Home remedies for cats Home remedies for cats: Skunk Odor - Vinegar and water douche is helpful in covering up the skunk odor. Pour the mixture on your pet and rub. Use rubber gloves to protect yourself from the skunk odor. Do not let your animal get wet soon as the smell will return. Repeat till your pet is skunk odor free

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Home remedies for cats & other pets



by Kevin Pederson



Skunk Odor - Vinegar and water douche is helpful in covering up the skunk odor. Pour the mixture on your pet and rub. Use rubber gloves to protect yourself from the skunk odor. Do not let your animal get wet soon as the smell will return. Repeat till your pet is skunk odor free.

For natural flea control – groom your pet daily. Use a fine toothed flea comb. Bathe your pet a natural pet shampoo that has flea repellent herbs. During summer wash your pet’s bedding in hot soapy water weekly and dry in hot dryer. Vacuum rugs and mattresses in the house every 2 or 3 days. Dust natural powders containing herbs such as rosemary, wormwood, rue, eucalyptus and sometimes tobacco powder to repel fleas. Add garlic and brewer’s yeast to your pet’s daily diet. Try rubbing the yeast into your pet’s fur.

Ticks - Pull out ticks using your fingers. Grab the tick as close to your pet’s skin as possible, twist and pull gradually.

Stickers - Use a stainless steel comb with wide teeth to pull out stickers from the fur before matting begins. Or else you can use your fingers to pull them out. If you find the sticker deep inside the ear making it difficult to remove, put some warm vegetable or mineral oil in the ear to soften it and take your pet to the vet.

Ear Mites - To remove ear mites, mix ½ ounce of almond and vitamin E. Put a dropper or two in each ear and massage it well. Let your pet shake its head and clean out the opening with cotton swabs. The oily mixture smothers the mites and helps healing. Refrigerate the mixture between uses, warming it before use.

For temporary treatment of ear mite, soak a cotton ball with mineral oil and swab the ear canal. Then seek medical advice from the vet for any further treatment.

Anemia - Feed you pet with foods rich in iron and vitamin B.

Arthritis - To make your overweight pet’s loose weight, 20 minute walk several times a day will help lighten the load on the achy joints and reduce the progression of arthritis. During winter season, let your pet sleep inside on soft bedding to reduce discomfort if any.

Asthma - Use a humidifier, stop smoking, and keep your pets inside during pollen season.

Bad Breath - Foul odor is the sign of plague. Brush your pet’s teeth, feed them raw carrots, and avoid canned food or scraps of food lying on the table. If the problem still persists, get the vet to clean your pet’s teeth.

Remedy for broken bones - Freeze your pet holding him still and placing him on a board, floor mat or folded blanket. Avoid bandaging or supporting with splint as it can cause more damage.

Car Sickness - Avoid car sickness for your pets by letting them sit in the front seat, allowing them to look out of the windows and cracking the windows to allow fresh air flow in the vehicle. Some pets prefer to travel on empty stomach while some prefer to have small amount of food.

Choking - If you pet is choking, open the mouth to see any object stuck and remove it. If you pet is not breathing and you are unable to find out what’s the obstructing the air passage, try the Heimlich maneuver. You hold your pet against you, clasp your hands around the upper abdomen or make your pet lie down on their side and put one of your hands on top and another just below the rib cage and then push or lift upward to dislodge the object. If you’re unsuccessful, see the vet immediately.

Diarrhea - If you detect any hint of diarrhea in your pet, ensure that pet is drinking lots of fluids. You can stop feeding for 24 hours from the onset of the disease. When the pet is ready to eat again, try giving easily digestible food every 4 hours for 2-3 days moving to regular food when your pet is diarrhea free. If the problem still persists, seek medical treatment as it could be more serious issue.

Fever - If the pet is down with fever, soothe away the heat with a cold compress on their belly or give them a cool bath for 10 minute. Also ensure that they are drinking enough water. If the fever does not go down, consult the vet.

Flatulence - Exercising helps to move the gas out of the system, so taking your pet for walk several times in case they suffer from flatulence. Give your pet, yoghurt that contains bacteria the helps to decrease gas problem.

Insects Bites - If your pet is stung by insects, dab a mixture of baking soda and water on the spot to help reduce the discomfort.

Itchy Skin - For you pet’s itchy skin, give them a cool 10 minute bath. For dog’s itchy feet, fill the tub with enough cool water to cover their feet, dissolve a couple cups of Epsom salts in the water and soak your dog’s feet for 10 minutes. Do not let your dog drink this water.

Bleeding - If your pet has severe bleeding due to accident of any kind, place gauze over the wound and apply direct pressure with your hand for 5 minutes. Continue applying pressure till the bleeding stops. Also cold packs over oozing wounds help to reduce the swelling and bleeding.

