Kittens (and Puppies) at Christmas

 This time of year, we always get lots of inquiries from parents in search of a kitten to place beneath their Christmas tree for their children. Though I am happy to see so many people interested in adopting pets, and the image of a kitten in a big velvet bow in the arms of a sweet, pajama-clad child on Christmas is a lovely one, I always encourage folks to wait for the holidays to pass before introducing a new animal into their home.

 Here’s why:

 During the holidays, stress levels are high, life is chaotic, and schedules are irregular. We travel, we have houseguests coming and going, and introducing a new pet during this time, especially a demanding young kitten or puppy, could make for a more difficult transition for the little one. Waiting until after the holidays for life to settle down and schedules to return to normal can give you the time, patience, and energy you will need to focus on training and helping the puppy or kitten settle into the new home.

There are so many pet hazards around the holidays, too. Things like tinsel, ribbons, ornaments, and trims can be dangerous when chewed or swallowed. There are food hazards, like chocolate, and toxic house plants that could be ingested. Other safety risks include Christmas lighting, cords, and candles.



Kitten and puppy-proofing is already challenging enough without these additional hazards of the holiday season.

As an alternative to giving a pet for the holidays, consider giving a gift certificate instead. This way, when the time is right and life is calm, the whole family can be involved with the pet selection process. You could include the gift certificate in a box or basket of pet toys and essentials like food and dishes; grooming tools; a collar, leash or harness; dog waste bags; or a litter box scoop.
 Picking up these supplies can help you start a dialog with your child about pet care, pet needs, and being a responsible pet owner, and it can help prepare them for what’s to come. It will show your child that bringing a pet into your life is something that requires serious thought, preparation, and commitment, and when it’s time to bring your new puppy or kitten home, it will help give the little one a very positive start in its new life with your family!

For lots of great articles on kitten and puppy care, please pay a visit to MyPetReference.com. And for a $10 off coupon for Royal Canin kitten and puppy formula and a free downloadable puppy or kitten guide, visit HERE.

Ten Tips for Better Cat Pics!

As I mentioned before,  I partnered up with the fine folks at Royal Canin to write some kitty and cat-related content. Todays topic: photographing your cat!  Though I'm no pro, in our nine years of fostering, I've spent a lot of time photographing cats.  I've learned a couple of things along the way and I'm sharing a few tips with you this morning! 





1. Don’t miss that moment! Keep your phone/camera handy and understand how to work the features so you can act fast. When Kitty is doing something adorable, the scene can change in a second! Be prepared by having your camera close, charged, and ready to go! And make sure there’s plenty of storage left, too. When you’re in the middle of snapping photos, you don’t want to stop everything to delete old images off of the card.

2. Timing is of the essence! The best time to capture your cat is when he’s in a calm and relaxed state. Try to catch him when he’s winding down or waking up, not in the middle of a high-energy burst.

3.   Comfort is key! A comfortable home, means a happy cat, which makes for the very best photos. For a few tips on creating a more enriching environment for your cat, please give this article on MyPetReference.com a read.



4.   Be respectful and don’t force your cat to do something he doesn’t want to do — that uncomfortableness will show in the photos. Know when enough is enough. If the tail starts swishing, and the cat seems annoyed, move along.You don’t want a photography session to become a negative thing, it should be easy and enjoyable for all parties involved.

5.   Get rid of the clutter and keep the background clean! Consider where you’re photographing the cat and do a little editing first. Move that basket of laundry or pile of mail out of the background to get a cleaner shot.




6. Turn off the flash and shoot in natural, indirect light. Camera flashes can be startling and unpleasant for cats. Do some experimenting and find the places in your home that offer the best lighting scenario, and try to shoot there.

 7. Get their attention with sound and not movement. I’ve found a crinkly toy works best for getting them to look towards the camera. Waving a toy, like a feather wand, can get them too exited, and encourage them to move. You want to capture their attention, not excite or over-stimulate them.

8. Get down on their level and shoot from their point of view rather than shooting them from above. 



9. Take lots of photos and edit it down to a few good ones. Digital cameras and camera phones allow us to shoot an unlimited number of pictures. Make as many mistakes as you need too, delete those, and keep the best few.

 10. Edit out the imperfections. Once you’ve imported your photos, use your photo editing software to clean up any mistakes you’ve made. Remove the crusty bit in the corner of Kitty’s eye with the retouch tool, adjust the exposure if it’s a little dark, or crop the photo for a more compelling composition. These programs are easy to learn and can really enhance your photos.

 And when you’re all done with the photographing your cat, a little positive reinforcement is always good. We don’t give Wylla and Charlene “treats", instead offer them a few morsels of their regular food, Royal Canin Feline Care Nutrition Light Adult Dry Cat Food.  When it’s given like this, out of it’s normal context, along with some soft words and a few scratches to the ears, it feels like a “treat” to them.  It’s a nice way to say “Job well done!” and end it all on a high note. 

Our Most Popular Posts Part Three!

Our top fifty most popular IBKC posts continues!! Here we go with the third segment!

#30 Because You Asked 
The first time we shared a photo of wee Bean on the blog sure got a lot of squees and shares.



#29 Wylla Stout Meets Nikki Sixx
Wylla met a very special kitty when visiting the vet.



#28 What Do You Do With Your Whiskers?
We always save the whiskers we find, and we asked if you did the same. There were lots of interesting comments on this post!



