If you read my blog on a regular basis you’ll recall that we have five cats, a dog and some Goldfish. Needless to say we are animal lovers. I grew up with a lot of animals. I cannot imagine life without them. I jokingly refer to my “fur babies” and a form of “Fuzz Therapy”. That is because it’s hard to be in a bad mood or unhappy when you have a soft fuzzy kitty rubbing up against you or a dog at your feet looking up at you with those big brown eyes knowing that they love you unconditionally.
A few weeks ago I was invited on a trip to Purina’s headquarters to learn more about my cats. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend (my kids were on Spring Break that week), however I was able to attend via video conferencing.
Many people own cats because they are “low maintenance”. Most people think all you need to do is provide them with clean water, fresh food and a clean litter box. While that is true for the most part, there is so much more to making sure that your cat is happy and healthy. That is why Purina is on a mission to help people understand the true nature of cats and what pet owners can do to ensure their cats are happy and healthy the way nature meant for them to be.
Purina set a group of experts to study the African Wildcat. The African Wildcat is the closet relative to our domestic cats. In fact they look exactly like the kinds of cats you might have living in your home.
Here is a brief video that tells you more about why Purina wanted to study the behaviors of African Wildcats and how they went about doing it. You can also see the video here, .
Cats are a bit more complex than you think they are. There are also a lot of myths about cats that are simply not true.
I have had cats most of my life. I THOUGHT I knew all there was to know about cats. I’m quickly learning that there is A LOT about cats that I DON’T know. That is why I am happy to participate in Purina One’s True Nature of Cats blogger program. Each week for the next four weeks I’ll post updates on my cats and how they are changing thanks to the program. The program involves eating, playing, exploring and even taking my cats outside (my cats are strictly indoor cats).
I have five cats. Each week I’ll give a brief description about how each of my cats are doing. For this program I’m going to focus a bit more on two of my cats – Bella and Padmé (pronounced Pad-May). Our eldest cat, Velcro, is not in the best health and he’s reluctant when it comes to any kind of change. Even the littlest thing sets him off. Another cat, Kitty (second oldest), is a bit “flighty” and won’t stick around long enough for me to engage in play with her or try and put a harness on her. Anakin is another possibility. I THINK he might be a good candidate, along with Padmé. I’m still trying to determine if I’ll include him or not.
I did start interjecting some of the things I’ve learned this past week. Sadly, between Internet problems (the repair man is coming tomorrow) and having to take Bella to the animal hospital twice last week, it was not a good time to document every little thing. Starting today (Sunday) I am going to write everything down and keep track of their progress. Then next Sunday I’ll post and update and let you know what I’ve learned about my cats and this program.
If you think these posts are only to highlight Purina One foods, think again. It’s NOT! While their food is going to be used on my pets, this program is NOT about the food. It’s about helping your cat to live the way nature intended.
This week I have a few “goals” that I would like to complete. I have already started on these since I actually started this past week.
Week 1
Transition to Purina ONE® Brand dry cat food – So far most of my cats are very happy with the Purina One Healthy Metabolism dry food. Did you know that spayed and neutered cats have a different metabolism than un-fixed cats? I ever know that. Purina One Healthy Metabolism dry food addresses that metabolism difference and was created specifically for fixed cats. Purina has many nutritionists working with them to ensure that the food provides cats with all the vitamins, minerals and nutrition that they need.
So far Padmé is the only one of my cats who is not keen on the food. She’ll sit there and stare at us until we give her something different. She has even purposely knocked the dry food bowl off the cabinet where we feed the cats in protest. So for now we’re mixing their regular dry food with the Purina One Healthy Metabolism food so that Padmé can pick and choose what she wants to eat.
Bella, who normally doesn’t like dry food, is actually eating the Purina One Healthy Metabolism. I have seen her eating this dry food more so than any other dry food we’ve served to our cats. I like that she’s eating the dry food.
Did you know that in the wild cats get most of their hydration for the food that they capture and eat? Domestic cats don’t. That is why they require fresh water to drink. Feeding your cat both dry and canned food can also help. There is moisture in the canned food. PLEASE NOTE – I am NOT suggesting you give you cat canned food and not fresh water – I am simply stating a fact that in the wild cats get some of they hydration for the food they eat.
Cats like to have a calm, quiet place to eat. They also don’t like to be pushed into a corner because in the wild they like to be able to see what is going on around them (to make sure there are no predators coming after them).
Below is an image of the same one that we have. We no longer use it as a litter box (Kitty tends to urinate OUTSIDE of the box and got urine all over the inside).
Where our cats eat now is in the dining room on top of an old kitty litter “house”. We have to keep the food up high because our dog will eat it. Our cats also like to nibble on dry food throughout the day. This keeps the food within easy reach. We also have pet stairs along side of it to help our eldest cat Velcro and Padmé to get on top (Padmé is overweight and cannot jump too high).
Through this program I learned that cats like to eat on flat surfaces, like a plate, not from a dish. Apparently having their whiskers touching the sides of the bowl is stressful to them. I new knew that. It makes me wonder why most pet dishes sold at pet supply stores are regular bowls? You would think you would see more pet plates.
I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate a plate inside of a bowl for their food. We use a big bowl for the dry food and they all pick at it throughout the day. I want to see if I can find something a bit flatter that will be able to hold a lot of dry food, otherwise I’ll be filling it up all day long. With five cats we go through a lot of dry food.
