Water. More water.

Meow needs to drink more, and so I dove into history to try and find an answer!

Cats apparently are little desert guys. They originate from arid places and it is widely accepted that cats had an important role in ancient Egypt where the mythical cat Bast was goddess of the home.

Recently, a 9,500 year-old burial site was discovered on Cyprus, that held the remains of a human along with a cat! This seems to indicate that cats as pets predate the Egyptians by at least 4000 years!

So people and cats have been hanging around together for a LONG time!

I am still trying to figure out why cats don't drink enough water, and so I thought history might help. I was thinking that cats, originating from arid areas such as Egypt, might not get the "urge" to have water. Maybe their physiology is programed to assume water is not always available, so over the eons that urge to drink has been dulled. Maybe.

I'm sure I'm way off - but its interesting none the less!

I've been reading about how other people get their cats to drink more, and there are some ideas that seem to work. The first idea is to put out more water bowls. For some reason, cats might not be thinking about water, but during the course of their travels if they happen upon a bowl of water, they might stop for a drink. Kind of like an impulse shopper, influenced by a creative advertisement!

The other idea is these new fountain things. Makes sense. Cats seem to like drinking from dripping bathtub or sink faucets, right? So maybe water is more appealing to them if it appears to be moving rather than as a stagnant puddle like in a bowl. Another trick?

I found one that I think I am going to try. Its a fountain by Petmate that gets pretty good reviews. If you would like to see it, there is a link to it from Meow's Squidoo cat page! I'll see how he likes it and do a review here!

Have any tips that have worked to get more H2O into your cat? Post it here!

Cat Food Recall - Part II

After week or so of hearing about people's cats and dogs slowly dying as a result of eating various Menu Food's products, it was finally determined what was causing the animals to become ill, and sometimes die.

According to various reports, a cancer drug called Aminopterin, was developed in the 1950's as an anti-cancer drug is the poison in the pet-food. Aminopterin is banned in the U.S, but apparently, it is still used in some parts of the world as rodentcide (is that a word???) to kill rats.

So far, there have been thousands of calls to the FDA regarding sick pets, but to date, only 14 pets have died as a result of the poison. Considering the millions of cans that were in circulation, I think that the number of pets that died as a result of eating the food will be a much larger number than 14.

Menu Foods has updated their website with contact information, and has also posted that they will pay for any treatment needed as a result of a pet eating contaminated food. It seems like they are trying to do the right thing, but I wonder if this could have been detected or announced sooner.

The people at menu foods do not think the product was tampered with because the same problem exists for foods produced at two seperate facilities, in two states. It seems that whatever is the common source for their ingredients needs to be looked at carefully.

In addition, if this rat poison is banned in the US, how the heck did it get into the food product? What is preventing this substance, or worse from getting in to OUR food supply? The food supply has always been a concern - could it be tainted by terrorists? I suppose that it is possible considering what is happening with the pet food.

Pet Food Recall

If you have been reading this blog, you will know that I'm trying to soften my poor Meow's stool by adding some wet food to his diet. It seems to be working!

Over this weekend, news broke of a major recall of pet foods manufactured by Menu Foods with popular brand-names like Iams, Hills, Eukanuba and Neutro - all "top tier" foods for pets. In addition, Menu Foods apparently makes pet-food for store-brand labels, like America's Choice, Wegmans, and whatever brand Wall-Mart labels.

This is scary stuff. People have reported that their pest have sufferd organ damage as a result of eating the food, and in some instances, deaths of pets have been reported.

It is not, however, a total recall of all the foods with a particular label. It seems to me that MOST of the problems are in wet foods that are in those foil pouches. I tried one of the Neutro foil pouches on Meow last week, and while it might have been one on the recall list, I am not sure. He has shown no signs of distress, so I think he is alright. (Whew)

Please check the recall list at the Menu Foods website, to see if what you are feeding your cat or dog is included in the recall.

Keep a close eye on your pet, and if you notice anything unusual, it is suggested that you take your pet to the Vet as soon as possible for treatment and observation.

It's interesting how some of the brands on this list are considered "top-tier" and healthier than others, and somehow some of the products can potentially kill you cat or dog.

Signs of Progress

Meow has never been a fan of the wet food. I know he likes a particular brand when he eats most of a portion - which usually is 1/2 of one of those little cans of cat food.

Of all of the brands I've given him, he seems to like the Hill's Science Diet Beef and gravy, and the Maxpro Beef and Egg the best. He'll eat most of it and then go back to finish it a little later. Most of the other brands he'll lick one or two times, and walk away.

I've been adding a little bit of the fiber powder to the top of the food and not mixing it in - he seems to like licking off the "savory" juices, so I know even if he doesn't eat, he's getting a little more of the dietary fiber. Which is good!

My poor cat gets to have me observe him when he would probably like a little more privacy, but i need to see if "going" has gotten any easier since my diet experiment. I will say that we still have some work to do, but I do think he is having an easier time going poo in the litter box - which makes me happy.

I'm going to continue with the wet food, fiber, and additional water, and keep a close eye on how he does.

This is a great link to a description of constipation in cats.

Cat constipation?

Poor Meow. I feel bad writing about him like this - I'm sure its embarrassing. Well, it seems the poor guy might be a little constipated, and I'm starting to get a little worried.

