National Holistic Pet Day

When we humans think about our health, we think of mind, body, and spirit or heart. We strive to be healthy and find fulfillment in our lives. As responsible pet owners, we can extend that kind of thinking to our pets as well. When I say “holistic”, I’m talking about the whole, as in the mind, body, and spirit or heart of your pet.

Holistic health begins with good nutrition, physical exercise, and mental stimulation. Is your pet at a healthy weight? Does your pet get enough exercise? Do you think your pet is bored? These are only three questions to consider. As a caring and responsible pet owner, having a healthy and happy pet probably means that you’re happy for your pet too. Everyone wins.

Photo courtesy of Pexels

Here are some activities you can do today to celebrate National Holistic Pet Day:

1. Have an adventure. Take your dog to a new park. Arrange a playdate with a new doggy friend. Bringing your dog to new places, combined with reinforced training, help your dog to be well-socialized and more confident.
2. Play, play, play. Exercise can be therapeutic for pets and beneficial mentally as well as physically. By regularly playing with your pet, you strengthen pet-owner bonds, let your pet hone skills (fetching, tracking, pouncing, hunting, etc.), and reduce stress.
3. Enrichment. Mixing things up a bit and encouraging pets to use their minds as well as their paws and noses can help pets, especially indoor ones, stave off boredom. Consider these ideas: food-dispensing puzzle toys; sensory enrichment (i.e. window perch for birdwatching, pet-directed videos); climbing posts, trees, and shelves for cats; novel objects like boxes, paper bags, pop-up tunnels, and bacon-flavored bubbles for dogs. Seriously!

Photo courtesy of Pexels

Sweet Mau

Mau is a pretty cute cat, though I might be biased. It’s now been about 10 days since his dental surgery and being toothless hasn’t negatively affected his quality of life.

“This bed is so cozy!”

Aaron and I have noticed that he has become more playful and bats both crinkle balls and plastic springs around the house. Mau’s favorite toy might be the laser pointer, however, as he chases after the red dot with more gusto and stamina than either Garrus or Charlie. It’s highly amusing and delightful to watch all three cats skitter about the house trying to pounce on the elusive red dot. If I can, I’ll record a video of a play session and share it here on Purry Home Companion!

“Mama, I found a box! It’s such a nice box.”

Look at these handsome boys! I couldn’t resist snapping a photo when I saw them lined up like this.

Garrus and Mau demonstrate their nightly ottoman sprawl. Mau recently adopted this habit of flaunting his fluffy belly like this. It’s not a trap. I repeat: it’s not a trap!

DOGust and Universal Birthday for Shelter Dogs

Happy DOGust everyone! And, whew, it is HOT. So obviously it’s time for indoor parties. Do you throw birthday parties for your pets? I have friends who celebrate their dogs’ birthdays. However, if you don’t always know your dog’s birthdate. Thanks to the efforts of the North Shore Animal League and the ASPCA, the month of DOGust and the Universal Birthday for Shelter and Rescue Dogs came into being!

Photo courtesy of Pexels

At a loss at how to throw a DOGust-worthy “pawty”? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. If you’re going to have any outdoor activities, do it early in the morning and in the shade. Dogs can get overheated and sun- or heatstroke.
2. Offer lots of water to human and canine guests to keep them cool and comfortable.
3. Don’t forget refreshments. Peanut butter treats would be a good idea, or, for the ambitious, a bone-shaped puppy cake.
4. Provide splash time in a kiddie pool and lots of toys so everyone can play. If some want to play inside, that’s okay too.
5. In lieu of presents for your pup, request that guests make a donation to a local shelter or rescue group. This can be cash, supplies, time, or skills!
6. For party favors, all the canine attendees could get bandanas.
7. Remember to take plenty of snazzy photos!
8. Have fun!

Photo courtesy of The Dodo

Cute Alert

Lately all three cats have been doing little things that are just inordinately adorable. This is one of the many things that I appreciate about my pets: daily doses of cute! Here is a collection of some of the endearing things they’ve been doing…

Recently Charlie has been hanging out on the couch more whenever Boudicca hangs out in my office. Apparently he realized that the couch is indeed comfortable. Earlier this week I caught him in the act: chilling out and flaunting all of his belly spots.

