The Purr Company Mews-Letter - October 2007

Hi and welcome to the October Mews-letter

OK, I've finally accepted that summer is over and no amount of wishful thinking is going to change that, however on the bright side, Argos have started advertising for Christmas like it's next week, so it must be really soon, no?…

Actually us cat owners have something very important to remember way sooner than Christmas – FIREWORKS SEASON!! So don't forget your furry ones over the next few weeks.

If this is your first October as a pet owner you'll really benefit from out lead article, which is full of top advice to keep your pet happy and safe at this time of year. Even if you're an old hand, I'm sure you will find the article interesting and insightful.

I've also really enjoyed spending a bit of time at this edition's Website of the Month, I'm sure you will too (This month it's all about one of my favourite topics – rescuing cats)

So without further delay, here's our October Mews-letter.

Best wishes

Rolf
mews-letter@ThePurrCompany.com

Contents

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  1. Cats, Halloween and Fireworks
  2. Your Cats Health
  3. Special Offer - Winter Cat Kit (including a brand new product)
  4. Website of the month - C.H.A.T (Celia Hammond Animal Trust)

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1. Cats, Halloween and Fireworks

In the next few weeks we have both Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night and it is always sensible to follow some simple precautions to keep your cat safe over this season.

Some people recommend keeping cats in during Halloween season because of higher amounts of cats (especially black cats) being mistreated over this holiday, most cat rescue shelters refuse to re home black cats around Halloween for the same reason.

We tend to keep our cats indoors for the evenings around Halloween anyway, because the neighbours garden firework partys seem to start a few weeks before November 5th.

To keep them safe and happy it is always best to keep cats indoors after dark around the 5th of November, keep lights switched on and have the TV or radio on to drown out the loud bangs.

If your cat is really scared just stroke him/her and try to act as normally as possible. The cat will know if you are stressed or upset, and this could make the problem worse.

Owners of nervous cats have often recommended the Feliway products which help cats to de-stress. We've not had any reason to use these ourselves yet, so we can't really give a review, but they certainly have a good reputation, and they can be found at most vets or pet shops.

In general, Guy Fawkes Night is not a happy time for most pets. They are usually fairly disturbed by all the loud bangs and flashes of light and get confused about what is going on. I personally feel that anything I can do to help them feel better is obligatory - hopefully you do too.

This article was first published in The Purr Company's regular Mews-letter, visit us for more cat stories and articles, a gallery of our visitors cats , cat videos and our online shop.

You may reproduce this article free of charge in any free newsletter or on any free web site on the condition that this resources box is included with any reproduction.

© copyright The Purr Company

 

2.Your Cats Health
byLee Dobbins

Cats need only be provided with decent shelter, food and water and they will be quite healthy most of the time. Like any other living thing, however, they can get sick and can come down with anything from a minor cold to a major ailment.

As a responsible pet owner, you want to make sure you feed your cat premium cat food so he can be his healthiest and also watch your cat closely for signs of sickness so that you can get him to a vet right away. Hopefully most ailments will be minor, but in some cases getting your cat expedient veterinary help can be the difference between life and death.

Some things to look for include:

Your cats coat – is it full and shiny or dull and patchy? Is he shedding abnormally? If so get your cat scheduled for a vet visit.

Behavior – is your cat acting sluggish and not eating? Any change in behavior warrants a trip to the vet as it is better to be safe then sorry!

Diarrhea or vomiting – If your cat is doing either of these for more than a day, I would get him to the vet as soon as you can.

Coughing – Some cats routinely cough up hairballs, but if your cat is coughing for no reason then you should have this checked out.

Swelling or lumps – when you pet your cat, take the time to feel around for any unusual lumps or swelling.

To insure that your cat doesn't fall victim to disease, you should make sure he has all of his vaccinations as recommended by your vetrenarian. The most devastating but easiest to prevent disease that affects cats is infectious enteritis, or feline distemper. This is a virus disease that strikes quickly and leaves little time to enact treatment.

Feline Leukemia or FeLV is another deadly disease that can be prevented through early vaccinations. This disease poses no threat to humans but can be spread between cats. These days, it is treatable and some cats can live a long life with Feline Leukemia although you would want to be very careful to keep them away from other cats so as not to spread the disease.

One health problem in cats, particulary those that go outdoors is worms. A cat with worms usually has a lackluster coat and can either have a large appetite or none at all. There are many kinds of worms, and cats are susceptible to all of them. Cats can get worms from lice or fleas or in the organs of the rodents that the cats eat. Typically the cat ingests the eggs which mature and attach to the intestinal walls. Feeding your cat a bit of garlic every once in a while can protect him against worms.