Check your cat’s body condition score – I have checked out the body condition for all five cats based on the Body Condition Chart. This is what I have for them thus far.
Velcro – 3 or 4
Kitty – 6
Padmé – 8
Anakin – 8 or 9
Bella – 5
Velcro is a bit underweight because he’s not in best health. I need to get him to the vet ASAP. Bella has been going to the animal hospital A LOT with her ailments. Now that we think we’re on the right track with her, Velcro is the next one to go. I suspect its either Diabetes or possibly something with his teeth (he tends to chew the food to the one side of his mouth). HOPEFULLY it’s something simple and treatable. After spending thousands on Bella and her health issues I’m all tapped out when it comes to $$$. We’re saving every penny we can to get him to the vet ASAP.
Create a calm feeding environment – I am pretty sure we’ve already accomplished this.
Set aside a time for 15 minutes of play each day – I always try to engage in play with all our cats. Some are more playful than the others. I hope I can get them all equally as playful.
We keep a lot of toys on hand. Purina was kind enough to send some more toys including a tunnel that Bella is crazy about. Bella is always in and out of the tunnel. One day my daughter was playing with her and the tunnel. My daughter put one end of the tunnel up on the ottoman. The tunnel has openings on the sides. Bella was on the arm of the chair and jumped and dived into the tunnel through one of the side openings. I was rather impressed. 🙂
Another time I put one end of a play wand into the cat tree, just to see what the cats would do (normally I hold it). Bella was on the top of the cat tree and kept putting her paws on the wand to make it bounced up and down. Padmé was on the floor at the other end of the wand swinging at the feathers. It was as if Bella took over my job by making the feathers bounce around for Padmé to play with.
Padmé also loved a plush toy with a fuzzy tail that Purina sent us. It was fun to see her rolling around having a great time with it.
I get a lot of boxes delivered to my home. Anakin had a fun time playing with one of the boxes with my son (my son cut out a “door”). Anakin doesn’t care how tiny a box is… he’ll find a way to squeeze into it.
Introduce a leash and harness to your cat’s environment – This is the tricky part. I know Velcro and Anakin won’t dare step one foot out of our condo. The only ones that will go out in the hallway are my girls – Kitty, Padmé and Bella. Bells is probably going to be the one cat that will successfully venture outside. I’m working on her right now with the harness. She’s OK with it. She’ll wear shirts with no problem so wearing a harness doesn’t seem to bother her. When I tried it on Padmé she flopped over on her side and wouldn’t get up. Kitty won’t sit still long enough for me to put it on her.
I’m going to update our progress next Sunday, as well as introduce what my new “challenges” are for the upcoming week.
If you can learn more about the True Nature of Cats on the Purina website. You can also learn a lot from the Purina True Nature of Cats Facebook page.
Do you have cats? Do you want to learn more about how to help them be the way nature intended? Do you have anything you would like to share? Feel free to comment.
I’ll be doing a giveaway over the next few weeks too. Stay tuned…
Kimberly
*I am participating in this campaign through Purina One. There is no compensation however I did receive free product coupons and products as part of the campaign to implement with my cats.
June M. says
I have 2 adult males and they are so funny sometimes. They both love hiding, finding different places to lay and boxes are definitely something they think are made for them to lay in.
Donna George says
This has some really good ideas and information. I never knew that about cats and plates.
Janet W. says
I bet there’s never a dull moment with all those cats! We could never have cats because several family members are allergic.
Christina says
Okay, at the risk of sounding crazy LOL I have a cat that is allergic to plastic so my cats eat off of ceramic/glass plates – I found a large plate at Bed, Bath & Beyond last year that has more of a lip around it than most plates but not as deep as a bowl (I was using a regular plate and just refilled it as much as needed but we were going away for Christmas & my cousin was staying, I was trying to make things a bit easier for her since both our kitties are special needs and she had her work cut out for her staying with them for a week lol). My cats also drink out of a glass, I too wish there were more options for cat dishes…. but having a cat that is allergic to plastic (seriously, who knew?!) we had to think outside the box since for whatever reason – neither would drink out of a stainless steel bowl. One cat would drink out of a deep bowl but one wouldn’t. To be funny, hubby gave them a glass of water with ice…. the one that refused to drink out of anything else (it also seems she prefers ice water to non-ice)…. immediately went to the glass of ice water and drank. So yes… we pretty much have a dinnerware set for our cats LOL
april yedinak says
I really enjoyed reading this. I am a cat lover and we have one kitty in the house and one stray cat that we care for. The strays weight goes up and down drastically, even though we feed him everyday. I have been told by neighbors that he has been seen eating toads, so maybe they are making him sick. As far as my indoor kitty goes, I was happy to hear that Purina has a food for spayed cats. She was normal sized until she got fixed and then even though we reduced her food, she has gotten pretty darn fat. I will have to try this new food and see if someone (anyone) in my house can’t lose a little weight.
Katharina says
What a great post! I learned some new things… our “kitty-girl” is 9 and is usually a creature of habit, but she adapts to change pretty well, too. Love this idea of “True Nature of Cats” posts!
Katharina angelsandmusic[at]gmail[dot]com
ANN*H says
This is great. I love all the information about cats and feeding them. Our two cats are different , the one would rather curl up in a box instead of a nice warm bed I made them.He took to this stray kitten and literally adopted it and took care of it. Its full grown now and he still babies it.
Hannah Pitts says
I LOVE cats! They are my favorite animal.
The cat I have now is almost 11 yrs. old. =) He is a long-haired, white cat.