by Nomi Berger
 
Charles Dickens famously said: “What greater gift than the love of a cat.”

While cat lovers everywhere couldn’t agree more, did you know there’s a month dedicated purr-ticularly to the health and happiness of our wondrous, whiskered and whimsical feline friends? 
 
And that month is September. In fact “Happy Cat Month” is now an annual event presented by the CATalyst Council, a national initiative whose aim is to further educate the public and increase awareness about the lifelong health and welfare of companion cats.
 
To ensure YOUR kitty is living her happiest paws-ible life, they’ve revealed – with a tip of the proverbial hat to former talk show host David Letterman -- this year’s top ten list:
 
1) Provide her with toys: One of the easiest ways to make and keep your kitty happy is gifting her with a new toy. While store bought items are fine and fun, so are simple household items such as wadded up paper, paper sacks, and that all time favorite – empty cartons.
 
2) Train her: As bright as she is food-oriented, she can easily be taught new “tricks.” Not only does this stimulate her mentally and physically, training her also strengthens the bond between you.
 
3) Make her “work” for her food: With feline obesity on the rise, one way to combat it is having your kitty “work” for her food. Food toys that release small amounts of kibble as she plays with it are one option while another is to hide her food in different places so that she has to “seek” it out.
 
4) Acclimate her to the dreaded carrier: Set aside some time each day to work, slowly and patiently, with your cat on making the carrier feel like a safe place not a scary one. Praise and high value treats work wonders as she progresses, paw step by paw step, towards ultimate acquiescence and acceptance.
 
5) Visit your vet: Because a healthy cat is a happy cat, ensure that you schedule an annual wellness visit with your vet so that any issues you yourself may have missed are caught early.
 
6) Have her microchipped: In addition to her collar and identification tags, microchipping your cherished cat provides a permanent form of identification should she ever go missing.
 
7) Take her outdoors: To literally broaden her horizons, take your indoor kitty for occasional, brief walks outside using a leash with a harness, thereby enabling her to safely experience the wonders of the world beyond your windows.
 
8) Supply her with a proper scratching post: Since scratching is so important for cats, allowing them to both stretch and care for their claws, keep your kitty happy by providing her with a long, sturdy scratching post in a vertical, horizontal or angled position.
 
9) Provide her with preventive medications: A cat free of fleas and ticks, mites and heartworms is an especially happy cat. To maintain her health as well as your own, consult your vet about the best preventive measures to take and the best products to use.
 
10) Adopt another cat: If yours is a single-cat household, you might consider providing your kitty with a companion and playmate. Being such social creatures, cats are often happiest when they have a compatible feline friend with whom to frisk and frolic fur-ever.

by Nomi Berger
 
Are you fascinated by the small, heart-shaped “button” in the middle of your favorite feline’s face? Commonly called a nose, it is, in fact, one of a cat’s most uncommonly and intriguing features.
 
Consider the following:
 
1. Cats have up to 200 million receptors in their noses. Their highly developed sense of smell helps them track prey such as mice, distinguish between toxic food and edible food, discover the places you’ve been, and find their way home should they wander off and get lost.
 
2. The color of a cat’s nose matches the color of their fur. Cats with pink noses will have white fur; cats with orange noses, like tabbies, will have orange fur; cats with gray noses will have gray fur; cats with black noses will have black fur and black and white fur (tuxedos), and cats with multicolored noses, like calicos, will have multicolored fur.
 
3. Every cat’s noseprint is unique in the same way that every person’s fingerprints are unique. Ridges and bumps on cats’ noses make up their noseprint while the naked skin around their nostrils is known as “nose leather.” Some proud cat owners even go so far as to have their kitty’s noseprint inked!
 
4. Cats’ noses assist in stimulating their appetite (they have fewer taste receptors than either people or dogs). Therefore, when they’re able to smell certain flavors of food -- the more aromatic the better -- it makes them realize they are, in fact, hungry. This is one of the main reasons for keeping cats on the same diet. Simply recognizing the food’s scent will stimulate their appetite. If, for any reason, you must change your own cat’s food, ensure that you do so gradually.
 
