Cat Talk

Do you have a cat who loves to scratch the heck out of your furniture? Most cat lovers have experienced this at some point or another and while it's not always preventable, it can often be stopped with some ingenuity.

First, try spraying the area that your cat likes to scratch with something unpleasant, like bitter apple spray or vinegar. This will make it unattractive to the cat. Most cats hate citrusy scents, too, so that's another option. You can also cover areas with unappealing things your cat won't like scratching, like double-sided sticky tape or aluminum foil. Be sure to tell your cat, "No!" or make a disapproving noise while the act happens, too. If you wait until the cat is finished he or she won't understand why you are angry.

Next, place a scratching post where your cat typically likes to scratch. This will help encourage him or her to use it instead of the sofa! Once it's a habit, you can move the post and hopefully he or she will continue using it as they have learned to do.

How have you stopped cats from scratching in the past?

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You hear about how you have to become an advocate for your own child as a parent, but the same applies for your pets. Recently we adopted a cat and brought her home to discover not only that she had a respiratory virus (that could easily be transferred to my other pets!) but that they'd had some sort of outbreak and several cats had the same virus at the shelter. Um, what? We are supposed to get animals with a clean bill of health! When we took her back three days later (we called on the second day and they said to wait a day), they tried to charge us hundreds of dollars to get her well again. It felt as if they'd given us a sick cat and made US pay for her treatment as a scam.

Thankfully we sorted it out this week and found out that the doctor was new and unaware of the policies of caring for a cat that was still sick after just days of being adopted, and the director thanked us for giving the cat her treatment and paying for what we could. On one hand, of COURSE we're going to do that. (She said some people would just bring the animal back). On the other, you don't adopt out sick animals only to profit off their medicine, either. Some persistent calling and writing got us our answers (and reimbursement) but who knows what others have experienced?

When have you ever had to be an advocate for your pet? How did it go?

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Let's begin by saying we don't rescue cats, or dogs for that matter. If you adopt a cat or dog, you paid for it. You did not save it from a trap, an alligator's mouth or a hoarder's neglect. If you did those things directly, yes, you can make the claim that you rescued the animal. How many people who adopt kids say they rescued the kid as a part of a conversation starter?

When you do adopt cats, where is your go-to place? Hopefully it's a shelter that provides neutering services and not a breeder or pet store, unless the store works with a shelter to help find homes for strays. We usually visit the Humane Society for our cats, although we did take some stray siblings we found once, too. We didn't take them to the HS to get spayed only because it's a drive and our vet was closer, but the HS usually has some pretty low-cost services that you can use to make sure your pets are healthy and non-reproducing!

Want to point other people in your area to the best adoption services? Share where you like to go in the chat.

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Hairless mammals are perplexing. Sometimes you look at them and you just wonder, "How do I cuddle you?" Cats are for petting! Sure, you can pet a hairless cat, but don't you miss the fluff?

Sphinx cats are not actually hairless, though. They have teeny, tiny fine hairs that are silky when touched. So while the tactile sensation can still be pleasant, there's still the visual to contend with. All creatures are beautiful in some way, right? Some people love hairless animals and others don't want anything to do with them.

Hairless cats aren't a natural phenomenon. They were selectively bred to look like that less than 100 years ago, during the 1960s. The cool thing about them is that since they're cold, they do tend to want to cuddle more for body heat--but that's pretty cruel, too. Why breed a cat without a coat to be cold?

Do you like pets without fur? What do you think of Sphinx cats?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia