Eleanor the cat convert!

Hello to all the lovely bloggers of the world.

I don’t know if many of you know much about Eleanor and her relationship with our cats as I have not really mentioned it much. Eleanor absolutely loves our Diesel and Angel, and Dior when she was around. But until 2009 Eleanor had never had a pet cat, was never fond of them and never had or wanted much to do with them.

When I met Eleanor and we got together in 2009 I had been babbling on about getting a cat, specifically I wanted a black boy cat. One day Eleanor went to the town, came back with this tiny little black boy kitten, we named him Diesel and this is the boy on the blog to this day. Eleanor has always been more of a dog person than a cat. When we had Diesel only, before we had out little staffy Isaac, Eleanor didn’t really like Diesel much. He was a bit of a bugger in his early kitten days.

I remember one memory vividly about Diesel and his naughty behaviour. It was when Eleanor and I were together but we both had our own places. We kept it like that for just under a year, to make certain it would work out for us and to ensure we didn’t rush into our relationship. We were literally a stone throw away from each other but never spent a night apart, just had these two homes. We would spend a night at Eleanor’s, and a night at mine, and take turns. Diesel would of course come along with us and was never left alone on a night. He had a bed, toys, litter tray and bowls in both homes. On an evening when Eleanor and I would try to sleep at Eleanor’s home in particular, Diesel would run around going mad, he would stick his paws under the covers at the bottom of the bed and scratch Eleanor’s feet. There was many a time, Eleanor would wake up with a few chunks of flesh missing and some dried in blood at the bottom of the bed. It absolutely drove her crazy, and she really didn’t like him. I kept thinking to myself, I wish he would calm down because he is not making a very good impression lol. My opinion on it was that Diesel knew Eleanor didn’t really like him or cats for that matter and Diesel was doing it on purpose… Who will know!

Diesel did start to calm down as he got older. We eventually gave up Eleanor’s home and moved properly into mine, which is now ours. The older Diesel got literally week by week, the more placid, pleasant and better behaved he become. When Eleanor first moved into my-our home, she used to work from home, we had the staffy dog at the time. Eleanor instantly had a strange bond with Diesel that I couldn’t quite grasp, it literally happened overnight. It was weird. Ever since then, Eleanor’s whole perception on cats has changed, she obviously thinks our cats are the best, but actually loves all cats, which I never thought would be possible due to her not having the best start with Diesel.

It’s quite amazing how Diesel and Eleanor’s relationship has blossomed and how close they are now. Since then our staffy got rehomed as most of you already know, we gave a home to a lovely tabby kitten – Dior who sadly passed away last November 2011, and then gave a home to a stunning Ragdoll kitten – Angel, who is still with us and best friends with Diesel. Diesel has remained the same tame, gentle, calm, lovely natured cat that he became the day him and Eleanor sealed this amazing bond. Still to this day, despite what both Eleanor and Diesel have gone through the last 2 years or so, they are so close and have an unbelievable bond that could never be broken.

Eleanor now is a proud and out full cat convert. She loves all cats, especially our own. But she still has a special place in her heart for a dog when the time is right.

Do you have any stories of bonds with your kitties?

Dior Suckling!

Hi Guys,

Hope you are all well and have a great day. Happy new year to everyone!

I came across an old video of Dior the other day; it’s the video of her doing her most favourite thing… suckling on her fluffy blanket.

As you all know Dior is sadly no longer with us, but while she was, she got a great deal of comfort from her fluffy blanket and her ‘Dior’ teddy. I’ve mentioned before about what she used to do with the blanket and teddy. She would paw at it, stepping on and off, purr really loudly and suckle on the arms of the teddy or a patch on the fluffy blanket. She loved it and was just like a proper baby. Our baby! I wanted everyone to see how cute she is when she is doing her comforting thing so I thought I would upload a video.

Here is a video of Dior in her suckling action.

Happy New Year 2013!

Its a Pussy Cats Life would like to wish everyone a VERY happy, healthy and if possible wealthy New Year 2013.

Hope you have all had some lovely New Year celebrations and enjoy the rest of your day and the rest of your new year!

Lots of love and best of wishes

Kelly, Eleanor, Diesel, Angel and Rolo

x x x x x

KITTEN MONTH – Everyday Things!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE TO ALL MY LOVELY BLOGGERS – the end of another year and I have to say this year has been eventful and very quick… As you get older the years seem to breeze over! Not sure whether that’s a good thing or not, but not a lot we an do about it. Today’s kitten month blog and the last of the months blogs and this years blogs is a general ‘every day’ kitten blog.