5. Cats’ sensitive noses excel at detecting other cats’ scents, particularly where outdoor cats are concerned. Many outdoor cats mark their “territory” by using their own feces or urine so that if another cat enters it, or worse, urinates there, literally invading their space, one sniff and they know! A male cat’s sense of smell will also alert him to any nearby females in heat. If he’s ready to mate, he releases pheromones that only she can detect informing her of his intentions.
 
6. Cats use their noses as a way of greeting other cats. When two cats meet for the first time, they will approach each other slowly, if not warily, then proceed to sniff one another’s noses, sides and rear ends before, in all likelihood, going their separate ways. 
 
7. Since cat noses are so sensitive, very strong odors can not only be distasteful to them but uncomfortable as well. Example: scented cat litter. While pleasant to us, it could be overwhelming for cats. They also dislike the smell of citrus, eucalyptus, lavender, mint and tea tree oil.
 
8. Cats are notorious for licking their noses. And while countless theories abound as to the reason behind this behavior, the most popular ones include the following: to relieve anxiety or stress, to comfort themselves, to “re-set” their sense of smell and, purr-haps the most practical of all, to simply keep their noses clean.

by Nomi Berger
 
Have you ever wondered why cats’ coats in general and yours in purr-ticular change color?
 
If so, consider some of the paws-ible reasons for this feline phenomenon.
 
1) Changes in temperature: Some cats, like Oriental Himalayans and Siamese, known as pointed breeds, are genetically predisposed to changes in their fur color depending on the temperature of their skin. Their skin is naturally cooler at their bodies’ extremities – faces, paws and tails – which partly accounts for their white or light cream bodies and darker-hued faces, paws and tails. The temperature of the environment in which any cat lives can also play a role in her coloring. Owners may notice that their cats are darker during the cold months of winter and lighter during the warm months of spring and summer.
 
2) The sun’s rays: If your cat -- as most do -- LOVES the sun, her fur will change color and fade because of her prolonged exposure to its rays. Most noticeable in black cats whose coats lighten and turn “rusty,” it results from the sun’s UV rays destroying the dark pigment, melanin, in their bodies that protects their delicate skin from being burned. Thankfully, however, cats are constantly replacing melanin, meaning their fur will eventually return to its normal shade, but they’ll have to go through an entire shedding cycle before this happens. Nor does this type of fading apply only to outdoor cats. The coats of indoor cats who spend too much time stretched out on sunny window perchs will also fade. 
 
3) Lack of important nutrients: Dark-haired cats may appear lighter or redder than usual due to an insufficient amount of the amino acid tyrosine in their diet. Considered a non-essential amino acid since it’s created within their own bodies, cats require twice as much tyrosine as their bodies can produce (the average cat needs over 5g of tyrosine daily). Tyrosine is needed to make melanin, and if cats don’t have enough of it in their diet, their fur can begin turning a reddish hue. Similarly, a diet high in such elements as copper or zinc may also cause their coats to change color.
 
4) The natural aging process: If your cat is 10 years or older, her body will automatically begin producing less melanin. But unless her coat is pure black as opposed to either a paler coat or one with stripes, you may not notice the change until her coat starts turning from its normal color to a browner and then, finally, to a grayer tone. Gray hairs customarily appear first around a cat’s muzzle and fan out from there. 
 
5) Stress and physical pain: While still controversial, some experts believe that stress or pain may be responsible for turning a cat’s fur gray. Such premature graying is linked to heightened levels of noradrenaline, a hormone constantly released by a cat’s body in small doses. Noradrenaline is connected to the nervous system, and during times of intense stress or pain, it will, literally and figuratively, flood her body.
 
If, on the other hand, your cat’s fur has changed color seemingly overnight, there could be a medical reason for it, and you should arrange to have her seen by your vet.

by Nomi Berger
 
It’s a question posed by puzzled cat parents everywhere: Do our feline friends truly HATE water?
 
According to most animal behaviorists and scientists, the answer is more complicated than a simple “yes” or “no.” Why? Because the relationship between cats and water is, in itself, complicated -- for several reasons.
 
From an evolutionary standpoint, today’s domestic cats are descended from Arabian wild cats who inhabited areas where the climate was arid with few if any large bodies of water, thereby negating the necessity to learn how to swim in order to survive. Succinctly put, there’s virtually nothing in the ancestral lineage of domesticated cats that would have ever prepared them for being bathed – in a tub or even a sink. 
 
