Hello Cat Lover!
Today let's cover these topics:
Be Kind to Animals Week...
Most Common Pet Mistakes...
Joint Pain Remedy...
Web Sites to explore...
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NEWS FOR CAT LOVERS
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In honor of Be Kind to Animals Week, I'm including the
following information from American Humane Association,
the organization that started the observance in 1915.
This year, Be Kind to Animals Week is from May 4 - 10.
Focusing on children, they've been holding various contests
for the kids and will be announcing winners later this month.
In the meantime, I've summarized the basic message from the
AHA that you can share with others:
Seven ways to be kind to animals
1. Start at home - be a responsible owner. Be sure all pets
have some form of ID, such as a collar and tag, and possibly
a microchip. Get regular checkups with your vet.
2. Donate to your local shelter or humane society. This can
be money, time, or items they need. Call them to see what's
on their list.
3. Teach people close to you about kindness, especially kids.
4. Spay and neuter your own pets first, then help others less
fortunate if you can.
5. Always adopt pets from a shelter, never a pet store. If
interested in a certain breed, check the shelters first as they
usually have pure breeds on hand. If considering a breeder, be
sure to find one that cares about the animals, not just the
money. If they want to "meet you somewhere" to deliver the
pet, watch out!
6. Speak out for the animals. Be a proponent of useful
actions in your community and oppose anything that would be
harmful.
7. Report abuse. Violence to animals usually accompanies
or signals abuse in that home. You might save a child's life!
For more information from the AHA, visit their
web site: www.americanhumane.org.
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Interesting article from a reader (Thanks, Erin!)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24366592/?GT1=43001
Here's my "Cliff's Notes" version, if you want it
short, with my own comments:
The Most Common Mistakes Pet Owners Make
1. Impulsive Adoptions. Not a good idea to surprise someone
with a pet as a gift. What if it doesn't work out? I'll tell
you: another shelter resident. And it happens quite often.
2. Buying from a pet store. Look for pets at shelters,
not from stores. That merely perpetuates the abusive and horrible
breeding mills.
3. Killing with kindness. Allowing a pet free run of the
house and all the food they can eat is not kind. Pets need
boundaries and healthful diets.
4. Focusing on punishment instead of reward. Being angry and
negative harms your relationship with your pet. Reward good
behaviors instead.
5. Treating pets like people. They are NOT people. They do
not think like people. Believing that cats are getting
revenge by peeing on your pillow is a wrong assumption.
6. Not spaying or neutering. Overpopulation aside, altering
improves their health potentials and assures a longer life.
Several forms of cancer can be prevented with a neuter/spay.
7. Not supervising kids and pets. I rescued a kitten from
"death row" after it bit and scratched a toddler that was
mauling it. The parents were going to have it euthanized
for being vicious. A kitten? Vicious? Poor thing was
scared out of his head. He is now one of my affectionate
lap cats.
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HEALTH ISSUES
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Now here's a product to think about:
http://www.petpainspray.com
This web site is very well done and does a good job of
explaining the product. While they focus mostly on dogs,
they do acknowledge that cats can benefit from the product
also. It's primarily a natural remedy for joint pain due to
arthritis, or the recovery period after an injury or surgery.
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WEB SITES
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Go here to sign up for "My Paw Points," but only if you use
Fresh Step cat litter. We use it here as it seems to have
the best odor control of all the litters we've tried.
http://www.freshstep.com/pawpoints/
I'm collecting the Paw Points on the side of the bag so I
can send in for some nice cat products. You might want some
too!
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This is my question and answer page at my web site:
http://www.theproblemcat.com/faq.html
I just updated it with a cartoon I had drawn of me! I
think it turned out cute. What do you think?
If you think you'd like to get one, too, I put a button to click
on, toward the bottom of the page. The company does a swell job and
it isn't expensive, either!
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A SMILE FOR YOU ;-)
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http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/chatnoir/chatnoir.html
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Do you have any interesting stories to share about your
cats? Send them in and I'll put them here in
this newsletter. (Include your name and website
if you have one, and I'll give you a "plug" for
your website. Or, anonymous is OK, too. It's
up to you.)
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If you ever want to review past issues,
here is where they are stored:
https://www.ymlp.com/pubarchive.php?catsgalore
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