Tag: House Cats

We’re a home made up of three house cats and two humans, reviewing cat products (cat toys, furniture, fur management, etc.) for you. It’s the pleasure of our three kitties, Tinkerbell, Tidbit and Gherkin, to give their unbiased and finicky opinions! We’re talking food, cat toys, cat accessories, cat health, catnip and general cat lifestyle topics that you’d expect on a cat blog!

Sharing Is Caring

Have a topic idea or a general cat question? Do you have the most adorable picture of your kitty? Whatever it is, share it with us on Facebook.

Collars

Check out the shop and find the purrfect collar for your kitty! Be sure to share a picture of your kitty in their Swanky Kitty collar!

Posted on May 20, 2018November 7, 2021 by Michelle Ashbery

If My Cat Had A Dating Profile; Tinkerbell

Basic Information

Name: Tinkerbell
Nicknames: Tink, Tink-ro-bell (her robot alias), Sweet Pea, Mama Cat
Sex: Spayed Female
Breed: Domesticate Short Hair/Barn Cat
Eye color: Green
Fur type/color: Short haired tuxedo
Sign: Leo
Siblings: Yes, one brother, one sister, both younger
Microchipped: No

My Self Summary

The first thing others notice about me is that I’m very laid back, likely asleep at any given time. So laid back that I don’t wake up for loud noises or interruptions of any kind and sometimes not even for mealtime. I’ve been like this my whole life. I know what you’re thinking, this sounds like I’m a catnip addict. Although I am a catnip enthusiast, it actually makes me feisty. I am just naturally more laid back than the average house cat.

I am an indoor cat but I do enjoy the outdoors and try to get out at every opportunity. I often get outside and make a run for it and lay down under the neighbor’s deck where no one can get me. This is why I have a custom made harness and leash that is sometimes imposed upon me. Being outside automatically puts me in a good mood and makes me purr. When I’m not running away, I like to graze on grass like a cow in a pasture.

Other things I enjoy are the occasional game of laser or string but mostly I like to watch TV and snuggle under the covers. I invented Netflix-and-chill. My favorite shows are Friends, I Dream Of Jeannie and Gracie and Frankie.

Other things I enjoy are freeze dried treats, kibble that is small and round in shape, tennis balls, bath puffs,

Snuggling a freshly laundered bath puff

scratching the furniture to make a point, giving kisses, playing with packing paper, laying in front of heat vents, bathing in the sun, my red velvet collar, big dogs (probably from my early days of living as a barn cat and being co parented by a golden retriever) and chin scratches.

My dislikes are baths, fish oil added to my wet food (it’s good for my shiny coat and dry skin in the winter), loud noises, small dogs that bark a lot and going to the vet.

One thing I wish people noticed about me is that I am a sweetheart. People often don’t see this side of me as I am very weary of some strangers, it’s really hit or miss with no rhyme or reason, but I like those with stinky feet the best and sometimes fall asleep with my head in their shoes. The smellier the better. Seriously.

Just lounging…

If you hang out with me, expect an extremely well mannered, delicate, laid back couch potato. I may beg for your food, mostly bacon, cheese and smoked turkey but I’ll do it in the cutest, sweetest way possible.

Posted on May 6, 2018November 7, 2021 by Michelle Ashbery

How To Keep Your Kitty Hydrated; Water Fountains For Cats

We all know that drinking water is essential not just for us but for our best fur friends as well. Pets should have clean water available to them at all times. When I first brought Tinkerbell home, I made sure she had a dish for food and a dish for water. As time went on and we added another kitty to the lineup, I thought maybe there was a better way. After reading that cats are attracted to moving water because in nature stagnant water could harbor parasites and bacteria. This is the reason water fountains encourage increased water intake and why I ventured down the rabbit hole of looking into water fountains for cats.

A Few Things…

Just a few things to keep in mind with all fountains. First, they all require regular cleaning that takes a little more time and effort than just a regular bowl. There are usually a couple pieces that come apart to be cleaned and then have to be put back together. The second thing is that all of the fountains I’ve seen have a filter or two. All of the below fountain have a charcoal filter that needs to be replaced regularly and some included a foam filter that can be cleaned are reused. With that said, let’s discuss actual fountains.

Fountain #1

The first water fountain I bought was fairly inexpensive and made of plastic. I think I spent around $30 and ended up returning it at least twice before returning it for good. The pump was extremely loud and it generally didn’t do a great job. Additionally, I don’t like drinking out of plastic, so why should my cats?

