Perfect Teamwork

It's been a minute since I've put up a new post, so, to liven things up over here, I'm going to tell you one of my favorite cat stories. 

Perfect Teamwork

Once upon a time, while my husband and I were sitting on the couch watching cartoons on the laptop, I noticed that there were no cats in our general vicinity. This is not normal in my house. Usually you can see at least four without turning your head and five to six if you use your peripherals. Slightly concerned, I leaned forward to look for them.

I didn't have to look far. At the end of the hallway, right before the kitchen, I saw them. Six cats just sitting in a circle. "Ah, the cats are having a meeting." I thought, turning back to the computer as if that were completely logical.

A moment later it dawned on me that no matter how many human tendencies I like to attribute to my cats, it was highly unlikely that they could schedule and attend a meeting. Not only that, but why would they arrange a six cat meeting? Wouldn't it be better to invite the whole household? (Unless of course, the meeting was about Bob and Lola, then it would make complete sense for them to not be invited.) In any case, it seemed prudent to get up and see what 3/4 of my cat population found so interesting.

None of them paid me any attention as I got off the couch and made my short journey down the hall. As I approached the circle, I saw Harry reach out to the middle of it, claw extended, to stab one of these guys:

Photo from: http://www.information-and-facts.com/get-rid-of-silverfish

A house centipede. Disgusting. Harry got himself a good stab in, then D had his opportunity, then little Miss Mona took her shot, all dainty like, and all the while the little thing was running like crazy in the circle, trying to escape. 

Yes, indeed. My cats were very politely going around the circle, taking turns torturing and killing the nasty little guy, one stab at a time. I don't know that any mother has ever been more proud while watching her children share.

You Brought Home Another One? (Part 1)

As anyone who has tried knows, introducing cats can be a difficult thing. The secret is making the introduction as slowly as possible and keeping the interactions between your cats positive. There is no timeline that works for every cat, it depends on their individual personalities and on if your home is set up adequately to house multiple cats. If you've already introduced your cats and it didn't go very well, it's not too late to repair the damage. In this post I'm going to lay out an "ideal" way to introduce cats to each other, as well as give some backtracking tips if your cats are already having problems.

Then someday you'll get to spend your days taking pictures of
adorable cuddle puddles.

PREPARING YOUR HOME
(Best case scenario, you do all this before you get another cat, but these are improvements that can help any cat household no matter how long the cats have been living/fighting together.)

The first thing you need to do is assess your home. If your house isn't multi-cat friendly then you are setting yourself up for failure. To have a smooth introduction and a peaceful life, you first need to check out your litter box situation. The golden rule for litter boxes is: number of cats + 1 and litter boxes should be cleaned daily. Having too few or dirty litter boxes pretty much guarantees cat fights, litter box aversion, or both.

Litter boxes good? Next, your resident cat(s) need a place to mark their territory and your new cat needs some territory to claim as his – for this you need scratching posts and cat trees. (Read about why scratching is important here.) Give your new cat a fresh scratching item, even if it's just one of the lay-on-the-floor cardboard scratchers. Having something of their own to scratch that doesn't smell like the other cats in the home will help you out later on during the actual introduction.

The third thing you should evaluate before bring another cat into your home is vertical space. Like scratching, it's a territory thing. Not having enough vertical space will increase competition in your home and certainly not help your cats get along.

EVALUATE YOUR CURRENT CATS
Are your current cats happy and healthy? Before you bring a new cat home you need to make sure your resident cats are current on their vaccinations and spayed or neutered. Not only do you not want any accidents, but altered cats get along much, much better than they would otherwise. An unaltered male cat would happily kill a new tiny kitten if they were left unattended together in your home.

If you currently have ill or unaltered cats, right now might not be the best time for you to make an addition to your family.

It's hard to believe now that at one time Harry wanted to eat
Damien as a snack.



PREPARING "THE SANCTUARY"

As soon as you walk into your house with a new cat, your current cat(s) are going to know. Even still, your goal is to be as unobtrusive about the new member of your family as possible. Before you bring your new cat home, set up a room just for them.

In this room you need:

• fresh water
• food, as needed (dependant on how you're feeding – free or scheduled)
• a clean litter box
• something to scratch on
• something to play with
• something to sleep on
• somewhere to hide

When you bring your new cat home, bring them straight to this room. Transport them from wherever you're getting them to this room in a sturdy cat carrier. Try to avoid your other cats, this is a stealth mission. Once in this room, open the carrier door and let your new cat come out. If it's a little kitten, chances are it'll come bounding out and ready to play. A mature cat, however, may take a little time to venture out. Let the cat decide when it is ready to explore it's new home and don't try to force him out!