Because they still retain many of the same instincts as their ancestors, today’s cats are always alert to potential threats and must be fit enough to either fight or flee should the need arise. But if their fur is wet (read “drenched” or “soaked”), it’s akin to being weighed down by a cold, heavy blanket due to the fact that their coats dry very slowly. Not only is this distinctly uncomfortable, it impedes their ability to move, compromises their agility, and leaves them vulnerable to attack.
 
And since cats typically spend 30 to 50 percent of each day meticulously grooming themselves, licking their fur to remove skin oils and fluffing their coats, they scarcely need bathing. In fact, their sole exposure to water seldom extends beyond their water bowls. It’s purr-fectly understandable, then, that their reaction to anything else would be one of fear. Especially if their earliest exposure to water was getting caught in the rain, being forced into a flea bath or being disciplined with a spray bottle or squirt gun to dissuade them from jumping onto or scratching furniture and/or kitchen counters.
 
Cats are gifted with a highly developed sense of smell and are thus able to detect the chemicals in tap water – an extremely unpleasant experience, at least for them. They also have numerous scent glands in their bodies that produce pheromones used for marking and communicating with other cats, and water – from tap water to scented bathwater -- interferes with these abilities. 
 
Why then, do so many cats splash about in their water bowls and/or stare in such rapt fascination at the water streaming from a sink faucet or filling up a bathtub? Because it has very little to do with the water itself and everything to do with the way it looks, sounds and moves. To them, the shimmering, flickering light patterns dancing about so seductively means only one thing: potential prey and, thus, a source of food – an instinct as old as the species itself.
 
And yet, surprisingly, there are some cats who not only enjoy water but LOVE swimming in it! Among them are the Abyssinian, American Bobtail, Bengal, Japanese Bobtail, Maine Coon, Manx, Norwegian Forest Cat, Savannah, Turkish Angora and Turkish Van.
 
If you have a young kitten, it’s always possible to help her feel more comfortable around water. Since her most impressionable time of life is between three and 16 weeks, expose her slowly to water using treats or toys as positive reinforcement. Should you have an older cat who’s either sick or has arthritis and can’t groom herself properly, bathing her may become a necessity. Even she can be conditioned to enjoy – or at least, tolerate – the water, although the process will, understandably, be slower and take longer.

by Nomi Berger

Facts, fun and fanciful, some purr-haps familiar, others new – for the feline fancier in all of you:

1. Genetically, if somewhat surprisingly, a domestic cat is 95.6% tiger!
2. Although humans have 206 bones in our bodies, cats have, on average, 244 in theirs. The number ranges between 230 and 250 depending on the length of their tails and how many toes they have.
3. An adult cat’s brain is approximately 2 inches long, weighs approximately 1 ounce and has nearly twice as many neurons in her cerebral cortex as a dog.
4. Every cat’s nose is unique -- much like a human’s fingerprints.
5. Cats are blessed with an extra organ that enables them to “taste” scents in the air.
6. Cats’ whiskers are the same width as their bodies.
7. A cat’s tongue contains hundreds of backward-facing keratin spines known as filiform papillae that not only assist her in grooming but allow her to lick bones clean of the tastiest, tiniest morsels of meat.
8. Kittens have 26 teeth and adult cats have 30 teeth.
9. A cat’s purr vibrates at a frequency of 25 to 150 hertz (Hz) -- the same frequency at which bones and muscles repair themselves. Since humans have a range of about 20 to 20,000 Hz, we can not only hear the purr but feel its vibrations.
10. Meowing was a behavior that cats developed in order to communicate with us, and they can have as many as 100 individual vocalizations in their “vocabulary.”
11. A cat’s walk resembles that of a camel or a giraffe – with both right feet going first, followed by both left feet.
12. While a running cat can reach a speed of 30 mph, it’s only for short distances.
13. Cats are capable of jumping up to five times their height.
14. A cat’s back is extremely flexible with up to 53 loosely fitting vertebrae compared with a human’s back that has 34.
15. Males are more likely to be left pawed, females are more likely to be right pawed, while some are ambidextrous.
16. Neutered males live 62% longer than intact males and spayed females live 39% longer than intact females.
17. Cats spend between 12 and 16 hours a day sleeping and devote 1/3 of their waking hours to grooming themselves.
18. The act of self-grooming stimulates blood flow to their skin, regulates their body temperature, and helps them relax.
19. Cats are capable of dreaming kitty cat dreams.
20. Your cat sends out signals that you’re her “property” by rubbing her face and body against you, thereby “marking” you with her distinctive scent.
21. If your cat comes toward you with her tail straight and almost vibrating, this signifies that she’s supremely pleased to see you.
22. When your cat shows you her belly, it’s a sign of trust and relaxation and not necessarily an invitation for a belly rub.
23. When your cat shows you her bum, it’s a gesture of friendship. When she kneads you or “makes biscuits”, it signifies happiness. When she drapes her tail over you, over another cat or even a dog, this means friendship as well.
24. Grimalkin is the name of a female cat, especially an older one.
25. A cat lover is called an ailurophile -- from the Greek word ailuros (cat) and phile (lover).

