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Cat Life

How To Create A Cat Friendly Home

January 8, 2021 by Laura Epstein Leave a Comment

how to create a cat friendly home

Cats are an important part of our families. Creating a cat friendly home for some of your smallest family members is a great way to make sure they feel important and welcome whether they are new adoptees or older cats with a new house. Here are our top tips for making sure you have a happy cat.

Create Comfy Spaces

It is not surprising that cats love to nap. Creating nice spaces for them to snooze is an important part of your cat’s environment whether they are an older cat who sleeps eighteen hours a day or are a kitten just looking for a cat nap. My cats love to relax in the sun so I make sure their cat beds are in a sunny spot. I also put a blanket on their favorite chairs for extra coziness, and to protect the chair and save me some work getting the fur off!

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Filed Under: Cat Life

Twelve Great Kid’s Cat Books

August 11, 2020 by Laura Epstein 1 Comment

kids cat book

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.  Thank you for supporting my blog

My kids, like many kids who grow up with cats as pets, love cat books! They love nonfiction books to learn about them and any fiction book they can find. These are our favorite kid’s cat books, from when they were babies up through books that even tweens will love.

Lost Cat

For a long time, agest 4-7, Lost Cat was my oldest’s absolute favorite book. It is cute, a little sad in the middle, and happy at the end.

Little Cat

For the littlest cat fan we love Little Cat. It is an adorable little book for your baby or toddler to read and play with.

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Filed Under: Cat Life Tagged With: kids

How To Chose A Cat Vet

July 17, 2020 by Laura Epstein Leave a Comment

picking a cat vet

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.  Thank you for supporting my blog

Whether you are adopting a new cat, moving with your current cat or unhappy with the care your cat is receiving it is important to properly research a switch to a new cat vet. Lots of factors from money to services effect this decision. Here are our top factors to look at when finding a new vet.

Get Referrals

A great place to start for referrals is the shelter you are getting your new cat from. If you are moving you can ask your current vet if they know anyone in your new area. We got a recommendation for a great vet from our cat sitter. They have contact with a lot of different pet owners so they are often in the know about different vet practices.

Ask Your Friends

Now it is time to poll the audience. See what veterinarians your friends with animals (preferably cats) are going to and see what they say about them. Especially ask about how much time the cat vet spends with their animal and also about how well they feel the veterinarian knows them and their cat. Combine these with your referrals and you have a short list of vets to check out further.

Vet the Vet

How big is the practice? How many vets and patients are there? How long does it take to get an appointment? What are the emergency procedures? These are all great questions to call and ask a veterinary office once you get it narrowed down to a few practices. We went from a large vet to a small one and I was amazed by how much more time the new vet spent with our cat. That said that is not necessarily because they were a small vet but it certainly did not hurt. On the flip side my current vet does not carry one of pills that my cat needs that the big vet had. It takes a little more time (and a little more money) to every month to go to a neighboring suburb to pick up the medicine at a specialized compounding pharmacy.

Ask If They Are A Cat Friendly Practice

At our previous vet my cats sat in the same waiting room as all the animals. They did not like this. All the Feliway in the world could not keep them calm with the dog smells and barks. When we moved our new cat vet was a Cat Friendly Practice. You can read all about this at the American Association of Feline Practioners but essentially the goal is to make sure your cat has the best breed specific care. One of the biggest differences is that the minute we get to the clinic we are taken to a cat specific room. No more waiting in the dog heavy waiting rooms. You can ask a potential vet office if they are cat friendly and there is also an online directory.

how to chose a new cat vet

Find Out What Services They Offer

All vets offer the same general care but some have more specialized treatments, medicines and lab tests. There is no right or wrong answer to whether a vet should offer all the bells and whistles but it is important to know what they offer. For example my current vet (who is small and homey) sends out a lot of lab tests that the larger vet we used to go to ran in house. It takes a little longer but the tradeoff is having a vet that really knows my pet and we do not feel like a number.

Ask For A Price Sheet

Vet offices can range in price. While the cheapest may not be the best knowing price differentials can certainly be a factor. If you have pet insurance also make sure that the vet is covered under it.

Meet The Vet

All the research in the world will not tell you if you like your new vet until you have met them. Remember you can always switch different vets and easily switch to a different veterinary practice as well. Having a vet that you trust and you feel cares about your cats is important and it may take a try or two to find the best vet!

I hope this article has helped you in choosing a great cat vet for your animals! Be sure to check our our posts about cat essentials and our cat tested toy favorites.

how to chose a new cat vet

Filed Under: Cat Life Tagged With: new cat, vet

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