Expert: Ali - 8/6/2009

Question
Hi,

I have a 8 week old female kitten, I have had her for about 3 weeks, she is always biting and stratching and i cant get her to stop, also she has a litter box but for some reason she tends to urine on my bedsheets.. why is that?

I got a new kitten who is 5 weeks old male and my 8 weeks old kitty is always growling and hissing at him, yet he doesnt do that to her, he just stares at her and then crawls under something to hide. I've tried telling my kitty that he is a new kitty for us and for her to play with but she contiunes with her hissing and growling at him, and sometimes does it to me also. She is so hyper and my new kitty that is male is always quiet and clam. What can I do with this situtation? Please help me I dont want to get rid of one if this goes on...

Thanks,
Vee

Answer
Vee, Part 3 of your answer

You may find that your kittens really enjoy movies that are specifically designed for cats, the Cat Sitter DVD series. As far as I know there are three videos in this series. The Cat Sitter DVDs all feature great video footage of small prey animals and different wildlife. In our household these videos can occupy our cats for quite awhile. These kitty movies are specifically meant to be used when human caregivers aren’t home. The DVD is automatically set to play on a loop so your kittens can watch their movie as often as they wish throughout the time you aren’t around. If memory serves me there are 3 Cat Sitter movies in all, the first two videos have great footage of birds, mice and other small animals that cats find very interesting. The second and third volumes of the series have scenes of "digital catnip" this is a computer generated bug that flits back and forth across the screen in an unpredictable fashion which most cats really get a kick out of. The third movie is all about fish and features phenomenal shots of fresh and saltwater fish. You can often find these videos in pet supply stores like Petsmart for $14 CAN, smaller independently owned pet stores will sell the videos for as much as $25+ CAN. If you do want to try these videos out with your kittens it’s in your best interests to make sure that your TV is clear of any sentimental or fragile items. In order to discourage the kitties from hopping up onto furniture and generally being a nuisance I’d suggest that you set up a chair or some other sturdy place for the kittens to watch their movie close up because cats often enjoy reaching out and touching their prey, sometimes a cat will even go looking for prey that disappears off one side of the television screen hoping to find the critter‘s hiding place.

In this situation there are a few other concerning factors. Many veterinarians, breeders and behavioural consultants don’t recommend taking kittens from their siblings and mother until they’re 10-12 weeks old. Since both of your kittens were taken from mom well before they were 10 weeks old it’s not unreasonable to expect some inappropriate behaviors - after all their mother didn’t get the chance to teach her babies the basic social skills they needed in order to function appropriately with other cats and people. Cats aren’t like dogs, it’s best not to introduce a new cat/kitten (or other pet for that matter) to your resident cat by simply coming home and allowing the new kitty to roam freely throughout the house. Cats don’t understand the idea of having a new playmate right away, they feel threatened because a new kitty is now intruding on their territory so your older kitten is behaving 100% normally when she hisses and swats at the new younger kitten. In an effort to keep things civilized you need to isolate the younger kitten in a room of his own with food, water, litter boxes, toys and a cozy place to sleep. Just because you’re isolating the kitten doesn’t mean you have to ignore him. Feel free to spend time with the kittens, but in order to reduce or prevent jealousy and resentment between the two kittens it’s important to be fair, your older kitten needs reassurance that you aren’t trying to replace her with the new kitten and the little boy kitten clearly needs some help with basic socialization and confidence so play therapy and cuddles will be good medicine. Once the kittens are curious about each other and comfortable eating on either side of a closed door together then you may find that having the kittens eat facing each other in their travel kennel will help to determine if the kittens truly have accepted each other - if they’re snarling at each other and generally spewing out kitty obscenities at each other then you can keep the little guy isolated for a few more days and try again. Once things are calm between the kittens you can simply open the door and allow the kittens to meet face to face. I don’t recommend that you pick the kitten up and carry him into another area of the house, he needs to be able to find his way back and if he walks on his own that will help to settle him down some and increase his confidence. The average time for introducing 2 adult cats is 2-3 weeks or more, I suspect that you might be able to get these guys introduced and being friendly with each other within 1-2 weeks, but since you didn’t initially introduce the kittens properly they may very well take a bit longer to become friends.

