Oh, We Do Envy!

It is amusing when you note how often your cats sleep. From kittens to elderly cats, their patterns don’t vary much. It is rather easy to envy them their lifestyle, for when they don’t sleep; they eat, play, groom and rest. It has recently been noted that from the year 1999 our lifestyle pace has increased 20 fold. That is rather believable when you consider the combination of technology and information availability as well as our rather hectic social calendars. As humans we tend to heap up our diaries to capacity, getting as much done, in as short a time as possible, for time is money and isn’t it true to note that we never have enough time. Now, considering our feline friends easy going lives, it is easy to feel green with envy as you yearn for that weekend on a blue Monday.

Matriarch of the World.

Pixie, one reader’s cat, is rather enthusiastic when she wants attention. She is a 15 year old tabby who took an instant dislike to her new owners when she was separated at 8 months from her first adoptive mother, who was emigrating. Pixie was a tiny little thing when her new owners took her, though, her temperament made up for her diminutive stature as she fiercely fought her way into our readers’ affections, biting when you lovingly scratch her ear, clawing when you tickle her chin and attacking for no apparent reason as you cross her path. (This is rather ironic as she is pitch black.)
Is the traumatic adoption the reason for this attitude, or is it just an aspect of Pixies personality?
Pixie had kittens when she was about a year and a half old. They were all pitch black, like her but unlike Pixie, they were much more approachable and loving. Pixie was not the best parent, though she never skirted her duty and kept the little ones in line, she never really showed much leniency and love for her babies. The readers kept one little fur ball and named him Panther. And now, at age 15 and 13 the two still fight and get into territorial skirmishes. Pixie, though, will always retain the title of matriarch, and her son loses more often than not, when these fights break out.
As she matured our readers noted a slight softening in her nature as she was not as aggressive and temperamental when given attention. She, like any other cat out there, demands attention on her terms though. She will come to you when she feels like a massage, whereas if you dare to approach her without consent, she will let you know that you are not worthy of touching her. Pixie lets everyone know, that when you enter her presence, it is an honour, one that should be cherished and revered. In that, she is not so very different from other felines.

Getting to know your new little kitten

Your home and you are all new to the cute little kitten that has just recently entered the world. Some things need to be taken slowly and your kitten will likely set his or her own pace as to how much to explore in their new worlds and their new homes.
At the age of around 6 weeks old kittens are ready to leave their mother. Having been around their mother for the first 6 weeks of their lives kittens have developed both physically and socially to the point that the kittens are able to leave her and cope in a new environment. Kittens adapt quickly to change so long as they have lots of love and attention.
It is very important to spend quality time with your kittens when you first bring them home, show them around and get them feeling comfortable in their new home. The initial few weeks are also vital to you and your kitten making that very special bond that will act as a base for the rest of your lives together.
Kittens need to be able to explore and learn and it is best if you are there with them making sure they are safe and letting them learn with you around will add immense value to the start of your shared bond.

Finding a kitten to love

The suspense in on to see just what type of a puppy the Obamas choose to take with them to the White House. They have until January next year to make a final decision and find the next presidential puppy, until then we will keep you updated as to any news over their choice. But if puppies are not your first choice of pet then you should be looking around to find you next best friend in an adorable kitten!

Kittens will not grow up to be guard dogs but they can be just as loyal and even protective of their owners! The key to having a long term loving relationship with your kitten is to give them the right start to life. This means that if you treat them as best as you can form eth minute that they enter you life you are definitely set to have a friend for life!

Kittens will purr and run around looking adorable and with a bit of training and attention they will even learn to come running to a whistle or call. Kittens really do not need much more than lots and lots of love, which is a pleasure to give when you know that it will becoming back to you!

Breed Profile: The Seal Point Siamese

Marked by their seal brown and near black extremities (that is their noses, paws, ears and tails) and their light fawn velvety soft bodies, the Seal Point Siamese is a cat that looks regal in both colour and physical structure. As kittens these beautiful cats are as adorable as they are elegant as fully grown cats.