Fountain #2

The second fountain I bought was a much nicer fountain. I opted for the Petsafe Pagoda fountain which is made of ceramic, a larger size and a nice quiet pump. This includes a charcoal filter and foam filter around the pump. This setup is pretty straight forward and easy to clean. I have also found the water pump online, so if need be, the only wearable part would be easily replaceable, which is a bonus. Overall, the maintenance on this (filters, pump if needed) is fairly low cost so I expect this fountain to last a long time with minimal additional cost.

Fountain #3

The third fountain was the American Valley Nature Spa fountain. I saw this advertised somewhere and thought it looked nifty. This one had a separate reservoir to keep the fountain full and claimed to have UV purification. It looked cool with the blue light and the sound of the water was very soothing. After using this for a while, I took it apart and found it extremely difficult, essentially impossible, to clean and the UV purification (which I think is just an LED light) didn’t seem to help keep the internal tubing clean, that is inaccessible. When we added Gherkin to our family, our third cat, the fountain just seemed to always be empty, despite opting for the larger reservoir. Also, Tidbit would knock the reservoir off or into the fountain and end up getting water everywhere. This fountain seemed like a great idea but for several reasons but just isn’t practical for us.

For All Water Fountains For Cats

With every fountain, I found the following:

Cats generally enjoyed it, sometimes playing in the water stream a little
The sound of the water running is relaxing
All fountains required some upkeep with cleaning and changing of filters
They volume of a water fountain was generally more water than an average water bowl
The fountain does seem to encourage more water intake

The Final Decision

In the end, I went back to our Petsafe Pagoda contain for a few reasons. I like that it was made out of ceramic, versus plastic. The fountain itself held a good amount of water and was relatively easy to clean, which was ultimately the deciding factor. The fountain is just simple and straight forward to use and clean. Of course the kitties all like it and continue to drink lots of water and dip their paws in the stream now and then.

What To Look For

If you’re going to make the leap to get a water fountain for your cats, I would say to look for a few things:

good quality materials, for me this is ceramic rather than plastic
easy to take apart and clean
low maintenance cost of filters and possible parts
adding an absorbent mat under the fountain helps contain splashing from anyone playing in the water

The Pagoda cost a little more upfront but is worth it in convenience and knowing that I am able to give the whole fountain a good cleaning ensuring my kitties have fresh water, was ultimately the deciding factor.

Posted on April 2, 2018November 7, 2021 by Michelle Ashbery

When Your Cat Has More Energy Than You; Toys For An Energetic Cat

I am a cat lover, no question about that. I love my cats, however, when we brought home our sweet little Gherkin, we had no idea what we were really in for. Perhaps it’s because it had been 6 years since we had a kitten or maybe it was because he had more energy than a nuclear power plant. Seemingly, the only way to cope was to have a few toys for an energetic cat.

Mind you, I played and snuggled with Gherkin a LOT because he’s a kitten (and because that’s just what I do with kitties) and needs the extra love and attention. Since I have a job, I can’t be with him all day, every day so I had to find some solutions to his endless amounts of energy. This is how I dealt with an energetic little boy.

Toys For An Energetic Cat

Go Cat Teaser Wand – Our cats have had all sorts of teaser wands, feathers, plush, etc. The kitty crew will play with them all but there is something about what’s at the end of this teaser wand. There are a couples options; a bee or mouse and my cats love both. They will play with the bee all by itself. This is by far their favorite teaser wand!

Window Perch – This is great for even the laziest of cats. All three of the cats thoroughly enjoy lounging on the cat perch. They also like sitting on it to watch the birds or whatever else it is that they watch outside. If you have the window space, you have to get one of these!

Feeder Ball – This is less of a toy and an interactive way to feed your cat. This also slows your cat down from gobbling up food, so this too would be good for a larger or lazier cat. The ball has a removable lid which makes it easy to fill with food. The outside of the ball has holes that can be adjusted for the kibble size and to adjust the level of difficulty for your cat. I advise making the feeder ball as easy as possible for the first few go arounds and increase the difficulty after your kitty has the hang of it.

Kick Stick – I was hesitant about this one but I gave it a try and bought a few kick sticks. Their favorite kick stick, that gets a lot of attention, is a large durable denim kick stick with a pocket for catnip. We tried microfiber and plush but it’s this denim kick stick that won them over. Try different materials and see what works best for your kitties.

