Cats
Cat-related material
This Cat Litter WORKS!
January 3, 2015: For the past few months, we have been inundated with various cat issues to include an elderly cat urinating on furniture and everything else except in his box (in his defense, he had crystals in his urine and kidney stones) to our younger cat who has always felt the need to urinate either on towels, laundry or in the bathtub. These issues have made for LOTS of laundry, which has been on top of all of the massive amounts of laundry we do daily just cleaning up the dogs after they decided to roll in the mud, fecal matter and whatever else had their interest at the time.
One day during a recent visit to our veterinarian, we were complaining about our elder cat soiling our couch to the point of having to toss it, to everything else he was urinating on and destroying. The verbal list of items that had a match with cat urine and lost was extensive at least to us, and our frustration just discussing this topic was paramount. Upon hearing all of this, much to our surprise, our vet told us of a “cat attractant” litter that was sold on Amazon. This attractant litter was supposed to attract cats to the litter box thereby saving the furniture, laundry and anything else the cats normally went on. Naturally, I was immediately intrigued and thought “Oh boy”! So, searching on the net I went to locate this mysterious litter.
That same day, after a brief search (I searched under “cat attractant litter”) in Amazon, I found Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract cat litter. It had hundreds of POSITIVE reviews with people raving about how wonderful the litter was and how profoundly it changed their cat’s unwanted behavior.
This litter was not only found on Amazon but at Petco!
Conclusion: I picked up some of this litter at Petco right before we took off for vacation, and within a matter of a few days, the cats were mostly using the boxes that had this litter in them (the other box had what used to be their favorite, World’s Best) according to the pet progress notes we were receiving on them.
When we returned from vacation, within a matter of a few days later, they were for the most part, solely using the boxes that only had this litter in them. AND, when performing a test of laundry laying on the bathroom floor next to the cat box with this litter in it, the laundry remained clean! This litter is something else and I’m SO glad that it has worked.
Yes, We Still Take Care of Cats
As of September 6, we will only be offering dog boarding and daycare, as well as, pet taxi service for picking up and dropping off the pups. We will no longer be offering the service In-Home Visits. We haven’t stopped completely taking care of kitties though!
[pullquote_right]We will be retaining our longtime policy of offering free, every other day cat checks (this applies to Woodland residents only) for cats whose dogs are boarding with us.[/pullquote_right]
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us 😀
Pet Sitting Checklist for Shy Kitties
If you have a shy kitty on medication and are looking to have a pet sitter come take care of her when you’re gone, you’re going to want to make sure to do the following:
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- Make sure that all interior doors are closed and your kitty has no access into side rooms
- Have all the kitty toys, treats, food, water and litter box in the room where your kitty will be
- Try and block off any access where the kitty can go underneath furniture
- Ask the pet sitter to come by and meet your kitty while you’re home (a Meet and Greet Interview is good for meeting the pets)
- Ask your pet sitter if he/she can take some extra time during the visits to bond with your kitty. It will make a world of difference if a bond can be established.
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We take care of kitties that were once feral, and more often than not, they are always going to be shy around new people. They can come around, however, to a new person if the person is willing to be patient 🙂
Cats and Tacks
It seems there is no place safe in the house when you have cats. Nothing is off limits as far as they’re concerned and this can include thumb tacks. The so loveable and worthy office item can have devastating effects on the all-too-curious cat.
If you need the use of thumb tacks to keep all of your important items up in front of you on your beautifully laid out pegboard then try switching to the standard, flat thumb tack instead of the raised ones. At least the flat ones will pose a bit of a removal problem even for the more tenacious of kitties.
The other option is a little bit more “high-tech”. Instead of penning important notes on your pegboard, you can create digital sticky notes and place them on your desktop! This keeps kitty–and your very important notes–safe and intact 🙂 A great application is called Sticky Notes at download.com.
Above photo courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger.
How Many Visits for Cats are Needed
Some people ask us if we do extended cat care visits (over two weeks in duration) and if we would perform such on an every other day basis instead of every day. Yes, we do offer extended cat care visits, and we do offer every other day visits too provided certain variables are met.
When it comes to wanting every other day visits for kitties in order to save a little money on pet care, we understand that people want to save as much money as possible, which is especially important during these difficult economic times. We are completely in favor of such–and wholeheartedly understand ourselves just how important it is to get the best service for the best price! When it comes to the safety and well-being of fur-kids, however, making sure that they are safe and happy is our number one priority.
