Reasons For Cat Eating Disorders

Finicky Eaters: It’s very rare to see a cat would pass up food for no apparent reason. However, there are a few finicky cats out there who are so choosy about what they eat that they end up being malnourished and underweight. These cats can become this way for a variety of reasons, but is typically the fault of the owner.

Cat owners get lazy and they buy the same old cat foods—canned after canned or pack after pack—until one day they realize that their cat isn’t eating the food anymore. The cats simply got sick of the same old food day after day. One way to counteract this problem is to cycle different flavors of cat food during the week, as well as try out different brands of cat food periodically.

Medical Issue: If your cat still refuses to eat despite all the various methods and is looking very thin, chances might be a medical problem which may be unknown to you and you may have to seek veterinarian help. But before you head to the veterinary clinic, check if your cat’s ribs if they are clearly visible. If they are, you would want to consult a veterinarian as soon as possible.

Trash Eating: If your cat isn’t eating the food you bought but still remain her usual weight, then most likely she is eating trash bin food. The problem is easily solved if you cover your indoor trash bin with lid on and secure it if necessary.

What if your trash bin is outdoor and is securely covered? Yours maybe, but what about others? Cats, by natural, are explorers who practically live outside the home if they figure a way to get out when you aren’t around at home. The solution to this is to make sure that your cat has totally no excess to outside the home without your supervision. So check for any possible areas (e.g. ventilation windows) that your cat could easily squeeze through to the outside world.

Although eating trash food may not seem like a major problem, but there is a good likelihood that your cat may eat something that is bad or toxic food or pick up fatal diseases while scavenging. So don’t wait until your cat got sick to do something about it.

Related Topics

• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Door Bell
• Responsible Pet Ownership: What Is Expected of You?
• Cat: Norwegian Forest
• Cat: Persian
• Cat: Maine Coon
• How To Stop Your Cat From Eating Houseplants
• Cat: Bengal

What Is The Healthy Weight For A Normal Sized Cat

Of course some breeds of cat are larger than others, but an average sized cat will typically weigh between seven and ten pounds. If you are unsure how to gauge your cat’s weight, all you have to do is take a look at his ribs.

If the bones are prominent and obvious, then your cat is a bit on the thin side and there is a problem. On the other hand, if his ribs are completely hidden and they are hard to locate with your hand, then he is obviously too fat.

Overweight and Obese Cats

Did you know that obesity is one of the highest nutrition-based problems that veterinarians handle with cats? Records show that almost 50% of the cats that show up at veterinarians each year are considered overweight. And if you ask any of these cat owners about their overweight cat, most will smile and explain that they feed their cat out of love because the animal enjoys food. Unfortunately, this is a serious health issue that these people are clueless about.

Obesity Can Kill Your Cats

We have all heard on the news just how dangerous it is for people to be overweight because it causes a variety of diseases. The same holds true for cats. Obese cats can suffer an enormous amount of health problems. For example:

• Problems with tendons
• Torn ligaments
• Diabetes
• Breathing issues
• Skin diseases (because overweight cats cannot groom and clean themselves properly)
• Hepatic Lipidosis (an extremely serious liver disease that afflicts overweight felines)

The bottom line here is that if you care for your cat and you know you are the cause of feeding him too much food, then you have the responsibility as the loving pet owner to keep him healthy. First be sure to take him to the veterinarian for a complete check up. The doctor will be able to assess his current condition and assist you in making the necessary dietary changes needed.

Related Topics

• Cat: Cornish Rex
• Cat Eating Disorders: Thin Finicky Cats
• How To Stop Your Cat From Eating Houseplants
• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Door Bell
• Responsible Pet Ownership: What Is Expected of You?
• Cat: Maine Coon
• Cat: Persian

Health Complications When Cat Eats Dog Food

• Food Formulation: Cat and dog food may look the same to you, but they are formulated with very different nutritional requirements in mind. They are not just the same product packaged differently!
• Amino Acid: Dog food does not contain added taurine, an essential amino acid for cats. Cats cannot synthesize enough triune from other amino acids, while dogs and humans can.
• Health Issues: Without taurine added to its diet, a cat can suffer reproductive disorders, eye lesions leading to total blindness and potentially fatal hear enlargement.
• Taurine: Commercial cat food has all the taurine cats needs.
• Supplementation: If you prepare your cat’s meal instead of buying commercial cat food, add taurine supplements to its diet no matter how much meat you feed it, because taurine is destroyed by cooking while raw meat poses health risks for domestic cats.

Dog food is not dangerous in itself of course. So if kitty gets the occasional can of dog food or steals from your dog’s dinner bowl, don’t panic—it won’t harm the cat just make sure it’s eating enough of its own cat food.

