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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

How Cats Hear, See, and Feel

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes In a previous post I talked about how cats’ very different senses mean they do not experience the world the same way we do. That is certainly true for a cat’s superior sense of hearing. Cats can hear a mouse squeaking underground or a cockroach scurrying inside the wall. Their amazing ears enable them to […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Scents and Scentsability: Feline Senses of Smell and Taste

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Reading Time: 3 minutes The way our cats experience the world is different from the way we experience it, because their senses are tuned differently. We know a lot about feline senses, but all that knowledge gives only tantalizing clues to how they perceive their world. We can’t know what it feels like to be a cat. Still, these […]

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Cats Life at Home

Fat Cats Are No Joke

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Want your cat to be healthier, more active, live longer, and interact more with you? There is a “magic formula” for that—a healthy weight. Fat cat memes are pretty funny, but feline obesity is no joke. Depending on which study you read, somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of housecats in the United States are […]

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Cats Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

When Cats Grieve: How to Help

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Grief is the price we pay for love. When one of our cats dies, we have lost a beloved family member, and we feel it deeply. We may lose sleep, lose our appetite, spend more time alone, or spend more time seeking comfort from others. Our routines feel off, because they included the cat who […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Cats Don’t Share. Here’s Why

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Reading Time: 3 minutes There may be nothing on earth cuter than two cats cuddled up in the same cat bed. But while those particular cats may be willing to share a bed, that doesn’t mean they’re okay about sharing everything. Cats don’t actually share well. The reasons for that have as much to do with territory as they […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Choice: What It Means for Cats

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Our cats rarely get to choose for themselves when it comes to the really important stuff. We decide what the cats will eat, where, and when. We pick the litter box and determine where to put it and what litter to use. We select all the cat furniture, from the scratching posts and pads to […]

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Cats Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

Consent to Touch? Cats Require It, Too

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Reading Time: 3 minutes How many times have you heard a cat person say, “Kitty likes to be touched, but only on her own terms.” They say it somewhat unkindly, as if it’s proof their cat is a diva. If we’ve learned anything from the #MeToo movement, it’s that nobody likes to be touched without consent. Yet we still […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Cat Play the Right Way: 7 Mistakes to Avoid

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Nature designed cats to be efficient little predators and to hunt even when they’re not hungry (because who knows when the next meal will scamper by?). Play is the indoor cat’s version of hunting. It’s an expression of a host of hardwired feline behaviors. Cats who do not use their minds and bodies in natural […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Other Training & Grooming

What Martinis and Chocolate can Teach You About Overcoming Your Pet’s Fears

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Fear is a powerful emotion. It takes a lot to overcome it, in dogs and cats as well as humans, but there are some techniques that can help. I am afraid of spiders. Granted, there are species of spiders than can pose some danger in certain situations, but I live in a big city with […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

How to Feed a Cat–Naturally

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Reading Time: 4 minutes How cats eat plays a pivotal role in their day-to-day satisfaction with life. Here’s what to know about letting them eat the way nature intended. The cat hears the rustle of grass and the ultrasonic squeak that tells her there’s a mouse nearby. Her ears swivel to home in on the location of her prey. […]