If you already have a new cat and you're having problems, repeat this step (or do it for the first time). It's the first step to making things better and it keeps your cats safe from each other. Not only are cat fights awful to listen to, but they can cause an array of damage – anything from small bites and scabs, to scratched eyes, to puncture wounds that form abscesses.

Lola, circa 2004, after getting beat up by another cat while
I was in the shower. She received a puncture wound which
turned into an abscess that had to be drained with a tube.
Nothing about this experience was enjoyable.



NOW WHAT?

You have a new cat! Yay! Keep your new guy in his own private room, and keep your resident cats firmly on the other side of the door. Do not be tempted to do anything more right now. You might think your current cats will be excited for the new addition, and maybe they will be, but rushing the introduction process will only make it take longer to obtain your goal – a peaceful home with cats that like each other.

In Part 2, I will go through the next steps to introducing cats to each other. Until then, just remember that you can't go too slow with this process. Be patient and make sure you show love to all your cats, not just your newbie!

Importance of Vertical Space

An architect and a landscaper will look at the same street corner and see completely different things, much in the same way that a retailer and their customer will look at a window display and get a different story. Even what constitutes as extra, open, or empty space changes with experience. My concept of space changed entirely after making the move from Nebraska to Chicago. If the very life you lead can cause you to view space in a different way, then it stands to reason that the space in your home looks differently through the eyes of your cat(s).

Cats need vertical space. It is especially important in a multi-cat household where hierarchy is a big deal. Generally speaking, your "top cat" is going to be in the highest spot of your home, where it is easy for them to survey their domain. It's far more involved than all that, and there are plenty of other ways cats display dominance, but elevation is a basic visual cue.



Mona on the staircase.

Some boys enjoying a multi-leveled view.



 

In a home without vertical space, it can be harder for cats to establish who is dominate. Because they are on the same physical level or close to it, the more dominate cat may feel that the less dominate is trying to usurp it's power, causing fights. The less dominate cat might not even want "the power", but without the ability to effectively communicate that, it's left with the standard two options, fight or flight. Fight, and you're left with battling cats who could seriously hurt each other, or flight, in which you have a rather aggressive top cat, and another cat who is scared, nervous, and hiding all the time. Neither situation is a great one to find yourself in.

Cats on every level!

Asses the vertical space in your home. When it comes to cats, that matters far more than the actual square footage. Cat trees are great, and they aid in healthy scratching, but they are not the only option. In my house the cats can frequently be found on the top of the fridge, the kitchen cupboards, on the bookcases and record shelves, or on the crate thing that holds our couch pillows and blankets, as well as spending time on their cat trees. Just make sure you have a few items in your home that are tall, stable, and that have room for a cat on the top of them.

How Grain Free Food Changed Our Lives

The best thing that ever happened to my cat family was when my lovely, little Lola started losing all her fur. I know that sounds bizarre, but bear with me, I'll explain.

We had just moved to Chicago, I hadn't found a vet I really liked (still haven't found one I adore for that matter, any recommendations?) and on top of that we were broke. Husband was still looking for a job and I was imagining a vet with dollar signs in their eyes, wanting to do expensive blood work and tests. Since it wasn't an emergency sort of situation, I curled up on my couch and started doing some internet research.

So many diseases can make your cat's hair fall out! So many nasty parasites! Nothing sounded right though, outside of losing her hair, Lola didn't have the symptoms of Eosinophilic Granuloma or Feline Endocrine Alopecia or any other obscure cat disease I read about. One thing was for sure though, she was itching like crazy and balding rapidly.

When I found the answer it wasn't by reading anything about cats. Instead I learned that in dogs, food allergies can cause hair loss. Well, guess what y'all, the same is true for cats.

We learn as little kids that cats are carnivores. Why is it then that pet foods are routinely made using grains as a primary ingredient? Corn, corn gluten meal, oats, barley, brewers rice, not to mention a dozen other unnecessary things, some of which are truly awful. Felines do not require grain in their diets. Grains are nothing but filler, just something to keep the price low for the pet food companies. They cause allergy problems and obesity, leading to even more health problems. 

The number one ingredient in Lola's daily fare? Corn. This is how I became obsessed with pet food.

