remember that Ashton mentioned the other day that we have been on a long dietary journey from kibble to canned food, and the nice folks at Nature’s Variety asked if we wanted to try their raw food, Instinct Raw Bites.

Nature’s Variety makes three formulas of raw frozen food: chicken, duck, and rabbit. We chose chicken and duck, since we big fans of poultry canned foods. We thought the transition would be easier that way.

The Instinct raw bites arrive frozen, so you get them from a store that sells them from a freezer and store them in your own freezer, right next to the ice cream.

Ashton: Hey, you didn’t tell me we get ice cream as part of this, too!

Newton: Not right now, Ashton. We’re talking about Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Bites right now, not ice cream. The raw bites are about the size of kibbles. We compared them to the size of some of our old kibbles for comparison. This is nice because it’s a familiar form factor and doesn’t seem as foreign to us. They look like this when they are right out of the package:

Newton: When they’re right out of the package, I will sniff them, but won’t eat them because they’re frozen.

Natures_variety_instinct_raw_bites_size_sm

Size comparison to kibble

The instructions on the package say that you should thaw them for fifteen minutes, then they will be ready to eat. After 15 minutes, I will lick them, but the remaining ice crystals mean that I still won’t eat them. Ashton will try to eat them, but drops them back into the dish. Both of us found that you need to wait at least 30 minutes at room temperature for them to be thawed enough to eat.

Because it’s a raw food product, the recommendation from Nature’s Variety is taking away any uneaten food after 30 minutes, so that was cutting things pretty close, for recommended safety’s sake.

One of the things the head peep discovered during our test was that if she overslept even a little bit, she didn’t have 30 minutes to spare in the mornings. She quickly realized that she needed a backup plan so that she didn’t have hungry, angry cats!

In addition to making sure we had backup canned food in case of not having time to thaw, we tested something that Nature’s Variety doesn’t recommend at all: thawing of the food in the refrigerator before eating it. Like typical cats who don’t like playing by the rules, both Ashton and I loved it best that way. Pierre doesn’t accept new food readily, so he wasn’t convinced even with defrosted food, but we’ll continue to work on him.

Ashton: I’ll eat Pierre’s portion! Hey, are you going to finish that?

Newton: You better believe I am! I love Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Bites, and they have made me a big fan of eating species-appropriate raw food!

Disclosure: We received our raw bites at no charge from Nature’s Variety. We also received a small fee to cover the time it takes to cover the time it takes to take photos and write the blog post. Receiving the product and fee did not influence anything we say. All posts on our blog reflect our unbiased opinions.

Happy Indepdence Day!

Preparing for Fourth of July Fireworks

Wordless Wednesday: Captain Newton Edition

Tuesday Taste Test: Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Bites

All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer

Policies