Urinary Infection - For common home remedy for urinary infection intake of cranberry, orange and other citrus juices work in boosting the acidity of the urine and decreasing the amount of bacteria.

The reader of this article should exercise all precautions while following instructions on the recipes from this article. Avoid using if you are allergic to something. The responsibility lies with the reader, not the site, and the writer.

About the author:

Home remedies for cats & other pets
Kevin Pederson is the webmaster of sites like Home Remedies which provides home based remedial measures for all times. Home Remedies for Animal Bites. Can be easily treated with simple home care remedies....




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Also see : How to Treat Feline Urinary Tract Infection Without Putting Your Cat's Health at Risk
By the time you finish reading this, you are going to understand why prevention is the best medicine and why you should only give antibiotics to your cat as a last result. Feline urinary tract infection is not a common problem but 10% of cat visits to the vet involve lower urinary tract disease. Feline lower urinary tract disease is often referred to as a "silent killer" because your cat may not show any obvious symptoms. As a result the infection can eventually travel up to your cat's kidneys and kill him.

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Ensure A Good Relationship Between Your Cat And Your Kids

Many parents know that the best way for children to learn compassion and the importance of keeping commitments is by helping to care for a pet. Children learn from watching the adults in their lives. If a child can learn to treat an animal with respect they can take that lesson into later life. A cat can be a marvellous, loving companion for a child, but it is up to the adults in the family to ensure the cat and the kids live together happily ever after.

When you first bring a cat home, explain to your child that they will need to be patient, quiet and gentle to help the cat feel safe. Sit on the floor with your child and help him practice patience as the cat gets up the courage to come close. Let your child feed the cat a piece of food from his hand. If the cat is reluctant to come close, have your child gently toss a piece of food close to the cat. Once the cat realizes what your child is offering, the ice will melt.

Very young children can easily overwhelm a cat or kitten with their exuberance. Children under the age of five years should always be supervised when playing with or handling a cat. Children over 12 years can usually be trusted to be gentle, but be sure to occasionally check up on kids under 12 years when they spend concentrated time with the family cat.

You should remind children that they should not disturb a sleeping cat, or a cat that is using its litter tray.

Kittens appear to be amazingly flexible, and children often think nothing of draping a weeks-old cat over the crook of the arm and carrying it around like a toy, or picking up a kitten by the scruffof its neck. In this position, it is easy for the kitten to be dropped and seriously injured. Also, being carried like this leaves the cat feeling unsupported with it's hind legs swinging in space.
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QUICK CAT FACTS

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ARE GINGER CATS ALWAYS MALE?
No. This is a common misconception. Ginger cats can be either male or female although ginger females are less common.

The genetics of ginger is explained in more detail in Tortoiseshell and Tri-Colour Cats (ginger is caused by the same gene as tortoiseshell), but this is a short version for those wanting a quick answer.

The ginger gene changes black pigment into a reddish pigment. The ginger gene is carried on the X chromosome. A normal male cat has XY genetic makeup so he only needs to inherit one ginger gene for him to be a ginger cat. A normal female is XX genetic makeup so she must inherit two ginger genes to be a ginger cat. If she inherits only one ginger gene, she will be tortoiseshell with some ginger areas and some black/brown areas.

The ginger gene is called a sex-linked gene because it is carried on a sex chromosome.

Also, if you look closely, ginger cats have tabby markings though these may be faint or only visible on the face, tail and lower legs. They are also visible in the ginger areas of tortie cats. This is because the gene that turns off tabby to give solid colour cats does not work on the ginger colour.

ARE GINGER FEMALES RARE?
No. They are less common than ginger males, but they are not rare. It is possible to selectively breed ginger female cats by mating ginger males and ginger females together. They will have ginger offspring.

ARE GINGER FEMALES STERILE?
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Focus On Cat Health

Cat Health

What Is Feline Infectious Peritonitis?

Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is a virus which is a variant of the Corona virus. Unfortunately there is no proven effective vaccine to immunize cats from its deadly outbreak. This virus is so elusive that the only way to accurately diagnose the disease is after the cat's death. Sadly, there also is no cure for this disease.

The reason the virus is so difficult to diagnose is that it comes from a group of over forty viruses, in the Corona family. The tests that we have available to us today can only detect that the cat is infected with a Corona virus, but it cannot differentiate which one is actually infecting the cat. Since most cats who test positive for a Corona virus actually survives, it makes it difficult with certainty which cat has FIP, until it dies. This makes diagnosing Feline Infectious Peritonitis almost impossible without an autopsy.

The actual Feline Infectious Peritonitis disease is always fatal to cats. It is estimated that most household cats have actually been exposed at one time or another to the Corona virus. These cats will most times carry on with their lives just fine, with no outward signs of being infected, nor do they appear sick. For some unknown reason, in a small percentage of infected cats, the Corona virus will mutate into the Feline Infectious Peritonitis virus. This autoimmune disease then proves to be fatal.

