Latest Articles
Playing It Safe
“Predation by domestic cats Felis catus can be a threat to biodiversity conservation, but its mitigation is controversial. Confinement and collar-mounted devices can impede cat hunting success and reduce numbers of animals killed, but some owners do not wish ...
Reducing Fear – and the Importance of Choice
Counterconditioning is one of the most important techniques in animal training (arguably top five). Simply put, ‘conditioning’ means ‘learning’ and ‘counter’ means ‘opposite.’ Relearning might be another way of putting it. Practically speaking, it’s about changing someone’s learned ...
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A Change of Lifestyle
By Marilyn Krieger
According to a study by the Humane Society of the United States, based on data collected from 600 veterinarians, two out of three veterinarians recommend keeping cats indoors, citing ...
Cool for Cats
By Tabitha Kucera
We are all familiar with puppy socialization, but do not hear about kitten socialization anywhere near as often. In fact, however, it is as important for kittens to be properly socialized ...
Slowly Does It
By Patience Fisher
There are many challenges for shelters in finding adoptive homes for cats. As an adoption counselor, I always found it disheartening to have a cat returned to the shelter for not getting ...
Lost and Found
By Paula Garber
Sabi and Wabi are 7-year-old long-haired Russian blue neutered male siblings. When their previous owner, an elderly man, died suddenly, they were left alone in their home for several months ...
A Good Start in Life
By Francine Miller
The amount of handling a cat receives, the age at which this occurs, and the number of handlers all affect a kitten’s degree of friendliness towards people later in life. Frequent gentle ...
Scratch Here, Not There
By Patience Fisher
Cats are almost as easy to train to use a scratching post as they are to use a litter box...Cats need to scratch for physical, mental, and social reasons. Scratching enables cats to shed ...
Pain Underlying
By Dr. Lynn Bahr
Pain is not a symptom that exists alone. Other problems associated with pain can include fatigue, withdrawal from activity and increased need to rest, and changes in mood, including fear, ...