Monthly Archives: June 2017

With their luxurious fur, long-haired cats are a delight to live with. Many fans of these cats maintain that their personalities are as unique as their fur is beautiful. If you want to share your life with one of these gorgeous cats, however, you will need to give it extra attention. By taking care of the cat’s fur, you are making sure that it is as healthy and happy as it can be. Here are four things to keep in mind when you’re caring for a long-haired cat.

Brush your cat frequently. To avoid matting and other issues, most long-haired cats need to be brushed often. The longer the fur is, the more often the cat should be brushed. Cats with very long hair should be brushed daily. Older cats or cats with arthritis may not groom themselves as much and should also be groomed more often. Fortunately, most cats love to be brushed, so the experience will be enjoyable for both of you. Be sure to purchase a special brush especially for cats, as other types of brushes won’t work as well or may even cause harm to the cat or its coat.

Give your cat the occasional bath. One unfortunate side effect of a long coat is that dirt and litter can get stuck in it. For this reason, it’s a good idea to bathe long-haired cats if needed. Although some cats enjoy baths, many others find bathing stressful. Cats are best introduced to baths as a kitten, although older cats can be trained to enjoy them as well through a slow introduction. Be sure not to bathe your cat more than once a month unless absolutely necessary. Frequent bathing can dry out a cat’s skin.

Carefully remove any mats in the cat’s fur. The longer the cat’s fur is, the more prone it is to matting. When tackling matted fur, the first step is to attempt to gently comb or brush it out. If the mat is too thick, you can use clippers to snip it away. Be sure to use cat clippers that you buy at the pet store, since scissors could harm your cat.

Be on the lookout out for hairballs. Although any cat can cough up a hairball, long-haired cats are especially prone to it. While the rare hairball is not overly concerning, it’s a good idea to minimize them as much as possible for the cat’s health and comfort. Some ways to help reduce hairballs include feeding moisture-rich foods and adding fiber and omega-3 supplements to the cat’s diet. Regular brushing also helps.

Long-haired cats bring beauty, grace, and fun to any home. With tender loving care, you can be sure that your cat’s coat will be beautiful for years to come.

Claws are an important part of your cat’s daily existence. Claws allow cats to hunt, climb, and protect themselves against predators. In fact, a cat’s claws are also used for exploration, during play, and to place marks as signs that the cat has visited a specific location. How well your cat’s claws are groomed affects your pet’s ability to use the claws properly.

Not only will you want to keep the claws clipped for your cat’s sake but also to protect your possessions from unwanted scratch marks. In general, you’ll want to trim your cat’s claws every month to minimize their length and sharpness, while also reducing your pet’s natural inclination to scratch in order to shed the outer layer of the claws. Here are seven tips that you can use to make this job easier as well as safer to complete.

Begin Slowly

Since this is the first time that you’ll be undertaking this task, you’ll want to start slowly in order not to startle your pet or end up getting scratched. The best way to begin is to play with your pet, touching her paws and seeing how long she will allow you to hold one of her paws before pulling it away from your gentle grasp. As time passes, your pet should begin to trust you, allowing you to hold her paws for longer periods of time.

As the two of you are becoming more familiar with this behavior, take the time to become familiar with the cat’s cues that she is finished playing this game. As soon as your pet becomes uncomfortable with you holding her paws, you should stop. Once you learn the cues, you can stop before your pet even has the time to become upset. Eventually, the two of you will develop a comfortable routine that allows for nail clipping.

Become Familiar with the Nails and Nail Clipper

Now that your pet allows you to hold her paws, you should explore her nails, becoming as familiar as possible with them. Cat claws grow in layers, and the oldest layer begins to shed fall off) after a certain period of time. In order to get a good look at the claws, press on the pad of one paw. The claws will come out, allowing you to see them. You’ll need to practice doing this until you get good at it, because this is exactly how you’ll get the claws to come out when you want to trim them.

The part of the nail that you will never want to cut is called the quick. Learn how to distinguish where the quick is located in your cat’s nails before attempting to trim the nails. You won’t have the luxury of having lots of time, so you’ll need to be able to figure out where the quick is easily in order to avoid accidentally cutting at the wrong part of the nail. The quick is located at the point where the clear or translucent part of the nail stops and the pink-colored portion starts. You’ll be trimming the translucent part of the nail off, while allowing the pinkish part to remain intact.