The majority of the cats who do contract Feline Infectious Peritonitis are either very young, or they are quite old. Either way, death is eminent. There are certain procedures which can prolong the life of the cat for a short while, and even make the cat more comfortable for a short time, but the eventual result is always the same.
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FELINE AIDS

In 1986 in Northern California a disease that was causing illness and death in cats was found to be caused by a virus similar to HIV, or the AIDS virus found in humans. Since then, much research has been done on this virus and the disease it causes. To date scientists have not been successful in formulating a vaccine to prevent this infection in cats. There has also been little success in finding methods to treat those cats that have the disease, but we DO know enough about the disease to safeguard our pets from this fatal disorder.

Because of its similarity to the HIV virus, it was named FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus), and the disease it induces is known as FAIDS (feline acquired immune deficiency syndrome). The virus is classified in the same group of viruses as the HIV virus, but it is not identical. The HIV virus does not infect cats, and likewise the FIV virus does not infect humans. There is no danger that a person could catch AIDS from a cat or vice versa.

There is now a reliable blood test, which your veterinarian can perform on your cat to see if it is infected with FIV. As in people, we refer to a cat that tests positive as being "FIV positive" but that cat does not necessarily yet have FAIDS, and may not become sick for months or years or in some cases not at all. When a cat does develop illness, the body's natural defense against disease is broken down. The cat is then susceptible to a great variety of infections, cancers, etc. No one specific symptom is typical. It might be a sickly cat that is not recovering promptly from an illness, or has a chronic illness such as infected teeth or gums, frequent diarrhea or discharge from the nose or eyes. While we do our best to control other infections these cats may acquire, we cannot cure them of the FIV infection, and it is usually fatal.

The FIV virus affects only cats, so the risk for any cat of catching the virus comes through contact with another cat that is infected. The virus does not survive outside the cat's body, so it is not blown through the air or carried on a person's hands or clothing from cat to cat. An indoor cat that does not come in contact with other cats would be at no risk of catching the virus. Cats that are allowed to roam outdoors and may encounter stray cats have to be considered at risk to catch FIV. Studies have shown that the infection is worldwide, and in every area of the United States where stray cats have been tested the infection is present in a certain percentage of those cats. Because cats can live for months or even years while infected, they can transmit the infection to other cats.

Many studies are currently investigating exactly how FIV is transmitted cat to cat. The most common method of transmission is through a bite wound inflicted by an infected cat. In this case the virus in its saliva enters the blood stream of the bite victim. Bite wounds, however, are not the only method of transmission and virus-to-blood contact is not always necessary. FIV infected mothers can transmit the virus to their offspring but not in utero. The transmission to offspring probably takes place during nursing, and experts feel the majority of kittens nursing FIV positive mothers don't get the disease. It is still unknown whether transmission takes place during mating, but since biting can be part of the mating ritual, we have to assume it could. Experimentally scientists have been able to infect cats by giving the virus orally. We don't know, however, in the natural setting of mutual grooming, sharing food bowls, etc., how often this occurs. It appears that in a setting where one cat in a house is FIV positive and has non-biting contact with other cats, those cats have a low probability of becoming infected.
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PICA In Cats: EATING THE INEDIBLE

Pica means eating non-food items. The behaviour ranges from sucking, chewing and biting through to swallowing bites of items. Pica (from the Latin for "magpie"). It should not be confused with the suckling/nursing behaviour that some cats retain into adulthood. Commonly consumed target items include wool, string, elastic bands, electrical cords, tissues, tinsel and houseplants. Other objects have included cassette tape and the rubber "teat" section of a child's dummy (pacifier). Eating a little grass or herbs is normal cat behaviour; indoor cats may eat houseplants if there is no grass accessible.

Like many obsessive or abnormal behaviours, the cat persists in doing it because the it is comforting or rewarding. The reward might be a nice taste, a full stomach or simply getting attention from the owner. The challenge is to make the behaviour unrewarding and redirect the behaviour into something rewarding for the cat and acceptable to the owner. Sometimes it is a displacement activity where an abnormal activity is substituted for normal behaviour because the cat can't express the more normal behaviour i.e. the normal behaviour is being thwarted.

PICA, WOOL-SUCKING OR PREY-PLUCKING?
Wool-sucking (or fabric-sucking) is a misdirected form of nursing. It's similar to a child's thumb-sucking in providing comfort.. Though sometimes mistaken for wool-eating, the item (sweater, blanket etc) is only sucked, not chewed, bitten or swallowed. Other commonly suckled objects include the cat's own tail, other cats or pet dogs. Behavioural treatment may be needed to build up the cat's confidence so it no longer resorts to "comfort nursing".