by Nomi Berger
 
Since cats are both predators and prey, they are programmed to perpetually assess their environment. As creatures of habit, territorial and tenacious, they must feel safe rather than sorry before relaxing their guard and revealing their sociable side.
 
That said, giving your new kitty companion some space before greeting her is key to earning her trust and winning her heart. Why? Because this affords her the opportunity to decide if she feels comfortable enough to interact with you or if it’s best, temporarily at least, for her to keep her distance.
 
Always allow HER to approach YOU. If she senses that she has a choice, she’s far less likely to run off.
 
Avoid looking her in the eye. Since a direct stare is considered a challenge in the animal world, use brief, soft glances – much like repeated slow blinks -- to reassure her that you’re not a threat.
 
To seem less imposing, never stand (read “tower”) over her. Instead either kneel down or sit on the floor. Meant to put her at ease, this should also encourage her to come closer, paw step by paw step, and begin her scent investigation of you.
 
Because cats rely so heavily on their highly developed sense of smell, you can use this to your mutual advantage. Slowly extend your index finger to see if she’ll venture even closer for that all-important first sniff. This is akin to two cats meeting one another for the first time and “going nose to nose” as each sniffs the other’s unique scent.
 
If she does, indeed, sniff your finger, pay close attention to what she does next. If she rubs against your finger, this is a friendly sign. If she moves in closer to rub against your arm, it’s an even friendlier sign, showing that she obviously feels comfortable enough to share this almost immediate, more intimate contact with you. But if she sniffs your finger and either stands still or backs away, it means that she’s still not quite sure of you. Resist the impulse to make any further moves in her direction. She may return for a second sniff or she may simply choose – for the moment -- to retreat altogether. If she does, don’t think of this first experience as a failure. By being patient, giving her the choice and not pressuring her, you’ve established that all-important initial bond of trust. Hopefully, she’ll feel more comfortable the second time – or the third -- and engage with you sooner and go farther.
 
If, on the other hand, you’re actually able to pet your new kitty, don’t push her tolerance level, particularly when she’s just learning to trust you. The same rule applies if she settles down beside you or curls up in your lap. If she decides, at any time, to move away, don’t grab her or try to lure her back. As long as she knows that she’s free to leave, she’ll feel that much more comfortable getting closer to you the next time.

by Nomi Berger
 
Have you ever wondered how many of their legendary nine lives cats use up when they fall from extraordinary heights?
 
Have you ever wondered how they, more often than not, manage to land safely on their feet?
 
Known as the righting reflex, this innate ability to reorient their bodies during a fall has been observed in kittens as young as the age of three weeks, and this gravity-defying skill is fully developed by the time they’re seven weeks old.
 
Historically, cats falling from greater heights (five stories and more) suffer less severe injuries than those falling from only a few stories. This longer free fall allows them more time to right themselves and position their bodies correctly so that by the time they reach the ground, their feet will touch down first.
 
Visualize a kitty falling in slow motion. She starts shifting her balance the instant her flight begins. First, her body determines which side should be up, guided by her eyes and ears. A cat’s inner ear’s vestibular system acts as her balance and orientation compass, alerting her to where her body is in relation to the ground. She then begins rotating her head until she’s facing the proper way and can see precisely where she’s going to land.
 
