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Why Cats Do Weird Things: Pawing Around Water

We know why cats play with their water: they paw it and lick it from their paws, to try to make their water ripple and thus seem fresher.  Cats love fresh water.  But I’ve noticed Cole sometimes do something a bit stranger than that: he paws around his water bowl.  He doesn’t actually dip his paws in, but he scratches at the floor around the water bowl.  Why is he doing that? There isn’t a clear answer as to why; a lot of cat behavior is mysterious to us.  But there are a few educated guesses out there.  The first is … Continue reading →

What to Consider When Getting a Cat

Between cats and dogs, the two most popular pets in America, cats are the more low maintenance. They can ostensibly be left on their own for longer periods of time, and they don’t require quite the same levels of attention as dogs. Because of that, however, sometimes people think they can just adopt a cat and let it be, when there are still several things to consider when determining if a cat is suitable for your lifestyle. First things first, you’ll have to consider your cat’s vaccinations. Depending on how young of a cat you adopt, and from where you … Continue reading →

The Curious Case of the Cat in the Shower

Every time anyone enters the bathroom at our house, it’s cause for a big fuss. That’s because no matter what somebody’s doing in there, our cat Cole must have a part of it. If he hears someone in the bathroom, he rushes in (if the door’s open) and starts getting very vocal. Cole isn’t the most vocal of cats, but he’s not the least either. He chirps for attention, and if there’s a bird he can see out in the yard, the whole house knows it. But even when there’s prey he can see just beyond his reach, Cole is … Continue reading →

Showers: More Than Just Hygiene, Says Study

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Is a shower part of your daily ritual? Maybe you like one first thing in the morning, to get your brain going. Maybe you like one before bed, so the warm water can help you relax. A new study has shown that showering during the workday can actually help increase productivity! Four businesses took part in an eight week study sponsored by Mira Showers, a shower designer in the United Kingdom. (They’re owned by kitchen and bath powerhouse Kohler, in case you’re curious.) The study included ad executives, restaurant industry workers, architects, and more. Study participants were asked to record … Continue reading →

A Kitty on a Leash

Every time the rest of the household, human and canine, is outside, Cole gets jealous and lonely. He sits in a window or by a door and cries nonstop until we all come back inside. Cole’s always been a vocal cat, but this feels like a bit much, even for him. The answer is obvious: let Cole outside. Try as I might, I can’t feel completely comfortable with that. I’m a worrier in all aspects of my life, so I know I’m being overly anxious about letting Cole be an outside cat. We live in the perfect area for it, … Continue reading →

Poor Itchy Puppy, Pt. 2

Weeks ago I wrote about my dog Chihiro’s problems with constant itching. She scratched and licked at herself much more than normal. We applied a couple different treatments to her in an attempt to fix the problem and now I am able to report on the results. The first solution we attempted, which I described in greater detail in my previous article, was giving her probiotic treats and powder with her evening meal. The probiotics returned good bacteria to her body that had likely been wiped away by the antibiotics she took over the summer. After giving her the probiotics … Continue reading →

Feline Hydrotherapy

I’ve been a fan of debunking commonly-held feline myths, but today I’ve got a story that actually adheres to two well-known cat proverbs: curiosity killed the cat, and cats have nine lives. The two often go hand-in-hand, as it’s a cat’s never-ending curiosity that usually gets it into situations it narrowly escapes. Now the New York Post has an article about a cat in the Big Apple who worked at saving one of its lives by fighting another cat myth: that cats hate water. Nazzaning, a six-year-old Turkish Van, found herself partially paralyzed by a spinal cord injury. Her owner … Continue reading →

Toddlers and Bath Time

Jessie was nine months old when she joined our family. We were already caring for another little girl who was 27 days older. After our experiences with the first girl, we thought the two would be able to take a bath together and have a good time. We put both little girls in the tub. Jessie wasn’t having any of it. We were not expecting that. We thought that maybe the bathtub was too big and she needed the blowup duckie tubby instead. We got out the other tub and blew it up. We filled it with water that was … Continue reading →

Kitty Tantrums

While researching my heatstroke article from Tuesday, I came across a statistic from the Humane Society saying that cats are the most popular pet in America. With around 93 million cats in American homes compared to 77 billion dogs, cats reign supreme. I love dogs and cats equally, so I didn’t bring up the statistic to laud the superiority of cats. Instead, I wanted to posit why cats might be more popular: their greater independence. Nowadays most busy American households contain two working adults, so owning a pet able to look after itself, that doesn’t mind being alone for awhile, … Continue reading →