Hello Furiends,
I hope your week has gone well and that this week’s feline news report finds you healthy and happy.
We actually had sunshine this week. I must say though, I was a bit annoyed by the laughter from The Human when she came in the office and saw me soaking up some vitamin C. Seriously, I have no idea what she found so amusing.
Lily is still adjusting to the change in the Tribe and the loss of Tucker. She is a tiny little feline and she hasn’t been eating so The Female Human went to talk to the people in the white coats about this. She came home with some food called Hills AD Diet for cats and dogs. Now I’ve never heard of a food for cats AND dogs but evidently this is what they give patients when they are not eating well. And I must say it works! Lily is eating again and perking up, even coming over to get her “before bed treats”.The hardest part of this is keeping the stuff away from Oliver who needs no appetite stimulation!
The Female Human was a little stressed out about Tucker’s sister Jasmine after Tucker crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She took Jasmine to have her blood work done and her regular wellness check. Well guess what….Jasmine’s kidney numbers are lower than when she was first diagnosed with kidney disease. Meowza, you should have seen our Human doing the happy dance.
Oliver misses the big guy too so he spends some quality time with The Female Human in the evening. He’ll even hang out with her when she has a glass of wine on the weekend (note, Oliver does not drink wine)
And, as far as the problem with Oliver and I giving Lily a bad time…..things haven’t changed too much but it seems lately Lily is standing up for herself more.
Well, that’s all the news about the Tribe, now, on to the news!
What’s the best music for reducing cats’ stress levels?
A few years ago we opined about cat music on our website (yes we have a website in addition to this blog that our Purrsonal Assistant does not promote enough). We have mewsic at our house and we quite like it. The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery recently reported on the stress-lowering effects of music in cats. This study says that classical rather than pop or heavy metal soothes felines best….well DUH! I don’t think you need to be a scientist to figure that out!
Now they did dig a little deeper and said that cat-specific music with ‘melodic’ lines based on cat vocalizations (like purring) sooths us. We also purrfer frequencies similar to feline vocal ranges, which are two octaves higher than those of humans.
These scientists studied 20 domestic cadts, playimg 20 minutes of cat-specific music, classical music or no music at random veterinary visits 2 weeks apart. They used cat stress scores (checking the feline’s body posture., ear placement, etc.) as well as how the cat’s responded to being handled. They drew blood samples to mark the physiological stress levels.
And what did they find out? Cat specific music might indeed lower stress levels. Now, I don’t want to sound snarky here but when this scientific study ends with, ““[C]at-specific music may benefit cats by decreasing the stress levels and increasing the quality of care in veterinary clinical settings.” I’m not impressed. Even our Female Human knows that our cat mewsic may calm us down but at least I give the researchers an “A” for effort. You can watch the videos on our website and come to your own scientific conclusions as to whether we were less stressed when listing to our Music for Cats album.
Miau Miau Clothing Company- shopping with a purpose to help homeless cats
Any company whose motto is, “life is better with cats!” is my kind of company! The company’s founder began this company after being inspired after she rescued a litter of kittens and their mother a few years ago. That rescue experience made her realize that there are thousands of cats and kittens who are not as fortunate as the ones she rescued. The company values are: Improving the Lives of Homeless Cats and Kittens – Advocating for Animals and their Rescuers – Compassion – Making a Difference.
Now who wouldn’t love to do business with a company like that! The Female Human loves their clothes and is going to order the pink hoodie. They have lots of great stuff like a “Cat Daddy” bottle opener, pawsome pins and bags, hats, jewelry and goodies for the felines in your life.
Boris the Yoga Cat
Every time The Female Human gets out h er yoga mat, Oliver and I head on over to snoopervise (well I snoopervise, Oliver splays himself out on the mat) and she gets her whiskers in a twist and shoos us away. Now that I’ve found Boris. the yoga cat I’m going to make a case for us doing yoga with our Human. If you check out Boris’ Instagram you will see there is not a pose that can’t be done with a kiitty!
11 Secrets Your Cat’s Tail Is Trying to Tell You
I don’t think you humans pay enough attention to our tails as they can tell you a lot. I’m not going into all 11 of the tail signs but I will highlight a few. You can read about all of them here.
Straight Up: When we stand with our tails straight up, pointing at the ceiling, it means we are happy, confident and willing to be friendly so come on over and give us a pet!
Fuzzy Tail: Well, that’s what we call it at our house. It’s when our tails get fuzzed up 3 times their regular size. If we are startled, scared or feeling threatened we will floof ourselves out to appear as big as possible. Trust me, you don’t want to pet us when are tails are fuzzy!
The Fast Flicking Tail: When you see us flicking our tails from side to side, the message we’re sending you is that something is wrong. It can be fear but it can also mean we are annoyed or reacting to something we don’t like.
The Slow Moving Gentle Tail Flick: This means we are zeroed in on something, that we’re very focused. We may be getting ready to pounce on a toy, another cat or a mouse. Basically it’s showing our intention to make a move.
I’ll let you read about the rest of the tail signals for yourself. Just remember, we are telling you a lot with our tails!
Your Cat Actually Has a Legit Reason For Getting Hyper Every Night at Bedtime
Evidently, the fact that we get the zoomies at night is not because felines are nocturnal. Shelly Zacharias, DVM, VPM and vice president of Medical Affairs at Gallant, in an interview by POPSUGAR, said that cats are actually crepuscular, meaning their waking hours are at both sunrise and sunset.
Well that information is all well and good but our Female Human wants to know how to keep us from waking her in the middle of the night with our antics. Some suggest that you humans play with us before bedtime. Also, some interesting toys for us to play with while you are sleeping will help keep us busy.
If you have any foodaholic felines in your house (I shall not name names) you might want to consider splitting the evening meal in two. Feed us one earlier in the evening and the other one right before you go to bed. This is supposed to keep us from bugging you for food but evidently ,the expert that suggested this has never met Oliver.
They also suggest puzzle feeders. I don’t know about the rest of you felines out there but The Female Human tried that on us. We quickly let her know we do NOT work for food.
The article also suggests that you humans ignore us if we wake you up. That might work for some but when you suddenly find a 17-pound feline on your chest, your desire to breathe will take over your desire to ignore us.
Our Female Human has decided that the best remedy for our nighttime zoomies is to close her bedroom door (and then prepare herself for the havoc she sees in the morning). MOL
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