With more and more kitties living strictly indoors, boredom is becoming a big problem for them.  Outside, our cats climb, stalk, scratch, and explore, which is normal for them.  However, many indoor cats are chastised for doing these things in the house.  This may lead to frustration, boredom, compulsive behaviors, and depression.

If we choose the indoor life for out cats to keep them safe, it’s up to us to create an interesting environment for them.  Just putting up a bird feeder outside a window, to which the cat has easy access, will greatly improve the quality of life for him or her.   And there’s just no substitute for twice a day interactive play to increase happiness in our cats.  Just 5-10 minutes twice a day can do wonders.    This small investment of time will vent the pent-up energy that builds up each day, help the cat sleep at night and not disturb you, and will be greatly beneficial to their strength and overall health.

I really like the feather toy called “Da Bird.”  Its patented swivel component makes the feathers REALLY look like a bird flying.  Cats go nuts for this.  I’ve rarely seen one able to resist it.

Whatever kind of  interactive toy your cat likes, be sure to make a few minutes daily for him/her that will make a huge payoff for your kitty’s quality of life.

Laura Speirs, Feline Behavior Consultant

It is well known in the veterinary community that an aggressive tumor (fibrosarcoma) may result from any vaccine at its injection site.  Because of this veterinarians have standardized placement of each commonly-used vaccine to track the incidence of this cancer in each vaccine.

It is most seen in leukemia and rabies vaccines.  Incidences range from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000.  This risk seems minimal, but enough cats (including one of mine) have developed this largely untreatable tumor and have died from it, to have created much concern and many reports in the veterinary literature.

Please discuss judicious use of vaccines with your veterinarian.  Current guidelines on vaccines from the American Association of Feline Practitioners are on their website.  Also, educate yourself about which vaccines are required by your county.  In the Portland, Oregon area, only Multnomah County requires a rabies vaccine in cats.

Laura Speirs, Feline Behavior Consultant

I’ve been noticing in recent weeks a distressing decline in the quality of cat foods we thought were of good quality.  I am guessing this is an economic choice by the makers of pet foods.  Rather than name the names of the foods that have changed, I’d recommend you check what’s in your own kitty’s diet.  The acceptable foods’ ingredients should list the first two ingredients as some kind of meat. There should be no corn or by-products on this list.  Looking only at the protein content can be very misleading.  Please don’t trust that!  The protein source should be from MEAT, which cats must eat in order to thrive.  If the first two ingredients on the list are meat and the total protein content is over 35%, you can feel good about the food you’re feeding your cat.

Laura Speirs

Feline Behavior Consultant

Greetings!  I’ll be blogging regularly on various topics related to cats.  If you have questions or would like me to discuss a certain feline topic, let me know.

Did you know that a cat’s most important senses are its sense of smell (40-100 times greater than humans’) and its hearing (5 times greater than a human’s) ?  Because of the old wives tale that cats can see in the dark (they can see in dimly lit surrounds, not true darkness), people believe their sight is most important.  It definitely is not.

So remember this if you don’t think scooping the litter box daily is important and when you’re playing loud music.  Your kitty will thank you for your consideration!

Laura Speirs, Feline Behavior Consultant