Almanac.com Pets Blog

Choosing a Cat Food

Elizabeth Creith — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:48:23 +0000

There’s a lot of competition for the cat food dollar out there, with advertising featuring everything from pampered Persians eating a pâtélike food from crystal dishes to dancing cats. How do you know what’s best? Here are some criteria for judging pet food, as well as some notes on healthy nutrition for cats:

1. Short ingredient list. Whether you buy your food in a pet store, in a grocery store or at a farm co-op, a good rule of thumb is to look for a short ingredient list. More ingredients don’t always mean better nutrition. The longer the list, the more likely it is that a greater number of ingredients are chemical additives or preservatives. If you can’t pronounce what’s in the food, the chances are that your cat is better off without it.

2. Meat from a named animal as the first ingredient. While dogs are omnivores (“everything eaters”), cats are obligate carnivores, a fancy phrase that means that they need to eat meat. On a pet food label, “meat,” unfortunately, can also mean things like road kill or euthanized pets, so look for a specific animal, like lamb, chicken, or fish. If you see the phrase “meat by-product,” put the bag back. This means the leftovers after the meat has been removed. Protein in cat food should be in the 30 percent range or higher. Check for soy products and avoid them. The addition of soy raises the protein reading on a food and may make it look like it’s providing enough protein to the animal. While a very carefully balanced vegetarian diet might give a cat what it needs, soy protein all by itself is not assimilable by cats.

3. No grain and, most especially, no corn. Corn is sweet and fatty, and even carnivores like cats will eat it. However, it provides little to no assimilable nutrient for the cat. Why is it included? Because as a commodity, it’s usually inexpensive and will keep production costs down while increasing palatability.

4. Where possible, buy food made from domestic ingredients. A few years ago, dozens of pet foods—even some sold by veterinarians—were affected by the melamine scandal. Melamine, a plastic, was added to grain produced in China for pet food made in North America. It artificially raised the protein reading on the food, adding perceived value, but it didn’t actually increase accessible protein. Worse, it was highly toxic and ultimately killed hundreds of pets. While it’s difficult to be certain of the safety of everything, the regulations in North America around pet food production are much more stringent than in some other parts of the world.
The one additive you can get behind is taurine, which is essential for the health of the cat’s eyes, heart, and nervous system and is found in meat and seafood. Unfortunately, cooking destroys it. In nature, a cat eats the whole raw animal—except for the green, wobbly bit, which exists to be left on the floor for people to step on—so it gets its taurine without a supplement. As we cook cat food, however, taurine needs to be added back in.
Low ash content in a cat food will help to prevent bladder stones and urinary blockages. Eight percent or below is ideal, and the lower, the better, all other things being equal.

5. Be skeptical of the necessity of the many, many different foods that are produced. Years ago, there was a focus group about cat breakfast foods, in which many people were enthusiastic about buying their cat different foods for breakfast, lunch, and supper. Some swore by Special Sealpoint Siamese Dental Health Blend, or whatever their specialty food of choice was. Not necessary.
Whether you have longhaired or shorthaired cats, indoor or outdoor cats, purebred or barn cats, all of them can be fed by the same rules and do equally well. You’ll find few hairballs. Good food, good grooming, regular shots, and the occasional homegrown mouse seem to be all that they need.

6. A good dry cat food will give your cat good nutrition. Wet or moist foods may also do so, but there are drawbacks to them. They cost much more per pound, and more of that weight is water. Soft food also sticks to teeth and is more likely to produce tartar buildup. You can use wet cat food for weaning kittens that are just learning to eat or for older cats that are having trouble getting enough dry cat food to keep on enough weight. If you choose to feed your cat wet foods, keep the principles in #1–#4 in mind when checking for quality.

It’s not crystal dishes or dancing cats that determine the quality of your cat’s food. It’s not even price; one well-known and quite expensive brand of cat food has corn as its first—and therefore largest-volume—ingredient.
Read labels. Spend a few minutes online checking into your favorite brand and asking questions. Maybe you’ll spend a few more dollars—or maybe you’ll save a few. Either way, your cat will be happier and healthier for it.