Secondly, her spine follows as she arches her back. Possessing a unique skeletal structure, a cat’s spine has no collarbone and an unusually flexible backbone with 30 vertebrae – unlike humans who have 24 – and it’s the suppleness of this backbone that enables her to correct her course during her fall. And since a cat has a low body-volume-to-weight ratio, much like a flying squirrel, she’s able to slow her velocity when falling by expanding her body size which, in turn, creates air resistance.
 
Thirdly, she positions her front feet under her, followed by her hind legs, with her front paws placed close to her face to protect it from the impact of landing on the ground. More like a parachute and less like an airplane, she relaxes her falling body and spreads it out in preparation for landing, ensuring her leg joints bear the impact of her weight.
 
Several years ago, a cat who fell a staggering 32 stories from a high-rise apartment to land on the concrete sidewalk was released from a veterinary clinic after 48 hours with only a chipped tooth and a minor lung puncture!

by Nomi Berger
 
Did you know that cats are capable of making more than 100 sounds?
 
Did you know that every year veterinary behaviorists discover even more sounds as they attempt to decipher exactly what those sounds and combinations of sounds mean?
 
Curious about the most common sounds that kitties make? Consider the following:
 
Short mew: Not only can it serve as a feline’s greeting, but it’s also similar to a person’s asking a question. Examples: When you hear a short mew, your kitty may be asking, “Are you concerned about me?” or “Could you please pick me up to get me away from the dog?”
 
Rapid-fire meow: Often, when a cat’s excited or craves attention, she’ll emit this rapid-fire meow. While its most common meaning is “I’m hungry, paw-lease feed me now!”, it may also be a sign of concern, discomfort or distress.
 
Chirping or chattering: As part of a cat’s natural hunting instinct, she’ll usually emit this familiar sound when she’s sitting in front of a window staring at the birds, chipmunks or squirrels outside. The reasons: she’s excited because she sees them as potential prey or she’s frustrated because she can’t get to them.
 
Long plaintive meows: These usually indicate worry, annoyance or an objection on the part of your cat. Tending to be more repetitive in nature, they mean that your kitty REALLY wants something specific – from waking you up in the morning because she’s hungry to demanding an immediate release from the room she’s in.
 
Growling: Announcing the potential start of a fight, it’s a cat-to-cat sound that literally means, “back off.” Consider this as a warning sign that your kitty is extremely agitated and requires some space.
 
Purring: While people generally think that a purring cat signifies contentment and happiness, in some instances, it can be a sign that your cat’s uncomfortable or in pain and is purring as a way to soothe herself.
 
Hissing: Unprovoked cats will often hiss at other animals and people when they’re either threatened, frightened or in pain.
 
Trilling: While most cat sounds are made with their mouths open, trilling is one sound that cats make with their mouths closed. Not only is trilling used by mother cats to get their kittens to pay attention to them or follow them, veterinary behaviorists see it as a positive, happy and friendly greeting.
 
Yowling: Outdoor, intact females in heat will often emit this sound in a seductive attempt to lure tomcats their way. Yowling can also signify that a major cat fight is about to start or that a particular cat is in great pain.

by Nomi Berger
 
Meow about the marvels of engineering!
 
Presenting the miraculous and multi-faceted cat tongue.
 
Every element of a cat – including her tongue – has, through evolution, been designed for utmost efficiency.
 
One of the main reasons for this enviable efficiency derives from the fact that a feline tongue feels like sandpaper. Unlike the papillae (tiny surface bumps) on a human tongue, hers are barb shaped, made from keratin and face backwards. These minute spine-like structures assist her in grooming as well as in drinking water and eating food.
 
Think of your cat’s tongue as the world’s smallest de-tangling hairbrush. Studies have shown that her tongue moves in several directions during her fastidious grooming process as she removes parasites from her skin, spreads her body oils around, and increases her blood circulation. Whenever her tongue “hits a snag”, it pulls on the “hooks”, causing them to rotate, enabling her to penetrate that snag even further.
 
Then there’s the drama behind her drinking! Whereas dogs utilize their tongues like ladles to drink, cats don’t. A cat uses the tip of her tongue to bring the water from her bowl to her mouth (her scoop-shaped papillae act as petite cups to hold it) creating a continuous column upwards with both accuracy and speed. More remarkable still is her ability to know precisely when to close her mouth before that gravity-defying motion stops.
 