I do my best to keep things as naturally as possible when I care for cats, but I wouldn’t be giving you all of the information if I didn’t pass all of the information along to you so that you can make informed decisions. Given the fact that both of these kittens were separated from mom and their litter mates well before their mom actually weaned them I think that it’s worth consulting an experienced holistic vet for some natural ideas to help bring peace between the two kittens and encourage them to be pleasant and playful with each other. Holistic vets are trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies which may include acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy or massage to name a few. It has been my experience that cats respond very well to the holistic approach, my family vet is a holistic practitioner and she uses homeopathy in her practice. While I wasn’t entirely sure about the effectiveness of homeopathy in cats I have to say that I've seen some truly amazing results with my own cats when homeopathic remedies have been prescribed, so it's certainly worth a try. Cats can also benefit from acupuncture, massage and other alternative therapies if these tools are properly used by a knowledgeable and experienced holistic vet. In your situation I do think that the kittens could benefit from a couple of homeopathic remedies to help bring them back to a calm, balanced state of mind.

In situations where a cat is very anxious I often recommend that human caregivers try out a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which contains a blend of flower essences that help to calm and reassure. I would suggest that you try out the Rescue Remedy by adding 5-7 drops to each bowl of fresh water each morning. You may notice a difference in the cats' behavior and demeanor quite quickly. Rescue Remedy can usually be found in health food/natural health stores and naturopathic pharmacies, you can also purchase this remedy online. Some mainstream pharmacies have begun to carry Rescue Remedy, if your pharmacy has it you'll most likely find the remedy in the section where vitamins and other nutritional supplements are sold. Bach flower remedies are very safe and they are used by many people seeking a drug free approach to deal with issues like anxiety or fear, in fact these remedies are just as effective on human beings as they are on pets when they are used appropriately and the right remedy is being used to treat the condition. Many pet parents and veterinarians around the world use Bach remedies to treat different causes of anxiety or fear in pets. Rescue Remedy is particularly well known and in my experience it's well worth trying in a case where a cat is timid or anxious. Two other Bach flower essences that I think might be helpful for both kittens to receive in their water are Mimulus which helps to alleviate specific anxieties, Elm which helps to promote optimism and  specifically for your older kitten I’d recommend Holly which helps to deal with jealousy and suspicion. If your younger kitten doesn’t begin to settle somewhat and become more confident then I’d suggest considering Star of Bethlehem which helps to deal with his separation from mom and Gorse which helps to alleviate uncertainty. The beautiful thing about Bach’s flower essences is that they’re completely safe, the worst thing that will happen if you give the kittens the wrong remedy is absolutely nothing. It’s important that you don’t give more than 2 remedies to either kitten at any given time. If there are situations where these babies need more immediate results I’ve found that gently rubbing a couple of drops of a remedy or two onto the ear flaps (be careful not to get any into the ear because it may sting some since the remedies are preserved in a solution of grape alcohol.) as needed.

A vet practicing only conventional medicine may prescribe anti-anxiety/anti-depressant drugs which may hide the symptom of anxiety, however I’ve found that it’s in a cat’s best interests to use natural treatments that may cure the anxiety rather than burying it where it may cause problems with behavior or health later on in the cat’s life. Some of these drugs are quite effective when it comes to stopping house soiling, but I typically recommend that a pharmaceutical approach be used as a last resort is because many of the drugs commonly prescribed by vets to control anxiety, inappropriate elimination and depression are small doses of human anti-anxiety/anti-depressant drugs. The use of powerful psychotropic drugs isn't without risk or side effects in cats, so it is extremely important to do your research and make an informed decision prior to agreeing to administer powerful mood altering drugs to your cat. Cats are very sensitive to these drugs so I highly suggest that you exercise caution if you opt to treat your cat with these medicines. Any drug that alters a cat's brain chemistry isn't something to be used lightly - some cats can have serious reactions to these and other medicines so I do believe that it's to your cat's benefit if you try exhaust all of the less invasive and risky options first.

