Review: LitterMaid Automatic Litter Pan, part 2

Over time, I have somewhat revised my opinion of the noisy potty.

Iago, being eternally curious and too stupid to know any better, decided to start using it, so I observed from a safe distance. The potty did not eat him, so eventually I decided to give it a try.

I emerged victorious, but suspicious. It still moves without warning, in no discernible pattern. So I use it sparingly, and occasionally go beside it when it is lying unusually quiet, because I know then that it’s just waiting for me to step inside to meet my final doom.

Then a new addition appeared on the potty scene: the pee pad. It is a flat white cloth with a blue border that lies flat on the floor. It’s quite nice to go on, although it doesn’t work as well when I try to bury my business. I was fine with this new addition, which allowed me to avoid the evil potty, until one day I saw the package sitting on the floor.

It had a picture of a dog on it. A DOG!

Friends, this is the final insult.  I’m not sure which I find most irritating: the fact that my humans are giving me something created for a DOG, or the fact that these perfectly fine pee pads exist and no one wants to offer them to us cats.

I expressed my displeasure by peeing beside the pad, and then sweeping it over the puddle. Enjoy, you mindless bipeds.

It’s spring!

Hi everyone!  It’s me, Iago.  Since it doesn’t look like Akasha’s going to post much, I thought I’d jump in.

Man, I can’t believe it’s spring! I wish the weather would cooperate more so I could go sit out on the porch. Hasn’t this been an awful winter, though?

The worst thing about winter is how dry it gets. It makes me very itchy, and I get little flakes of dry skin and spend too much time bathing. A lot of cats probably have this problem. There’s a few things you can do that help us feel better and look better, if you want!

- Get a humidifier. Really, it’s good for your skin too. You can just put it up in the room you sleep in, and if your cat-friend sleeps with you too, we’ll both benefit!

- Make sure we have good quality food. It should have lots of meat, and some foods even have extra Omega fatty acids that help our skin and coat look nice. Canned food is good too since it gives us extra water and will keep us from getting dehydrated.

- Make sure our water is fresh. We really don’t like to drink water very much, so if it has bits of food or hair or dirt in it we REALLY don’t like to drink it. Eww!

- Moisturizing wet wipes. You can get these from a store, but you have to make sure they’re for cats. Cats and humans have very different skin types. Anyway, they help our coats look all shiny and healthy, and they get rid of the flakes of dry skin.  And they feel kind of nice, too, even if they make me smell funny.  That’s okay, I can live with that if I’m not as itchy.

- Pet us a lot! The oils from human skin help our fur look nice and shiny!  Actually, I don’t know if that’s true or not, I just want more head skritches.  So I’ll go ahead and put it on the list.

Tadah!  Wow, this was easy. I wonder why Akasha doesn’t post more often? Maybe I’ll go ask her.  If she’s not going to use this blog-thingy, maybe I could have it.  “Ask Iago” sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Advice: When the Fur Flies

Prepare yourselves, humans. It’s that time again. The time you all dread.

It’s shedding season.

No need to glare. It’s not as if we do it intentionally. The stray strand of fur that you find in your lunch, or the one tickling your nose, or the one painfully trapped under your contact lens – we don’t put them there intentionally. (That is, provided you haven’t done something horrible and disrespectful to deserve it. You may want to rack your brains and be sure that you haven’t, and if you have, do something to rectify the situation immediately.)

It’s a simple fact of life that as the seasons change, so do our climate-controlled coverings. You don’t wear the same coat in late spring that you do in midwinter, so why would we want to? Unfortunately we can’t just remove the coat and hang it in the closet; we have to let it fall out hair by hair and then replace it by slowly growing in new ones.

We have a way of doing this. We lick off our loose, dead fur, either leaving it in tufts on your carpeting, or swallowing it to get it out of the way. After a while we remember that eating a lot of fur doesn’t do well for the stomach, so we bring it back up, usually someplace where you can step in it to remind you to clean it up.

Humans, however, have a better way of performing this task. You have nifty little devices called combs and brushes. They’re much better at removing dead fur, and quite honestly, they give a fantastic massage. By all means, bring on the combs and brushes.

In case you’re not sure which implement goes best with which cat, let me enlighten you. A long-haired cat, such as myself, will do best with a fine comb or a “slicker” brush (square with little hooked wires sticking out from it.) These go deeper to break up the tangles that are forming in our cozy undercoats. On the other paw, a short-haired cat, such as the insufferable Iago, finds better results from a bristle brush or rubber curry brush (similar to what you would use on a horse…come to think of it, the comparison is fairly appropriate.)

So do yourselves, and us, a favor. Bring on the combs and brushes. And have a happy Autumn.

Defining Cat: Grooming

There are many things that set cats apart from other animals in the world, but one of the most important is our high standard of grooming. Dogs, squirrels, and other stupid animals will occasionally groom themselves, especially if they have just eaten or if they are itchy, but very few animals will sit down to give themselves a thorough cleaning and arranging every day.

There are many steps to the full Cat spa treatment, and so often you will see us spread them out throughout the day. This gives us a chance to take breaks for other important things such as eating, sleeping, and looking out the window.  Below is a list of the most common grooming targets. When you see us attending to them, please leave us to our work and know that we are basking in the relaxation of becoming a better-looking Cat.

The Fur – Most often, we will be grooming our fur. This involves a great deal of licking (and an occasional chewing to deal with tough mats in the fur.) Our fur is our most obviously beautiful feature, and it is critical that it be in good condition as often as possible.

Advice: The Basic Cat Diet

Despite what you may think, I am not about to recommend a type of cat food.

For one thing, I believe there is great potential for a future pet food sponsor of this blog, which could result in me receiving free cat food and perhaps my face on the front of their food labels. So I would hate to rule out that possibility by having said something against their brand previously that I couldn’t gracefully retract.

For another thing, different cats respond to foods in different ways, so there is no one food that is the best for every single cat. We are creative, intellient, sensitive beings, not robots with fur. We are not all alike.

That being said, it is very important that you know what goes into your cat – just as important as it is for you to clean up what comes out of us. Determining what is in your cat’s food is simple: it’s printed on the label. Like most food labels, the ingredients are listed from highest percentage to lowest. If the first ingredient is chicken, then there is more chicken in the food than any other ingredient.

The first three ingredients are the most important ones, and ideally two of them will be meat-based. Cats, unlike dogs, are mainly carnivores. We need more protein to maintain our health than dogs do, so dog food is not an appropriate substitute for cat food. The more meat that is in the food, the happier our bodies will be. If our food is mostly grain, it will be like eating a bowl of cereal sprayed with beef broth. We’ll eat it because it smells good, but it won’t be as nutritious.

We like dairy products, but they don’t always like us. A taste of cheese, yogurt, or vanilla ice cream is a wonderful treat, and I highly encourage you to treat your cat companion on occasion, but we can’t drink milk out of a saucer as a meal. Not even kittens. Cow’s milk gives us digestive issues, which will make your experience cleaning out the litter box less pleasant. Trust me. Also, plain boiled chicken or canned tuna are delicious as a meal substitute if, say, you run out of cat food and some great catastrophe happens, preventing you from running out right away to buy more. Overall though, cat food is more nutritionally well-rounded.

In short, choose a healthy, protein-filled cat food and share your food with us sparingly. Treat us occasionally with something we enjoy, and remember, quality in a treat is better than quantity. Your result? A happy, healthy feline friend.