Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Poisonous Plants

Why Poisonous Plant You Should Avoid Bringing Home





Check with your veterinarian before having any plants in your home





Some of the following plants can be toxic to your cat.


Aloe Vera
Apple (seeds)
Apricot (pit)
Autumn Crocus
Baby's Breath
Branching Ivy
Buddhist Pine
Calla Lily
Ceriman
Cherry (seeds and wilting leaves)
Cineraria
Cordatum
Cornstalk Plant
Cuban Laurel
Cycads
Daffodil
Dieffenbachia
Dragon Tree
Easter Lily (especially cats!)
Elephant Ears
English Ivy
Fiddle-leaf Fig
Foxglove
Geranium
Giant Dumb Cane
Gold Dust Dracaena
Hahn's Self-Branching Ivy
Hurricane Plant
Janet Craig Dracaena
Jerusalem Cherry
Lacy Tree Philodendron
Madagascar Dragon Tree
Marijuana
Miniature Croton
Morning Glory
Narcissus
Nephytis
Oleander
Oriental Lily (especially cats!)
Peach (wilting leaves and pits)
Plumosa Fern
Poison Ivy
Pothos
Primrose
Red Princess
Rhododendron
Saddle Leaf Philodendron
Satin Pothos
Silver Pothos
String of Pearls
Sweetheart Ivy
Taro Vine
Tomato Plant (green fruit, stem and leaves)
Tropic Snow Dieffenbachia
Yew
Amaryllis
Apple Leaf Croton
Asparagus Fern
Azalea
Bird of Paradise
Buckeye
Caladium
Castor Bean
Charming Dieffenbachia
Chinese Evergreen
Clematis
Corn Plant
Croton
Cutleaf Philodendron
Cyclamen
Devil's Ivy
Dracaena Palm
Dumb Cane
Elaine
Emerald Feather
Eucalyptus
Florida Beauty
Fruit Salad Plant
German Ivy
Glacier Ivy
Golden Pothos
Heartland Philodendron
Indian Rubber Plant
Japanese Show Lily (especially cats!)
Kalanchoe
Lily of the Valley
Marble Queen
Mexican Breadfruit
Mistletoe
Mother-in-Law's Tongue
Needlepoint Ivy
Nightshade
Onion
Peace Lily
Pencil Cactus
Poinsettia (low toxicity)
Poison Oak
Precatory Bean
Red Emerald
Red-Margined Dracaena
Ribbon Plant
Sago Palm
Schefflera
Spotted Dumb Cane
Striped Dracaena
Swiss Cheese Plant
Tiger Lily (especially cats!)
Tree Philodendron
Weeping Fig

Monday, March 2, 2009

Adopting A New Cat?




What is the wisest thing to do, before adopting your first little angelic cat? .

Everyone knows, adopting your first cat is a huge step, just like adopting your first child. It must not be taken lightly. Eventhough cats have the reputation for grooming and taking care of themselves, it doesn't mean that we don't have to care for them. So, before rushing around to your relatives and friends house, or shopping around for the little furry sweetheard kitten in the pet store window, why don't we do some homework first, so we can avoid lots of mistake done by the new cat owners. When everything is done properly, we'll get a healthier, happier and long term relationship with your darling cats, beyond your dreams.

Never adopt in Haste

Anything you bought on "impulse" a new handbag, a pair of new shoes, clothes, you'll always regret it in the end of the day. Maybe, you can always change (not return, in my side of the planet) it within 24 hours, if the fit isn't right - and that's a big maybe, of course. No harm done. You don't hurt the feeling of you handbag shoes or clothes if you returned them. Nobody suffer any feeling of rejection if that's what happened. But, it's totally a different thing, with a living being such as cats and kittens. Just as it could be a totally a diffrent thing, when adopting a child.

You have to consider from every angle, before adopting a new cat to be as part of your family - of course with the blessing of you whole family members first.

Among the Questions to Ponder, before doing any adopting


1• Do you think that you can afford a cat, financially?




A new cat/kitten will be much like having a new baby in the family. New cats might need alot of attention and responsibility. Do you thing you could have the time and the money for the new cat, when at the same time you also have to take of your own children?




Most children love kittens, unfortunately, they might love them to death, literally. Of course, the new kitten might inflict deep scratcher too to you children. It's wiser for you to wait for a few more years before adopting any cats, or you can alway get an older cat that knew how to survived around children.


3• Is your soft sofa and your fluffy persian carpets extremely




As everybody knows, all cats need scratching exercise, and what will be their first victim for scratching surface? To avoid this from ever happening, a good scratching post. (I don't agree with the nail clipping... it's I took away the cats only self protection) It's not so difficult to train cats to use a litter box, because they will be move by their own instinc to look for the litter box themselves. The only thing you have to do is, to always keep litter box clean. Beside making sure you put your cat ahead of you furniture and other inanimate objects (just like you put ahead your children ahead of your furniture), you'll be okay .


4• Will an adult be responsible for feeding the cat, keeping the litter box clean, and grooming the cat regularly?





This is very important to be be consider seriously. It fine to teach children about responsibility about pet care, but the real care of feeding the cats is the every day responsible of the adult.

5• Will you be able to treat the cat as your family member?





Cats are known to be very social animals and love attention from their humans. The
bond between you and your cats, will last for a lifetime. A lonely, neglected cat will soon misbehave which to amuse herself. You to slave youself to your cats, day and night... but 15 minutes a day of play time and petting will make the difference between a happy cat and a nuisance one.


7. Are you ready to spend your some of time and money on being a responsible owner of a cat that carries with it certain financial obligations?




Just like when you have a baby as new family member, which will come with responsibilities and attention with cost. What happen if neglec your new baby's health? It goes the same way with neglecting a kitten's medical needs; vaccinations, spraying and neutering cats. Veterinary care and medical emergencies?

8• Is there any space enough for your for a cat?




These are only simple questions, actually. The easy answer is that a cat can find comfort anywhere they want; in a kitchen apartment, under the bed, in the corner of your living room, given the right conditions.

* * *

Hopefully, you passed the above questions with flying colors :) and start having a beutiful kitten a new member of your lovely family Post Options Labels for this post:

Indoor vs. outdoor cats?

Do you let your cats outdoors, or do you keep them in?


Do you let your cats outdoors, or do you keep them in? There are pros and cons to each. Some people cats are indoor cats- my family won't have it any other way because it's safer; but what about giving cats the freedom to explore? Is keeping them in captivity (a very nice captivity, but captivity nonetheless) worth it to protect them? Or would cats be happier if they were free to roam outside? Could it be bad for their mental health to keep them in when they want to go out?

Myself, I actually have six cats, three female and three male. All my cats are indoor cats, even though I think the male cats are better of as outdoor cats, especialy when they seems to get more chubbier and lazier everyday. Sleeping most of the time, like babies lol... I do think that it's unfair for me to let my cats to miss out their normal feline instinctive things... like chasing birds, climbing and scratching trees and so on,

But if I let them out or as they sneak out due to my own carelessness, I got to run after them, to stop the fighting between my vanurable cats and the street fighter cats outside my home. Not to mention the vetenary clinis, but the scratches I got for trying to separate my cats and the street fighter cats - put me in a situasion where I got to get treated by the doctor myself, can u imagine how hurtful is that?

Well, guys and gals, did you have the same problem? Come and share you experience he with us :)