There is a way to introduce a new cat or kitten to a household with a resident cat, unfortunately from what I can tell from your answer it sounds like you brought the new kitten home and essentially expected your older kitten to accept him without question. If your older kitten’s house soiling started after you brought your new kitten home it’s quite possible that she’s upset about the sudden changes in her life particularly if you’ve been paying special attention to the new kitten and not spending much time with your first kitten. Cats feel jealous, angry, frustrated, fearful and worried just like people do, your kitten’s reaction to the new kitten in town simply happened because she’s trying to communicate with you - think of it like this, if a woman has a baby and delivers her second baby shortly before her eldest child’s birthday it would be perfectly reasonable for that child to act up if s/he wasn’t getting the attention s/he’s accustomed to because everyone was focusing on how cute the new baby is. When a child gets upset about a situation like the one I’ve described people understand it, what some of us sometimes forget is that cats are capable of the same emotions we are, your little girl’s reaction to her baby brother may be a direct result of her not getting much attention because everyone is paying attention to the new baby.

Generally cats must be introduced to each other under controlled circumstances over a fairly long period of time. Since these kittens are both fairly young I think that the youngest cat can probably get away with being confined in a room of his own with the usual feline necessities for 7-10 days rather than the 2-3 weeks I recommend for two adult cats. It‘s important to have new arrivals be isolated from resident cats for a few reasons. First protecting your resident cat from any possible viral or bacterial infections your new arrival could potentially be bringing home is important for everyone‘s health and safety. If you feed your older kitten outside the door where your younger kitten is confined she’ll begin to get accustomed to the kitten fairly quickly which means that nobody’s going to get bullied or beat up by the other. Ideally you’ll need to gradually reintroduce the new arrival to his older sister gradually, since the initial introduction wasn’t done correctly. It’s quite possible that you may have to work with the two kittens by having them interact with each other by playing with them together under the door of your younger kitten’s safe room, feeding them on either side of a closed door and generally trying to keep the peace. The next step in introducing these fur kids without things getting out of control is to confine your younger kitten to a travel kennel so that the kittens can see each other, they are clearly able to smell each other and if this second stage goes well you can try allowing the two kittens to interact with each other while you’re home to supervise and increase their time together until they‘re home together and they‘ll be able to play and have a good time together.

As the kittens get older you will need to let them determine who’s who within the feline household hierarchy, sometimes spats are going to be part of life, the kittens must determine for themselves who is dominant and who is the more submissive - I don’t recommend intervening if things stay relatively calm and the displays of aggression are mostly displays, but a certain amount of swatting each other is normal when they’re playing. It’s not uncommon when cats are playing to hear some hissing back and forth, see the wrestling moves that look quite rough and tumble and some kittens may even growl at each other - keep an eye on the intensity of what’s happening, but overall if the kittens aren’t hurting each other things should be fine once they’ve been properly introduced. Some cats will show minimal aggression towards the new arrival and simply attempt to communicate their displeasure by urinating or defecating outside of the litter box. In some cases a cat/kitten already in residence within a household will communicate with the new cat/kitten and sometimes even his/her human caregiver with displays of aggression which may include growling, hissing, biting, mounting, scratching generally bullying the new arrival. Given that your new kitten is likely about half the weight and size of your older kitten he probably feels pretty intimidated by aggressive displays. Cats communicate with one another through body language whether two toms are discussing who gets to mate with a receptive queen or kittens learning basic life and survival skills from their mother. A queen begins disciplining and teaching her kittens almost as soon as they're born and in many cases moms also teach their babies how to behave appropriately with their human caregivers. The first several weeks of a kitten's life are extremely crucial to their social development and if kittens become orphaned bottle babies (as a result of mom's death), they're found in a public place without mom or they're separated from their mother and siblings too early they miss out on crucial life lessons. Your youngest kitten didn't get the chance to learn the basic skills he needs to function well within your home with his older sister and the older female kitten never got a chance to learn basic social skills that may have allowed these two babies to get along with one another a bit better than they have been since they were introduced. Cats and kittens aren't born to understand everything that their human caregivers say to them. In all likelihood your older kitten doesn't know that her little brother is meant to be her friend simply because you said so. Your older kitten is simply responding instinctively to what she perceives as a threat to her territory. There are effective and gentle ways to help minimize or completely stop the aggression between the older kitten and your new arrival. At this point it's important to be patient with these kittens because they truly don't understand what you want them to do, in fact your frustration may be fueling your older kitten's anxiety and frustration.

