One Cat, Two Cats

The debate in New Zealand goes on about cats, and wild bird predation.  It's a rather uninformed debate, not helped at all by the poor standards of journalism these days.  Gareth Morgan, has been the leading activist on the 'no cat' side. His only tactic is to take a controversial position, and stick to it no matter what. This was particularly evident when he was interviewed recently , and kept banging on about how some Kaka chicks were in imminent danger as soon as they left the nest. No mention, that indeed one of these precious chicks has been killed - by humans feeding the mother the wrong thing , and that locals have plenty of cats, that have not taken on such large prey. Not at all constructive. It just makes people take sides, and refuse to discuss the issues and work together toward some practical solutions.  Fortunately, people have started talking about the issues, and solutions. Gareth, of course, seems to think this means his tactic works, but we could

Following on from my first post on litter box cleaning. I'd like to talk about litter boxes themselves.  These are probably number two in the hot topics list, when the discussions start up about 'why my cat is not using the litter box'.   It is another area where what we think about litter boxes, may be in direct conflict with the cat. The discussions usually talk about the type of litter box, and the position of it.  Both of these are affected by two major considerations; privacy (ostensibly for the cats), and convenience (for us, and our daily lives). Privacy, actually isn't an issue for the cat. Sure, they don't want to be ambushed, and probably don't want to be in a very high traffic area but as anyone who owns cats knows they don't have the same taboos about natural functions that we do. Cats have no problem coming to visit their owners on the toilet, nor are they particularly bothered by us visiting them when they are on their litter box. For ani

Get past the cute kitten videos, and the cats taking dogs beds (or anything else), and you'll find also find a lot of online discussion about litter.  Placement, type, amount, boxes, cost, maintenance, even sustainability - they're all topics of discussion. So I thought I may as well dive into some of these discussions, as I have some differing views from some of these most commonly held ones.  Being from New Zealand, there are also some slight differences in availability of products, and environment here. As a starter I may as well dive right into the biggie - when cats 'go bad', and don't use the allocated litter trays.  I have a couple of issues with the many (many, many) discussions I have seen on this topic.  First, I do not understand the discussion about rigorously cleaning, and disinfecting a litter box.  Now, don't get me wrong I absolutely agree cats need, and seek out, clean litter.  I suspect one of the reasons cats will start going outside t

Cats are Carnivores.  But there's no reason why you shouldn't plant some cat 'veggies'. despite having access to a lawn currently, my cats choose to eat the wheat grass I have planted in a bowl There are many theories, but no consensus on why cats eat grass.  What we can agree on, is that most cat owners are well used to finding regurgitated grass on the carpets.  Anecdotally, providing a more easily digested grass type, will reduce, if not entirely eliminate, these nasty surprises.  Lawns aren't actually very good for the environment, and they're rather hard work (all that weeding, feeding and mowing).  Grass that doesn't feed my horses, is really rather lost on me, so I'm replacing all my lawn with garden.  I'd much rather have lots of birds, bees and insects in my garden.  My garden does include grasses; natives and ornamentals that can grow as they like.  These long grasses are for running, and hiding. They naturally grow in clu

I've just seen a lovely black and white cat, dead beside the road.  It made my heart leap a little, even though I know my two are safe inside their fenced-in yard.  I feel a little like an ex-smoker or one of those annoying food bigots when it comes to cat keeping these days.  I want to spread the word about keeping cats safe, but don't want to lecture.  I allowed my first cat Nikki to come and go as she pleased.  My next cats were always in at night, and closely supervised during the day.  I thought I was a responsible cat owner.  It wasn't until my beautiful Milla, was hit by a car and killed that I really understood just how quickly accidents can happen.  Was I a bad cat owner before? After Milla was killed, I kept Noomi inside and began to fence the yard.  I had no real idea how, and it seemed like an almost impossible task.  I even had misgivings about how Noomi would deal with being restricted to the yard; was it humane to stop a cat from freely roaming?  She certai

In the mornings the cats push me out of the way to get out the back door. Actually, they're not really that rude, but you get the idea.  On a sunny morning it's a quick sortie of the yard, then they are straight up the back fence.  My immediate neighbour has both fruit trees, and feeders to attract many birds in the early morning.  My cats sit at the top of the fence on their perches, catching the warming rays of sunshine,  and watching the birds with great interest. I sometimes see people write about cats' need to roam, used as a reason not to confine their cats.  But, they forget that dogs also naturally roam.  Here it is accepted that good dog owners fence their yards, and keep dogs from wandering freely.  Dogs, being highly social animals, could put the case that they should be allowed to roam rather than being kept for hours on end with no social contact as many dogs are.  Cats being perceived as less social (although I think there is much research still required

I've written before about building the cats a bunch of climbing areas within the catproof fence .   It helps to satisfy the cats need to explore to add new bits and pieces all the time.  I've seen a number of really beautiful cat runs, tunnels and 'catios', but I personally love the ability to change, add or remove features, or even whole sections of playground for the cats by using free materials.  Using reclaimed materials also means you're never quite sure what you'll get, so structures grow somewhat organically.   I watch the cats and see what they like, and what they rarely use.   If they don't use something, I pull it apart and remake it, or add something to make it more appealing.  Sometimes it is width that's the problem, the inability to turn around on a structure that doesnt join somewhere else.   This can be fixed by building a new connector, or by replacing the skinny section. Today, I picked up a nice haul of free timber from a loca

I love buying new toys for the cats, some are a hit and become lifelong favourites, some are treated as if I brought dog poo into the house. Price is often inversely related to the popularity of the new toy. One of my cats, Noomi,  likes catnip but a toy stuffed with dry catnip is no guarantee of success either. So when all is said and done, my opinions on a toy are irrelevant.  Despite a box full of purchased cat toys, Noomi loves a piece of old washing line, and Lily is currently obsessed with a piece of soft rope.  Noomi does like a few toys that have been purchased;  an old knitted mouse that has been repaired many times, and some cheap mice made out of a stretchy string over a plastic body.  These seem to be preferred because of their mouth feel.  Noomi will demolish the plastic bodies, like a pitbull with a chew toy until I have to take away the tattered remains and put down a new one. Lily is endlessly thrilled by a soft piece of rope I could almost rewrite this post a

Cats live in 3 dimensional spaces. When your 2 dimensional space (we humans tend to live in length and width, rather than climbing heights too) is limited, you can still create great spaces for your cats by using height.  Walls, fences, trees - anything can give you additional places for cats to play and sleep.  Don't be worried  about materials either.  Whether you are on a tight budget, feel deeply about resources (reduce, reuse, recycle), or are building as you go, using lots of different materials will make your cat's life more exciting.  I use found materials, natural materials (tree trimmings), and recycled stuff from the garden as it develops. About the only new materials I used was the mesh used for the catproof fencing. In one corner of the garden I created a hammock/climbing step out of an old baluster thrown out by someone down the road renovating their verandah, and some weedmat initially used to clear a new section of garden (I don't use sprays to kill