“What? I found a new spot, Mom…By the way, this tummy won’t rub itself!”

This week Garrus has been more adventurous by lounging on the back of the couch while we sit. I was able to read with Garrus hanging out with me. He even came onto the bed twice this week for a half-snuggle! While he is often inscrutable, he does seem more relaxed and is becoming more assertive in asking for visits. (Because, unlike Charlie and Boudicca, he is not a chatty cat, he expresses himself entirely through body language. He also bunts and tail hugs to get attention. I know he wants to visit if he trots over to the bed in a particularly jaunty way.) Of course, he decides to ask for visits on his schedule. He is a cat, after all!

Egads! Boudicca deigned to share the couch with Charlie without a kerfuffle! Of course, Charlie seemed most pleased with himself, as if it was all his doing…

Occasionally Charlie makes overtures of friendship to Boudicca by bringing her toys on the couch. (Maybe he thinks that bringing a toy is the equivalent of a toll to get on the couch?) While his enthusiasm and persistence is admirable, he is nevertheless perplexed by Boudicca won’t play with him. He also leaves toys next to Garrus wherever he is sleeping and brings me toys on the bed. I think in the latter case he likes to show off his latest prize!

“Joy! Dad found all the springs I had knocked under the oven! Now I can lose them in hard to reach places again!”

Not pictured: Garrus plays with surprising zeal with the springs and, to my delight, carried one of them in his mouth earlier this week! It’s been gratifying to see that some of Charlie’s childlike playfulness has seemingly rubbed off on Garrus and encouraged him to branch out and play with all the toys with gusto.

The boys’ newest hobby is bug-hunting through the window. Sometimes Charlie chatters at the bugs (to what end, I don’t know). Much tail-twitching follows. Other times their reflections catch the light oddly so they look like creatures from a Stephen King novel.

Behold, Queen Boudicca in repose! I have always been quite partial to her ski slope nose. This week she has been very vocal about getting lots of pets, kisses between the ears, brushings, cuddles (including lying on my chest while I sleep and being picked up), and, of course, food. When I come home, I nearly trip over her because she plants herself on the inside of the door, meowing all the while in effusive greeting (complete with tail hugs). She still has not yet figured out that she is in fact not a dog.

Playing Favorites

As I’ve mentioned before, Charlie has favorite toys. These are his three fuzzy mice and a fuzzy ball. A couple of times a day I replace these toys back on the top platform of the cat tower for him to find. He likes fishing one out with his paws, playing with it fiercely, and tossing it to the floor. Sometimes he will simply throw each toy to the floor before taking a nap on his favorite platform. I was able to get two short videos of him doing this so enjoy!

 

Charlie Loves His Mouse

Charlie loves to play, and he has his select favorite toys that he plays with on a daily basis. I will often find these toys in various places around the house, such as next to the dishwasher, in front of the toilet, or on the bed. Today I walked into the bedroom and found Charlie sprawled on the bed; a toy mouse lay on the floor. I picked it up for him and watched him play with it. He lost it on the floor again. This time I went back to my office for my phone and started recording as I gave it back. Here is a short video of Charlie’s play session:

Isn’t he cute?

Cat Toys: Part Two

Keeping cats physically and mentally busy can be a challenge, especially since most people cannot afford to spend huge chunks of their day playing with their cats. It is advisable to regularly spend some time, such as 10 to 15 minutes, playing with your cat, whether it involves throwing toys around (some cats will fetch), being the Keeper of the Elusive Red Dot, or dangling a wand toy.