Automated Toys

Interactive Laser – Again, this is like playing laser with your cat without having to actually be there to play laser. Hit the button, the laser turns on and after a while it automatically shuts off. It also requires batteries but, they last a while.

Interactive Butterfly – Another automated toy that has the appeal of a fluttering butterfly going around in circles. This one is pretty engaging and fun to watch the kitties play with it. This model is nice because the base is wide enough that they can’t tip it over and you can turn it on with the tap of your toe. This toy doesn’t shut off on it’s own so you’ll have to stick around to turn it back off.

Mystery motion toy – This is a cute toy but you’ll need a hard surface, it won’t work as well (if at all) on carpet. It has an arm with a feather at the end that rolls around under a piece of fabric, using random motions. When Gherkin was a kitten he loved this toy so much that as soon as we woke up in the morning, he would run over to the toy and start crying until we turned it on. It’s still a big hit to this day. Yet another toy that could use an auto shut off feature but until they improve it, I will have to deal with it.

Flik Automatic Teaser – This is essentially like playing string with your cat minus the human element. Most important, the cat actually plays with it! You turn the toy on and the string flicks out at random times and has an automatic shutoff. It requires batteries but they last a while so it’s worth it. This is one of our favorites!

Other Strategies

As you can tell, my strategy is play as much as you can and in between distract, distract, distract! I also rotate all their toys and put them away for a little while before bringing the toy back out for play. This helps prevent boredom with any one toy.

Posted on February 15, 2018November 7, 2021 by Michelle Ashbery

How to Make A Bed; A Cat Bed

Occasionally, in my spare time I enjoy a little knitting and might make myself or my husband a scarf or hat. My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was young and then a little later taught me to knit. (Her first attempt at teaching me to knit was a total failure because I just wasn’t catching on!) I am by no means nimble with yarn and patterns are like reading Greek for me. I can count on my hands the number of things I’ve ever knitted or crocheted.

With that said, every time I go to the craft store I see the over sized yarn and think ‘it’s so cool, what could I ever do with that?’ Then I saw a cat bed made from jumbo yarn, I had to make one too!

What You Need

I watched a number of YouTube videos and settled on this video. The woman in the video is thorough and goes at a good pace. Don’t feel bad about watching and re-watching the video, I did too! I used two bundles of this yarn. This is “arm crocheting” so no additional crocheting tools are needed. I also used a binder clip to keep track of my beginning stitch, I found this extremely helpful in minimizing the confusion.

Ultimately, below is the “pattern” (using the term loosely since I can’t read patterns, I certainly don’t know how to write one) I used, consider them my notes, after using the video as a guide. I made the bed larger to accommodate my bigger kitty, ~13lbs and possibly still growing. The first version of the bed was way too small for Gherkin, luckily this is easy to unravel and try again. Last thing anyone wants is a cat bed that no one can fit in!

The Pattern

Row 1 – 3 straight stitches
Row 2 – 3 double stitches (total stitches: 6)
Row 3 – 6 double stitches (total stitches: 12)
Row 4 – alternating 1 single stitch, 1 double stitch (total stitches: 18)
Row 5 – alternating 2 single stitches, 1 double stitch (total stitches: 24)
Row 6 – alternating 3 single stitches, 1 double stitch (total stitches: 30)
Rows 7+ – single stitch until desired completion

The whole bed took maybe 45 minutes and that includes starting over once to make the bed larger. Once it was done, Gherkin could not wait to hop in and do what kitties do best, take a nap! Tinkerbell and Tidbit also enjoyed the new nap spot!

Posted on June 4, 2013November 7, 2021 by Michelle Ashbery

When Cat Food Is Fresher Than Fresh; Refrigerated Cat Food

One ordinary day, during an ordinary shopping trip to the local wholesale club, I found something interesting; refrigerated cat food! It caught my attention because, well, anything cat related catches my attention, but will I deem it good enough for my girls? They’re on a grain free diet, for no reason other than it seems to be the healthiest choice, so my first reaction is always to read the ingredient list. Holy tamole! Not only is it grain free but everything on the list is ‘real’ food and the ingredient list is broken down by ingredients and vitamins &minerals and claims to be lightly cooked and not processed to preserve the integrity of the nutrients. Let’s give this a try!

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