Luna getting love
Many people tend to be of the same mindset that cats are independent and can take care of themselves; they only need to be checked on “once in a while” or “once-a-week”. Yes, cats are more independent when compared to dogs but they still have to be regularly fed, still need to be provided fresh water (at least every other day), still require (and want) attention and can get into just as much trouble as any other animal can inside the house or otherwise 😉
Cats who are family companions are not the same as feral cats who are used to fending for themselves. Companion cats are familiar with their family members, used to a certain amount of attention, as well as, the comings and goings of their family members day-in and day-out. Some of them are just as used to–and rely on–their routine just as much as we do as humans in our daily lives (speaking for those of us who operate by routines by-choice or maybe not by-choice but out of necessity).
So answering the question as to whether or not we offer every other day visits, the following conditions have to be met:
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- There have to be two or more cats (to keep each other company) that can interact with one another
- All cats must be under the age of 10 years old
- All cats must not be suffering from a known medical condition that requires more attention than a one visit every other day offers
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If all three conditions above are not met, than our policy is to perform no less than one visit on a daily basis. It’s important to note that this article is centering around long-term cat visits, which we equate to 14+ consecutive days (not visits we perform but days that you are out of town).
Piggy-back rides for Mr. Brown
Cats have a tendency to get lonely (sometimes with another cat to play with, one or both can still get lonely but it isn’t as likely as one-cat-only households) and this can cause them to get stressed out. A stressed out kitty can become really sick. And even though we’ve never had a kitty get so stressed out that they have become severely ill, we have had kitties exhibit signs of stress just from sheer loneliness (if you think about it, one visit every other day equates to 30 minutes of care and attention in a 48-hour period).
When all of the above conditions are met, and we agree to perform every other day visits, we still will be closely monitoring how your kitties are fairing. If, for whatever reason, they start to express signs of loneliness, we will state such to the owners within our visit update that we send typically via email or text at the conclusion of each visit. It is at this time that we’ll inform the owners that the visit schedule has to be bumped up to at least one visit every day, as opposed to, one visit every other day. The difference is then billed to the owners and the balance is due and payable shortly after they return home safely.
If you have any questions about this topic or any other, please feel free to email us info@kypsah.com.
Amazing Cat Litter with Litter Wizard–The One-Two Punch
It’s a been at least a few months since we’ve tried another cat litter; however, it was time to find a new brand that would hopefully remove the smell of the litter box. Nothing is worse than a stinky litter box!
The problem: No matter how many times a day we cleaned our cat boxes, they would always stink (I have to say, we have some pretty stinky cats, too!). Even with Arm & Hammer’s cat odor remover mixed in with our clumping litter of choice (World’s Best Cat Litter), the smell was still way too offensive!
It wasn’t hard for us to locate Amazing Cat Litter— as the cat litter brand in which to try. We had been told by a friend that had tried Amazing Cat Litter, for her kittens, it was the best hands-down at removing litter box odor. Her previous litter just wasn’t cutting it even though she kept her cat box continually cleaned. Needless to say, the decision to go with Amazing Cat Litter, for us, was an easy one.
At the same time we purchased Amazing Cat Litter, we also were given a sample of Litter Wizard from another friend of ours—that same day–to try and see if it worked (thanks, Corinna!). (Litter Wizard claims to remove all ammonia odors!)
The Trial
To start, we completely cleaned out our cat boxes. Then, the first product to go in was the Litter Wizard, which came with explicit instructions that were very easy to follow. After we put in the Litter Wizard, in went the Amazing Cat Litter with more Litter Wizard on top of it (the litter).
Then for the big test: Waiting for one of the cats to use the box!
I think the first thing we noticed right away was that when our cat was finished, there was no smell. Okay, WEIRD but a definite blessing!
The interesting thing is that since we’ve been using this combo (I’d say for the past 45 days or so), our litter boxes are still unnoticeable!
Not only do the boxes not stink any longer, but there is hardly any litter tracked anywhere; it stays in the box (about 95% of the time). This also has been a nice benefit of using Amazing Cat Litter!
The litter actually lasted about 27 days before we had to change it out completely, which isn’t bad for three cats. And, the only thing we had to do was to keep the solid waste removed—simple—and we normally do that anyway. The urine was actually absorbed in the silica gels, which are non-toxic and safe for the cats to use.
Because the Amazing Cat Litter is a gel, there isn’t any litter dust even with the Litter Wizard (powder) on top. This is another huge plus for us because of allergies.
The Conclusion
We are definitely sticking with this combo (Amazing Cat Litter with Litter Wizard) from now on. The cats like it, we like it and everyone is happy!
Note on the cost of the dynamic duo: Since we haven’t purchased Litter Wizard yet, we don’t have a true cost—per month—of what this amazing combo of products will cost us. However, it will be slightly more than what we were paying with Swheat Scoop or World’s Best Cat Litter due to the addition of also adding Litter Wizard into the fold. Worth the extra cost though!