Changing things up and giving different types of enrichment, toys, and stimulation can put some pizzazz back into your cat’s step. Giving them something constructive to do can prevent your cat from getting into trouble or growing bored. Here are some ideas:

1. Window watching. According to The Fur Person by May Sarton, the feline equivalent of reading the newspaper is watching the goings on outside through a window. (By the way, if you have a chance, do read The Fur Person. It is a truly delightful little book.) Every cat I have had enjoys looking out the window, often excitedly at the birds on the patio or the trees in the yard. It gets very animated in the house when the birds, squirrels, and cat(s) start sassing and chattering away at one another. Boudicca does not know what to do when she sees rabbits, especially when they come close to the patio door. There are ways to maximize your cat’s ability to know what’s going outside safely and easily.

1. Catnip. There are different types of catnip out there, and if you want, you can even grow your own. Toys laced with catnip can make your cats frisky. Some cats prefer to play with catnip toys while others go “meh”. (On the other hand, there are cats that can react aggressively in response to catnip. Every cat responds differently.) Spreading a pinch of catnip on scratching poles or sprinkled over scratching pads may reinvigorate a cat’s interest in these areas and give an added incentive to scratch where you want them to, as opposed to your furniture.
2. Boxes. Occasionally putting a box out for your cat to explore gives them something new to do. Boudicca prefers to have one of her beds placed inside a box and likes to hang out in another. Does your cat sprawl on top of your keyboard while you are trying to work? Try putting a shallow box on the edge of or near your desk. This way your cat can have a space near you without getting in your way. Bonus: cat will be conveniently located for spontaneous rubs.

1. Mazes. You can take giving a cat a box one step further by creating a cat maze out of boxes like Cat Man Chris did for his beautiful cats, Cole and Marmalade. You can always scale it down if you are feeling less ambitious.
2. Structures. Unleash your creativity and make castles, forts, condos, tunnels, and other fun things for your cat to explore. You can make kitty castles out of boxes and all finds of furniture projects including a TARDIS for the Whovian feline. NB: Your cat may want to “help” you as you build these.
3. Towers or trees. Some cats, like Boudicca, fall definitively in the box camp. The boys, on the other hand, prefer going high. Because of that, they benefit considerably from their tall cat tree. (Photo below: Within 5 minutes of the cat tree being assembled, Charlie and Garrus inducted it by playing a game of hide-and-pounce.)

1. Puzzle toys. These can either be purchased or created DIY fashion, so there are a number of options available!

My friend Christina, cat foster mom extraordinaire and guru of all things feline, was thoughtful and generous enough to send me a few puzzle toys: two eggs and a piñata. These were originally intended to pique Boudicca’s interest and offer my senior girl some enrichment after Nala’s passing in January 2017. Boudicca wasn’t sure what to do with them when I first showed them to her. She still is somewhat undecided but will at least investigate them because she likes treats. (In this way she is rather doglike.) After we adopted the boys and they started to settle in, we introduced them to eggs for starters. Both were fascinated by the idea of a strange rattling thing that rolls around, spins, and produces treats!

What toys do your cats like? Are their toys they absolutely dislike? Do your cat play with odd things? In her youth Boudicca stole hair bands on a regular basis. Nala was a known thief of Post-Its. How do you play with your cats? If you have fun and/or creative ideas or just cute stories, please feel free to share by adding them in the comments.

Cat Toys: Part One

Although cats frequently are stereotyped as aloof and self-contained (some cats indeed are), many cats enjoy play time! Whether I bring a new toy home or simply recover one from beneath the couch, Charlie in particular reacts as though it is his birthday, Christmas, and Halloween all rolled into one because he is SO THRILLED that I am giving him a toy. Even Garrus drops his usual reserve and makes some spectacular leaps while chasing after one of his favorite toys.

Boudicca has never been a very playful cat with a high prey drive. When she was younger, she would chase the red dot and half-heartedly bat at toys, but now that she is a senior who will be 18 in May, she has lost most interest in playing. She will occasionally demonstrate a willingness to investigate puzzle toys chiefly because she wants treats. Garrus and Charlie, on the other hand, love to play. This is especially true for Charlie, who can best be described as a busy, happy-go-lucky furry toddler. (He is, after all, two years old, which makes him the feline equivalent of a college student.)