Their deep blue, perfectly shaped almond eyes are also one of their most noted and most striking features. It is also not unusual for Siamese cats to live well into their teens and are even known to live into their twenties! Siamese cats really enjoy company and if you are going to be out of the home regularly it is a good idea to have more than one cat – and it is best to get them both as kittens so that they can grow up with each other.

As kittens these beautiful cats may look a little more like aliens than cats, but as they grow up they blossom into elegant, sleek and velvety furred animals that are also one of the most recognizable and oldest cat breeds of all time! From the age of twelve weeks these kittens are ready to enter a new environment as the kittens will have their basic inoculations and will be sufficiently physically and socially developed to adapt to a new home and family.

Kittens!

Your kittens are just venturing out into life and are encountering the world and its realms of interest for the first time. In just the first few weeks of your kittens life you are sure to learn and see first hand the real meaning behind curiosity being so strongly linked to the feature of cats. Kittens even more so than fully grown adult cats tend to let their new encounters ravish their attentions and they are easily caught up in the wonder of anything new, anything that moves, smells and tastes new to them.

Kittens are intrinsically playful and this playfulness is more than just curiosity and liveliness. Playing with you, with other kittens and with a ball, kittens toy or piece of scrunched up paper is vitally important to any kittens development. Through play kittens will learn, they will be able to keep dexterous while strengthening their growing muscles and they will also be able to build up a relationship with you and their near animal counter parts that will lead to strong bonds and good relationships.

Encouraging your kittens to play and spending time playing with them will help to direct their energy, and need to learn, in the right directions. Kittens learn fast and grow up just as fast, with a playful and happy kittenhood you can be sure that your kittens will grow up to be wonderfully reared and loving adult cats.

Kittens! Some things you need to know

Have you recently brought an adorable new kitten into your home? Or are you planning of adopting a one or two cute little kittens any time soon? Well then you will probably be looking around for some help and advice on the best ways to take care of your new and gorgeous family member.

Kittens are generally adopted and weaned from their mother at around the age 6 to 7 weeks. This means that although the kittens no longer need their mother they still do need the love an attention that a mother would give them, so in the first few months you should really spend a lot of time with your kitten, get to know them, let them get to know you and form a strong bond of love that will be the foundation for years to come.

When your kittens are still very young you will need to feed them soft foods. Which you can easily buy pre-packaged as specially made “kitten” food in sachets or tins at your local shop. Also always be sure that your kittens have constant access to clean, fresh water.

And do remember that even with all of the greatest advice in the world on how to care for your little kittens the best and never faltering care is the unconditional love and bond that you and your kitten will come to share.

Some interesting kitten thoughts

Have you ever watched your cat in awe and wondered how he or she manages to move with such constant grace and agility? And if they do ever falter they mystically have an uncanny ability to land upright and straight on their feet. All this sets the cats and kittens apart from any other creature on the face of the earth…but just how do they do it? Well cats are built to sustain physical movement and to do it all with agility and the rightfully coined ‘feline grace’. Cats and kittens have more vertebrae in the backs than humans do and they these bones give them an unusual sense of flexibility and this allows them to twist their whole bodies right around when they are falling, this is a built in instinctive ability and is known as the “righting reflex”.

The cat’s amazingness can also be attributed to their great eye sight. A cat can see about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.
Kittens and cats are also very perceptive creatures and can also ‘see’
vibrations and movements through their finely tuned whiskers.

Breed Profile: Siamese Cats

Siamese cats and kittens are renowned for their elegance and extraordinary regal look. The Siamese cats appealed to the Egyptians for this very reason and were held as sacred and respected animals in the Egyptian culture from the days of mighty pharaohs and beyond.