We at its a pussy cats life hope you have all enjoyed and found useful some of the kitten month blogs… Stay tuned for more blogs on out fury pals ‘next year’…. Loves!

Everything your kitten experiences in her early months has an effect on the rest of her life. So the more she can experience during this important time, the more open and trusting she’ll be as an adult cat.

Watch (and learn) with mother
A kitten’s first and most important teacher is her mother, who’ll teach her everything she needs to know to survive, from how to look after her coat and nails to all aspects of toilet training.

Early learning lasts a lifetime
By the time your kitten is 8 weeks old, her mother has taught her all she can and it’s time for you to take over. By nature, she is a natural hunter and dependent on herself for survival. So it’s up to you to satisfy her hunting instinct, guide her towards appropriate behaviour (using a scratching post, for example) and gain her confidence and love, so she comes to trust you as well as herself.

Living with you and your family
A kitten’s character will already be formed by the second to seventh week of her life. If there’s been intensive contact with human beings during this time, there’s a good chance she won’t be shy later on. So, if you want your kitten to be an open and active member of the family, it’s important to handle her, talk to her and stroke her while she’s still very young.

Every day objects
It’s a good thing to expose your kitten to as many normal things as possible -like being in the car, or the hoover – as early as you can, so she can get used to everyday life. The more you do this, the quicker she’ll realise there’s no danger and take life in her stride.

Food variety
It’s a good idea to get your kitten to try a wide range of flavours and textures early, because if she learns to eat only one type of food, you may have difficulty varying her diet later on. Whiskas® Kitten Complete pouches and dry food come in lots of different flavours and will satisfy her taste buds, as well as her nutritional needs.

KITTEN MONTH – Sleeping

Morning guys, happy Sunday… 🙂 nearly the end of another year! Today’s kitten month blog is all about kittens/cats and their sleeping habits… We all know too well that our furry friends are very lazy 😉

We have spoken about cats and their sleeping habits before, I’ve mentioned about cats/kittens sleep anywhere from 15-18 hours a day. Why? Your kitten is sleeping for a very important reason. Meat is a rich source of energy so, in the wild, as a cat eats her kills; she is taking in important stores of energy. Sleeping after her meal allows her to conserve it – ready to use for the next hunt and the burst of energy. So she’s not being lazy!

Crepuscular cats
In the wild, during the intense heat of the day, your kitten’s big cat cousins will be sleeping. They are most active at dawn and dusk. This is the time when their prey is also active, when their eyesight is at its sharpest and when they have the best chances at successful hunting. Your little one is remarkably similar in nature, so you might find she’s naturally active early in the morning or just before sunset – think about planning some playtime around her naturally active times.

Body heat
Very young kittens can’t control their body temperature in the same way that adults can, so cuddling up to their mother and littermates helps maintain their body heat. This is why many young kittens – and older cats too – love nothing better than snuggling up on a lap.

KITTEN MONTH – Nurture her Nature!

Good morning to all my lovely bloggers. Today’s kitten month blog is about understanding your kitten and why your kitten behaves in certain ways. A lot of this people will already know but here’s the blog for everyone to have a read of.

Understanding why your kitten behaves like she does will help you make your home as cat-friendly as possible. By nature, she is a solitary hunter, responsible for her own survival and not dependent on a pack to get her out of trouble. And this explains certain things she does …

Running in and out
In the wild, big cats are always alert and on the look out for danger. At home, you might see your kitten running in and out of a room – she’s quickly assessing the situation and spotting possible dangers. In these situations make sure the doors are open so she doesn’t have a bump and or the cat flap if you have one.

Establishing territory
In the wild, big cats use scratches, smells and sounds to mark their boundaries, sniff out rivals and establish their territory. Feline signals have to be reinforced regularly as they act as signposts to other cats.
At home, your kitten will do the same thing, so it’s up to you to make sure these natural behaviours can be expressed without causing too much damage! Scratching posts and old carpets are a great distraction from your furniture so encourage this behaviour on dedicated spots and posts and they will soon get used to this.

High places
In the wild, cats will use vantage points to watch for intruders and predators, as well as spotting good hunting and resting places. At home, make sure there are a few spots where your little kitten can sit up high. For Diesel and Angel they love to sit on window sills and in our office we have some shelves behind some roller curtains from Ikea, they love this spot on top of the towels.