I suspect that your older kitten’s tendency to bite may be related to the fact she was taken from mom too early. Within the first 10-12 weeks of a kitten’s life their mother teaches them basic manners, important skills like defending him/herself, understanding feline body language and responding appropriately. Unfortunately neither of your kittens got to have these basic life lessons from mom, since you brought these babies home so young it means you’ll need to step in and take care of the mommy role so that these babies learn some manners because the younger kitten may learn bad habits from the older one if you don’t deal with the problems head on.

I’ve enclosed a few reading recommendations on a variety of subjects, hopefully they’ll be helpful and provide you with some further information about your new kittens, the responsibility that caring for them and teaching them appropriate behavior. Nothing is nearly as effective as a kitten’s mom teaching these basic lessons, but it’s necessary because I can tell you from experience, if you don’t deal with these issues now, before the kittens get older you are going to have some serious behavior problems to deal with. It would certainly help to have a good idea what’s happening with your kitten in terms of when she’s biting because that can be a good indicator of what’s really going on here. I do recommend that you consider reading the information on the websites and in the book I’ve recommended, this will help you to become educated about feline behavior and potential indicators that one or both of these babies could be sick. Beyond doing the research about normal kitty behaviors I’d strongly suggest that you consider getting these kittens in for a well kitten check up - this will include a physical exam, your vet may recommend flea treatments or deworming depending on where the kittens came from and how they lived before you brought them home. As for vaccines I’d strongly suggest that you do your research before making the decision whether to vaccinate these kittens or not. In my opinion I see no reason why they shouldn’t receive the first course of vaccines (except feline leukemia or FIP) and their rabies vaccine. I’d suggest vaccinating your kittens with the 3 year rabies vaccine and then discussing whether or not it’s appropriate to continue vaccinating the kittens with an experienced holistic veterinarian after that point. If you aren’t sure whether or not you’ve got a holistic vet in your area it never hurts to ask around or even call veterinary clinics in your area to inquire about where you might find a holistic veterinarian.

If you have ever played with these kittens using fingers, hands, feet or any other part of your body or anyone else has you’re actually sending a message that it’s okay for the kittens to bite and scratch people. It’s very important to stop playing with these kittens using human body parts and substitute toys - kittens love toys like kitty teases, laser lights (careful not to shine these lights into anyone’s eyes because you can do real damage) and you can even play with kittens using ribbon, string or similar things, just be sure to avoid tinsel (can do damage to the digestive tract if swallowed) and remember that playing with strings, ribbons and similar toys should only be allowed during interactive, supervised play time because if the kittens swallow such toys you may have to pay for extensive, risky and expensive surgery in order to remove the foreign body without damaging the digestive tract. If your kittens ever do swallow a string like object it’s extremely important that you do not attempt to pull it out even if you can see it because string can cut through the digestive tract and cause potentially fatal damage.