You can purchase Litter Wizard at Dixie’s Paws and Claws, which in downtown Woodland on Main Street.
Changing-Up Proteins for Your Dog or Cat
Changing-Up Proteins for Your Dog or Cat
Changing-up protein in your dog or cat’s diet may not be a good idea especially if their diet is working for them and there really isn’t the need to change it up. However, for humans, we like a variety of foods and get bored with the same ol’ things sometimes. So, if you’re someone who wants to introduce your pet to a new protein in order to give him/her some variety, do so in the form of treats instead of changing their protein mainstay found in their current, working diet regimen.
A nice protein change can be found in rabbit, and Zukes offers just such a rabbit treat in their Mini Naturals line. We’ve tried it with our dogs and they absolutely loved them!
The Wonder of Cats
Cats are a lot of fun to take care of and can be quite amusing! They’re often thought of by some people to be independent and self-sufficient. But, are they truly?
Quite a few people think that concerning cats, if they put enough food and water down, they should be fine for…oh…a good week or so. Well, we don’t agree 😉 You’re thinking, “You’re a pet sitter so of course you don’t agree. You just want the business.” The answer to these hypothetical statements would be “absolutely not”. So, let us explain why we believe that cats are not as self-sufficient as many people think.
Cats are rambunctious and into everything and that doesn’t change when the people of the house are gone (this is especially true for younger cats or cats that just have a lot of energy). They’re adventurous and love to explore. During their escapades, they can often find themselves in precarious positions such as:
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- Shutting themselves in cabinets by opening the door and not being able to get out
- Wrapping themselves up in window blinds
- Running around the house and knocking over their food and water dishes
- Eating something hazardous because their food ran out (this is referring to a situation where they are not checked on enough, i.e., once-a-week visits type of scenario)
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The above are just but a mere few examples of things that can go way-wrong really fast. Because we don’t take chances, we refuse to accept requests where we’re asked to just check in on someone’s cat once a week. The least amount of visits that we’ll do is one every other day (this is only for cats that are not too old, do not have health conditions nor on medications).
Cats are truly amazing creatures that appear to have a good bead on things but they’re more dependent on you than you may think. If you’re unsure how many visits your cat needs, here are a few things that we look at when helping you determine how frequently your cat will need visits:
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- Is your cat on any medication?
- Is your cat over 10-years-old?
- How long have you owned your cat?
- Is your cat used to you being home all day?
- Has your cat recently lost a loved one, i.e., another cat or a very close member of the family?
- Did you recently move?
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If you answered “yes” to one of the above questions, then we’ll be suggesting every day visits for your kitty (at least once-a-day visits to start).
If you answered “no” to all of the above questions, then we’ll be suggesting every-other-day visits at the least (unless you prefer every day visits, which is completely fine, too).
Whatever your kitty’s needs are, we’re here to help him/her–and you. And, we’re here as well to answer any questions you may have so please don’t hesitate to contact us 🙂
November’s Scoop On Cat Litter
We ran an experiment this month on cat litter.
The two contenders: Arm & Hammer’s Essentials and World’s Best Cat Litter. We wanted to see just how well Arm & Hammer’s brand matched up to our favorite so far…World’s Best.
 Arm & Hammer Essentials |
 World's Best Cat Litter |
Price-wise, they appear to be the same. And, both of them can be purchased at Raleys, which is awesome for convenience purposes!
Both of these brands are all-natural leaving no litter-dust while scooping and both will happily deny you the pleasure of having to sneeze yourself into a fresh box of Kleenex =/
As far as clumping action, we’re having to award World’s Best Cat Litter on this one. A&H’s Essentials does well at clumping but just doesn’t make the grade when compared to World’s Best. We love the way that World’s Best completely clumps everything together in a nice and neat little package while leaving the litter tray clean and dry.
On the task of masking the odor, we have to give this one to A&H’s Essentials. This brand has a clean, pine-like scent to us, and we like it. It did help control the awful stench that arises from the ‘box of doom’ much better than World’s Best. However, if you have a kitten/cat that refuses to cover their ‘remains of the day’, neither helped much for this =/
Bottom line for us was based on performance, and World’s Best won the prize.
Winner: World’s Best Cat Litter
HomeoPet Nose Relief for URI Symptoms
We have it on good authority from a dear client of ours that HomeoPet Nose Relief works wonders at alleviating upper respiratory infection symptoms allowing her cat to function much easier. So, we’re trying it for one of our older cat who recently has developed a cough and is sneezing.
If you’re interested in trying it out for your pets, you can purchase it on Amazon where the product boasts some favorable reviews. Let us know how it worked for you by leaving a comment below.