On Saturday, October 11, 2008 we had to say goodbye to our beautiful, brave Scarlett. Her endless health battles had become too overwhelming for her. As most of you know, she was diagnosed with Lymphoma in June 2007. She did remarkably well with her medications. But there were other illnesses that made each day more of a struggle. Her heart murmur, thyroid, dental issues, and kidneys all contributed. It was the renal failure, however, that eventually took its toll. Scarlett’s decline was rapid. We knew there was no going back.

Scarlett had been hospitalized last week. When we took her home on Friday, she couldn’t stand. It wasn’t fair to let her suffer after all she’d been through. So we brought her back to the hospital where she went peacefully in my arms while my mother sang to her. Her Doctors were wonderfully caring and compassionate.

Although she had not been eating very much in her last week, either in the hospital or at home, she ate like the old, 19-pound Scarlett Friday morning! That’s a memory we’ll cherish.

Thank you all for all your good thoughts and wishes throughout this ordeal. Scarlett was a very special cat, and she will be missed by all the lives she touched.

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1996 News

Written by Karen (Source)

By nature we know cats are solitary or lonely animal that care more about their food, grooming, and warm sleeping spots since being a human pets for years. If such comforts and companionship came without you, your cat would be out the door, right? Not quite, believe it or not, plenty cat owners (maybe you) – with friendly, attention-needy felines serve as proof.

Different from dogs, humans and almost all other species, we come in contact with other pack of species. Cats are solitary hunters, but a lot of people misunderstand that to mean “they are social”. That’s not really what it means.

Feral cats hunt alone, but they live in colonies. To support this statement, a 2006 Harris Interactive survey found that 8 out of 10 veterinarians believe feral cats are in face social by nature.

But it is not too late to start playing a vital role in your cat’s life. Here I’m writing few simple steps that can help creating a great relationship with your beloved felines.

Cats can’t whistle up and tell us they need more face-to-whisker time. Take note of the following signs, which can indicate your pet’s unhappiness:

• Excessive grooming
• Excessive meowing
• Overeating or not eating
• Coughing up hairballs because of the over grooming
• A decrease in activity and interaction
• Destructive behavior
• Aggressive towards people or other animals in the household
• Sleeping a lot

Not to worry if it’s happens to your cats. If you detect any sign of above loneliness, you can take further steps to make sure your cat is not an unhappy feline. Here are some tips:

• Visit your veterinarian - Since the symptoms of loneliness can relate to illness, it’s best to have your veterinarian check up your kitty. You’ll want to rule out physical causes, such as thyroid issues, infections or other health problems, which could be causing your cat’s distress.
  
• If you have only 1 kitten or cat, think of having pairs – If possible; plan to have a cat family. You can check my previous post about “Two Kittens Are Better Than One”
  
• Choose companions wisely - If you’re attempting to introduce a new kitty to be a companion for your cat, be cautious. Such introductions could even go wrong, since you’d be adding yet another source of stress to an already maxed-out cat. Consider your cat’s energy level when bringing another cat into your home. As an example, if your kitty is a sedate 10-year-old, a frisky kitten might not make the best companion. Don’t get a kitten in this case. Get a pair of kittens so your 10-year-old doesn’t have to fight or rough and tumble.
  
• Improve your cat’s environment - Your cat is certain to live a safer, healthier life as an indoor cat. But, like zoo animals, indoor cats are cut off from the more dangerous, yet exciting then outside environment. They are always at risk for loneliness in that situation. It’s up to you to provide a rich, exciting environment that engages your cat and prevents its loneliness. You’ll want to make sure your cat has places to climb and scratch, as well as toys that provide mental challenges and let your kitty act out its instinct to pursue prey. People sometimes think cats will create their environment for themselves, these is not true.
  
• Be creative about play - Too often, we buy cute cat toys on fancy at the pet store, and then toss them in a basket. Instead, rotate toys in circulation so your cat doesn’t get bored. Grab a handful of toy mice, or other small toys, and toss them in a catnip marinade in a plastic bag before turning them over to your cat.

Always remember that your cat does need your interaction. They have independent features and they don’t have that neediness of a dog, so we tend to forget about them.

At the end of the day, if you have cats as pets, treat them like pets, rather than being a stray cat living indoors without any attention.

The idea of the loner cat is just folklore!

The DemoCat wins by 65 percent at the CFA-Iams Cat Championship

The votes are in: The people want Barack Obama, a Bombay cat, to lead them in a purr-fect presidency.

