Julia
Just like having a child, it can be incredibly fulfilling bringing a kitten into your family and watching it grow up. It takes only a year for your cute little kitten to mature into a cat. It can seem hard to believe but it will happen fast. Being prepared is the goal here. So what are the key milestones for a young cat?
The First Moments
Kittens are born blind and they are completely dependant on their mother. The first stages will involve learning to eat and then growing. The kitten’s eyes will open and he will want to explore. At four weeks old, he is romping around shakily with his siblings. At this time he can begin to learn to use the litter box and should start to become a social animal. In the wild, the kitten’s mother will start to supplement his diet with dead mice and other small pretty. But, you may want to give him some soft kitten food or some dry food that is softened a little with water.
Six Weeks
He’s now six weeks old and he is more than ready to explore the home. If he’s indoors, he will move from room to room. A feral kitten will follow his mother when she goes to hang out with the other cats. These cats will still receive mice from their mother, but they aren’t dead anymore. Instead, the kitten has to learn to hunt the animal. Those who are eight weeks old will be completely weaned from their mother and are ready to go to a new home.
The Next Months
Through the next several months, the cats will grow really fast. You’ll need to get them in to be vaccinated at this time so that they are healthy and strong. They will begin to learn what they have to do to live with their families and learn which behaviors are okay. You can teach your kitten his name as well as a few simple commands now. If the cat has long hair, make sure to get him used to allowing you to groom him, although the cat’s coat doesn’t need to be brushed just yet.
Sometimes, cats will suddenly develop a bad attitude. Believe it or not this is an adolescent stage for them. This happens when the cat goes from being a kitten into being a mature cat. Sounds just like children, right? This will happen around the fifth to six month and may last until the cat reaches a year old. They will still be playful but may get carried away to play too aggressively. If your cat is not neutered at six months of age, he will be mature enough to reproduce now. Neutering the cat will help this stage of his development go more smoothly. At six months, the cat looks the way he will look as an adult even though he may still become larger.
Adulthood
Just like humans, adult cats will continue to go through stages. But, these stages can be dealt with quite easily. And, unlike that mid life crisis you may have, the cat isn’t likely to go out to purchase a sports car at this age!
If you take care of your kitten’s health as he grows into an adult cat you will have a fulfilling relationship that will bring both you and the cat great satisfaction.
Julia
Abused cats can be terribly maimed and damaged on the outside. They can even appear quite normal on the outside and all the damage might be emotional.
The emotional damage is harder to repair. A physically damaged cat will still respond positively to a soft voice and touch. They seem to know that the abuse will not continue anymore.
With an emotionally abused cat, you will need to let the cat come to you. Feed and care for it conscientiously. If you have another, more loving cat, the example to the abused cat will be good for it and will serve to draw the cat out.
Screaming, yelling, startling, and indiscriminate use of disciplinary tools, such as a water pistol can cause emotional damaged. Prolonged exposure to this treatment produces a cat that is slow to trust. The cat may turn mean or become lethargic.
If the cat becomes mean, it is actually a good sign. A lethargic cat is harder to reach. The angry cat still cares what happens to it, while the lethargic cat could care less.
The lethargic cat will not play, respond to treats, pats, or a soft voice. Your best bet with the lethargic cat is a companion cat to draw the poor thing out. Eventually, the damaged kitty will ask for a pat or scratch while you are most vulnerable - usually lying in bed or on the toilet. Give confident, gentle snuggling and use a soft voice. Do not make too much of a fuss - but let the cat know you like the new behavior. Move slowly because the cat is still quite traumatized. Once this behavior begins, you are well on your way to a friendly, but still stand-off-ish house cat. It may take a long time, and consistency is the key. Never raise your voice around the cat. It will run. Every instance of veterinary care will be traumatic to it. Try to minimize visits and combine the purposes. Your cat will hide after each visit for as long as it feels upset. Continue to speak softly and care for the cat. It will come out and be friendly eventually. This type of cat has the longest memory for past hurts. If you take on a cat like this, be prepared for a long, intensive period of healing.
The angry or mean cat will run away, fight and scratch. Consistent, gentle treatment and a soft voice are your best bets. If you tame the cat as if it were Feral, you will have the best results. Never trick the cat into a situation where it feels trapped. It will instantly revert.
Black cats face a serious risk around Halloween. Never leave the cat unattended outside during this time of year. It seems that all the sickos in the world come looking for black cats at this time of year. The unsuspecting and trusting pet black cat may be cat-napped and tortured or killed. Then, you’ll need to look at cat urns.
