Cat Fact Files

It seems logical to offer a cat food in the same place all the time. Many owners place the food and water bowls on the same feeding mat, which is left permanently in position, but in fact it is useful to provide alternatives. If you can supervise, it is a good idea to move the food bowl around so that the cat has to seek it out, thereby encouraging its natural hunting instincts advertised in veterinary surgeries, pet magazines or on the internet is where a cat can live in a ‘family home’ via a service that offers a short-term, personal pet-sitting service.

There are a couple of ‘complication’s in which you can intervene to help the kittens and/or the litter mother.

• Most kittens are born head first, but many can be born tail first (breech). This is not really a complication, but in some instances you may need to encourage the cat with a helping hand if a kitten seems stuck part-way out.

• When kittens seems are born but the litter mother hasn’t released them gently with a warm towel and wiping them around the nose, ears and eyes to clear any possible blockages caused by the fluid.

Any complications that are clearly causing the litter mother distrees should be dealt with by a veterinary surgeon.

You can avoid having to board your pet by asking a family member, friendly neighbour or friend to act as a ‘sitter’ for the holiday period. This is a good idea, because research suggests that cats (and dogs) prefer to remain in the place they know and in which they feel secure. However, it is important to ask helpers not to fuss a cat too much, and remember to leave them with a strict timetable of feeding, general instructions and your veterinary surgeon’s contact details. A further alternative is for your cat to stay at a family member’s or friend’s home.

The staff at your veterinary surgery should be able to give you details of local pet cemeteries. Alternatively, you can find them listed in business telephone directories. It is usually possible either to transport the cat’s body yourself or to arrange for the veterinary practice to transter the body to the cemetery. Many pet cementeries are located in peaceful rural areas  and offer a range of headstones or cremation plaques to commemorate a deceased pet.

Pet insurance has become a necessity for most cat owners. The sophistication of many policies now means that you can obtain a range of cover from basic veterinary costs to more unusual referrals to specialists. This becomes especiaily important if your kitten develops a physical or psychological problem later in life and your budget has not accounted for a veterinary surgeon’s cover the major aspects. Not all policies cover the major aspects of potential tretment so make sure that you read the policy carefully so that you are aware the policy carefully so that you are aware of exactly what it covers. It is also important to compare like with like when it comes to policy costs. In general, the more you pay, the more aspects of pet treatment will be covered.

You can contact a breeder through professional registers of your local veterinary surgery. You will need to discuss breed standards to ensure that any resulting kittens measure up and will therefore find good homes. You will also need to talk about the fee structure, and then arrange to have your queen mated. An alternative for an owner with a non-pedigree cat would be simply to get in touch with another cat owner with an entire male and arrange for the two cats to come into contact with each other when your queen is in season.

The average lifespan of a domesticated cat is somewhere between 12 and 15 years. Of course, some individuals may not reach 12 years while others may survive beyond 20 years. There is little information about longevity in wild cats, but it is thought that the domesticated cat lives twice as long as its feral relative. Needless to say, surviving life in nature is a great deal tougher than leading the cosseted life of a pampered, much-loved house cat. The life-expectancy of a wild cat depends largely upon them finding enough food, avoiding illness and injury and keeping out of the way of predators.

The main problem door for attention seeking cats is the bedroom door. Often the owner finds it easir to allow the cat access to the bedroom rather than have it continuaily scratching to enter. One successful method of dealing with this problem is to place a large scratching with this problem is to place a larg scratching post outside the bedroom, at the point between the door and the door frame. This has to be drawn into place as the door is closed. The cat will tend to scratching the post a few times, feel that its frustration has been relieved, and then wander off to perform different night-time activities.

Cats have a fur coat to keep them warm and are equipeed to survive normal weather conditions. Some breeds, such as the Norwegian Forest and Siberian Forest cats, are extremely hardy and can survive in rough condition. A cat caught out in bad weather will want to return home as fast as possible. If it has explored too far to return home without being exposed to the worst of the weather, then it will instinctively seek out shelter under a car, shed or bush.