#27 The First of the Mussleman Men

It was love at first sight for many, when we met little Benny Mussleman!



#26 FREE BIRD! FREE BIRD! 
Walter and Ira Finch were sick little kittens and had to spend a little time in vet treatment. When they came home healthy, we all rejoiced!


#25 Are You Ready?
Perfect pink nose and button eyes! PEARLA!




#24 Who's A Big Kitty? 
This photos of Bean make me laugh so hard. Just look at her hiding behind her tiny sister at the vet! What a scaredy cat!




#23 Another Day Another Appointment
We talked about Wylla's acupuncture appointments and there were many opinions on the subject.



#22 Heartbreakin' Harlan Lovejoy
We loved those Lovejoys!



#21 It's Good To Have Friends in High Places
One of our all-time favorite adoption tales! Nigel and Mimsey Frost! Knowing now how much my folks love their kittens, makes this story even sweeter today!




We'll start into the top twenty on Monday! Are there any posts you're hoping to see?



One last thing before I wrap up this post:

Our friends at Royal Canin are having an event at the Tacoma Petsmart this Saturday (Oct 17th) from 12 to 4 PM. There will a cat and dog breed expert on hand to talk about pet nutrition and the specific needs of each breed. I'l be there too! My plan is to arrive around 1 PM.  Please come on by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood!

If you're not in our area, similar events are being held all over the country. You can visit HERE to learn more about the events and you can also download a $5 Royal Canin coupon for their breed-specific foods.

Our Bean is a Little Too Big.

A few months back, the folks at Royal Canin reached out to me to see if I would be interested in partnering with them and creating some content to share on my blog and their website, too.  We've been feeding our big cats and foster kittens Royal Canin for years, we're huge fans of their products  so,  I was thrilled at this notion.

They invited me and a couple of other bloggers to come visit them in St Louis and learn more about their company, their mission, pet nutrition, and their products. It was very interesting and informative and I enjoyed the whole experience.   

Today I'm sharing my first post for Royal Canin here on the blog.  It will also be shared on their website, My Pet Reference. 



Whenever we visit the vet, I always hold my breath as I wait to see the results on the scale during Charlene Butterbean’s weigh-in. It seems each visit we see a few extra ounces on the scale. Our vet is very nice and never scolds us for the gain. She never says Charlene is overweight or chubby, instead, she’ll point at the body condition score chart on the wall which illustrates a range of cats from “underweight” to “obese”. While Charlene is not “obese”, the cat on the chart that her physique most resembles is ranked on the upper end of “overweight”.

About five years ago, Charlene was diagnosed with a condition called Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome.  It's also called "rolling skin syndrome" or "twitchy cat disease”. With this condition, whenever she feels stress, the area right above her tail ripples and twitches. Sometimes she’ll spin around and aggressively chew on the fur in that spot, then bolt as if something was chasing her.

 At first these episodes were minimal, but once our foster kitten Wylla became a permanent part of our family, they increased in frequency and intensity. Charlene loved Wylla from the start and seemed to enjoy her companionship, so we didn’t think the cat population increase was causing the stress. Besides Wylla’s presence, the other major change in Charlene’s life at that time was the way that we fed her. Prior to that, she was a very happy free-feeder and had 24/7 access to her dry food. But when Wylla moved in, she had digestive issues, a condition called Megaesophagus, and a diet of only wet food, so we started feeding Charlene “on demand”. If we didn’t respond immediately to her request for a snack, she would start getting twitchy and have one of her episodes.

As Wylla grew, her condition improved and she was eventually able to eat dry food too, so we returned to free-feeding to help reduce Charlene’s stress level. I know free-feeding isn’t the best, feeding the recommended measured amounts each day is a much healthier approach, but at that point, I felt I had to chose between having an anxious cat, or a chubby one, and after seeing how stressed Charlene was when we didn’t free-feed, I chose chubby.

And unfortunately, she got chubbier.

It seemed as though we couldn’t adjust how we fed her, but we could change what we fed her, so we switched her to Royal Canin Light 40 Formula dry food. After a month of this new diet, I noticed that Charlene’s shape had become a little less bulbous. Her activity level began increasing, and she was spending more time chasing her younger, more active sister.

Our next visit to the vet revealed that Charlene had dropped a half pound. Our vet was very happy to see this, as were we. We discussed plans to stay focused on getting Charlene to a healthier weight and have set a goal to have her lose another pound. We will continue with the Royal Canin Light 40 Formula, and work on getting her to be more active and try to incorporate more exercise into each day.

Charlene tends to be most active later in the evening, so we try to exercise her during those hours, usually around 10:00 PM, or so. She has her favorite toy, her feather wand, so we try to engage her with that first. If she grows bored, we’ll move on to another toy and try that for a while.

I try to keep her active for twenty to thirty minutes. Sometimes she’ll play the whole session, sometimes she’ll play just a little. Sometimes she watches me waving the feather wand for a half hour without lifting a paw to bat at it once, but I’m devoted to getting her healthier, so I’m going to keep trying. I want her to feel good. I want her to be her happiest. I want her to live a long life.

I know I’m not the only one with a cat in need of shedding a pound (or two), so I wanted to encourage those of you in a similar position to join us. Please have your vet assess your cat’s current body condition and weight to determine a healthy diet and weight loss plan and we can all work together to reach our goals!


To discover lots of informative articles on pet health, nutrition and care, please pay a visit to My Pet Reference.