Both of the boys have their unique preferences. Garrus prefers the wand ribbon toy (I think it’s actually called a Cat Dancer but that term has always made me giggle) and the laser pointer, especially if there are treats beneath the red dot. He will occasionally bat around toys that we have lying around. (During a particularly active play session, my living room looks like a daycare center. Charlie also has developed a habit of leaving his toys in odd places around the house.) Garrus also is intrigued by puzzle toys and is generally more willing (and brave enough) to explore new things, like a big paper bag.

Charlie, as I mentioned earlier, likes to be busy. While he is not really mischievous, he very well could be if he ever became bored. This is one of the many reasons why I am so grateful that we fostered and adopted both boys. Charlie is so much happier with a cat buddy and is generally appreciative of having a playmate. In between naps and being cute, ambushing, chasing, wrestling, and playing tag with Garrus fill his daily calendar. However, Garrus does not always want to play, so when that happens Charlie has to entertain himself. While both boys immediately claimed the cat tower for themselves (Boudicca prefers boxes), Charlie regularly runs up and down the tower, either chasing Garrus or inventing a game for himself. (The rules of these new games are not always clear to me. In fact several of them appear to have fluid parameters.) Having a tower gives Charlie a place to exercise, hide in a cubby if he feels insecure or just wants a cave-like environment, a convenient perch, and his preferred sleeping spot (a high platform).

Within days of erecting the tower, Charlie tore off all three of the toys that had been attached to it. (I cut off the remaining elastic string on both the tower and the toys so that he could not chew on it.) For some reason, these are his absolute favorite: two fuzzy brown mice and a ball.

Charlie had actually left one of the mice in the bed. I moved the other two toys there to take this photo. He was very curious about what I was doing and nearly bumped into my phone and photobombed the shot.

“Hi Mama…whatcha doin’?”

My friend Tracey proposed a theory that some cats are more “birdy” and others are “mousy”. “Birdy” cats like toys that they swat or chase in the air while “mousy” cats prefer to stalk toys on the ground. This makes sense to me, and I think a fair number of cats fall into one of these two categories or are a blend of them. Garrus may fall more into the “birdy” cat category while Charlie is “mousy”. Where does that leave Boudicca? She’s in the final category: lazy and/or googly.

How many toys does my little pounce have? After fishing them out from under and behind furniture (the boys looked on, rather bewildered and intrigued), I found most of them. Although I originally bought a pack of eight springs, I only found four. I do not know where the others went. I suspect gnomes kidnapped them.

Note that I do not have any feathery toys in my collection. I don’t have anything against feather toys; some cats like them very much. However, Mr. Charlie demonstrated that he will eat the feathers and that makes him sick. The vet told me no more feathery toys for him.

Garrus stared intently at his wand toys as I lay them out for the above photo. He was totally game to play. So we did. Charlie joined in as well.

Here Garrus pauses before he executes his trademark swat and pounce move. His face is a study in concentration.

Because we have all these toys, we collect them and put them on the platforms the cats generally don’t use. This habit started inadvertently; I believe I needed to vacuum the living room and the toys were everywhere, so I put them on one platform to get them out of the way and apparently forgot about them for a bit. Charlie, however, discovered them as soon as I put away the dreaded vacuum monster. I watched him fish out toys he wanted to play with and either swat them to the floor or carry them in his mouth. (Garrus has selected toys using his paws this way but does it less often.) Charlie does this very consistently with his fuzzy mice and ball, which I now put on the uppermost platform. I cannot tell if Charlie is slightly offended when I put them up there or just feels strangely compelled to throw all his toys onto the floor. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to catch Charlie doing this with my camera yet but I will keep trying. It’s pretty adorable and usually involves a squeaky commentary.

Toy shelf #1

Toy shelf #2

Charlie danced all over the platforms, trilling and sniffing all his toys intently, as though personally checking that I returned them to their proper spot.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

Where Are Your Toys, Charlie?

