Spotted Cat Designs

I recently wrote about free cat related craft activities for children (and parents!). Here are a few more good places to go.

Some sites with preschool age crafts:

Pre-school cat related lesson plan

Cat theme nursery rhymes, printable paper crafts, puzzles, mazes and word searches

Some sites with crafts for more than one age group:

Cat theme party favor

Free craft projects and patterns

Gifts to make for your cat

Listing of places for free crochet, knitting or sewing cat beds, toys, coats

Teen and adult level instructions for making cat usable beds, tents, toys and for drawing cats

For scrappy scrapbookers a few themes all built around the Karen Foster Designs Themed Kits:

Purrfectly Playful
Kitty Layout
The Cats Meow
Cat Nap Layout
Little Tiger Layout

Or try Diecuts with a View: Cat Theme Scrapbook Kit in a stack 8”X8” Pad) for something completely different

September is when I start my holiday gift shopping. I make handmade gifts year round (when I’m not sleeping, eating, blogging or at work… )

I bead, sew, embroider, needlepoint, macramé, decorate cakes, bake, cook and write. I use my bread machine to make a sweet bread dough that I then shape into a cat face. Bake and decorate with a chocolate kiss smile and frosting eyes and licorice whiskers. Yummy! Next time I make one I’ll put a picture up. Did I mention I have a creative streak?

Here are some more interesting books for multi-media crafty cat lovers:

Sassy Cats: Purr-fect Craft Projects interesting ideas

Cat Crafts (Kids Can Do It) Elementary school age cat theme crafts

Pet Crafts: 28 Great Toys, Gifts and Accessories for Your Favorite Dog or Cat some are child friendly. Toys or useful gifts for for your furry friend, or gifts of a feline theme.

A Year of Cats…in Hats: Crafts to Make You Smile a little cutesy, but interesting and fun

Cat Purr-sonalities in Cross Stitch I prefer needlepoint and embroidery, but the patterns in here are nice

For woodworkers and carpenters you can buy inexpensive plans for making cat trees from Cat Furniture Plans.

Or try these two patterns:

Scardy Cats Paper Woodworking Full Sized Plans Great for Halloween!

Cat’s Meow Scrollsaw Plaque Woodworking Plan a multi-depth pattern of jigsaw like cat silhouettes

For Quilters:

Two by the same author, I really like her realistic cats

Cats in Quilts: 14 Purrfect Projects

Kitty Capers: 15 Quilt Projects with Purrsonality

Also take a look at The Cat’s Meow: Purr-fect Quilts for Cat Lovers, 10th Anniversary Special Edition for lots of great ideas!

Cats On Quilts is quite different from some of the static feline representations in quilting. These cats are shown being cats!

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is coming. So less playtime outside, and more creativity on the part of us parents to keep our children (and cats) amused inside. Here are some places that can help:

If you register (free) at Crayola.com, you can access their crafting ideas with cat themes. There were 51 such projects as of today.

National Geographic has a free printable animal coloring book, a kitty condo you can build together, and a very basic plant cat grass starting from seed, although I would get either cat grass or catnip seed from a pet store. Here is one type of kit you can buy, with all the components you need to get started.
This kit is a bit smaller.

National Wildlife Federation’s Kid Zone has projects like Kitty Pancakes (yummy!), a dual purpose hummingbird feeder (feed the hummingbirds and provide cat entertainment). You can sign up for a free parent email newsletter with activities and information, too.

Enature.com has fun quizzes to inspire learning about nature.

Enchanted Learning has cat-inspired crafts for young children.

On another note if you want to create and purchase high quality greeting cards from your photos, try Laughing Rhino.

Notice I am NOT including online games from these sites. I prefer hands-on creativity myself. National Wildlife Federation and National Geographic have such games.

Whenever I see or hear one of our cats having hairball coughing, I immediately get the Laxatone or Petromalt and give them about 1 inch (2.5 cm) every other day for a week and then weekly. Then I get my family to increase brushing and combing our cats. For more on this subject see Hairball Express or the Fur is Flying.

