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Cat Care

Being Your Cat by Celia Haddon and Prof. Daniel Mills FRCVS….

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Exciting new cat book, discover what's really going on in your feline's mind.
Lola suitably impressed…

Have you ever wondered why cat behave the way they do? Cats are often a mystery to us humans, this new book can prepare you to enter the mind of your feline and help you understand how they see, smell and hear the world.

Celia Haddon a best selling cat author and cat expert has written this new book with veterinary behaviourist Prof. Daniel Mills, together they will take you into your cat’s mind and look at the latest scientific research and explain how your cat experiences the world we live in.

This book examines the cat by explaining what it’s like physically, psychologically and emotionally to be a cat.

The book is written in such a way that is comes across as though you are reading it to your cat and therefore it is easy for us mere humans to understand 🙂 This also makes it a charming book to read and fun. There are many feline behaviour books around and some can be a heavy read, which can put cat owners off reading, but this book is very engaging and the information easy to digest.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters about being a kitten, chapters on the different feline senses but most of all the chapter called “What You As A Cat Want, Choice and Control” It’s becoming much more common for behaviourists and cat educators to talk about giving cats a choice and control in their lives and treatment, this may sound funny to most cat owners as we often think cat do what they want anyway, but every cat is different and has it’s own individual personality and just because one cat likes to be treated in a certain way, doesn’t mean all cats do, for example being fussed and cuddled, being picked up, held like a baby, dressed up (i’ve never met a cat who loved this apart from a Sphynx who suffered from the cold). There is no one size fits all when it comes to cat happiness. Cats deserve our respect, the same as any family member. As a pet cat, cats need humans who accept them as they are and not force them to behave in a way that makes them unhappy and stressed.

Many cats may not wish to be lap cats but prefer to be nearby while others are like limpets and would stay on you all day and night 🙂

I enjoyed this book very much and recommend it to all cat owners especially new inexperienced owners, but also experienced owners as there is always new things to discover about our feline friends.

I was sent this book from Octopus Publishing for an honest review and is available from all the usual places.

Until next time, love and purrs Rachel & Lola xxx

Loving Cats……

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People often ask me why I love cats so much, I’ve been working with them or for them for over 20 years now and living with them for longer and they always fascinate and make me laugh…..

I often remember going to my now husband’s home to meet his Mum and the family cat Tiger. Tiger had been a stray that just wandered into their lives and never left. Tiger always sat at the dinner table and would sit on her own chair and tap me gently when she wanted me to know she was waiting for food, she wanted some of my dinner….I’m sure Tiger put a spell on me as I was a dog person before I met her….

Beautiful Tiger

A great example of how cats make me smile and laugh is when people get a cat for the first time and I go to meet them. Owners often tell me that they have cat rules for the house and they would appreciate me sticking to them. These rules often include no sleeping on the owners bed at night, no scratching the furniture, no sitting on the sofa and the cat being allowed only certain rooms at night or when the owners are out. It often makes me smile and when I look at the cat I just know these rules will soon be forgotten and all changed by the time I return again for more cat sitting duties 🙂

A few months later when I return all the rooms are open, the sofa is covered in cat hairs and possibly scratched and the cat always sleeps with the owners at night 🙂 When I question the owners, they often say “oh it’s a cat, they do what they want don’t they?” I see this scenario all the time!

When we took Lola on, we never had any rules because we knew she would do as she wanted….. Mr Ringo was not supposed to be allowed in the spare room, but then it miraculously became “Ringo’s Room!” Our first two cats weren’t supposed to be in our bed at night but that lasted about a week!

I love how most of my cat sitting clients slowly add new cat resources to their (or the cat’s) homes. You can never have enough cat beds, cat toys and water fountains and cat trees etc. Some of my best cat homes look like cat cafe’s! All fantastic for the cats!

A recent cat sitting client sent me a photo of their cat helping with the jigsaw over the Christmas period!

Mr Nado! The Bengal!

