Book Review: How to Pet a Cat

How to Pet a Cat, The Complete Hands-On Guide by Peter Farrow
This book is about how to overcome your cat's Tactile Deficiency (TD) caused by neglect (lack of proper petting), and I mean the proper ways to pet a cat so that it is completely satisfied. The book describes how to recognize TD and use various stroking methods such as the blades, the occiput, drubbing, the socket, jowling, ruffing, puddling, the swipple and many others to give your feline the love it needs. Apparently, more than 90% of all cats suffer in silence from the lack of a satisfying tactile relationship with their owners (servants). So don't ignore your pet and get to it.

A Moving Experience

Sorry it has been a while. We've been busy trying to sell our house.
We've been wondering how to move our four cats when we relocate. We have only two cat carriers and four cats. My mother-in-law has two cat carriers so maybe we can borrow them. Moving can be a traumatic experience for our feline friends. It literally turns their cosy world into chaos. Moving is traumatic enough for some people and it can be difficult knowing that your pets don't understand what's going on.
The last time we moved was 25 years ago. We put the cats in a bedroom in our new house before the move happened. Water, food and a litter box rounded out their essentials. A familiar blanket was included. We closed the bedroom door and put a sign on it: "Cats - Keep Door Closed". When I opened the door after everything was moved in, the scaredy cats climbed the walls. Poor things, but it didn't take them long to settle in and adjust to their new and better home.
I picked up a business card on the last visit to the vets that advertised a pet taxi. They even offer long distance commutes. They have a kennel service too. Since we may be moving as much as 100 km (60 miles) or more, this alternative maybe better. It may be easier on us, but our pets might be even more traumatized by the moving experience if we do that.
We could have one of us take the cats on ahead, and prepare the new house for the movers, while one of us stays behind and cleans up after the moving company and answers any questions. Since we have only one car, this arrangement may be costly to rent a vehicle, or else drive back and forth a bit. We'll see how it goes.

Book Review: Cat Behavior Answer Book

I've been reading the Cat Behavior Answer Book by Arden Moore. It has really nice illustrations by Matt Ambre. IT's divided up into six parts with each part having many headings that are no longer than two or three pages of script. Each heading has a question and answer format. There are also tidbits of information highlighted in blue that are very useful. I would like to have seen this book  be able to be used in dictionary style, by looking up a cat behaviour that you may be particularly interested in. Part 1 is Feeling Fine about your feline is about the relationship between owner and cat. Part 2 is Chatting with your Cat. It is about how to read your cat's body language and different sounds it makes. Part 3 is Kitty Quirks and Funny Felines, which is about cute and not so cute feline behavior. Part 4 is Thinking Outside the Box. This section is about problems with the litter box. Part 5 is The Basics of Chowing and Grooming. Part 6 is The Ins and Outs of Living with Cats. These last two part titles are self explanatory. This is a good book to help you understand your cat better even if you are a seasoned cat owner or new at the experience. Cats are such a joy, it's hard to believe there could be so many problems, but each cat is different and each one posses different challenges. A cat is not going to fit into any mold you make for it. They are their own person.
I just want to wish my readers a Meowee Christmas and a very purry new year.

Caged Bird

          A laundry was happening in the furnace room during which time a noise was coming from the furnace. The furnace was off for the summer. It sounded like some kind of creature was living in the furnace. I couldn't investigate that day because the laundry machines were making too much noise to track down the cause. The next day the noise was still coming from the furnace. The first thing that I did was open up the duct work. Clean! The next thing I did was open up the bottom of the Selkirk chimney. I found a couple of feathers. Meanwhile the sound was still coming from the furnace. I opened the fire box and looked in. I could see nothing. I used a stick to keep the firebox door pried open and stood back. To my surprise a starling poked its head out the door. I left the room and closed the door. I stayed out for a few minutes and came back in. The bird was sitting on a bench. I put on a pair of work gloves and chased the bird around the basement as it flew from one place to another until it was cornered in such a way that I could pick it up. Squawk! I raced with it up the stairs through the house and out the back door. I let the bird go and watched it fly to the nearest tree as my four cats looked at me bewildered from their vantage points in my garden. The bird sat in the tree looking around for several minutes. Without looking back to took off toward the noon time sun.
      The little starling was living in the sooty firebox for at least 24 hours with no hope of escape. It had no light, no food. and no water. It was dirty, smelly and dark. What kept this small bird going for so long? I wonder if I was in a situation like that how I would react. That little creature showed marvelous tenacity, hope, determination, and the will to live; or was it just instinct that kept it going. I like to think that God's creatures are designed with more than instinct when I look at the wonders of nature. What a beautiful world we live in.

Book Review: Urban Tigers Two (More Tales of a Cat Vet)

Urban Tigers Two by Kathy Chisholm is definitely better written, with more emotion, fewer similes and more tidbits about Halifax than her first book, Urban Tigers. The stories are told in the narrative voice just like her first book but with more gusto this time. She doesn't hold back any punches and in two of her chapters she reminds us that our sins will find us out; even if she steps on the church's toes in doing so, which is so popular to do these days much to my dismay. Kathy Chisholm is the owner of Tuxedo Stan who was nominated for a candidate to run as Mayor of Halifax to raise awareness of the stray and feral feline problem in our neighbourhoods. I was disappointed when he wasn't on the ballot. This book is a must read for cat lovers, and if you haven't read her first book, no problem her books can be read independently of each other. Her first book is still available and I recommend both of them. I'm going to buy them for Christmas presents. I look forward to her third installment and wish Kathy the very best in her writing career.

Variety

Every summer I see an insect in my garden that I don't think I've ever seen before. There are enormous variations existing in the insect world. I was told that biologists could spend their whole life studying beetles and only scratch the surface, but that covers a range of species. Dogs on the other hand are one species and come in a wide selection of shapes and sizes. There is a dog for every person's taste. House cats on the other hand come in a few varieties from Sphinx to Siamese to Main Coon; from no hair to short hair to long hair. Colours vary from striped orange to different kinds of bi-colour to tabby, to white or black, to calico. It is a wonderful thing to have all these varieties. All of this is due to the DNA code written in each cell. As I ponder this, I think that there must be a master designer who was at work creating all this for His enjoyment. People come in all shapes and sizes too, some real smart, some talented, some big, some small, different ethnic groups, different coloured skin and hair, different likes and dislikes and different beliefs. The creator must like variety. Every living thing is unique; there is no other like it. So when I look at a living creature and think of the fingerprint of the creator left in the DNA, I marvel at His handy work.

Book Review: Urban Tigers (Tales of a Cat Vet)

Urban Tigers (Tales of a Cat Vet) is a fascinating collection of stories written by Kathy Chisholm. She owns Tuxedo Stan a black and white long haired cat who's name was advertised for Mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality during a municipal election to raise awareness of the feral feline problem in the city. This information is not included in the book but the stories are brilliantly written, albeit with an over use of similes. Sometimes the stories are belly laughing funny and sometimes I was trying to hold back the tears from the heart rending accounts. I recommend this book to any cat lover who loves to read. You can find this book in paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon. I'm now reading the sequel: Urban Tigers Two (More Tales of Cat Vet). I'll post my thoughts on that at a later date. I look forward to more from Kathy and wish her the best with her writing endeavours.