Related Topics

• Dog and Bone Do Not Fix
• Cat Eating Disorders: Thin Finicky Cats
• Pet Obesity: Cat that Is Overweight?

What You Can Expect Once You Take Over Pet Ownership

Dogs

• Cost of Food: $5 to $20 per pack (for small breeds).
• Grooming: From $35. Long-haired breeds require daily brushing and regular visits to the dog groomer.
• Amount of Attention: Dogs need daily walks. They also need their owners to spend quality time with them. They can get bored and lonely if left alone for too long.

Cats

• Cost of Food: $5 to $18 a pack
• Grooming: $70 onwards. Long-haired breeds require daily brushing.
• Amount of Attention: Cats need relatively less attention from owners than dogs. But even though they do not need daily walks, quality time should be spent bonding with them.

Rabbits

• Cost of Food: Pellets from $5. A bag of hay is about $9.
• Grooming: About $15. Long-haired breeds require daily brushing.
• Amount of Attention: Regular cage cleaning is needed.

Guinea Pigs

• Cost of Food: Food pellets are from $5. Bag of hay about $9.
• Grooming: About $15. Long-haired breeds should be brushed daily.
• Amount of Attention: Guinea pigs are social animals. If you have only one, you should spend more time with it to prevent loneliness.

Related Topics

• Rabbit: Lionhead
• Rabbit: Dutch
• Rabbit: Netherland Dwarf
• Cat: Persian
• Rabbit’s Body Language: What Does It Means? – Part 2
• Guinea Pig: Peruvian
• Guinea Pig’s Behavior and Sounds: What Do They Mean?

If you also have a green thumb for growing plants inside your home while at the same time own a “plant-loving” cat, then your job is to make your plants as undesirable as you possibly can to that cat. Here are a few tips that can help you solve the battle between your cat and houseplants.

3 Ways You Could Stop Your Cat From Eating Houseplants

• Foul Condiments: Cats, in general, enjoy chewing on plants. One of the ways to get they off your houseplants is to make them taste or smell terrible. However, do avoid spraying any toxic material on your plants as it may also harm your cat. You don’t have to look far for those foul smelling products. A little vinegar with water or Tabasco sauce is good enough to do the trick—getting your cats off your houseplants. Do not underestimate these condiments; they are so potent that some cats won’t even need to take a taste test in order to be turned off. Just getting close and taking to a whiff of that spice and bitterness will be enough to send them running.
• Scar Tactics: This technique may not work for all cats but give it a go if you don’t want your plants to smell anything like Tabasco or vinegar. What you could do is to make your houseplants look as unattractive as scary as possible. One method is to run aluminum foil wrapped around the sides of the pots and then extend a couple lines of foil rolled up and coiled 3 feet out, like a big bird claw. To us, it looks awkward but to the cats—it’s scary. You can brainstorm and find other ways to scare off your cats that may suit you better.
• Go Up: If the above two methods—having a bitter aroma running through the house from Tabasco sauce or your living room looking like a science fiction movie with all the aluminum—aren’t your cup of tea. Then you have to use the “upgrade” version. Simply turn your houseplants into hanging plants. Unless your house or apartment is loaded with high levels that your cat can get to, turning your houseplants into ceiling plants is probably the most successful technique that can be used to keep your plant from becoming cat food.

Related Topics

• Cat: Maine Coon
• Cat: Cornish Rex
• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Cat Door
• Responsible Pet Ownership: What Is Expected of You?
• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Door Bell
• Cat: Norwegian Forest
• Cat: Bengal

Origins:

Size: Big. Full-grown male Bengals can weigh up to 20lbs or 9kg.

Physical Appearance: Sleek and muscular. Sports a beautiful spotted or marbled coat. Show-quality Bengals display very clear and distinct spotting or marbling, while pet-quality ones may show more ticking. Coat is rich and smooth in texture, and appears almost to glitter from certain angles. Hindquarters are rather longer than the front half.

Characteristics: Friendly, loving, alert, curious, intelligent, charming. Affectionate and very much enjoy being part of the family, but their athleticism and high activity levels can be challenging to cope with!

Colors: Various colors, most with “leopard-spot” or marbled markings on a background of brown or white.

Special Facts: Despite its wild and exotic looks, the Bengal is very much a domestic cat. It was bred with only the appearance of the Asian Leopard Cat in mind; its personality is all kitty-cat.

Related Topics

• Cat: Cornish Rex
• How To Stop Your Cat From Eating Houseplants
• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Door Bell
• Responsible Pet Ownership: What Is Expected of You?
• Cat: Persian
• Pet Obesity: Cat that Is Overweight?
• Cat: Maine Coon

Size: Medium. Full-grown male cats can weigh between 10lbs – 12lbs (4.5 – 5.4kg); females are usually lighter.