Julia
Our 5-year-old cat, Yoshi, was diagnosed with renal failure. The veterinarian claimed that there isn’t much he can do. Yoshi will probably only live a few more years and from time to time he will need to be put in the hospital for treatment. My wife asked the doctor about a holistic veterinarian and if there are any in the area. As it turns out they allow a holistic veterinarian to use their facilities on Fridays. So we scheduled an appointment.
In about 5 weeks of work, which by the way includes acupuncture, our cat, Yoshi, is like a new person. (I know, I know but he is a little person to us.) He loves going to Dr. Fox and during the usual hour-long appointment he just lays there and purrs. She actually communicates with him. For all you Cartesian rationalists out there I know it sounds strange but Dr. Fox gives us information that she could not have known. Little intricate details that we did not know until we get home and check it out. FOr instance Yoshi tell her there was a chip out of his food bowl and it was bothering him. Sure enough when we got home there was a chip out of his bowl.
Regardless, she told us Yoshi really loves the Christmas season. I told her that my mom and dad really worked hard to make the Christmas season special for my sister, brother and me. Now, when I think of the season it brings a tear to my eye because even as my parents grew older they would allow me to give them a special Christmas at our house. I really miss them.
Dr. Fox also recalled how her parents would go all out for Christmas but her father was very disciplined and would require the tinsel to be put on the tree perfectly. She was not that good at it so he would not let her put it on the tree. Because of that her Christmas memories are not as fond as mine.
However, I do remember when Christmas changed dramatically in my life. My dad decided to modernize Christmas and went out and purchased an aluminum tree with one of those multi-colored wheels that spun around over a floodlight. I was devastated that we did not have a real tree for the first time in my life. There was some retribution though. There was a little setscrew that held the plastic colored wheel in place over the floodlight. Once in awhile it would back out and the plastic wheel would begin to wobble. One day it backed out and the wheel began to wobble and instead of telling my dad (we were not allowed to touch it) my sister, brother and me watch this wheel wobble down on top of the flood light and melt. We waited until it melted entirely over the light until we called him. Wow was he mad that day at modern technology.
So what is the point of all this? My wife and I have always had a real tree. I will admit to being a little obsessive so I was uncomfortable at times with the dirt a real tree can create. Two years ago the tree we bought started losing its needles quickly and we had to take it down two weeks before Christmas. I used this as an excuse to talk my wife into an artificial tree and actually had her convinced that it was a really nice tree. That is until this past Friday when Dr. Fox said Yoshi wants us to get a real tree again. Furthermore he exclaimed that I don’t want a spruce tree I want a pine tree like three years ago because it smells so good. The thought of the smell of pine brought back so many wonderful memories. As I basked in this joyous feeling I suddenly remembered the dreaded curse of many of us suffering through a mid life crisis, I am just like my parents. Well that isn’t all bad, just sometimes, and like my father, I get off track and forget what is really important.
As an ontological coach and more important a human, I often fall into the drift of life and forget to take a moment to be thankful and grateful for the world around me. I get so caught up in the details of life I forget to look up and see the big picture. On Sunday our Pastor said we should be thankful for the coincidences in life because they probably aren’t as coincidental as we may think. Perhaps it is the time to look up and truly celebrate what Christmas is really about.
Jesus loves the little children of the world and he calls us to love one and other as well. I am thankful for a little child (albeit not necessarily a human one) breaking my drift and getting me to look back up to the stars once again. We will have a real tree this year and more importantly I will pledge to make people and gratitude my priority for the season and hopefully the year to come. Life transitions can begin in many ways and sometimes we are awakened to our habits and transparencies in life by the smallest of incidents. In this case it was kind of like coughing up a little human hairball.
By the way, those of you who receive a Christmas card from us may find some teeth marks in it. Yoshi had Dr. Fox tell us he wants to sign the cards this year as well.
Have a Wonderful and Blessed Holiday Season!
Julia
Because of what happened with Montecore and Roy Horn of the famed magic act, Siegfried and Roy, we have been asked the same two questions by hundreds of people: “What was the tiger really thinking?” and “Is it humane for animals to be made to perform?” To the first question all I can say is I don’t know. (Who could pretend to know what any other creature is thinking?)
To the latter question, these are my thoughts:
By definition, inhumane is “lacking and reflecting lack of pity or compassion.” To force one’s will upon another for no other reason than to satisfy our own desire to be amused, or our own gain, is to lack pity or compassion.