Hiding places
In the wild, big cats will use a number of favourite hiding places from where they can scope out their territory or retreat to when they need a rest, are frightened or even ill. At home, your kitten will probably find her own places to hide but she will love you all the more if you can provide her with some uncluttered high places.

KITTEN MONTH – Empathising with your kitten

Good Morning to all my bloggers, Hope you have had a lovely Christmas 🙂

Todays Kitten Month blog is about Empathising with your kitten, this brings together things from other blogs and is just another ‘tip’ blog…

It’s time to get to know your little furry friend better. At heart, just like her big cat cousins, she is a natural hunter and intensely territorial. In the wild, female big cats live in matriarchal and highly co-operative groups held together with certain social behaviours. And the males are naturally independent, depending on themselves for survival.

Of course, things are different for your little kitten at home, but certain behaviours are very instinctual and will play a big part in her forming her own ‘family’ with you.

Grooming
Next time you see your kitten grooming one of her litter or a friend, it’s not just about getting clean. Mutual grooming is about strengthening their social bonds. It’s also used to exchange important social information. You can help to mimic this behaviour by having regular grooming sessions with your kitten too. Diesel and Angel often clean one another, and give each other a little kiss on the nose, Its lovely to watch and they do enjoy it.

Rubbing
In the wild, cats use scent to leave complex time-lapse signals that help them secure territories, avoid conflict and strengthen social bonds. Rubbing against things may also establish social hierarchies. At home, your kitten will also use rubbing to mark you as part of her family, so return her affection with lots of strokes and plenty of love.

Appropriate responses
Cats will live in social groups as long as there are sufficient resources. You may find that if you introduce another cat into the house or if a new baby arrives, your cat may start displaying ‘problem behaviour’ such as spraying, urinating or, missing the litter tray. In fact, she’s just displaying natural behaviour that is all a response to a threat to her territory. Here are a few things you can do to make life less stressful for everyone:

• Provide separate food and water bowls, beds and litter trays for each cat in the house.
• Give her places where she can climb up to and expand her territory.
• Give her time to establish her territories – this may take longer than you think.
• Reassure her with plenty of love and affection.

Consistent routines
Your kitten will quickly ‘learn’ the routine of your house and know when to expect regular events like the time a house wakes up and goes to bed, returning from work, mealtimes and how you relax afterwards. Keeping to these habits and routines and allowing your kitten to be a part of them will help her become a sociable and confident member of your family. The biggest routine in our household is ‘feeding time’ – 6am every morning without fail, Diesel will cry for his food, rub himself against us and be a general nuisance until we feed him! But we wouldnt change him or his ways! Angel tends to get under our feet and just put her bum in the air with her tail and let you know she is hungry!

KITTEN MONTH – Good Kitten Habbits

Thats it guys, its all over… Just New Year to look forward too… Happy Boxing day everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday. We had an amazing day and are spending today doing some Sales bargain shopping and chilling watching some christmas movies. Have a great day 😀

Todays Kitten Month blog is about good kitten habbits and helping your little one make the best out of what he/she knows by you helping your kitten. Want your little one to settle in quickly? Then establishing some basic routines and good habits will help this happen. Taking into account your needs, your routines and habits and putting these together with your kitten or cat will also help.

Toileting
By nature, your kitten is very clean and fastidious. Place her litter tray well away from her food and water and in a private spot. Show her where it is and she will quickly learn to use it.

Feeding time
Complete and balanced meals, like kitten pouches will give your kitten all the proteins and nutrients she needs. When she’s small she will need feeding little and often. As she gets older you can feed her twice a day. She will get used to the time of day you feed her and come to expect her meals, so don’t disappoint her! Our Diesel and Angel are very demanding at meal times, their breakfast is usually between 6am – 7am on a morning and their main evening meal is at around 4pm – 6pm, when they know its time for feeding they do nothing but get in our way to make us aware they want their breakfast/dinner… they talk, rub themselves against us etc. Its cute though!

Playtime
Did you know that your little kitten is always primed to hunt? So playtime gives her a great opportunity to indulge her natural instincts. Try to spend several sessions of 10 to 15 minutes a day playing with her, especially if she’s an indoor kitten. Choose small toys that she will enjoy stalking, chasing and pouncing on and the same goes for older cats.