A Glossary of Catspeak

Elizabeth Creith — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:25:13 +0000

You, too, can understand what your cat is saying—and even talk back in a way that the cat can understand.
Because most of an animal’s speech is body language, posture, and gesture, the key to understanding your cat is learning to read her body language. Vocal speech, in the sense of sounds with a particular meaning, also exists, but is secondary.
Most of the “words” in this glossary exist in combinations rather than singly. Thus, a cat with slitted eyes and ears hard down will probably also be arched or tense, whereas a cat with narrowed eyes and ears slightly down and to the side may also be purring and will be relaxed.

Ears

Ears hard forward—The cat is alert, interested, ready to move. If you’re holding your cat and the cat suddenly looks at something and pricks her ears forward, she may be getting ready to jump, either to pounce or to run.
Ears forward but relaxed—The cat is also relaxed, aware of her surroundings but not alarmed.
Ears slightly down and to the side—Usually seen when the cat is very relaxed and happy. Eyes will be closed or slitted; the cat is usually purring.
Ears back but not flat—The cat is agitated, threatened, may jump or run away. The cat may also hear something behind it.
Ears flat back on head—The cat is angry, threatened, frightened; may scratch if cornered.

Tail

Tail high, relaxed, waving—The cat is relaxed, happy, confident.
Tail trailing behind body but not held low—The cat is relaxed but alert.
Tail held low—The cat is cautious; it may be looking for a safe place, especially if the body is also held low to the ground.
Tail bristled—The cat is fearful or aggressive; other body cues will tell you which.

Body

Body relaxed, soft, feet tucked under or kneading—The cat is relaxed.
Rolls on back—The cat is very relaxed, trusting. A cat does this when it is absolutely confident of safety. It may also be asking you to play or rub its stomach.
Back arched, cat on toes, standing sideways-on—The cat is fearful and may fight, but will probably run.
Back arched, cat standing face-on—The cat is aggressive and will almost certainly fight.

Eyes

Eyes wide—The cat is alert. Other cues will tell you if the cat is relaxed or threatened.
Eyes narrowed—The cat is alert, but may be fearful or aggressive. Look for other cues.
Eyes slitted or closed—The cat is relaxed.
Pupil dilation is also important—Wide pupils can signal high interest, excitement, or possibly fear or aggression.

Whiskers

Whiskers hard forward—The cat is alert, interested, perhaps sees a threat, prey, or food.
Whiskers back—The cat is calm, relaxed.
Whiskers bristled—Usually seen with other cues that indicate fear or aggression.

Voice

What does the cat say? “Meow”—but only when she is speaking to her human! As a rule, cats don’t meow at each other, although they have a range of vocal signals. Kittens mew loudly when they’re hungry or frightened, but once they’ve stopped being dependent on their mother, they also stop this kind of calling behavior. Adult cats do have several vocal signals. When you hear your cat meowing, she is talking to you.

Hiss—This is fear and threat. The cat is saying, “Back off.” Depending on how confident the cat feels or whether it is in its own territory, she may fight or run. You can use the hiss to tell your cat to stop doing something—this will get her attention and usually stop the behavior.

Yowl—This is a step up from the hiss and is definitely a threat. The sound is “wow-wow-wow,” but modulated: “woOOOowwwoooOOOoowwwooOOOoow,” with the middle of each “wow” rising both in pitch and volume. A cat making this sound is getting ready to fight and may scratch if you try to touch her. Use the yowl to move a strange cat off your property. Yowling can also indicate discomfort or emotional upset. A smothered or muffled yowl may indicate a hairball coming up.

Purr—The jury is still out on precisely how the purr is produced. It may be a vocalization, or it may be produced by some other means. However it’s produced, this is a multipurpose sound. The purr usually indicates relaxation, trust, and well-being, and a cat may purr itself (and you!) to sleep. A nursing mother will purr while the kittens nurse, and they purr along with her. This seems to be a bonding and reassuring sound related to the later adult “relaxed” purr. Adult cats often purr while grooming each other.
Occasionally, a cat will insert a trilling sound into the purr. You usually hear this when you’re holding and petting the cat, not when the cat is simply purring to itself or another cat. This is referred to as “singing.”
Cats also purr over prey. There is a theory that the purr acts as a hypnotic on the prey animal and reduces its struggling.
Finally, an injured cat will sometimes purr, but the purr is deeper and raspier and quite loud. While the relaxed purr, the nursing purr, and the trill are accompanied by kneading, the prey purr and the pain purr usually are not.