In general, the younger a kitten is when it is weaned, the stronger the urge to nurse and the more persistent the comfort-nursing. Usually it decreases naturally as the kitten grows up, but it may persist or resurface in early-weaned or hand-reared cats, particularly at times of stress. More rarely it becomes a compulsive behaviour or progresses to pica.

Some owners provide an old sweater for the cat to suckle on while protecting other garments by storing them away from the cat or dabbing hot chilli sauce onto them.

Plucking the target resembles pica but is a misdirected prey-related activity. The cat holds down the (often woollen) blanket or garment with its paws and uses its teeth to pluck or tear at it. This is the same behaviour found when a cat plucks or tears fur, feather or flesh from larger prey items (e.g. pigeons). The clothing/blanket isn't swallowed anything the cats tears off is discarded. One of my cats, Sappho, exhibited this behaviour towards crochet blankets.

In the case of one Siamese cat, it took a sock to its eating area and plucked at it periodically during the meal (canned food). The owner attributed this to "teeth cleaning" but it was probably misdirected prey-plucking/tearing behaviour as it only occurred at mealtimes.

BREED PREDISPOSITIONS
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Focus On Cat Breeds

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History, Temperament of the Maine Coon.

History of the Maine Coon Cat
Maine Coons have been on this earth for many centuries, they were well documented at being in large numbers at American Cat Shows in the mid 1800’s alongside the other popular breed at the time the Persian cat.

There are several theories as to the origin of Maine Coons, the Darwin Theory of an animal’s origin being disregarded and obscured, from being an outcross between a Bobcat/Wildcat and a domestic, coming across as ship cats from Scandinavian countries as Forest type cats and mating with the domestic cats, to Marie Antoinette sending her royal cats on a ship to the safety of Maine, prior to her beheading. Nobody really knows and the cat’s aren’t saying.

Maine Coons are a natural breed of cat or at least the original ones were, and anyone who has ever met one and to everyone who has ever lived with one, the Maine Coon is a very special breed of cat. [1]

Appearance of The Maine Coon Cat
Maine Coons are the largest breed of domestic cat and have a rugged, working cat appearance. They have a lovely semi-longhaired coat of varying lengths and were well built to survive in the harsh North American winters. This coat is very water repellent, but quite soft to the touch. An amazing plumed tail of large proportions finishes off this wonderful coat. They come in a large variety of colours and in several tabby patterns as well as solid and particolours. Brown tabby is the original colouring of a Maine Coon but the rainbow of colours range through blues, reds and creams, silvers tortoiseshell and solid blacks through to solid white.
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Cat First Aid and Emergency Care
If you are cat owners, you may have to encounter emergency situations pertaining to your kitty. Your cat may fall ill anytime unexpectedly or meet an accident which would require you to act as her vet and treat her on urgent basis. In such emergency situations, mostly, you do not have the time to get across your vet.

Learn About Cat Beds And What Cat Bed Is Best
Several people assume that since domestic and wild cats get enough water and food, cats may survive in cold climate because of their thick coats. Although, studies say that in harsh climate, shelter is preferred the most over any other needs. Without shelter, wild and domestic cats develop risk of possible dangers such as frozen paws and ears. Severe climate may harm their respiratory system too. Particularly, in the rains, fur of cats get wet and may cost them their lives.



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This is a couple of economical recipes that will enable you to feed your family a "meatloaf" that is different without breaking the bank, so to speak. If you prefer pork over beef, try this ham loaf. For a different take on the traditional meatloaf, try the Norwegian meat loaf.

Jewish Coffee Cake
Now here is a coffee cake that will make you want no other coffee cake, and once you prepare this coffee cake and get a real working idea about this cake you can become very creative and use some different jams, jellies, fruits and so on. Always remember that there is a lot that you can do with a recipe providing you don't exceed the parameters of the original recipe. I have prepared this recipe hundred's of times and still I cannot believe how good it comes out. All ingredients should be at room temperature.



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Meow Mix House - Cat Reality Television

My friends at Meow Mix have done it again, they have produced a reality TV show staring 10 homeless cats. All ten cats were chosen from animal shelters from around the country.
The cats are spending their time in a storefront window in New York City. The players are brought to life with the use of voice over and the public votes one of the cats out of the house each week. Sound like something you've watched before?
The best part is when the cats gets voted out of the Meow Mix House they go to an adopted new home and the winner will be the new Meow Mix spokes-cat.
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The Legendary Luminous Pearl:
In 1985, Mr. Li Guangling, a collector from Henan Province, discovered a fluorite luminous pearl, which could give out green phosphorescence in the dark after being held in hand. Soon after that, a friend from Luoyang of Henan showed the author two bored luminous pearls, which could also give out dazzling green light, but the component of which was not determined. It is left unknown if these two luminous pearls are exactly those two of the legendary 12 luminous pearls on the hat of empress Ci Xi....

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