Keeping your cat happy and healthy is really a simple matter of caring for him properly and making sure he gets the appropriate veterinary care. Make sure your cat gets all the recommended vaccinations and you give him the proper treatments to repel fleas and other pesky pests. These simple steps will keep your cat happy and healthy for a lifetime!

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.epet-center.com where you can find lots of articles on cats, dogs, fish, birds and ferrets. Read more about how to keep your cat healthy at http://www.epet-center.com/catarticles1.html

3. Special Offer Winter Cat Kit

This month we're please to announce both a new product for sale in our shop and a bumper bargain winter pack exclusively for our Mews-letter subscribers (or for your cats!)

The new product is the excellent Cosy Pet House from Ancol. They are soft, warm and very fluffy, completely machine washable and separate into their individual parts for washing or storage.

As you can see in the pic, they zip together so taking them apart and putting them back together couldn't be easier and once they're fastened they stay fastened.

The first order is not yet with us but should be here any day now, so as soon as it arrives I'll get some photos and put them here, for now I've included the catalogue stock pictures below so you can see what we're talking about.

They won't be available in our shop for another month or so, so this is not only your chance to get one before anyone else but a great bargain as they're part of our Winter Cat Kit special offer.

The Winter Cat Kit

The kit consists of

1 x Radiator Hammock Bed

With winter approaching, the now world famous radiator hammock beds are perfect to keep your furry friend warm. The two sizes hang over a single or double radiator and anyone who knows cats will see straight away that this is absolute heaven for a cat. The hammock bit is fully detachable and machine washable.

 

 

 

1 x Ancol Cosy Pet House

As described above. Perfect for when the Hammock is already occupied or if the heating is off, or if Kitty just wants somewhere a bit more secluded to sleep. The available colours are still to be confirmed, but we know we're definitely getting some of the red ones with the striped roof. We'll contact individual customers to confirm colours when I know more.

***UPDATE - The red ones have arrived and all the other colours shown are available, photos to follow ***

1 x Bottle of Purr

For all those cold days when the weather is less than appealing outside, Purr is the perfect distraction, to keep them happy and entertained throughout the winter months.

 

 

 

 

1 x Feather Kat Tikkler

These are our best selling toy and they show no signs of slowing down. It seems that no cat can resist the lure of brightly coloured feathers taunting them from across the room. The Feather Kat Tikkler is the ideal compliment to a bottle of Purr for all those cold nights in front of the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

Ordering Info

All this would usually come to a total of £41.82 plus postage, but we're offering a fantastic 20% discount so the whole lot can be yours for just £33.45 (+ £6 P+P)

To get the kit in the UK, just choose the radiator size, hit the 'Buy' button and follow the instructions, for other destinations email us and we'll give you the postage price for your country.

Or for older cats...

If your cat is of more mature years (as most of ours are here) and you think scaling the height of the radiator might be too much for them, you can upgrade the bed to a 20in Danish Design Cushion Bed for an extra £5. The beds are available in Tartan or Rodeo pattern .

 

If you're in the UK just make your colour selection and hit the button below, for other destinations email us and we'll give you the postage price for your country.

 

4. Web Site of the Month - Celia Hammond Animal Trust or C.H.A.T Address: http://www.celiahammond.org

I discovered this website via a link from a previous website of the month winner - www.catsey.com - urging people to sign the latest petition on C.H.A.T.

The petition is for people to show support for the charity to continue rescuing the stray and feral cats from the 2012 Olympic site in London.

On the 27 th of September the Olympic Delivery Authority banned the C.H.A.T from entering the site, leaving the remaining cats with a grim future.

The most recent update says that they are in discussions with the Olympic Delivery Authority and have come to an agreement and have been given permission to access small areas of the site and continue their rescue work but they “still need your support to ensure that there is a happy outcome for ALL the cats on the Olympic Park site.”

This is, of course, just one project being undertaken by the charity, which was founded in 1986 by Celia Hammond. Her main objective was to set up a low cost vaccination and neutering clinic. When the first clinic opened it became fully booked straight away.

Today there are clinics in Lewisham, Canning Town and Chatham in Kent. Each of them neuter hundreds of cats and dogs each week, as well as looking after and re-homing many stray and unwanted animals.

After reading about the great work this charity is undertaking, I started looking around the rest of their excellent Website. I really enjoyed reading through the ‘happy endings' page, full of adorable pictures and heart-warming stories. The ‘Animal for homing' section of the Website is packed with even more cats and kittens needing good homes.

If you find yourself wanting to help, C.H.A.T. is not a bad place to go, and they are always looking for volunteers. They also offer other options such as sponsoring an animal, how to donate money via selling items on ebay or simply donating items to their charity shop.

Overall, this Website is well made and packed full of interesting stuff, well worth a visit.

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That's all until next time, thank you for reading.