The winner beat Renegade the Republicat, a British Shorthair, by 65 percent in the “vote for your favorite DemoCat or RepubliCat” competition at the Cat Fanciers’ Association-Iams Championship at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.

Cat show judge Darrell Newkirk and Cat Fanciers Association president Pam DelaBar look at Blade Runner, a Russian Blue cat, who was presented as winner of Best in Show, at the CFA-Iams Cat Championship.

Barack wasn’t the only feline clawing for the attention this weekend.

America’s top cat is Russian — a Russian Blue, that is. Named Runner, the 18-month-old feline was the first of his breed to nab Best in Show at the championship.

With a shiny, velvety gray coat and green eyes, Runner competed against hundreds of felines for the prestigious title.

The 12-pounder won 400 pounds of cat food — and a national appearance Monday morning on “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

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Aggressions in cats are normal. The first rule to remember when it comes to cat or feline aggression is, never hit your cat. Smacking your cat won’t help you to change your cat.

Fear and pain can cause a cat to lash out. The best way to deal with a scared cat is to let him be, while a sick cat needs a veterinarian. But most times what we see as “meanness” in a cat is just part of being a cat. You can change this behavior, but only if you understand what’s behind it and react properly.
Sign of aggressions:

There are plenty of warning signs before aggression occur.  From time to time, it may seem that an attack came out of the blue. Cat’s owner need to know all these signs and learning how to recognize them. With all this, you can prevent some painful bites and scratches. Some of the physical sign of aggressive or potentially aggressive are:

• Hissing voices, sometimes even spitting.
• Tail lashing or straight tail with bristled fur.
• Flattened ears.
• Agitated voice that turn into growling and snarling.
• Wide open eyes.
• Dilated pupils, or very contracted pupils (as the cat tries to threaten back).

Behaviorists often classify aggression toward people according to the source of the aggression. This allows for a better understanding of the underlying causes to the cat’s behavior, which, in turn, can hopefully lead to a better resolution. Following are five types of aggression that cats may exhibit.

When cats are frightened, their “fight-or-flight” response mechanism is activated. Most cats prefer to run away from danger (real or imaginary), but if they feel cornered or unable to run away for any reason, they may attack. Even shy or timid cats will strike out if left with no way to escape.

Fear-induced aggression is easy for us to identify if we can recognize the cause of the fear. Sometimes, the cause is not obvious. Timid cats may be afraid of all sorts of imagined threats, even sudden sounds or movements. Your cat may also have experienced something traumatic in the past that makes it afraid of something particular that you are not aware of.

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A MOTHER discovered her four-year-old son had put a kitten into a microwave and started to ‘cook’ it, magistrates were told.

Little Cassie, a smooth-haired cat, who belonged to Claire Elizabeth Frear, 23, started fitting as a result of her ordeal, the Reedley court heard.

But Frear believed the cat had recovered sufficiently and left Cassie an hour later.

When she returned six hours later the four-month-old cat was dead, said RSPCA prosecutor Christopher Wyatt.

RSPCA inspectors and police, acting on a tip-off about the microwave incident, attended Frear’s home in Oxford Road, Nelson, but Frear was not at home.

Neighbors indicated she was at her parents’ home in East Croft so inspectors went there and obtained permission to enter her property.

An inspector discovered the microwave and later found the body of Cassie at the top of a bin bag beside the house.

Mr Wyatt said that, when interviewed about the matter, Frear initially said she did not know how the kitten had died but it did suffer from leukemia.

The charity conducted checks with local vets which she used but found no record of the kitten being treated.

An initial investigation by a vet failed to find the cause of the kitten’s death and a post-mortem by a specialist lab also drew a blank. But changes to the kitten’s internal organs suggested it may have been exposed to heat, such as that generated by a microwave.

Mr Wyatt said that later Frear was quizzed again and she told them what had happened to Cassie. She had been upstairs at her home when she heard the kitten crying.

Racing outside to an outhouse, she found that her son had placed the animal into the microwave for two minutes.

The court heard that she plucked the animal from the oven and it was ‘fitting’.

Hilary Doherty, defending, said her client’ son had mental health difficulties and was being tested for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Frear had left him alone only briefly while she went upstairs to fetch her son some clothes for a trip to her parents.

Miss Doherty added: “She really does accept that she ought to have known the kitten was poorly and she ought to have known to take it to a vet.”

Frear admitted causing unnecessary suffering by failing to secure veterinary care for Cassie . Magistrates disqualified her from keeping animals for five years and placed her under a three-month curfew, between 7pm and 7am, with £250 court costs.

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