The problem is that not all coughing means a hairball. Sometimes it can be far more serious. Asthma attacks are an emergency. Asthma can kill. I recommend you watch these videos (links below) so you can recognize the symptoms, and can take appropriate emergency measures. Know where the nearest emergency vet clinic is located. If you think you have seen these symptoms in you cat, talk to your vet ASAP.

As someone who has asthma, I know how scary a sudden onset attack can be. Seeing it in a cat was heartrending. There are medications such as albuterol inhalers, Flovent and steroids to cut inflammation — how familiar I have used them, too… They even have the aerokat pet inhaler designed as a feline friendly device for using MDI’s (metered dose inhalers). This video shows it being used.

Each of the people who took these videos did so in order to educate others.

I found Dave’s Feline Asthma attack video while browsing. That is what got me started on this blog entry. The coughing is not like hairball coughs I have heard. Much more labored and tiring for the poor kitty.

This video gives a medical explanation of symptoms associated with feline asthma.

Another video of a cat with labored breathing. As the person who posted this wrote: “The purpose of this video is to give an example of what labored or abdominal breathing looks like. This video was made in order to show our vet what we were seeing. Needless to say, Stinky [their cat] was brought in to the emergency room after capturing this footage. Note: Normal respiration should be between 20-30 [per minute].“

Cats can also have food or environmental allergies, as we found out when Glory repeatedly started scratching the side of her neck until she was bloody. For a more detailed discussion of what we learned, see my article “When Cats Have Allergies“.

I had an earlier post on some Online Feline Medical and Health Resources to find reliable medical information regarding feline health issues. Looking it over, I think I will add others in a future blog entry when I can.

China and cats go back a long way. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese cultural world view involving the flow of beneficial and harmful energies through the world, and how it affects all living creatures (that’s us humans, too!).

In the past 20 years, there has been a popularization of Feng Shui methods and philosophy in the West. Lots of books, articles, talk show segments, and of course, a proliferation of information on the web. You can find books telling you how to re-organize your home (room by room), and your business, garden, and landscaping in order to increase the flow of beneficial life force energies (Chi). This is believed to increase your family’s health, prosperity, and other aspects of personal and family life.

This article by Sharon Callahan, while a bit difficult to read due to the background, has some interesting information regarding cats and beneficial energy.

Carole J. Hyder’s article tells why she believes that cats are experienced practitioners of Feng Shui. Another article clearly explains some of her clients’ experiences and life improvements.

If you are interested in reading more about the basics, try this Feng Shui article. There are many, many articles on the Internet, some easier to follow than others.

A few humorous online articles:

Give Us A Home

Cats in Charge

Feng Shui for Cats

And books:

Feng Shui for Cats

Fang Shui: Feng Shui for Felines (Charming Petites)

Feng Shui for Cats: By Cats, For Cats

More on the serious side of practical Feng Shui:

The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room

Feng Shui for You and Your Cat

The Direct Path: Creating a Personal Journey to the Divine Using the World’s Spiritual Traditions (mixes many western and non-western traditions)

Not specifically cat-oriented, but easy to follow. One of my favorite writers on this subject:

Lillian Too’s Easy-to-Use Feng Shui: 168 Ways to Success

Lillian Too’s 168 Feng Shui Ways to a Calm and Happy Life

There are other books, too, but many regard cats in a negative light — more fools they!!!!

I was looking for information on the Japanese Meneki Neko (lucky cat). For those who do not know what I am talking about, see “What is Mankei Neko?” Cats are important in Japanese culture. There are quite a few phrases that relate to cats. Nyanda Park in Chiba allows paying visitors to be with the resident cats. Here is a flyer about this Park in Japanese (warning: the automatic English translation is terrible).

Our friend “Neko” lives in Tokyo. She and other Neko Obasans (literally, “cat mothers”) foster and neuter stray or abandoned cats that live in a small beautiful bicycle “pocket” park. They provide food, water and medicine. Most of these cats have no other home. See her blog about her cats, some of whom followed her home to be adopted.