Petting time
Whether you choose to stroke her in the morning or when you get back from work, she’ll remember when it’s supposed to be time for affection. So make sure you remember too and do not ignore her. As I have mentioned on previous blogs I make a point of encouraging petting time and affection from my cats, if they want a love, they get it, and I encourage it and also encourage them to be vocal.

Sleeping time
Your kitten will choose to sleep where she likes, usually in her bed made up with a blanket, but she might prefer your favourite old jumper – just another reason why you love her! She may like the double bed to herself, or the sofa, there maybe a little corner near a heater that she likes or a dark secluded little hide out. Try not to disrupt or disturb her sleeping arrangements by suddenly moving something she likes. Diesel and angel have a number of different spots in our home, and if for any reason we haven’t seen them for a while we know all of their favourite spots to check if they are there, and they usually are!

Happy Christmas!

ZERO DAYS – Ho Ho Ho Ho … Santa has been! 🙂

“The Bells are Ringing out for Christmas Day”

Well thats it everyone, the wait is over, its Christmas Day… Happy and excited for everyone out there.

Wishing all my fantastic and lovely bloggers a very Merry Christmas today!

Hope you all have a Fantastic Day and that Santa has been kind!

Diesel and Angel wish you all a Happy Christmas, above is Diesel in his new Christmas jumper… It suits him!

Have a great day everyone… 🙂

Kelly, Eleanor, Diesel, Angel and Rolo xxxxx

KITTEN MONTH – Understanding the Senses

ONE DAY TO GO – Ho ho ho – thats it guys its Christmas Eve, the big man is getting all the gifts ready on his slay ready to drop off to your homes, be sure to leave out some cookies and milk for Mr Clause and a carrot or two for his reindeers tonight… We at Its a Pussy Cats Life are very excited for tomorrow and cant wait to see the kitties faces when they open up their new toys, tunnel and treats 🙂 *Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way*

Todays Kitten month blog is about understanding your kitten/cats senses. Your kitten is adorable, yes. But, under all that cuteness, your little one is a finely tuned predator. They may not be living alongside their big cat cousins, but she is hardwired just the same with her hearing, sight, touch, smell and movement all perfectly adapted to life as a hunter.

Hearing
At the low end of the scale, your kitten’s hearing is quite similar to yours. But at the higher end, she can hear about 1.6 octaves above your range. Why? Well, this allows her to hear calls and noises from small rodents and it also helps her to stay hidden from her prey right up until she attacks. Her ears also have a huge range of movement – she can swivel her outer ear flaps (pinnae) either together, or one at a time, allowing her to pinpoint her prey through 360° degrees.

Sight
In the wild, your kitten’s big cat cousins like to hunt at dawn and dusk. Take a look at your kitten’s eye in the early evening. You’ll see her pupil is much bigger – this lets in lots of light and she even has a special layer of cells in the back of her eye – the tapetum – to help reflect even more light. It’s this special layer that gives your kitten her characteristic night-time shining eyes. Her very sharp eyesight can also pick up very fine movements – ideal for hunting small creatures that move fast.

Touch
When she’s investigating new things, you’ll probably see your kitten using her paw to start with. Whilst her pads aren’t very sensitive to temperature, they are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Once she’s used her paw to check something out, then a set of coarse hairs on the upper lip, around the chin and above her eyes will help her gather more information. And let’s not forget her all-important whiskers! These incredibly sensitive and super-mobile whiskers are essential in the wild for efficiently catching and killing prey.

Smell and taste
In the wild, your kitten’s big cat cousins use a complex system of time-lapse scent trails to communicate with each other. It helps them establish social bonds, stay out of direct confrontation with potential threats and mark their territory. And your little friend is just the same.

Her sense of smell is about ten times as strong as yours. She even has a special scent organ in the roof of her mouth which she uses to detect lots of complex chemical messages to help her make sense of her world.

Her tongue is super-sensitive both to temperature and taste, helping her instinctively know when to avoid anything that might be potentially life-threatening. So when she refuses that tasty treat you bought her, she’s probably just showing caution for something that isn’t familiar!

Movement
Look at her go! Your kitten is a born gymnast. Her amazing co-ordination, ability to jump from a standing start, climbing skills and fine balance make her very entertaining to watch – but also make her a brilliant hunter. Satisfy her hunting instincts with lots of good playtime and give her lots of strokes to let her know you’re impressed with her!