He still "goes" each day as usual, but it seem that there is such effort needed for him to do it. He runs around like a nut meowing for a few minutes beforehand, which tells everyone to "Clear out of the bathroom!"

Without going into the gory details of the process,he just seems to strain beyond what I would consider normal. I'm worried that he'll stop going to avoid the obvious discomfort, and then we'll have a serious problem.

What to do? Well, for one, Meow was never a fan of wet food. So, we're trying to find some food that he will enjoy and eat. People are telling me it will help to soften his stool.

We've also been giving him Petromalt, (yummy fish flavor) which is essentially for hairballs (which thankfully is not a problem with him) but may help the "flow" of things.

Another tip I got was to put another bowl of water down someplace in the house, in a different location. It would be like an impulse purchase for him. He'll see the water as he's traveling around the house, and hopefully stop for a drink, even if he didn't plan to!

The last thing we were going to try is giving him some pumpkin filling. At first, I didn't know why, but apparently its the FIBER that would help. Just like in people, I guess cats need fiber too! We're going to try Fibercon powder instead of pumpkin, and sprinkle some onto his wet food.

I've tried it (the fiber additive, not his food!) and it is tasteless (just like this post!) and more importantly it does not thicken, so maybe this will add to his fiber intake. Th

Cat Entertainment

OK, so I'm looking into ways to stimulate my cat mentally that I haven't tried yet. I'm not a big fan of television anyway, and I never thought the "boob-tube" was an ideal tool for learning or interaction with kids, so using it to entertain my cat was a new concept for me as well.

Cats are watchers by nature. I know my cat will sit at the window for hours, motionless, watching anything and everything that passes by his field of vision. Birds, squirrels, flying bugs, leaves blowing by - they are all great fun for him.

That got me wondering if any of these cat entertainment videos would be fun for him to watch. He does watch the animal shows on TV when there are birds or geckos running around, so maybe a video would be fun too.

I did some research, and its hard to say what to expect. Most of these videos are still on VHS, and if you read some of the ratings for them, well, it seems people either love or hate them.

I'm going to order a cat entertainment video, I won't say which just now because I want to be fair after I and more importantly, Meow watch it. Then, we'll post a review to let you know what we think.

In the meantime, do you have any cat entertainment favorites? Any DVDs or VHS tapes the your cat simply loves? Let me know!

Cat with Rabies

I don't want to get stuck on this issue for too long, but on today's Suffolk News Herald web site,there was a report of a stray cat that was tested for rabies and fount to be infected with the deadly virus.

The report indicates that three people who may have come in contact with the infected animal, are undergoing treatment. I think that the treatment for rabies is a little better nowadays, but I am pretty sure that previously, one would have to get a series of painful needles in the stomach to be treated for exposure. Ouch!

This is another example of why people need to keep their pet cats inside, and to also make sure that their cat's rabies vaccinations are up to date. This is important because even if your cat is kept indoors, there is always a chance he could get out either accidentally, or for some other reason. (BTW, picture is not of rabid cat!)

Rut roh - Rabies

I didn't think rabies was really something to worry about, especially here in the Jersey 'burbs, but according to an article in the March 7 Bergen Record a raccoon was found to have the deadly viral disease. I didn't know this, but apparently there have been more than 5,000 rabid animals identified in NJ since the late 80's.

Rabies, without treatment, is 100% fatal. It is not joke, and as far as I know, only one person in history survived rabies without treatment. Rabies can be transmitted to humans through biting, scratching or direct contact with saliva from an infected animal and so it is important to be aware of animals that are behaving in an unusual manner. (Chillin' raccoon in the picture is more typical behavior!)

For example, in the article, a man was trying to put his car in the garage and he spotted this infected raccoon. He stomped his feet to shoo it off, but instead of leaving, the raccoon attacked the person and actually scratched his leg. This, is unusual behavior for a raccoon!

The happy ending is that the man luckily was not infected.

So why is this on a blog about cats? Well, for some reason, people still think that it is OK for them to let their cats wander about outside. Well, it isn't. If you have a cat as a pet, that cat should be kept indoors. Period. Nothing good can come of a pet cat allowed to roam about outside, especially around here where getting run-over is also a real possibility. Cats, like dogs, should be under the constant control and supervision of their human keepers, end of story!

Welcome!

Meowtopia.

One one hand, the name sounds extremely cheesy. On the other hand- tantalizing! I think its a name that might have some mental-stickiness, we will see as time goes by!

You can see the picture of my cat on the right over there (at least until I change the template) if you want an idea about how he looks. He's all black, and to me looks like a small panther. Oh, and his name is Meow.

Meow has an interesting story. We (my wife and I) didn't really plan to have a cat living with us. We were friendly with the local vet who had taken care of our pet hamster until he died. We had stopped in to say hello, and she introduced us to this beautiful black cat that was abandoned. Well, actually his previous owned died, but someone stupidly just let him out to fend for himself. Grrrrrrrr.

Long story short, he was the sweetest cat I had ever met, and my wife and I decided right there to adopt him. He's been a part of our little family for about 2 years now, and he has really enriched our lives. Adult cats can make for great adoptions too!

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully, as Meow gets through some school, he will be able to manage this blog for me. I don't know what he'll talk about. Maybe how he hates when the toys escape under the couch, or what new sleeping position he found. Who knows! Come back and see!