Charlie is a busy, ridiculously cute, and rather kittenish cat. He loves to play. Fortunately–and amusingly–he is perfectly happy to play with nearly anything. I’ve seen him bat around a coffee bean and, later, a single kibble for hours. We have given him crinkly Mylar balls and Ethical Pet heavy gauge plastic springs. At times he will bat around a jingle ball and investigate a puzzle egg toy in order to get a treat out of it. (A dear friend sent me these particular puzzle toys, along with a piñata, but a similar puzzle toy can be found on Chewy.)

When Charlie is particularly frisky, my living room looks like a daycare center with toys spilled haphazardly everywhere. Of course, Charlie temporarily loses his toys whenever he bats them under furniture and cannot fish them out with his questing paws. Whenever we recover toys for him, he reacts with such unfettered glee. (Often times though, he loses his toy again within half an hour. Then the cycle begins anew.)

By far, though, Charlie’s absolute favorite toys are the two fuzzy brown mice and a fuzzy brown ball that he tore off the cat tower. (We cut away the remaining elastic strings to prevent him from being able to chew or swallow them.) It’s utterly hilarious and terribly charming when I catch Charlie carrying these toys around in his mouth. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to snap a photo of him doing this yet.

When we need to vacuum, we pick up all the toys and temporarily place them on one of the cat tower platforms. Charlie and Garrus prefer the one on the left, so we put the toys on the right platform since they don’t use it as much. At first, we did this purely for practical reasons but soon we noticed that Charlie decided this was a new game. After he realized that his toys were all in one spot, he would scale the tower, go to the right platform, and bat at least one crinkle ball off the platform onto the floor. He typically goes straight for his fuzzy toys, picks one up in his mouth, and either carries it down to the floor or simply drops it. Then he goes back to his spot on the left platform. If we immediately replace the toy, he takes it as a cue to play with extra zest and attacks the toy (and usually the scratching poles in the process), tosses the given toy back onto the floor, and usually starts batting it around for awhile after that. Sometimes chirping accompanies the toy carrying and/or the batting session. It’s very silly.

Now when we find his fuzzy toys on the floor, we surreptitiously replace it back onto one of the top three platforms for Charlie to find. We’ve also occasionally hid them inside the kitty condos or put them on a lower platform in order for him to investigate and to keep things interesting for him. I’m quite pleased when I see that he is using his mind as well as his paws to keep himself entertained.  If playtime is not occupying him, it could be mischief! 

His latest project is depositing toys around the house in odd places. It’s not uncommon to find a mouse in the middle of the hallway or under a chair after we wake up. On a few occasions Charlie has approached me with a toy in his mouth, only to drop it and scamper away. It’s not clear whether he wants me to throw said toy (he doesn’t fetch…yet) or if I should regard the toy as a present. Sleeping Garrus on the bed? Clearly a toy mouse needs to go under his tail without Garrus’ apparent knowledge. Maybe Charlie thinks Garrus needs a napping buddy. Mom’s in the bathroom? A fuzzy ball needs to be placed just outside the door…because reasons. Another mouse needs to placed in the exact center of the kitchen floor. Perhaps it is the mascot for the kitty convention they will hold under the kitchen table later.

 

I Think He Likes Me

Earlier today Charlie did something ridiculously cute. He found me in the bathroom before I shut the door. Apparently I am not supposed go to by myself, so he brought me his brown fuzzy mouse toy. He left it in the doorway then scampered off. I couldn’t help but giggle.

Charlie: Look Mom! I brought you a present!

Me: Oh really! Just what I always wanted!

Charlie: *scampers off* Play?

Me: *tosses the toy down the hallway*

Charlie: YAY it’s play time! *scamper, scamper, skid, pounce* This is my favorite thing!

Occasionally Charlie will leave his mouse, fuzzy ball, or crinkle ball in my office, the doorway of the bedroom, in the middle of the kitchen floor, under one of the kitchen table chairs, or near the bathroom door. While he may have simply stopped playing with a given toy at that spot, it may very well be his kooky way of reminding us to play with him. He hasn’t figured out how to bring the toy back but he does certainly enjoy it when we throw a toy for him! He’s really cute that way.