Chirp—This is an abbreviated sound, “prrt” or “prrt?,” almost like a purr cut short. It usually happens as a greeting between cats that know each other well. Cats will also sometimes use the chirp to respond to a human voice.
Some cats do a chattering sound, very soft and sometimes accompanied by a silent or almost-silent meow. They usually do this when they’re frustrated by seeing prey that they can’t get at, like that squirrel dancing in front of the window.

Gesture

Finally, cats make a number of very communicative gestures.

Kneading—This is a holdover from kitten behavior. A nursing kitten kneads its mother’s belly to promote the flow of milk. An adult cat may knead a person who is holding it to indicate contentment. If the cat’s claws are sharp, this can be a painful experience! A contented cat will sometimes extend and curl its toes (and extrude and withdraw its claws) while it’s purring, even if there’s nothing to knead.

Nose-rubbing—A cat that rubs its nose and cheek on you is marking you and indicating that you belong to it.

Arching—A cat that arches against you, sometimes even standing up on its hind feet, is asking for attention and wants to be petted or even picked up. A cat that flops against you is indicating trust.

Head butting—If your cat butts the top of its head against you, this is affection, pure and simple.

Grooming—Occasionally, cats will groom their people and may even bite gently. This is a variation on parent behavior, where an adult cat grooms a kitten and sometimes takes it gently by the nape to make it hold still. Cats will sometimes carry this affectionate behavior to the extent of rasping the skin away, so interrupt it before it gets to that point!

This is not an exhaustive glossary, but by paying attention to the rudimentary vocal and gestural vocabulary of your cat, you’ll more easily be able to figure out what she is telling you—and less likely to be scratched!

Three Ways Not to Kill Your Fish

Elizabeth Creith — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:44:20 +0000

As a pet store owner, I deal with a lot of questions about people’s pets. Every week, I take at least one call from someone whose fish—or whose child’s fish—keep dying. Many fish die because their owners don’t know about three very easily solved problems: overstocking, overfeeding, and overcleaning.

Overstocking
For every gallon of water in a tank with a filter, you can keep 1 inch of slim-bodied fish or 1/2 inch of fat-bodied or deep-bodied fish.

Slim-bodied fish include comets (slim goldfish), neon tetras, guppies, mollies, swordtails, and bettas (Siamese fighting fish), among others.
Fat-bodied fish include fantail or other fancy goldfish and many catfish. Deep-bodied fish include angelfish, discus, and silver dollars, among others.

Fish produce waste, which breaks down into ammonia. In a filtered tank, there are bacteria that digest the ammonia and produce nitrites. Other bacteria digest the nitrites and produce nitrates. Each of these compounds is progressively less toxic to the fish. If there are too many fish in the tank, the filter will not be able to carry a big enough culture of bacteria to handle the waste load. Ammonia will build up in the tank, and fish will die.

Begin a new tank with about 20 percent of the maximum possible fish population. If those fish are still alive in 2 weeks, you can add another 20 percent. Stock to 80 percent of maximum to allow for growth.

Overfeeding
Feed fish what they can eat in 2 minutes, maximum. If they leave any, feed less the next time. Several small feedings are better than one large one.
Uneaten fish food begins to break down in the water, creating an extra load on the filter. If there is too much uneaten food, the water becomes toxic. Fish die.

Fish are liars. They will tell you they are starving 2 minutes after they’ve eaten. Don’t be taken in. A small feeding in the morning and another in the afternoon or evening are all that they will need.

Children love to feed fish; handfuls of fish flake, cake, milk, spaghetti, and other people food. They want to share. Unfortunately, it’s not good for the fish.

Overcleaning
Change 10 percent of the water once a week, or 25 percent once a month. Pick one, and do it.

Now and then I get this phone call:

“I just cleaned my tank, I took everything out and put in all fresh water and a new filter, and I even scrubbed the gravel. Now my fish are all dying. What’s wrong with them?”

