Mindful Monday – Going Above and Beyond for Your Cat

Katie

Cats, like babies, do not come with instructions. But if you look deeply enough into her eyes, you’ll see that all she really needs is love…and the run of the house, food on demand, most of the bed, part of your lunch… So, like with a new baby, caring for a cat can be challenging.

Not only must you provide a safe place for your cat, you must know what that means to your particular cat. While one cat will be quite contented and secure in even a chaotic home full of obstacles of many kinds, others will destroy things and/or cause themselves harm by eating plastic toys, for example, or chewing on computer wiring, poisonous plants, etc.

Even the innocent toys and supplies you buy for your cats can potentially cause harm. So it takes a vigilant cat tender to keep the ultra-curious, active, dare devil cat safe.

When our Lily was a very young kitten, she and our older cat, Sophie were playing on their cat tree when Sophie’s exuberance tipped it. It fell on Lily injuring her quite seriously. Thankfully, she survived—but it was touch and go there for a few days. Since that day, I lay the cat tree on its side so no cat can get hurt from that thing again. Who knew? I thought it was a fine and sturdy cat tree and it is. Cats are often injured by fluke accidents such as this. I saw one in the veterinarian’s office a while back with a broken leg caused by someone accidentally stepping on him.

Sometimes a cat will get an abscess, or it’s time to have them spayed/neutered. The vet may want to use one of those cones around her neck to keep the cat from pulling out stitches or otherwise bothering the wound. When my grandson’s cat needed to wear a cone, he had quite a problem with it. You see, he’s a munchkin. And at the time, he was a munchkin kitten. These cats have regular-size bodies and short little legs. So in order to walk without the cone dragging on the floor, Brucie had to lift his chin up, then he couldn’t see where he was going. When he’d eat, he’d inadvertently scoop up kibbles into the cone. They trimmed it, and cut a section out so he could walk and eat more normally and he got used to it, but it was still a difficult period for the kitten.

My point is that we must be creative and inventive when caring for a cat. Not all of them require the same measures to keep them happy and safe and well. Pearl, for example, didn’t like the idea of her kitty having to deal with a cone when he had an injury. Since the injury was on his torso, she chose to dress him in a little kitty (or maybe it was a doggy) shirt that helped prevent him from bothering the area. It worked for her kitty.

I’d love to hear about some of your inventive ideas for keeping your cats safe and happy. We can all use the tips and tricks.