In some cases nutrition can cause serious health problems that ultimately end up playing a large role in house soiling. In today's world the convenience of commercial pet foods leads many pet parents to feed their pets canned/dry foods. Pet parents have been told for years that commercially produced pet foods are the only good option for our pets and these products provide the safest, most balanced option in terms of giving our much loved furry family members the best nutrition possible to maintain their overall health throughout their pet's lifetime. The pet food industry is a multi-million (or more) dollar a year industry in North America and a profit driven company isn't going to necessarily keep a close eye on the quality of their product. The 2007 Menu Foods recall illustrated a serious flaw in the system; companies that manufacture pet food have few standards or guidelines to follow in terms of what is and isn't acceptable to put in pet food - this means that companies have been and for the most part still are responsible for the quality of ingredients they choose to include in the finished products. In my opinion allowing pet food manufacturers to decide what's acceptable without stringent standards dictating the type and quality of ingredients end up in pet food which is somewhat like a cat guarding a bird's nest - bad things can happen quickly.

My eldest resident cat almost lost her life as a result of eating tainted food during the Menu Foods pet food recall, I was feeding high quality food that was supposedly vet recommended and I learned a heartbreaking lesson the day that my baby girl almost died - just because the label says the food is high quality, premium or vet recommended doesn't mean it's species appropriate or even safe. Over the last couple of years my kitty has required ongoing medical care in order to maintain kidney function and I've lived with tremendous guilt caused by the fact that my baby girl has suffered through hospitalization, frequent blood work, and routine injections of fluids under her skin because I fed her food that was poisoned. I've been left with a healthy distrust for the safety of foods manufactured by a poorly regulated pet food industry or anyone else who stands to profit from my fur kids get sick.

Many vets recommend pet foods that are grain or soy based - the problem with that is that cats aren't able to digest their plant based diets so these foods just don't provide our feline companions with what they need in order to live longer, healthier lives. All cats, regardless of size, species or breed are obligate or true carnivores, this means that all cats must eat a high quality meat based diet. Long before we domesticated cats they had successfully evolved over thousands of years by hunting, killing and eating prey animals. Cats do get small amounts of grains, nuts, vegetable matter and seeds by eating the partially digested stomach contents of their prey, that provides them with vitamins, minerals and fiber to help them stay healthy.

Ultimately when we feed our cats a goal that we should have in mind is how to best meet their nutritional needs. All cats from the largest lions, tigers, cougars, etc to the tiniest house cat are predators and carnivores, they must eat meat in order to maintain their health and meet their needs. There are significant problems with many of the commercially available cat foods, including many of the so-called 'premium' foods - this is simply that the manufacturers aren't bearing in mind what the cats need in order to maintain good health for their entire lives. The most common issue is the use of soy products and grains being used as protein sources, while humans can access and use these proteins cats can't, and what usually ends up happening is that the cat eats more in an effort to make up for the nutrition he's not getting which can make the cat overweight and cause other serious health problems. A couple of years ago there was a recall of all pet foods containing ingredients supplied by Menu Foods, my oldest cat's kidneys failed as a result of eating the contaminated food, but she was lucky, she survived and has almost completely recovered against all odds.

After the Menu Foods recall I was absolutely stunned to see that all of the high priced, premium foods frequently recommended by veterinarians and the often expensive prescription diets meant to treat specific health issues in cats were recalled. At that point I lost a substantial amount of faith in the pet food industry and commercially produced pet foods. I just wasn't comfortable listening to companies that claimed to have the best quality foods or using foods recommended by many veterinarians, after all if your cat's diet causes him to become sick vets make money, if they recommend certain brands of food they get paid by the companies to do so and if the cat ends up needing a prescription diet the manufacturer and the vet get more money. My family vet is an amazing holistic practitioner and she recommended that I check out catinfo.org, this is a website created by a veterinarian in an attempt to educate pet parents about the unique nutritional needs of their cats and the health problems that commonly occur when these needs aren't properly fulfilled. Since we have to face the reality of daily life feeding young kittens the diet recommended on this site may not be practical during the day while you're at work, but you can feed these babies 2-3 small meals based on the diet recommended at catinfo.org and leave a bowl of high quality, holistic dry cat food made from human grade ingredients so that if these babies are hungry during the day they can nibble away on food that's good for them, meets their needs and lessens the chance of certain health problems. If you're not at all comfortable feeding the diet recommended at catinfo.org then you do have some high quality options in terms of commercially prepared foods.

