Happy National Pet Month (ad)

Hello everyone,

Today we’ve teamed up with our friends from Tesco Bank to celebrate the UK’s National Pet Month.

National Pet Month is all about celebrating the special bond that we have with our pets and of course to promote responsible pet parenting!

Oli and me started our celebration day with some quality time together! Of course his sister started getting a bit jealous and what you can’t see or should I say hear is that she was meowing quite a bit at us to tell us to get up and get the party going!

We decided to make it as much of a surprise as possible for our two so decorated the party area and put out toys and treats for them to find before opening the living room door again.

Nubia: What’s this!

Oliver: I can smell snacks in there…

Oliver: And look toys!

Of course being cats their natural curiosity immediately kicked in after we opened the door. 😀

Oliver: *Munch munch* And look toys!

Nubia: HOLD ON!!!! I SEE STRINGY WORMS!!!!

Oliver: Those are party streamers…

Nubia: And they are MINE! 😀

Nubia: This is the BEST present EVER! 😀 A scratcher with a giant string covered in rainbow worms. 🙂

Oliver: Those are still party streamers sister…

Nubia: Whatever they are I love them. 😀

Oliver: In that case… I’ll have all the toys. ;o

Nubia: Not so fast!!! Not my favourite present… 😮

Nubia: I’ve not had so much fun in a long time. 😀 My humans sure knew how much I <3 string based toys.

Furthmore as nice as it is to celebrate a special moment with our pets it’s also important to point out what responsible cat guardianship looks like! 🙂

Feeding Time:

Cats are carnivores and therefore you want to get high quality food that is high in meat content! For example for our little pet party we only used grain free complete food.

You may think that for snacks it won’t be a problem and while this may apply to small quantities it’s always best to look for meaty alternatives such as freeze dried meat cubes!

Often people ask us why is some food “complete” food and other’s isn’t? Well primarily this is down to the taurine content! Cats MUST have taurine in their diet so double check that when you buy food that it has a label stating it’s complete food!

Providing your cat with a high quality diet will minimise the risks of health issues related to poor diets and thus helping you reduce vet costs.

Environment enrichment:

I am sure all of us have heard the phrase “curiosity killed the cat” and that’s because cats just LOVE to explore and investigate so we as their guardians have to ensure that this is reflected in their environment!

Also unlike dogs cats are not confined to living just on the ground with us – they love 3-Dimensional aspects to their environment such as cat walk ways.

Now while not all of us will be able to decorate our houses like the above cat cafe did we sure can provide for some great stimulation by adding larger scratchers and cat trees to our place! 🙂

When choosing a scratch tree make sure it’s large enough for your cat(s) and especially in multi cat households make sure that there are sufficient platforms to give space for all of your cats.

Also don’t forget that cats grow! So if you’ve got kittens think of the future not just the today!

As a general guideline cat’s like stretching themselves out and a scratcher should provide a long enough side for them to be able to do that.

As you can see Nubia doesn’t shy away from this rather large scratching pole. 😉

Of course enriching their environment is not just about scratchers and cat trees but also about toys and games, as a tip you can even combine food with games!

There are plenty of simple and complex puzzle feeders available and while a store bought one is a good solution for most people why not try and make your own?!?

Old toilet paper rolls make a perfect stack and a cheap and interesting puzzle feeder for your cats.

Indoor versus Outdoor:

Your cat used to have access to the outdoor world but this is no longer possible?

Sometimes, cats that have previously enjoyed the freedom of the great outdoors suddenly have to adjust to the indoor lifestyle. In an ideal world, all indoor cats know no other existence, but this isn’t always possible. Things change. Cats may need to become indoor cats; here are just a handful of reasons why owners decide to start keeping their cats indoors:

Infection or disease – For example: FIV cats need to be kept indoors to protect other cats and reduce the risk of infections in cats with the virus.
Increased traffic risks in the area – the addition of new roads or extra housing being built
Fighting with other cats in the neighbourhood
To protect wildlife – Some cats kill a lot of wildlife and it’s not uncommon for cat owners to decide to keep their pets indoors if their cat hunts frequently
Road deaths – Some owners who lose a cat to the road decide to keep other cats indoors to prevent further losses.
Wandering cats – Reduce the risk of cats going missing or finding new homes.

Amongst the enrichment tips that we gave you earlier it’s also important to make sure that you don’t have any toxic plants in your house!

First Time Pet Guardian?:

You haven’t found your furever friend yet? Well our biggest advice is adopt don’t shop! There is most certainly going to be at least one shelter near you that will have cats and dogs in needs of a forever home so get on the internet and find out! 🙂

Further to all the tips we’ve given here you might also want to check out our guide for first time cat guardians.

We hope you all found this useful and why not join us and promote responsible pet ownership or celebrate your pet by hosting your own pet celebration party to celebrate National Pet Month and show the world that you and your pet are best friends forever!

Thanks,

Marc