Lola always makes me laugh when she’s outside but returns indoors to use the litter tray and then goes outside again, but to be honest it’s nice that she feels safe and secure to only toilet inside and I can keep an eye on her toileting habits and she obviously loves her clean litter trays!

She’s also funny when I put food down that she doesn’t fancy as she walks away and swipes my feet! She’s such a madam!

I hope on this Valentine’s Day you are all enjoying your time with loved one’s whether they are human or feline!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Rachel and Lola! xxxx

Lola’s Go to Cat Litter- Natusan

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Lola modelling with her cat litter from Natusan

When we lived with Mr Ringo he used a sand-like litter from a well known supermarket and pet store. The sandy litter was soft on his paws and this was important as he was elderly and had some arthritis.

In the wild cats prefer to use a fine sand, as it is soft on paws and easy to dig and bury their waste, this is important to keep their presence hidden from predators, so feline behaviourists will always recommend a sandy litter.

I always worried that the litter we used for Mr Ringo was not good for the environment but I didn’t want to stress an older cat with new litter so decided to change the brand when we adopted Lola. I was excited and pleased to be offered a free sample from Natusan to try for Lola and we have been using it since November 2022.

Natusan litter is made from a PEPC-certified recycled wood and is a by product. The natural material is biodegradable and it comes in wood or wheat and both have long-lasting odour control and both types are chemical and fragrance free, this is important to me as most cats dislike fragrances in their litter and it just covers up the smell which a regularly cleaned tray shouldn’t have anyway.

So what did we think of it? Well after mixing it in the Lola’s normal litter and eventually just using Natusan, Lola seemed happy to use it, in fact she loved lying in it and playing in it! I think she was using this behaviour as attention seeking as it always got my attention when she flicked it all over the floor!

When Lola uses it normally she seems very happy and it is great at clumping and doesn’t leave a lot of tracking on the carpet when leaving the tray. It’s light and smells of natural wood and looks lovely and clean. I am definitely using less litter and the litter clumps of wee are lighter and don’t appear to smell. It is about £17 for 10L which seems more expensive but it is lasting so much longer and the lack of odour from wee is worth it. I can’t comment on the odour control with Lola’s poo as she doesn’t cover it and so it can be a bit whiffy!!

Natusan always seem to be having offers so it’s well worth signing up for their newsletters. You can also sign up for a subscription service to deliver every month, so I may well do this in the future.

Example of the wood type litter

You can flush small amounts down the loo but I don’t as I’m not sure this is ideal for the plumbing and drainage system so choose not too. I therefore pop it into biodegradable poo bags and place in the normal bin.

Lola uses a high sided open top litter tray and has two trays in the house. I like open trays for cats, especially if they live in multi cat households as some cats will attack other cats when leaving the tray if it is covered. It’s important for a cat to feel safe in its tray and stress can therefore be avoided.

The packaging Natusan uses is paper with no plastic and can be put in the recycling bin.

This product was sent to me to try for Lola free of charge and this is an honest review giving you my opinion and is not just positive because it was free. I recommend this litter and will be buying it in the near future. If you are interested in Natusan it’s worth checking out their website as they do other products too including cat beds, litter bags, dried food and scoops.

Lola and I wish you all a Happy 2023!

Love and purrs Rachel & Lola xx

I’ve Been Cat Sitting for 20 Years!

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Rachel and Lola the cat (both CEO’s)

I had to let you all know that I can’t quite believe it, but Portsmouth Cat Sitting has been in business for 20 years! I was thinking the other day, how things have changed in those years and thought it would make a fun blog to write. So here goes……..