Their very specific and unique colouring and patterning makes the Siamese cat an unusual and unmistakable breed. The cats have a cream colour base coat that can differ in shade and texture. The points of the Siamese cat, that is their tails, faces, ears and paws are darker and can range from a light brown – notably darker than the cream base to a rich chocolate and dark brown. Siamese kittens can be born looking quite plain in colour, they are often seemingly a plain cream or light brown but their points do take on a darker colour as they grow older. The Siamese cat’s coat also seems to darken with age and the changes in coat colour have also been known to change with changes in their diets.

Siamese cats and kittens are gorgeous animals and make wonderful pets because of both their visual appeal as well their calm temperaments. They can be fussy cats and some are renowned to have what is described as more of a screech than a meow.

Another kittens scam

Last week we spoke about the tragedy of the Cameroon animal scam with English bulldogs, while this affects us very sorely there is another and more horrid animal scam that is quickly becoming a part of the everyday experience here in South Africa. Along with the usual scams another phenomenon that has begun to rise in South Africa is people who stand at robots selling off kittens and puppies. This is not only illegal but is also potentially harmful and very traumatic for the young animals.

The sellers of the animals stand at robots and try to sell of the pets to drivers passing by are standing at the red light. There are obvious dangers implicit in this and a lot of these scams also involve threats that the puppy or kittens will be killed if not sold. The sellers have been known to demand anything from R50 to R500 for the animals.

If you do see somebody selling pets on the roadside or at robots and you think the animals’ life is in danger try to get the animal from the seller – do not put yourself in an awkward to dangerous position though – your best option is to give the SPCA or another rescue centre a call and they will send someone out to handle the situation and rescue the puppy or kittens.

Kimble: Whiskas Mr March!

You may recognize this photograph from a few weeks ago as Kimble, Julie's gorgeous kitten. Well, Kimble is not only popular on the MediPet Blog - he has been voted Mr. March on the Whiskas Kitten Site! You can view his entry at http://www.whiskas.co.za/whiskas_cotm_gallery.php. You can sign up your own fluffy friends at http://www.whiskas.co.za/whiskas_cotm_signup.php and enter the competition to win some delicious Whiskas goodies for your kitty to enjoy. We are all so impressed with Kimble and we can't wait to hear what he gets up to next!

Some interesting kitten facts

Here are some interesting and even some useful kitten and cat facts that all cat owners should know:

• Ailurophilia is a word meaning "love of cats"
• The nose pads of kittens and cats is ridged in a pattern that is unique
to each and every cat, just like that of the fingerprint of a human
• A cat's heart beats twice as fast as a human heart. A kitten’s heart can
beat even faster and reaches from 110 to 140 beats per minute.
• The largest cat breed is the Ragdoll
• The smallest cat breed is the Singapura
• You should not pick kittens or a cats up by the scruff of their neck,
only mother cats can assuredly do this safely
• One female cat could have more than 100 kittens during her life while
she is still breeding
• Sir Isaac Newton, the incredible man who discovered of the principles of
gravity, also invented the extremely useful cat door
• Cats eyes come in three shapes: round, slanted and almond
• The color of a kitten's eyes will change as it grows older

We are constantly learning new things about our beloved pets and some of these facts are incredibly intriguing!

Kittens and their nutrition

Kittens are absolutely gorgeous creatures that are both cuddly and extremely playful. Taking a kitten home with you is something that is hard to resist once you have been caught up in those adorable and sparkling little eyes. Once you are settling in at home with your new little cat you will probably find that you will need to go out and buy foods that are specifically suited to the kittens food needs. A newly born kitten lives off of and gets its nutritional nourishment from its mother’s milk but as the kitten ages and grows its nutritional and food needs change too. Once a kitten is weaned off of its mother and her milk you can start with feeding the young cat specially formulated foods that are made with consideration to the kittens needs. Your kittens food will also be softer than other cat foods and will often be mixed in with gravies or jelly – you can slowly add whole foods to their diet as their teeth grow. These foods are high in the right vitamins and minerals needed for a constant and good development of healthy bones and teeth while also adding together to create a shiny and lasting coat.

