Lots Of Useful Cat Advice For Owners

You may have trained several dogs in the past, but nothing can prepare you for raising your new feline friend. Cats are nothing like dogs. They require more attention during their growing years and more personal time playing with their owner. This article will highlight some of the main differences between the two.

Let kittens and cat-friendly pet dogs get to know each other slowly. Put up a baby gate to keep dogs in one room while your new kitten gets used to its surroundings. Supervise carefully when the kitten ventures to the gate to meet the dogs. When the kitten feels safe, it will climb the gate. If it feels threatened, it will pop right back out to safety.

Be careful when treating your cat for fleas. Be sure to consult with your vet before using natural alternatives to control your cat's fleas. Cats are very sensitive to essential oils and many herbs. Your vet will probably recommend you use a prescription flea treatment, which is usually best for cats.

Never use any product intended for dogs on a cat. Cats often have negative reactions to dog products. Flea products especially. Flea treatments made for a dog can be fatal to a cat. After getting the dog treated, keep the cat away for many hours.

Avoid eye contact to make friends with a cat. Ever wonder why cats seem drawn to the person who likes cats the least? The answer lies in cat body language. To cats, staring is "rude" and can be considered a challenge. Looking away shows that you respect their space and are not going to be a threat. So next time you are looking to meet a new feline friend, look away and let them approach you.

If you find you cat is harming furniture or other objects, it may be bored. Keep a few safe toys around for your cat to play with. Scratching posts can also deter your cat from scratching your furniture. Or, build a small cat house out of cardboard. Your cat will love having a place to hide, and the cardboard can also be used to scratch on!

It can be hard to prevent your cat from jumping on the counter. Cats instinctively want to be at a high vantage point so they can survey their surroundings. You can control this tendency a bit by making high places in the house that you feel comfortable having your cat utilize. Having a cat tower near your kitchen will keep them off your counters.

Have your cat spayed or neutered. Pet overpopulation is a growing problem, with millions of homeless cats and kittens euthanized every year. Besides the problem of too many kittens and not enough homes, unfixed cats can have a multitude of behavior problems. Males who are not neutered at a young age often start spraying to mark their territory, and females who are allowed to come into heat yowl incessantly as they try to escape to find a mate. Kittens can begin to breed as early as 4 months of age, so get your new kitten spayed or neutered as soon as possible.

Handle your kitten often. The longer your cat is handled as a kitten, the more readily they will accept being handled when they are grown, especially around their paws. This is important as all cats will have to visit the vet occasionally, and this process is much easier and less stressful if the cat is accustomed to being handled. It will also make grooming and nail trimming much easier.

Do you have both a dog and a cat? Dogs will generally try to eat the cat's food whenever the opportunity comes along. This is why it is necessary to have two separate feeding areas. This will ensure they don't fight over food or water, too.

There's always a chance that you cat can slip outside your home and become lost. This can be prevented with a breakaway collar. The collar includes an ID, featuring your name, phone number, and address. If the cat is found, anyone can easily contact you and return the cat to you thanks to the information on the collar.

If your cat bothers your Christmas tree or other plants, try beating him at his own game. Make his favorite chewing and climbing areas unattractive to him by placing the peelings of oranges, lemons or grapefruit around the places you wish for him to avoid. Cats hate citrus, and this is a natural way to keep them from getting into trouble.

If you have a female cat that is in the process of giving birth, make sure you provide her a spacious area. It can take as much as about 4 hours for all the kittens to be born after labor starts. If it has been more than six hours and you believe more kittens are still inside your cat, you need to get her to the vet right away.

You schedule your doctor's appointments on a regular basis and you should do the same with your new cat. Cats need regular checkups to make sure they haven't caught any bugs or infections in the wild. Many cats actually deal with obesity as well and a vet will be able to point this out.

Equip your cat with a collar and tag as soon as possible. Cats are curious, and they will naturally try to go outside if they can. When they have a collar on with a tag, or a microchip, they'll easily be returned to you.

Some cat owners may wish to keep their cat well groomed and bathe them to keep them cleaner. This isn't usually necessary unless the cat gets into something really nasty, though. Cats actually groom themselves quite often, using their tongues which are barbed to remove debris and dirt from their fur. Cats know when they look good.

While both animals are great to have and can peacefully exist with one another under one roof, don't take adopting a new kitten too lightly. Plan ahead and have enough resources in reserve like cat food and such. If you are going to train your cat indoors, don't forget to buy extra litter for the first few months because they can get messy.

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