  • When I first set up the business mobile phones were very rare and I didn’t have one for quite a while and all my calls were done via my land line, it’s so much nicer and quicker using a mobile for texting and calls, clients can also get a quick response..
  • The internet has changed so much and I used to have to use dial-up to go on my website!! Imagine trying to sort out your website while a client is trying to call you on the landline but it’s engaged……
  • Before meeting a new client, I remember having to look up addresses with my faithful paper street map! Remember those wonderful A-Z maps from Smith’s? Now I just use Google Maps or Sat Nav.
  • Social Media! Well Facebook didn’t exist and my mobile definitely didn’t take photos for many years and my texting was very iffy…..
  • If people wanted to get hold of me they had to call me on my landline or write me a letter (remember those?) and email was just becoming popular…..
  • Apart from a few months I have always had a Smart Car for work, the perfect car for nipping around Portsmouth and parking in very tight places. I have had as far as I can remember 7 Smart cars, I love them. Working as a cat sitter I’m often up early in the summer months and Christmas to feed cats and parking can be a nightmare, so a small car is a must……love my Smartie
  • Talking of Smart Cars, my first one was a left hand drive, it was all you could get. I remember having my Mum’s dog to stay and the dog would sit in the car with me and of course she looked like she was driving to people. People used to stare at me in the tiny car anyway as Smart cars were rare then and seeing a dog driving one was even odder, especially with cat sitting signage written on the car!
  • There’s lots of cat sitters in Portsmouth now, when I set up there was just me and another person who did dogs as well..
  • People can sit on a plane and pay me now! No waiting days for a cheque to clear…
  • Some people are slowly coming around to learning more about cat welfare and understanding that cats are not an easy option, I believe social media is helping with this but it’s a slow process, I hope to do more blogs and social media posts when I finally finish my Feline Behaviour studies.
  • I wonder how many cats I have fed and litter trays I have cleaned over 20 years?
  • In the 20 years in business 4 cats have shared our home,Tam, (RIP) Gizmo (RIP), Mr Ringo (RIP) and now Lola, it’s always tempting to have more but cats can become very stressed in multi cat households and Lola is so settled.
  • Have a giggle at a very young Rachel, with dark hair! See photo below as featured in the Portsmouth News in 2002! With the very special Gizzy who lived with us until she was 23!
This is a copy I found of a newspaper feature in Portsmouth News (local paper)

Remembering Mr Ringo……our boy…..

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Mr Ringo in his garden RIP

I have sad news Mr Ringo passed away on the 4th July, he was 19 years old and had lived his best life with my husband Tony and me. He had lived with a few health issues that were managed with medication but the time had come when he had simply had enough and we didn’t want him to suffer. Heartbreaking as it was and still is, you as responsible owners have to think of the cat and their quality of life. He was always such a lion, sleeping in the sun but keeping one eye on his territory and help any other cat that walked his way…….

Apart from his last 6 months he was always an active and adventurous cat, he loved going outside and would never had been a cat that was happy indoors. His favourite hobby included visiting the neighbours (lots of them, rather a lot!), he once stole a tuna steak from our next door neighbour and spent the night at another neighbours, sleeping on their son’s bed! I also often saw my close neighbours leave for the day to then notice Ringo in their bedroom window!

While cat sitting for my neighbours I would often find him sat on their sofa or eating their cats food, not sure who was more surprised Ringo or me!

19 years ago when I worked at a feline only vets a lady called and said she had a 20 week old ginger kitten that needed to find a home because he had been returned, due to him being too naughty!

My husband had always said he would like a ginger kitten and so home he came with us. We called him Ringo because he had ring markings on his side which unfortunately looked like a target! They fortunately disappeared as he got bigger 🙂

We had him neutered as soon as we could and as I worked at his vets,I was lucky to be present. He was very fortunate in having many amazing vets looking after him in the same practice for 19 years and they knew him well, this was just as well as he could be aggressive towards them when he was young but he mellowed in his later years.

Ringo lived with our two other older cats and they tolerated him, I’m not sure I would ever have a kitten with older cats again and I often had to keep him away from them in their later years. When they later passed away we decided to keep him as an only cat.

Over his life time he brought mice back but fortunately he wasn’t good at catching birds and in true lion style he was happy for someone else to provide the food while he protected his territory.

Both my husband and me are heartbroken and miss him very much but take comfort that he had such a good life and didn’t suffer at the end. We are very touched by the kind messages, cards and even donations remembering him, some from people I hardly know or know him from social media. We feel lucky to have had him in our lives for 19 years…………

We will of course open our home to another cat or cats in the future, when the time feels right.