Another important thing to point out is that if cats don't eat as much there are fewer litter box deposits which means that you use less kitty litter. Another advantage of high quality food is that cats are able to use more of higher quality ingredients so the litter box deposits aren't usually anywhere near as pungent, although there will obviously be some degree of odor when you're scooping the litter box you shouldn't be overwhelmed by the odor - if you want to completely end litter box odor you can teach your kittens to use the toilet once they get a bit older and are able to jump up to and down from the toilet with ease. There are books and training programs that will help teach you to toilet train your cat if you want to go that route. Cats have complex nutritional needs. If your cat is fed a low quality food that's sort of like you or me eating McDonald's for all of our meals all of the time, there isn't a whole lot of nutrition in fast food, but it can sure pile on the pounds and cause serious health problems, junk food causes the same problems for cats. Some vets either don't see the problem with these lower quality diets or they're more interested in making money than having the cat live a long, healthy life, either way I have serious concerns about the majority of commercially produced pet foods.

Commercially produced cat foods may vary in price, however price isn't necessarily an indicator of quality, there are many overpriced low quality cat foods on the market. When it comes down to it choosing a pet food is the same as anything else - to avoid buyer's remorse you'll want to do your own research on any food you plan to feed your cat rather than taking anyone else's word when it comes to the quality of the food, ultimately you're the person who will have to deal with the health consequences if your cats eat a steady diet of junk food. I have taken the liberty to include a rather eye opening article that I think somewhat sums up the dirty little secrets of the pet food industry. Sadly although many pet food manufacturers claim that they have included nothing but the best and healthiest ingredients this is usually not the case. Often times ingredients change without notice based on what’s cheapest at that time, especially when you are talking about the cheaper foods commonly sold in grocery stores. I have done my own research into making homemade food for my cats and I must say that this can initially be expensive and time consuming, but once you've gotten comfortable and you have the equipment the price of high quality, homemade foods isn't that high. It is important to be completely honest with yourself in terms of what you have the time and money to do when it comes to preparing your cat's food at home - cats require fairly complex nutrition, getting it wrong could cost them their life or cause some serious health problems.

Since you were asking about kittens I wanted to point out that there is reliable new research that suggests we are over vaccinating our cats and the results are higher rates of certain cancers, auto-immune conditions and renal failure. The rabies vaccine is legally required in most jurisdictions, my vet recommends using the 3 year vaccine to minimize the exposure that the cats have to this vaccine. Much of the new research suggests that kittens properly vaccinated early in life may be immune to distemper, calcivirus, etc for many years or even a lifetime. For the long term health benefits your cats will enjoy you may want to look into cycling vaccines rather than administering them every year. If memory serves me you can check this information out on the University of Guelph website, you may also be able to find additional information on this subject by performing internet searches.

You can have the vet test your cat's level of immunity to the infections we routinely vaccinate our cats against by performing a blood test and measuring the level of immunity, these tests are expensive but they provide accurate information about your cat's levels of immunity. These tests are referred to as blood titers, it's something you may want to consider asking your veterinarian about. Another recommendation that I routinely make is to have pet parents consider looking into having a holistic veterinarian (trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies which may include Reiki, homeopathy, massage or even acupuncture to name a few) provide health care for your cats, this way cats can be exposed pharmaceutical treatments when it's necessary rather than drugs always being the first treatment option. Any responsible & ethical holistic vet understands that there are times when it's necessary to use conventional medicine to treat illnesses, however sometimes the response to therapy is better when a combination of conventional and holistic treatments are provided. As a pet parent of kittens these are all important issues to consider, after all we all want our cats to have the highest possible quality of life and be healthy, happy cats for as long as possible.

