Spotted Cat Designs

For some reason, a lot of our friends like cats, too. So I was recently browsing for gift ideas and thought I would share a few of the more unusual cat-related books I found.

The Sneeze-Free Cat Owner: Allergy Management & Breed Selection for the Allergic Cat Lover

100 Cats Who Changed Civilization: History’s Most Influential Felines

101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers

Angel Cats: Divine Messengers of Comfort

The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats

For travel by car, RV, motor home or plane in the U.S.:

Traveling With Your Pet, 9th Edition: The AAA Pet Book

The Pet Travel and Fun Authority of Best-of-State Places to Play, Stay & Have Fun Along the Way: 35,000+ Accommodations, Pet Sitters, Kennels, Dog Parks … Tons-of-Pet Fun & More Guide! 12th Edition

The Portable petswelcome.com: The Complete Guide to Traveling with Your Pet

10-Minute Tech, Volume 3: Over 600 All New Time and Money Saving Ideas from Fellow RVers has a number of handy pet specific tips in their “In Camp” section

For Boaters:
Cruising With Your Four-Footed Friends: The Basics of Travel with Your Cat or Dog

First Aid at Home or on the Road:
Pet First Aid: Cats and Dogs by the American Red Cross

The First Aid Companion for Dogs & Cats (Prevention Pets) Rodale Press

I was in the family room to see what my younger son was watching on TV this Saturday morning. The usual run of commercials showed up. One was pleasantly surprising: a veterinary hospital play set! I remember the LEGO zoo and farm play sets we bought when the boys were younger. Not much else was available, except for stuffed animals of varying quality.

I was intrigued. We like toys that stimulate the imagination and allow for role playing, while teaching our children to think. So I went on a short hunt for other pet-related play sets and toys. These toys can also be used to stimulate family discussions about nurturing, being responsible for a pet’s life, etc. Or just for fun.

Fisher Price has Sonya Lee and Her Pet Salon and Chutes and Ladders with a pet twist: Rescue Hero’s Pet Rescue

FurReal Friends: Jungle Cat (Leopard Cub) or the tamer Calico or Marmalade

Gund My Little Kitty Playset

A few of Hasbro’s Pet Shop play set and add-ons:
Littlest Pet Shop Little Lovin’ Pet Playhouse
Cat & Dog
Persian Cat with Carrier

Even the venerable toy icon Barbie has Barbie Pet Doctor Kit with Cat

Then there are these imagination prompting play sets, too:
Deluxe Complete Little Kitten Care Set for Children

Learning Resources: Pretend and Play Animal Hospital

Parents’ Animal Hospital
Step2’s Village Veterinarian Accessory Set

Not sure what to get? You need a gift for “someone who has everything”? Your friend said no gift this year? How about donating in their honor to one of these worthy causes.

Petfinder.com you can donate in Honor of or in Memory of someone (human or feline), or sponsor an unadopted pet waiting for a home. They also accept donations for their Disaster Relief Fund and the Animal Shelter Fund (Purina is the corporate co-sponsor).

Purebred Cat Breed Rescue not all abandoned cats are mixed breeds.

Operation Nobel Foster every time reservists and others in the armed forces are called upon to serve overseas, the drop off rate at shelters sky rockets. This group was formed to help prevent such heart wrenching events. Volunteers foster the cats of military personnel so that when they come home, their cats are waiting for them. No matter what your political leanings may be, please consider helping this worthy cause.

Consider your Local Shelter or volunteer adoption groups. Not sure how to find them? See my blog entry on how to find them in your area. They can always use: money, cat food, litter, beds, blankets, paper towels, coupons to pet stores, pet food coupons. Call and ask what they need. then make a donation in someone’s honor. A gift that serves more than one!

I found these kitten and puppy holiday cards on the American Humane Association’s home page (right side of the web page in the middle).

The AHA’s Shopping Page has children’s books and other fun things. They also have two catalogs: one for animal welfare professionals and another for child welfare professionals. Both catalogs can be downloaded as.pdf files.

As they describe themselves: “Since 1877, the American Humane Association has been protecting children and animals from cruelty and mistreatment. From the Adopt-a-Cat Month to conferences on Family Group Decision Making (FGDM), the American Humane Association has a variety of outreach programs that promote healthy family relationships and animal care. You can help make a real difference in a child’s or animal’s life.“

Places to shop for for Cat Lovers:

Drs Foster and Smith all manner of fun and useful gifts.