Physical Appearance: An elegant cat. Has a soft, lustrous coat of medium length, in a ticked pattern (meaning that their hairs each have bands of darker color, but not amounting to stripes). The head is a rounded wedge-shape, with no sharp angles like you might find on a Siamese, for example. Ears are large, broad-based and tufted. Legs, neck and full, bushy tail are long and in proportion to the body. Eyes are large and expressive, and may be green, amber or hazel in color.

Characteristics: Loving, intelligent, outgoing, loves company and will pine if left alone. Enjoys domestic life, but doesn’t like a cramped environment with too many other cats around. Quiet and soft-voiced.

Colors: Many colors, all with ticked pattern.

Special Facts: Many Somali owners have noticed that their cats like to play with, rearrange and groom their human companions’ hair!

Related Topics

• No related posts for now.

What You Need to Consider Before Buying that Cat Door

You can find cat doors in most pet stores, online and offline. But before you do, consider these:

• Cat doors can be installed right in your door or next to your door for a wall mounting.
• Make sure you get the right size cat door so that it is big enough for your cat to get in and out without any difficulty. This will free you up from having to attend to your cat going in and out.To know the size of the opening, you will have to measure your cats’ height and width. When measuring the width make sure you allow at least a couple of inches more than the width of your cat. The height from the shoulders to the back of the front legs this will give the right height.

Tips on Training Your Cat To Use The Cat Door

Usually a cat will not automatically use the door without any training. You will need to train your cat to do so.

1. Have your cat beside you while you open the cat door.
2. Place your cat’s favorite treat on the other side of the door.
3. Once she’s on the other side of the door, repeat step two to encourage to come indoor.

Make sure you hold the door open during the training. This allows your cat to come in and out freely with a reward of a simple small snack on each side. It may take a while for your cat to use the door without your help. But once you caught her using the cat door without your aid, remember to get her rewards for her behavior.

Do not push your cat through the door when you begin training. This will terrifies her more than encourage her to use the cat door.

Once your cat begin using the door you will experience the freedom of sleeping though the night or not having to stop what you are doing to let your cat in and out. It may be possible eliminating any future kitty litter or mess where they should not be doing.

Related Topics

• How To Potty Train Your Rabbit
• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Door Bell
• How To Stop Your Cat From Eating Houseplants

Origins:

Size: Appears most delicate and fins, but can weight about 4kg.

Physical Appearance: This cat has exotic—some say alien—looks. Its amazingly fine coat over a long-limbed, long-tailed, slender yet muscular body gives it a near-naked appearance compared with regular-coated cats. The large, high-set ears, oval eyes and crinkly whiskers add to the exotic effect. The coat is wavy but short and extremely soft to the touch. Profile of the head is long and straight.

Characteristics: Cornish Rexes can be mischievous beyond belief! They are intelligent and active, love people, and love being part of the family.

Colors: All colors.

Special Facts: While most domestic cats have an undercoat covered by guard hairs, Cornish Rexes have only one layer of fur. They should therefore be kept mainly indoors, to protect them from both wet/cold weather and harsh sunlight.

Related Topics

• Cat: Persian
• Cat: Norwegian Forest
• Pet Obesity: Cat that Is Overweight?
• Responsible Pet Ownership: What Is Expected of You?
• How To Train Your Cat To Use The Door Bell
• Cat: Maine Coon
• Cat Eating Disorders: Thin Finicky Cats

D0-It-Yourself Cat Door Bell

Materials:

• Bell: Bells come in a variety of sizes. A small one, size of a meatball, would be the prefect for most cats. Bells are very inexpensive and can be found and purchased in many craft and DIY stores.
• String: Almost any string, yarn, ribbon will do. The length of the string or yarn should be long enough for your cat to reach the bell without having to jump at it or use the door for support.
• Catnip: Catnip is not essential but good to have for beginning training. Get catnip in a spray and spray a small amount of it on the string or bell. Cats love catnip and this will attract them to play with the bell.

Method:

• Tie the string or yarn to the bell.
• On the other end of the string, tie it to the door knob and let it hangs down.
• Make sure the length is reachable for your cat.

Steps to Train your Cat to Use the Door Bell

1. Bring your cat outside, facing the main door.
2. Encourage your cat to ring the bell, once. Reward her with treat.
3. After she rings the bell, open the door for her to go in. Reward her again.
4. If she refuses to move, carry her in. And then reward her.

Repeat step one to three for three more times until your cat gets the message. Reinforce this behavior for 3 or 4 more days until your cat can do it without prompting. Make sure to keep the training short.

Related Topics

• Cat: Maine Coon
• How To Potty Train Your Rabbit
• Pet Obesity: Cat that Is Overweight?
• Cat Eating Disorders: Thin Finicky Cats
• Cat: Cornish Rex
• Cat: Persian
• How To Stop Your Cat From Eating Houseplants