There is an incredibly serious pet overpopulation issue that affect shelters and rescue organizations. Unfortunately many animal loving staff working for animal welfare organizations are forced to euthanize healthy, adoptable animals simply because they don't have the time, space or resources to devote to each animal until their forever family comes along to adopt them. The euthanasia rate for cats tends to be much higher than that of dogs, this might be related to the fact that there are so many unwanted cats and kittens, though the overall euthanasia rates for cats is a much higher percentage than they are for dogs. The incredibly high numbers of cats and kittens admitted to shelters in North America (and I suspect worldwide# could possibly be an indication that cats are seen as disposable, another possible explanation is simply that pet parents aren't taking the important and simple step of controlling pet overpopulation humanely by spaying/neutering their cats before they reproduce. Loving and caring for our cats and providing them with the incredible gifts that go along with spaying/neutering them at an early age is an important part of humane, ethical pet parenthood. There are many good behavioral and medical reasons to spay/neuter our cats. Cats that have been spayed/neutered are spared the pain and suffering that can happen as a result of developing uterine, ovarian or prostate cancers. The earlier in life that a cat is spayed/neutered the less likely s/he will be to develop prostate or breast cancers. Unspayed female cats are at risk of developing a potentially life threatening uterine infection called pyometra which causes the womb to fill with pus, if the uterus ruptures and spreads infection throughout the abdomen the cat's chances of survival are pretty low. The only treatment for pyometra is to perform an emergency spay, this procedure is much riskier than a routine spay because the cat is already quite sick which is associated with an increased risk of possible complications while the cat is under anesthesia as well as after she wakes up from her anesthesia. The emergency spay required to treat a cat with pyometra is more complicated and time consuming so it often quite a bit more expensive than a routine spay.

Product recommendations:

Petzyme - enzymatic cleaner meant to clean urine/feces (works wonderfully to clean up vomit on a white carpet too.

Sticky Paws - medical grade double sided tape you can safely apply to furniture and other items you don’t want your kittens to exercise their claws on, works well because cats do NOT like having anything stick to their paws

Scat Mat - this is a mat intended to deliver a small static electric shock to convince kitty that s/he’s in the wrong place

Feline’s Pride - high quality commercially produced raw meat based cat food, they deliver their frozen product packed with dry ice in a cooler type container, they ship in the US and Canada, the food’s guaranteed to arrive frozen if you’re there to receive the package from the courier.   

Wellness, Spot’s Stew - high quality cat food, made from human grade ingredients

Website Recommendations

http://cats.about.com/od/newtocats/tp/topmistakes.htm
http://cats.about.com/od/declawing/tp/reasonsnot.htm
http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm
http://www.calgaryhumane.ca/destructive_scratching.pdf
http://www.calgaryhumane.ca/controlling_undesirable_behaviours.pdf
www.catinfo.org
www.catnutrition.org
http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/aggression_to_cats/sharing_turf.htm
http://www.halopets.com/pet-education/pet-articles/pet_food_what_you_need_to_kno...
http://www.petplace.com/cats/weaning-kittens/page1.aspx
www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter/spay-neuter-top-ten.html
www.cats.about.com/od/reproduction/a/spay_neuter.htm
http://www.shirleys-wellness-café.com/petvacc.htm
http:///www.holisticat.com/vaccines.html
http://www.ora.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online/vaccine-side-effects.html


Recommended Reading

The Natural Cat The Comprehensive Guide to Optimum Care by Anitra Frazier with Norma Eckroate

Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Cats and Dogs by Richard H. Pitcairn and Susan Hubble Pitcairn

Bach Flower Therapy by Mechthild Scheffer

Homeopathy: Beyond Flat Earth Medicine by Timothy Dooley

Stop the Shots: Are Vaccines Killing Our Pets? By John Clifton