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Basic Training

A Ball of Yarn Isn’t a Safe Cat Toy

  You’ll find pictures of kittens playing with balls of yarn all over the internet, in magazines and in advertisements. It has become an image as classic as kittens lapping at a saucer of milk. It’s very odd though that these two very classic, cute and seemingly harmless activities are actually not healthy. In previous ...

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New Kitten Checklist

  Congratulations! You’ve added a new kitten to the family. This is a fun and exciting time as you get to know this adorable little newcomer. This is also a time when a great amount of learning takes place and your kitten needs you to be prepared so you can start him off on the ...

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Never Force Your Cat When Training

  Over the past few months I’ve had a number of new clients contact me for intercat aggression problems due to having followed some very bad advice. They had received advice stating that the way to help a new cat bond with the current resident cats is to brush all the cats with the same ...

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How Cats Create a Group Scent

Scent plays a huge role in a cat’s life. To highlight that point, here’s some interesting information. Cats have about 200 million scent receptors in their nostrils and humans have about 5 million. Think about all the scents our noses are missing. Your cat’s scent-marking and scent-detection capabilities are always working. An environment surrounded with ...

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Keeping Your Indoor Cat Warm in Winter

  Cats often delight in finding a cozy, warm spot for their naps. It’s a familiar sight to discover your cat curled up in the sunniest corner of a room. As the colder months draw near, indoor cats, particularly older ones or those with arthritis, tend to gravitate toward the warmest spots in the house. ...

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Why Every Cat Needs Hiding Places

  Since the early 1980s when I first started working with clients on their cats’ behavior problems, a big part of my consultations covered the importance of creating an environment that allows the cat to engage in natural behaviors, provides security and strengthens the cat/human bond. The umbrella term for these things is commonly referred ...

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Pet Sitter or Boarding Kennel? Which One is Right for Your Cat?

  Whether it’s that eight-hour drive to spend the holiday at Grandma’s house, or that long-awaited summer vacation, you’ll need to make arrangements for your cat. For some people, kitty will go where they go and for others, reservations are made at the local boarding facility. If your cat could make the choice though, I’d ...

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Cat Fights: What to do When Your Cats Turn on Each Other

  It can be very confusing and frustrating when companion cats who have previously lived together in harmony, suddenly decide to engage in a turf war. In some cases, the cats have lived under one roof with an ongoing degree of tension that has now turned to outright hostility and aggression. Cat parents become understandably ...

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Pam’s “Think Like a Cat” Reintroduction Method

  When you have cats who aren’t getting along and all your attempts at behavior work have been unsuccessful, it may be time to do a reintroduction. If the aggression between your cats is severe or if they can’t even be within sight of each other without an immediate brawl taking place, then a reintroduction ...

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Cat Kisses

Bebe’s  Cat Kisses Many years ago, when I was working with Bebe, a feral cat who grew to become a much loved family member, I struggled with getting her to trust me. I worked with her in a way that would’ve tested the patience of the slowest snail, but I knew the only way to ...

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