Hurricane Irene and Janelle

Over the summer Hurricane Irene was a big deal and here's a photo of Janelle during Hurricane Irene and how she reacted during it.

NYAN CAT

This is a cute web site that I think that cat lovers will really enjoy. How long can you listen to it for? There's a bunch of different themes as well on the side.

NYAN CAT

Cat Magazines

So, I subscribe to the magazine Cat Fancy. I decided that before I even had a cat I should subscribe to a cat magazine to learn about what it is like to be a cat owner. For only $10 for twelve months I became the proud subscriber to Cat Fancy, which has really not taught me anything that I couldn't have already learned on the internet, but what it has supplied me with is an abundance of spam mail.

I am constantly getting these cat periodicals and cat advertisements in my mail box all on behalf of Cat Fancy, this is like a weekly thing. There's so many booklets I get selling me cat furniture, organic cat food and sometimes I even get these periodicals trying to sell me more cats. Giving me the numbers of breeders and pictures. I even got Christmas cards with pictures of cats on them.

The magazines do have some cute drawings and some witty things in them, but I don't plan on renewing my subscription. I guess getting a poster of cats is great, but the tips can be found online and so can the pictures - I could do without all the advertisements. I mean, I subscribe to Cosmopolitan, Allure and Glamour as well and those magazines don't send me as much advertising as Cat Fancy.

How old is your cat?

So when we got Janelle the shelter told us that she was 5 years old and gave her the birthday of April 21. We later realized that April 21 was the day that she was brought to the shelter and decided that it'd be better if her birthday was June 10, the day we got her.

Every time we tell someone that our cat is 5, including the vet, the reaction is one of shock and disbelief. Everyone always believes that my cat is only 3 or 4 years old due to the condition of her teeth as well as how lively she is and the way she just looks in general.

Cats can live to be late into their teens (my friend's cat is 20 years old!) and once the cat reaches the age of seven it's time to start feeding him or her different cat food and going to the vet more regularly and consider them "geriatrics."

I realize that it doesn't really matter how old she is, because if she's younger than she really is then that just means there's more time for me to spend with her. I love her and I'll take all the time I can with her.

Cat Hair, EVERYWHERE!

Cats rub against things. Cats like to rub themselves all over the nicely vacuumed carpet, all over your black shirt, all over your clean clothes. My cat sheds like no other - she is a medium hair cat, but if I go a couple days without brushing her she will shed and rub her cat hair all over the place. Even if I do brush her daily she will still manage to find a way to get her hair on everything.

So, a tip to make sure that your cat doesn't get hair everywhere is to brush your cat everyday. My cat doesn't like when I brush her but is fine with anyone else brushing her.

It's good to just stroke your cat gently, almost like you are petting her. Sometimes you must give a bit more effort and push down, but do not push down to hard. Some cats are very sensitive so you want to see how much your cat can take, my cat likes it a little bit rough.

There are some cats that are short haired and don't need to be brushed daily, my cat is not one of them. Thankfully my cat doesn't have a problem with hair balls, but she does like to lick a lot with that sandpaper tongue of hers. The easiest part of the cat to brush would be the tail, because it's very fluffy. Don't worry to much about brushing the paws and the legs - focus mostly on the back and the belly. The bristles may be painful on the ears and head part of the cat so just avoid those places.

No Scratching the Furniture!

I completely forgot that cats scratching furniture was an issue until the other day Janelle strayed from her two scratching devices and started going at the bed. Most of the time, she is good. And if you don't have a cat that is good then here are some good options.

Cardboard Scratching posts that my cat can just jump on and start scratching are absolutely perfect. They come with cat nip, but I just put the cardboard down on the ground and she just jumped on and went at it. They last quite a while too. Ours has been beat up and we had one upstairs and one downstairs, but now we just have one upstairs and downstairs we have...

A scratching emery board. She doesn't like this one as much but it came with this feather toy that she plays fetch with. The emery board also files down her nails when she scratches into it.

Before we got these two scratching devices Janelle would climb on the sofa and scratch the arms of it as well as the side of the bed, but she really really enjoys the scratching posts and I am sure that this alternative could really help someone out there who has a cat that loves to scratch. Scratching is a normal cat behavior, there's just places that cats shouldn't scratch and so giving them surfaces dedicated to them scratching is great.

The cardboard scratching post was $4 on sale at PetCo and the emery board was a gift.