Mr Ringo you were a legend! Meowsers!!!

Love and Purrs Rachel xxx

Mr Ringo 2003-2022

Indoor Cat-How to Enrich Their Lives and Expand Their World (Book Review)

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Ruby the Maine Coon helping with my reading.

I was very pleased to see a new book has been written for the indoor cat. It was interesting to read a book that looked at the indoor life of a cat and how it can affect not only their physical but mental health. We all know how, we felt in the pandemic when many of us were locked in our homes with only an exercise allowance in which we could go outside for an hour, we now know how that impacted our mental health and how good it felt to be outside if only for a short while.
Imagine being a cat shut indoors with no mental or physical stimulation for most of your life? How sad and depressing never being able to express your real self……..sadly this is true of many indoor cats, but it’s also fair to point out that many indoor cats have fabulous lives and some experience getting outside in some form, be it in a catio, safe enclosed garden area or even being walked on a lead in a safe environment. This book has many tips and advice on how to make your indoor cats life better and happier and that’s a winner for me.
This book will educate and inspire cat owners to make their cats lives better and does not wish to cause controversy in the big debate about whether cats should be allowed to roam free or stay indoors 24/7 but rather put across the cat’s point of view which I have not read so well expressed in many cat books.
Ideas that I love from this book are having a screened window so it can be opened for fresh air and smells for your cat, have a box full of leaves and outside things for your cat to smell and investigate , grow indoor grass, create a window seat or perch for your cat to watch the outdoors, fill a small water tub or bowl (not too deep)and pop a toy in it for the cat to play with, offer scent enrichment opportunities for your cat to investigate and enjoy (not just catnip but anything that’s safe for your cat) maybe your cooking or a parcel that has just arrived?
I think it’s also fair to point out that not all cats do well being walked on a lead and each cat is individual and some do not do well being adventure cats.
I did not feel the authors’ were against cats being kept indoors but rather wanted to educate cat owners about improving the cat’s life so they had more mental and physical stimulation.
If a cat owner buys this book and does just one thing from this book but hopefully more, how much happier that cat’s life will be 🙂
Well done to both authors you have given the indoor cat a voice! 

This book was written by Laura J Moss and Lynn Bahr DVM and available from the usual places.

Catify your home: tips for creating a fun living environment for your cat……

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Hi everyone, I’m excited to tell you that the fabulous cat product company Catit have written an informative and helpful guest blog for me this month. At the end of this post there is a link to use to sign up to their newsletter and get 10% off your first order of Catit products. Myself and Mr Ringo hope you enjoy reading the post. xx

With pet ownership increasing across the UK, many people are looking for ways to ‘catify’ their home space and create the perfect environment for their furry friend. Here, Paul Trott — UK Marketing Manager at the cat care experts Catit —  shares his top tips on how to create a more cat-friendly home.

As of 2021/22, pet ownership has reached  62% of households in the UK, a big jump from 2017/18 and the preceding years where this  figure hovered at 45 – 47% (Statista). With this rise in pet ownership, more and more people have been searching for how to ‘catify’ their homes and make them more hospitable for their feline friends (Pinterest Trend Report 2022). So, how can you create the perfect environment for your cat?

There are many  ways you can add some cat-friendly elements to your home, depending on how much time you want to spend on it and how enthusiastic you are about DIY. Here, we’ll take you through lots of different ideas so that you can get started.

A comfy bed

The first thing that can always have a little makeover is your cat’s sleeping (or napping!) space. Having a comfy bed is very important for our four-legged friends, especially as cats sleep in smaller cycles throughout the day and will often need lots of naps, spending a lot of time in their bed. In fact, some cats sleep over 15 hours per day (Pet MD). Check that their bed is comfortable, and consider adding some other soft space, such as a cocoon, or even a little cat hammock.

If your cat enjoys burrowing into the laundry basket, you might want to consider placing a basket or container near their bed with their own blanket in it, to keep them cosy — and out of your clean laundry!