Within the same week of my revelation, I met a girl named Anna at a neighbor's grill out. Anna works at Soggy Paws*, a local pet store that sells grain free pet foods amongst other things. She was more than happy to have a passionate discussion with me about what I had recently learned and was super excited to come over and meet my cat family. The next day I went to Soggy Paws, where they hooked me up with samples and talked my ear off. 

So there I was, armed with new knowledge and a bag full of cat food, excited to see if all these supposed benefits were going to pan out. Being the giant nerd that I am, I set up a spreadsheet. In it, I listed each cat, any current or reoccurring issues said cat had, their current weight, and what food they were being fed. (When switching a cats food, most people say to do so gradually, over the course of a few weeks. I've heard different opinions, and don't really think it matters a whole lot, but I followed the gradual rule when I switched them on this. Expect some softer poop, or even diarrhea, any way you do it.) Then I followed up weekly, then biweekly, for nine weeks, reweighing and observing.

HAIRBALLS

I opened up that spreadsheet for the first time in a long time to write this post. The first thing that jumped out at me from the "issues" category was our excessive hairball problems. Daily hairballs, sometimes multiple ones a day! Sly was by far the worst. He had a terrible hack, like a little kitty smoker's cough, that produced a hairball about every third time. The vet had given me a hairball paste and told me if there wasn't improvement we might have to x-ray for blockages. The hairball paste wasn't making an impact at all. By week two of switching to grain free, Sly wasn't hacking anymore and overall hairballs for the household were down to a once or twice a week thing. It was amazing. 

WEIGHT ISSUES 

A few of my cats were fatties. Sly comes to mind, he likes to fetch, but had gotten so heavy that he'd be breathing hard by the second toss. During the switch, most of my cats gained a bit of weight at first. This was due to the simple fact that I was feeding them too much. Once I got their portions under control (and an appropriate portion for a cat is much smaller than what most people think), the lack of pointless grain fillers in their food helped my chunky cats to lose weight (with the exception of Boo, my rotund little pumpkin cat, in which there was no change.) In my slender cats, weight change was minimal. WARNING! If your cat qualifies as obese, then you need to be extremely careful while helping your cat lose weight. Losing weight too quickly can further strain their internal organs causing horrible things to happen or even killing them. Please don't try to help your obese cat lose weight without help. In the future, I'm going to write more about this. You can email me if you want to talk about you fat cat sooner (jenyqueenofcats@gmail.com). I know I should recommend that you talk to your vet, so go talk to your vet, but they are probably going to suggest a low calorie cat food laden with grains, and obviously, I'm against that.




Here's one of those charts to help you assess your cat's weight.
Chart via http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

 
COATS/SHEDDING

An unexpected benefit was that every one's fur got sooooooo much softer. Within the first week I noticed it in Harry's fur. After two weeks half my cat population was noticeably softer. The softness came with a small price - shedding. I've never seen so much shedding! Then, as they continued to get softer and softer, the shedding slowed, and now they shed less than ever. After about two months eating grain free food, Lola's fur was looking particularly nice. It was growing back in, softer than ever, and she was no longer licking and chewing constantly.

Grain free foods my cats really like include (canned/wet) Wellness, Dave's, and BFF (although BFF is primarily fish based, so don't use it as your cats main protein source) and (dry) Taste of the Wild. Honestly, the only reason I feed dry food at all is because it's economical. Wet food is really the way to go. It adds to all the benefits of feeding grain free and even better, it's a great way for your cat to get enough water. Raw feeding is another option, but that's for another day. I feed my cats dry food in the morning and wet food in the evening.

Overall, after switching to grain free, the cats have had fewer hairballs, the overweight problem came more under control, they got softer and prettier, started shedding less, have smaller and less frequent poops, and we haven't had any UTI's (Lola and Harry have both had serious problems with that when on dry and grain filled diets). One of my very favorite things about switching to grain free is that when I bring Lola her evening meal she trills an adorable little song while gobbling it down. It's so precious.  

Look at the label on your bag of cat food. Unless you are already intentionally buying grain free food, chances are it's full of a bunch of crap that your cat doesn't need. Websites for grain free foods usually have some sort of "where to buy" button. Click on it, go get some, your cat will be so happy.

*Soggy Paws did not compensate me in any way for the name drop or praise. Let me tell you though, they are an A+ store, and after working in retail for ten years, I have some pretty high standards for retail establishments. If you live in Chicago (or in Omaha, NE, they just opened a store there!), check them out. (Maybe even tell them you read about them here!) http://www.soggypaws.com/