Curious as to why your cat likes licking you? Pussycats lick their people partly because they consider them members of their feline family and partly because they see them as their own purr-sonal property. A ritual learned at birth from their kitty mothers, licking both keeps the family clean and bonds them more closely together. Maturing kittens and grown cats use licking to establish their territory by leaving their scent on it, and like their mothers before them, they also use licking as part of a social, bonding protocol – from licking each other in a multi-cat household to licking their pet parents.
 
Because cats are notorious for using their tongues to explore their environment, always ensure that your home is feline friendly and scrupulously safe. Too many vets have seen what seems like the most innocuous of items wrapped around the tongues of too many curious kitties – including elastics, yarn and all things stringy, human hair, shredding blankets and unraveling rugs. And since their passion for play triggers their instinctual prey drive, they will gleefully proceed, tongue first, to pounce on whatever thin and tempting “toy” beckons them close, closer, closest.
 
Cleaning products pose the same problem for your purr-ecious puss as inappropriate playthings. Not only are they toxic if she drinks them but should some of the liquid get on her fur and she tries to lick off, it can cause burns and ulcers on her tongue once inside her mouth. 

by Nomi Berger
 
Did you know?
 
1. Cats have dominant paws: While studies differ as to what percentage of cats are right, left or ambidextrous, they all show that our feline friends do indeed have paw preferences, particularly when it involves performing difficult tasks. One Irish study even correlated gender with paw dominance, indicating that males prefer using their right paw and females their left. Curious about your own kitty’s paw-reference? Present her with a challenging task such as plucking tasty treats from a hard-to-reach place. For the most accurate reading, repeat this task at least 75 times. Won’t YOUR kitty be paw-leased?
 
2. Cats tiptoe: Cats are digitigrades, i.e., they navigate their world on their toes. Why? In the wild, it improves their chances both at survival and at finding food by increasing their speed and lengthening their stride. They’re also much quieter on their toes, making it more difficult for their prey to detect them.
 
3. Cat paws are extremely sensitive: Paw pads contain a high concentration of nerve receptors, allowing cats to feel texture, pressure and even vibrations. In the wild, this sensitivity helps them evaluate the energy and proximity of their prey. In domesticated cats, however, this sensitivity makes many of them resistant to having their paws rubbed too often, if at all. The pads are also very sensitive to temperature and pain, and not being insulated, they can be seriously injured on ragged surfaces and hot or frozen pavement.
 
4. Cat paws are flexible: Their front paws’ ability to bend and turn inward makes cats admirably adept at climbing trees while remaining stable as they sink their claws into trunks and branches with ease. While ideal for ascending trees, it’s less than ideal for descending them. Since their front claws face in the wrong direction for a head first descent, and because their front legs and paws are weaker than their more muscular hind legs, cats must back down trees instead.
 
5. Cat paws are shock absorbers: Their pads act as both sound and shock absorbers, cushioning and softening their landings when cats jump as well as when they tread through rough terrain. In the wild, they assist a hungry cat move and hunt comfortably and silently.
 
6. Cat paws are great for grooming: Designed as petite and purr-fect grooming tools, their paws and front legs help cats clean difficult-to-reach areas behind their ears, on their faces and necks and under their chins. This ritual involves licking one of their front paws several times, swiping it across any area they’re unable to lick directly, stopping to lick (thereby moistening) their paw again and repeating the process until every area has been cleaned to their satisfaction.
 
7. Cat paws help cats sweat: Since cats sweat from the bottoms of their paws, this highly effective “cooling” system prevents them from overheating on hot days. But scared and stressed out cats also sweat through their paws. Want proof? Check for moist little paw prints on the examining table the next time you take kitty to the vet.
8. Cats “communicate” through their paws: Whenever cats scratch an object, they’re marking their territory and “transmitting” information about themselves. And thanks to scent glands located between the paw pads on their front and back feet, they’re depositing pheromones containing even more information on those same, scratched surfaces. Some cats will often scratch a specific spot after spraying or urinating.
 
9. Cat paws are “color coded”: Paw pads predictably come in colors that either mirror or match the color of a cat’s coat. Examples: Gray cats usually have gray paw pads, orange cats have pink paw pads, while tuxedo cats often sport black spots on theirs. Why? The pigments that make up the fur are the same as those that color the skin.