Felinerina has kitsch black cat oriented gifts.

Moggies: Home of the Online Cat Guide in the U.K. for those who don’t know, Moggies is a term that means mixed breed cat. Notepads, calendars, cards, jewelry, soft toys and more.

When I went to Pricegrabber.com I typed in “Cat Lovers” and found over 70 books, and some other things. I go there to find the lowest prices on various items, especially expensive ones. Searching under “cats” gave me over 8000 results Cat furniture, Feline Pharmaceuticals, gifts etc. Keep in mind that not all of products suppliers are listed by them.

Teezz sells beautifully embroidered cats images on shirts, caps, bags, etc. (U.K.)

Gifts that Keep on Giving — For buying human gifts that help cats:

The Animal Rescue Site has lots of clothing, jewelry, household goods many cat themed. Supports many shelters in the U.S. Great service, I have bought lots of gifts and things for myself from here.

Best Friends Gifts of Life and Love you can sponsor a cat, make a donation, or buy a gift membership in this animal rescue group.

Endangered Species Chocolate supports wild cats through donations

The Mountain Lion Foundation supports intelligent conservation and public education for those of us who live in mountain lion territory.

Purina’s Pet Hug Fund when you order a plush cat or dog toy, Purina donates $1.00 to the Pet Hug Fund which gives money to many animal therapy organizations. These groups help people (and pets) by bringing them together for the emotional and physical therapy they provide.

While browsing for possible gifts I found these:

The humorous Ultimate Cats Catalog is a make believe catalog of things a cat might want to buy.

Night Before Cat Mass is a children’s book and a parody of the famous poem.

Catmas Carols contains many of the most popular Christmas carols rewritten with fabulous felines in mind.

Enjoy!

We not only have cats, we have reptiles and fish at our home. Since I work full time, time for shopping and especially for browsing is limited. My solution, like so many others is to surf the Internet. A lot of these places have email newsletters that I have signed up for, so I know about sales and special offers.

Some of my favorite commercial web sites for pet products are:

Amazon.com this is a direct link to Home and Garden, keyword cats

California Veterinary Supply over the counter remedies, treats, can also order with a prescription

Drs Foster and Smith

Collections inexpensive, but of varying quality, too. Worth looking at.

Improvements

Petsmart

Only Natural Pet Store A lot of good information and products. Warning: they carry Wellness which has GARLIC that is unsafe for cats and dogs. Garlic adversely affects red blood cell production.

Steps for Pets they donate money to shelters for each item your buy

See my previous post about Shopping While Helping Cats.

Free Stuff Channel’s Pet Page

Cool Freebie Links Pet Page

There is a lot of information overlap between each of these sites, so I try to keep a record of the offers I have already taken advantage of.

Cool Savings requires you to “become a member”. Personally, I don’t often do this as it has led to spam in the past. If you try them out, let me know.

The trainer in these videos uses the well established technique of using clicker and food to teach kittens specific behaviors. The premise is also used in training dogs, zoo animals and more. Food — the great tamer of them all

From the You Tube description”
“Clicker training is not only enjoyable for cats, but it can be life-saving too. Suppose you had an extreme emergency and needed to get your cat out of the house immediately? A cat that is clicker trained will quickly jump into his carrier. Richard Norton clicker trains his Bengal cats, starting with very young kittens, as shown in this YouTube Video. Richard explains the click as a conditioned stimulus for operant behaviour. “This means that the click alone can elicit some of the same bodily responses and processes that food could elicit. This is achieved by presenting food and the click nearly simultaneously. Our experience is that 3 or 4, 5 minute sessions is more than adequate to fully establish the click as a conditioned stimulus for operant behaviour.“

Video explaining the clicker training process with a young kitten

Video of clicker training process to teach a Bengal cat to press a light switch

I tried out a few clickers at Petsmart (had to go to the dog training aids area), Then I found some healthy treats my cats might get excited about. While we have tried this technique before, I was unsure if my cats would really respond well. Having found these videos I am more determined to make it work this time.

If you have a cat behavior issue, you can visit Marilyn Krieger’s site The Cat Coach. She advises clients about modifying an unwanted behavior through clicker training and other techniques.

Some really good books about training cats from Amazon.com:

Cat Training in 10 Minutes
I just ordered this one. I will let you know how we are doing

Getting Started Clicker Training for Cats

How to Get Your Cat to do What You Want