Keeping cats healthy diet

I am happy with the diet that I feed my cats now, from a health standpoint. Its not a cheap diet, so from a financial standpoint its quite hard on the pocket. I am concluding though, that feeding them well, will keep them healthy and prevent costly visits to the veterinarian.

Whenever I can, I buy fresh local chicken on the bone which I feed to them raw. I get fish heads about once a week which I boil up for them.  Also, a local organic butcher makes raw pet mince, which the cats like a lot and I know is good for them as it contains offal.  Occasionally, I will feed them tinned food or pouches as a junk food treat and I also buy organic cat biscuits which I give them from time to time.

So, the diet is organic whenever possible and very varied.  They are looking quite good!

At last, I have found some natural flea and ear mite solutions for the cats.  It was a warm autumn last year so the fleas survived and multiplied and were quite a problem. I have been hunting for these natural solutions for a long time.  I especially like the flea control product as it works well and has the most lovely smell, its almost like perfume!

Here is a picture of Zunky. A loving, proud and vigorous feline companion who I brought back with me from Ireland.

Living with Seven Cats

 
Living with Seven Cats  - it doesn't seem like many at all.

 Biggs

I moved over to the UK from Ireland with my seven Cats and two Chickens last year (2012).  I had never intended to have so many Cats, but in Ireland Stray Cats are common and those that either strayed into my garden or I found abandoned at the side of the road, ended up living with me.

One of the worst Cat related incidents (and there were many) that ever happened to me in Ireland, was when a friend found a bag of dead and dying kittens in a river. Only one survived.  This barbaric and heartless way of disposing of unwanted kittens is still common practice in Rural Ireland, even in the 21st Century.

The Seven Cats now living in England live the life of Riley......they have the choice of two homes, a lovely warm stove in the winter, a walled and sheltered garden in the summer and three people who spoil them. I feed them mostly raw food plus cooked fish heads which they adore. I no longer feed any dried food.

The oldest Cat called Biggs, pictured above, who is about 11 or 12, became very thirsty a few months back, rushing to the Dirt Tray often too. Eventually, after visiting the local Veterinarian, I took him to a Homoeopathic Vet about two hours drive away. After about a month of giving him the Homoeopathic Medicine, the problem completely cleared up, which was impressive.

As I became Vegan since moving to the UK, feeding meat to the Cats, is proving difficult from an ethical standpoint. So I am introducing a measure of Vegan Cat Food into their diet - rice and vegetables mixed with VegeCat - a Cat Food Supplement. However, some of them don't like the food at all, so at present I can only take this so far, especially with my delicate older Cat Biggs.  Here is an article about feeding Cats Vegetarian Diets: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=veggie-cat-food

Seven Cats seems like a lot, but on a day to day basis, they are not much trouble at all. You would hardly know there were many Cats here, except around meal times when they climb all over me, or when the weather is inclement and they all come indoors, seeking warmth and shelter.

Cat Poems

http://www.martpoetonline.com/cat-poems/

Tarot Reading For Animals

http://www.emailtarotreading.org/tarot-readingfor-animals/

Cats and Chickens

I haven't written a post here about cats for simply ages.....this is an update about the Cats and Chickens who live with me here in England now.

I moved from Ireland to England on March 1st last year with my seven cats and two chickens.  They all love it here.  We live in the country in a house within a walled garden  It is sheltered and warm and safe for them.  The chickens boss the cats around - even the big neutered male boss cat called Biggs runs away from them when they approach him.  I just don't understand why the word 'chicken' is associated with cowardice, to me they appear to be brave and feisty creatures.....

The cats and chickens were originally allocated a caravan to live in, but as the cold winter months have been upon us, they have all very sensibly, migrated into the main warm house (that includes the chickens who sleep in the bathroom at night)

I am sorry to say that the above Cat Gawain has left us.  I am sure he found another home.....he was away for longer and longer each time.  An incredibly friendly and loving cat, I saw him in the local village on one occasion and he was reportedly seen about half a mile away, on another.  The last time he turned up here and stayed for three days, he seemed very happy and well. I think he came back to tell us all, that he was settled and happy and not to worry about him. I felt, when he left that last time, that we would not see him again.

Communicating With Cats

I had completely forgotten about this site - had got so tied up in other websites.....

How could I have forgotten about blogging about cats?!

I attended another Animal Communication Course with Pea Horsley in April and have been practising my communication skills since then. I love doing this. My cats like this too obviously!! If you would like me to practice my communication skills talking with your cat please contact me at gillian@one-nature.org If you need or want to know how your cat is feeling, what s/he needs etc etc this can be very helpful. All I would need is a photo of your cat and to ask a few simple questions ie the cats age, sex and how long s/he has been with you. I can also communicate with animals that have passed into Spirit.

One of my cats Ginge, pictured above, died on December the 21st and I wrote an article about this very special event on my other site One Nature. You can see there too, how I had become so engroseed that I had forgotten all about this little site.

I will be coming back often to blog about Cats, its great doing this, sharing information and sharing the love I feel for my beloved Cat Companions.

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Its A Tough Life Being A Tom Cat

Well here I am yet again feeding another stray cat. A big Ginger Tom who mews very loudly for food.

I'd heard about him from my landlady as the neighbours were not enjoying his behaviour, especially his habit of spraying around their houses and in their sheds and fighting with their cats. My landlady was threatening to catch him and release him far away.

According to my neighbour the veterinary nurse, who is always giving me some tit bits of information about cats:

Toms patrol territories which can be quite extensive and fight both for territory and for females. When a cat is neutered his strength diminishes and he has to live in between the corridors of the territories of the more dominant males. This is fine if he's a house cat, where he is well looked after and doesn't have to fend for himself. However, if he is neutered and then dumped somewhere strange, there is a big possibility that he will starve to death, as he will spend most of his time living in extreme anxiety trying to keep out of the way of the dominant males.

In the last few months both I and then a friend of mine, found emaciated Tom cats that had contracted FIV. On both counts the Veterinarian euthanized them. This is very sad and it led me to thinking yet again, what a tough life Tom cats can live. I suppose I will have to get this big Ginger one neutered and add him to my lot........

see my other cat blog: catsweloveyou.com/blog