Kittens: the Rex Breed profile

Rex Breed profile

Known to be very affectionate cats the Rexes are typically also known to show certain dog-like qualities in their affection towards their owners, they will follow you around and even go after to retrieve toys. Distinctively elegant their strongest features are their long and elegant looking paws and toes which also serves to help make them the extremely playful and agile cats that they are. Along with their agility they are very active and playful cats from their young days as kittens right into their older ages.

Within the Rex breed of cats there are also more specific cat types – some of these are the Cornish Rex, the Devon Rex and the Selkirk Rex. All of which share the trait of short and luxurious fur. Their fur is short, soft and curly and their fragile and soft exterior belies there muscular build and innate strength. The fur is extraordinarily soft and luxurious to the touch, and touching the fur of Rex has even been described as feeling like touching crushed velvet. From early on in life as kittens the Rex is a cat that seeks out constant companionship and playmates. As an owner you will get hours of affection and playtime from a loyal and loving breed.

Kittens!

Kittens are cute, cuddly and they make wonderful pets as they become new additions to our families! And taking care of a new family member’s health and nutritional requirements is not something that should be taken for granted. And with Medipet you can insure your young cat’s health form the early age of just eight weeks.

This means that we, as pet owners, need to be vigilant to our new kitten’s needs. We need to make sure that they are taken care of with regular annual check ups from a reliable vet and that they are generally in good health. You can start taking care of health from home ensuring that your young cat is properly fed – not under or over fed, and that the food that they are consuming is properly suited to a growing cat’s nutritional requirements.

Kittens, like any young creatures need lots of love and attention, and even need some extra special care that older adult pets may no longer need. This means that you should talk to your vet and find out just what injections your new cat needs to ward off diseases and to make sure that the young cat is physically strong and healthy.

Kitten Season

I have recently been looking around for a new addition to my home – a little cat with a bit of personality. I was, however, taken completely off-guard when, to my dismay, the pet shop near my home told me that I should call back in November as it isn’t yet kitten season. Kitten season? Are you serious? I thought that kittens were common all year round. It turns out, though, that kittens are abundant only near the end of September and thereafter: after hearing a few other people talking about their frustrations in finding kittens I decided to investigate this matter further.

The AWS (Animal Welfare Society) in Philipe encouraged me to come at the end of the month so that I could have my pick of the litter, and numerous pet shops in the Western Cape area all told me to call back in a month or two. After checking various online classifieds, newspapers, community handouts and tabloids I discovered that there really weren’t many kittens out there looking for a new home: they were all older than six months, and their owners were either moving or allergic!

Something else that you will have to consider is that you have to be very careful when buying (or adopting) a kitten in a private manner (like through the classifieds) because more often than not these kittens can be feral offspring and might not be the loving and attentive pet that you hoped for. Most adoption agencies will tell you the kitten’s heritage if they know it, pet shops almost always only stock the tamed kind, and private breeders can guarantee you of your new kitten’s pedigree or superior genealogy.

The DARG association, amongst other adoption agencies, breeders and veterinarians, insists that the worst thing that you can do is adopt a pet on a whim. This can lead to neglect and inconvenience, and is often the reason why these institutions fill up so quickly. If you want to get a puppy or a kitten it is essential that you think through the whole thing very carefully and make sure that it is what you want to do. Maybe kitten season isn’t such a bad idea after all – it gives you the time that you need to think about your priorities. Cats and kittens are independent animals, but they still love a lot of attention and a good home.

So back to the kitten season: it turns out that you can get kittens easily from about the end of September all the way through into the next year. That gives you plenty of time to find just the right cat with just the perfect personality to be the newest addition to your family! We’ll be doing a number of breed profiles over the next few weeks so that should help you to make an informed decision if you are looking for a special kind of pet – be sure to check back often!