We are the world’s largest big-cat rescue, with more than 170 exotic cats, and 80 percent of them were from the entertainment industry and former pets. We do something called operant conditioning, in which the cat is enticed to do things that we need for the animal’s management, such as to come lie against the wire so that we can check its ears, or to open its mouth so we can check its teeth. It is a training method that most circus acts purport to use that has no form of punishment but gives a small food reward if the cat does the requested performance on command.
I would be the first one to say that these cats shouldn’t be in cages and in need of medical care, but that is another day’s debate. The learning of the tricks is not the heart of the issue. Most people are not aware that traveling acts are frequently governed only by USDA regulations stating that the cage need be large enough only for the animal to stand up and turn around and that the cat cannot be kept in something smaller than that for more than 60 days. But each time the cat is taken into the circus ring, the 60-day clock starts over again. Many of the cats who come to us have permanent scars on their noses, hips and shoulders from hitting the sides of their tiny enclosures every time they try to move.
The argument is often made that performing animals get fed regularly and get medical attention and a home for life (or until they won’t perform anymore), but that would define life in prison to us. Not too many of us would think ourselves fortunate to be born and bred into a life of confinement and a life of having to bend our wills to that of our oppressor. Cats are the top predator and the most willful of all animals. That is why we are so awed by them and why so many seek to prove themselves superior by being able to command an animal far larger and more powerful.
It is easy to point at profit-driven animal industries and say that they are the bad guys, but it is all a matter of supply and demand. When people become enlightened they will see that every choice we make has an impact on the world around us, and that impact will be good or bad based upon the choice we make.
Socrates said, “A life unexamined is not worth living.” When people truly examine their motives about why they want to see a magnificent animal in a cage or being made to perform, then their choices will become more compassionate. When people look beyond their own wants and desires and seek out the truth about the living conditions of these animals when they are not in front of the public, then they will have pity for the creatures.
People are getting smarter, and they are becoming more aware. I truly believe that 20 years from now people will look back on this controversial question of today and wonder how anyone could have thought that treating animals this way was humane.
Julia
There is a lot of talk going on about what to do with the issue of feral cat population.
Some measures have been proposed which will allow residents to kill what they perceive to be feral cats on their property. This suggestion has caused a bit of a stir, and amongst cat lovers, it is quite understandable. Cats are natural wanderers and a treasured feline may make a mischievous dash out of its home only to find itself hunted quarry in a neighboring property.
There are more humane solutions being practiced right now which entail trapping feral cats, neutering and then releasing them back to their environment (TNR). Critics of this method maintain that the problem of cat predation on local small animal populations still exists after neutering, and that a continuous supply of stray cats are finding their fertile way into these feral communities every day. Thus, any positive gains realized by the TNR program are being constantly negated by the actions, or inactions, of irresponsible pet owners.
There doesn’t appear to be any immediate, cut and dry solution to feral cats except to keep employing the TNR program and educating the public about how to be accountable for their cats. Local laws can be enacted to impose fines on owners whose cats are caught wandering on a frequent basis. Social pressure can be fostered in the form of campaigns that suggest it is absolutely not cool and downright irresponsible to have unneutered or unspayed cats wandering around. This, of course, would not be applied to owners of show and working cats where planned breeding is necessary for their specific breed.
It comes down to the fact that over 64% of U.S. households have pets, and the majority of these pets are considered as family members. Cats are the rebellious, independent members of the family unit. They shouldn’t be left to their own devices nor should they be discarded like disposable lighters. Similar to any wayward teenager of a family, special measures and tolerances have to be adopted in order to get the loved ones through a difficult time in their lives and bring them back into the fold of family unity. Cats are a bit different in that they are “wayward children” for life, however, they can be conditioned to accept a house-bound lifestyle. Having them spayed or neutered (we’re talking about cats now - not teenagers) will help temper their wanderlust a little, and there are some great outdoor “playpens” and containment equipment designed just for the benefit of felines. Some cats can be trained to walk on a leash for nightly jaunts, however, that may not be particularly healthy for you or the cat if there are too many unleashed dogs in the neighborhood.
Do what you can to help alleviate the problem of cats turning feral. The animal welfare organizations and volunteers are doing what they can to deal with the current populations by using TNR, rescuing and adopting of cats. But the flow of new, fertile, domestic cats into the feral communities must be stopped at the family, neighborhood and regional level. This is accomplished through public awareness campaigns, teaching school children about responsible pet ownership, social pressure and individual involvement. It’s a long uphill road, yet it can be accomplished, one or two kitties at a time.
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