Become Familiar with the Nail Clipper

Never attempt to cut your cat’s nails with anything other than nail clippers designed specifically for cats. You’ll probably discover that you have two options – nippers and guillotines. The nippers are similar to nail scissors for humans, while the guillotine style features a sliding blade that does the work for you. Practice holding and use which ever tool you buy so that you are familiar with how it works.

Sit by a Lighting Fixture

Choose good lighting when you are ready to begin trimming, because the illumination makes it easier to see where to cut. Remember that you don’t want to cut the quick because your cat will experience pain and the nail will bleed.

Choose a Time When Your Cat Is Relaxed

A relaxed cat is easier to work with than one that is feeling frisky. Since you know your cat best, pick a time of the day when she is usually calm. For some cats, this time occurs after a meal or just before naptime. Additionally, you should remind everyone else in the house to remain quiet during the trimming session. Noise can startle your cat, making it impossible to continue working on her nails.

Work in Pairs

Whenever possible, you should find someone else to assist you. If one of you holds the cat while the other person does the trimming, the process should go much more smoothly and quickly. The individual who is holding the pet can attempt to keep the cat distracted, giving the person doing the trimming more time to get the job done. Just remember that whoever is doing the trimming must also be the one holding the cat’s paws. Otherwise, an accident is sure to happen.

Work Systematically

If you are lucky, you will be able to trim all four sets of claws in one sitting. If your pet gets loose from your grip, just remember to return to the paw that you were working on once you begin again. Your goal is to finish each paw completely before moving on to the next one. This strategy makes it easier if you have to split the trimming up into two sessions.

Clipping Feline Claws Safely and Easily

Cats need their claws trimmed on a regular basis, just like humans do. They use them for a variety of tasks, including hunting, exploring, and foraging for food. Their claws grow continuously, and can become sharp and dangerous if you don’t keep them trimmed. Before your cat will allow you to trim her nails, you’ll need to establish a relationship with her that allows you to touch her paws and nails. For the best results, you should select a tool designed for this purpose and select a quiet, well-lit place. If possible, get someone else to help you and try and finish the job in a single sitting.

Scratching posts are a great idea, at least in principle. Give your cat a place to expend all that destructive energy, and save your furniture! Unfortunately, many cats are unsurprisingly persnickety, and more often than not after a first inspection your fancy new scratching post will never again rate so much as a glance. How can you convince your oh so discerning feline to actually use what you provide?

Cats scratch away at whatever is available to them in order to clean and sharpen their claws, an instinctive behavior they will engage in no matter how much you discourage them. It’s all well and good to tell them no when they have a go at your couch, but unless you provide them an alternative, it’s unlikely to stick. That alternative needs to be at least as good as your furniture if you want it to see use.

3 Key Elements of a Successful Scratching Post

Cats look for three things in their scratching spots: stability, size, and texture, and the generic posts you can buy at any pet store fail two out of three of these considerations. If you’ve ever really watched your cat sharpening their claws, you know they put their full backs into it, and all but the most solid of posts will wobble or even tip over under this treatment, especially for larger cats. Cats also like to reach up high and dig in with both claws at once, and most posts are a bit too short and too narrow for this treatment.

A quick look at on-line source will reveal an enormous number of plans for homemade scratching posts, of varying quality, and many do work quite well. If that’s your preferred route, look for one of the larger, heavier models. There is, however, an easier, cheaper option. You almost certainly have any number of surfaces in your house that meet the size and stability requirements, but are only missing the third consideration, texture, and this can be quickly fixed.

First you need your texture. If you happen to have any old pieces of shag carpeting lying around, those work well, but otherwise a well-textured sisal or fabric welcome mat is perfect in both size and material, and should be available for about ten or fifteen dollars at any home goods or hardware store.

Next you need a surface. An out of the way door frame is probably the best spot, but any really solid location will do. If you do use a door frame, it’s just a matter of wrapping the mat or carpeting around the bottom corner of the frame, and fixing it in place with a staple gun or small tacks. Running it lengthwise up from the floor will create a surface tall and wide enough for any cat, and pulled tight and stapled securely it will be as solid as your house itself. Don’t worry too much about damage, the tiny holes the staples leave can easily be fixed with paint alone, and even tacks will only require a swipe of filler. Now just introduce your cat to their new post, and hope they take the hint!

Quick Results

For less than twenty dollars and five minutes of work you can have a rock solid, easily replaced scratching spot that will hopefully have your cat turning up their nose at the inferior option provided by your furniture, rather than the other way around.