This kind of cleaning is fatal to fish. The tank has been established, the bacterial culture has built up to the point where it can handle the load of fish waste, the fish are not being overfed, and everything is fine. Then someone cleans the tank, removing the digestive bacteria. Suddenly the tank has become a toilet, and nobody is flushing. Ammonia builds up, and fish die.

How often should you completely clean out a fish tank? Never.

For good tank maintenance, do regular small water changes to remove the nitrates. Changing half or three-quarters of the water every 6 months doesn’t have the same effect. Topping up a tank to replace evaporated water is not a water change.

If algae is a problem, introduce an appropriate algae eater or simply scrape the algae off the glass with a bladed scraper or a scrubbing pad.

Remember the inches-per-gallon rule when stocking your aquarium, and stock it gradually to the maximum level rather than buying all of the fish at once.
Feed your fish sparingly; it is better for them to miss a meal now and then than to be overfed. A tank will not suffer for going unfed over the occasional long weekend.

Do regular water changes to maintain good water quality. Change your filter sponge once every 4 to 6 weeks.

Your fish will thank you for it by staying healthy and happy.

Lupine Pet Collars: “Guaranteed, Even if Chewed”

Elizabeth Creith — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:08:01 +0000

Four years ago, when my Aussie was in her chewing-everything-in-sight stage, we went through several leashes. The bitter-taste sprays didn’t do any good; quite the opposite, in fact. Sky seemed to regard them as gravy.

I wish I’d known then about Lupine collars.

Lupine’s tagline is “Guaranteed, even if chewed,” and they mean it. A chewed-up collar or leash is replaced, no questions asked. But that guarantee is only part of what these collars have going for them. Forget your basic red or blue or green or black nylon webbing. Simply put, they’re gorgeous.

Gorgeous Patterns

I’ve woven patterned bands, and I know what goes into making a complex pattern. Designing an attractive two-tone geometric pattern is relatively simple. The more colors you add, the more complex the pattern—even a simple geometric one—becomes. Throw in curves, and you’re looking at something immensely more intricate.

Even though the webbing isn’t handwoven by master weavers in a little French village of hereditary craftsmen, the sophistication and execution of the designs that Lupine carries is really impressive. These aren’t simple patterns—they’re detailed, joyous, brilliant, and playful. They range from “Woofstock”—rainbow-hued peace signs on a black background—through mock paint splashes, muddy pawprints, and bright flowers.

In 1988, Scott Badger and Dave Jensen, two of the future founders of Lupine, were running a video store when Scott acquired a wolf hybrid puppy named Blaze, who came to work with him. Valerie Jensen, Scott’s wife, worked at a local mountaineering equipment manufacturer. She made Blaze a collar out of some patterned webbing. The compliments started coming in, as well as the queries about where to get collars like Blaze’s custom-made one. Soon, the three were making collars, leashes, and even harnesses to sell in the video store and in local pet stores.

After a couple of years of working with available patterned webbing they started designing their own patterns with colored pencils and graph paper. They now work with a webbing designer, and the results are stunning. The collars come in over a dozen patterns, in sizes from cat collars to large dog collars They look great, and there’s probably a pattern to suit any coat color or any owner.

Durable and Rugged

To top it off, the weave is tight and the fabric, durable. They can withstand a lot of wear.

Of course—as my socks and Sky’s collars and leashes proved—very little can withstand the sharp little teeth of a determined puppy. Not even the tough woven layers of a Lupine collar are always puppy-proof. That’s where the guarantee comes in.

The product is only part of the deal when you buy something for your pet. It’s important to know that the company stands behind its work and to know exactly what it’s prepared to guarantee. As a pet store owner, I’ve refused to carry products the manufacturer of which had a cavalier attitude to the quality and performance of the goods. I think that I can honestly say, however, that I’ve never seen another company stand so firmly behind their product. “Guaranteed, even if chewed” is about as good as you could hope to get.

In the end, all bitter sprays having proved merely appetizers, I found that Tiger Balm was the one surefire condiment that made Sky stop chewing. Eventually, she sprouted her adult teeth and got past the see-it-chew-it stage. We went through a lot of leashes. Learn a little lesson from me and go Lupine!

See the colorful assortment of Lupine collars, leashes, and harnesses in the Almanac.com pet store.