Many of the people I work with are single, or just getting married. Almost all of them have cats and other pets. It has not always been easy for some of them to find cat-friendly partners.

I remember when we got Charger, my 20 lb. Bengal male. He was advertised in a “For Sale” paper because the family did not want him anymore. The college daughter’s boyfriend was jealous of this big friendly playful cat. Personally, I would have ditched the guy.

When I met my future husband, Dragon (David), I was wearing Bebe, my boa constrictor. He is still with us 30 years later. You can see one of the many things Dragon is into at Homerecording.com.

For those who are not so fortunate here are some places that seem reputable. YMMV!

Pets Friends
Must Love Pets
Pet People Meet
Love Me, Love My Pets
Date My Pet
Animal Attraction

Meow Mix® cat food has come up with a brilliant idea. Even if you don’t buy their cat food. They have started an Acatemy with classes and seminars that have you not only make cats toys, but learn to scratch, sleep, stretch and exercise like your cat! Seminars include talking with veterinarians, act therapists, shelter volunteers and cooking with fresh foods (hopefully for both your cat and you!) Too bad this is only in New York City!!

They promise (and cat promises are kept!) that for every person who visits the Meow Mix Acatemy, Meow Mix® brand will donate one pound of food to less fortunate cats at a local animal shelter.

While browsing the Internet I came across some useful freebies and important safety and emergency information. While some focus on dogs, the basic information is applicable to all pets.

There is no substitute for being prepared for an emergency. A basic first aid kit for humans and pets seems a sensible thing to have. So does making sure that everyone old enough for the responsibility of caring for a pet, knows the basic signs of a medical problem, what to do and who to call. Talk with your vet, your family so you know what to do before something goes terribly wrong.

We have our veterinarian’s phone number in the kitchen and on all our cell phones.

Cornell University’s Feline Health Center “Max’s House” covers detailed instructions on what to do in a given medical emergency, including recommended components for a first aid kit, normal respiration counts, how to restrain a frightened cat, and immediate first aid for breathing difficulties, bleeding, bone or soft tissue injuries and shock.

The same site offers the most detailed list of cat-toxic plants that I have found (by Common Plant Name), including the ASPCA toxic plant list. Cornell also lists the plants by the Latin Genus/Species. This second listing provides poisoning symptoms and treatment.

The ASPCA has a number of useful articles:

Non-Toxic plants

What to do if your pet ate or drank something that may be poisonous

The phone number for Animal Poison Control Center of the for ASPCA is (888) 426-4435. FYI they state “There is a $55 consultation fee for this service“.

Be ready with the following information:
- the species, breed, age, sex, weight and number of animals involved
- the animal’s symptoms
- information regarding the exposure, including the agent (if known), the amount of the agent involved and the time elapsed since the time of exposure.

Have the product container/packaging available for reference.”

Pedigree has a free first aid guide for pet owners. Go to the page and click on “downloadable” by the upper right icon. Their disaster preparedness brochure has very useful tips for evacuting your pets — in part based on lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina devastation.
Other canine related safety information can be found on their “First Aid and Safety” web page.

Other useful links:

Contents of a Feline first aid kit

Another list for a feline first aid kit If you scroll down, you will also find information on giving your cat pill or liquid medication, some poisonous houseplants, and some basic warning signs of illness.

Cat Channel discusses what to do for burns, broken bones, electric shock and insect stings. Good to know before anything goes wrong.

Jennifur spent a lot of time curled up with me today, all soft and furry and stuff. So I was very happy.

Later on, I was working on my computer and today was cool enough again that she jumped up onto her monitor shelf and slept there while I worked (and people ask me why I don’t “upgrade” to a flat panel…hah!).

So even though I had to leave a while later, I snuck out so I wouldn’t wake her. I always love to have her with me, but I thought it was more important for her to have uninterrupted rest.

That’s true love.