Multiple water stations

Encouraging cats to drink water can often feel like a real undertaking, as many felines are fussy about what they drink from and when. One way  to ensure that your cat stays hydrated is by keeping multiple water stations around your home that your cat can choose from. Cats often prefer running water to having still water, so investing in a cat water fountain for at least one of your rooms is a great option, especially if your kitty doesn’t tend to drink enough water throughout the day.

Remember to keep all the water stations away from your cat’s food, as they usually don’t enjoy drinking water that is directly by their food bowls. With multiple sources of water to drink from, your cat should  stay well hydrated, and be happier for it.

Climbing space

If you are serious about ‘catifying’ your space, then you’ll want to include some climbing areas or furniture for your feline friends. You could also create one of the increasingly popular ‘superhighways’ for your cat — a long walkway attached to the wall that allows your cat to run the entire length of the room, potentially jumping off onto other corners or furniture.

While constructing climbing space can be a bit of a challenge , it’s also extremely fun and can really add something special to your spare room, living space, or conservatory. If you are considering this addition to your home, take the time to measure the space accurately if you’re building it yourself. You should also take the time to watch your cat, and see where their preferred haunts are, as this will give you a clue about where to install any climbing shelves.

Coordinated décor 

As well as being fun for your cat, it’s important that your home is comfortable and stylish for you as well. So, make sure that you don’t get carried away and add things that turn into clutter, or detract from the look you’ve been cultivating in your house. Instead, pause to think about what will easily fit with the décor that you already have in the house. 

This might mean that you install climbing shelves and walkways for your feline friend, but build them in a certain wood or colour  that coordinates with the existing colour scheme or furniture selection in the room. Or, it might mean that when you choose your comfy array of bedding items for your cat, they fit with the colour palette of the living room so that you and your kitty can both be comfortable and stylish.

Keep it playful

The last thing to keep in mind is that cats are naturally playful creatures — they enjoy exploring, trying new toys, and generally being mischievous! So, add some toys around your house, so that your cats will always have something to play with. You can also add scratching posts in the corners of different rooms, which will give your cat something to occupy their paws , and serve the dual purpose of keeping them away from your furniture.

If you want to make more extensive changes to your home, you might also consider adding small hiding places around the home. This might be underneath countertops, or behind a sofa. Whatever you choose, make sure to place a toy or blanket inside when first showing your cat their new area.

Making your home as comfortable for your beloved cat as possible can be a fun exercise that  allows you to make their accessories part of your décor. So, use these tips to get started and catify your home to make it into a perfect habitat for your feline friend. You can also sign up to Catit’s newsletter and get 10% off your first order using this link, giving you a head start on creating the perfect cat-appropriate home.

Purr by Zazie Todd, the Science of Making your Cat Happy

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This book has something for everyone whether you are beginning your feline journey or are an experienced cat owner.

This extremely readable book has a mix of anecdotes about the authors own cats, which I found interesting and this made the book feel more relatable. There are cat expert opinions and lots of references to scientific studies written in a way that is easy to understand.

Books on feline welfare and behaviour have long been lacking compared to dogs and I welcome this book to my shelves. Cat owners will find this a readable and helpful guide to making their cats lives happier and stress free, which benefits all the family. I especially liked the training plan (yes you can train cats!) to train cats to like the cat carrier, however I would have liked to have read more about training with cats, but may be that’s for another book?

The chapters on problem behaviour and environmental enrichment were useful but I would have liked more detail, photographs or plans for environmental improvements would have been in my opinion helpful.

The chapters on senior cats and special needs cats was informative and interesting. The chapter on end of life was a hard read, but I’m glad I read it as I live with an older cat and it gave me lots to think about, this subject is often not talked about enough or mentioned in cat books.

I would recommend this book to people who are beginning their cat owning adventures and also experienced owners who want to know how to improve their cats lives a little better.

I hope this book does well as spreading education about the cat is invaluable for their health both physically and mentally.

“I was given this book as an advanced copy from Greystone Books in return for an honest review”

This book is published in May 26th 2022 in the UK and is available from the usual places ISBN: 978-1-77164-814-1