Of course you know that you have to feed and water your cat. But how much? How often? What kind of food? We are going to explore your options.

I am going to tell you what I have found out with my own cats. I currently have seven, six indoor, and one that is working on becoming an indoor cat. I have lost nine. I have a bit of experience in these matters.

They tell you to feed them one cup of dry food per day. That’s fine. I do that. Cats will eat as much or as little as they want to. At one point I had nine indoor cats. I fed them all the exact same. One cup of dried food daily. I ended up with two cats that were about five pounds, three that were ten pounds, one that weighed fifteen pounds, and three that were around twenty. One of the ten pound cats was the mother of the fifteen and twenty pound cats. They choose how much they like to eat, some will eat less, some more.

I have never seen much difference between the various cat foods. My cats like some, and don’t like others. I have never bought food from the vetrinarian, I just can’t see why I should put out that much money when there are tons of varieties in the store. I am not saying don’t get the special foods from your vet, especially if your vet has determined it is really best for your cat, not just their pocketbook. Just get the food that your cat likes and will eat.

I always thought it was strange that my cats that had come from the outdoors don’t like moist food. The inside ones go absolutely nuts, but the ones that had lived outdoors before deciding they liked the inside just ignored canned food. Try it on your cats, and if they like it, feed it to them. If they don’t, well you’ve saved yourself some money.

I know everyone has heard that you give cats milk to drink. Not true. Most cats are lactose intolerant. You give them milk, you will be cleaning it up. It is fine for a kitten, but after they are grown, it isn’t that great. If your cat can tolerate it, that’s great, but you still shouldn’t give it to them all the time. And most importantly, don’t give it to them as their sole liquid. They need water.

One of the most important things we as cat owners (or caretakers) can do is make sure your cat always has a supply of clean, fresh water. All animals need water, and it needs to be available to them at any and all times. Some cats like running water, one of mine drinks from the leaky faucet I haven’t gotten around to fixing. I can’t stress enough to make sure there is water out all the time.

Make sure your cat is eating, whether dry or moist. From the store or the vetrinarian. And most of all, make sure they always have water.

Tabby came to us on a cold icy night.  She was so tiny she fit perfectly into our cupped hands.  How could we leave her outside?

Cutie is the second born of Grey Girl’s litter.  He was so loving, and loved to be held like a baby.  He would grab on and lick my face to death.

Yes, cats can get diabetes, too. They are just like us in that respect. They can’t take care of this themselves, so we get to do the hard part. Unfortunately they don’t quite understand that it is for their own good.

If your cat has started drinking a whole lot of water, is losing a lot of weight, but is still eating, there is a possibility he has diabetes. In any case he needs to go to the vet. There are any number of reasons this could be happening, and you want to find out what you need to do. If you do get a diagnosis of diabetes, read on.

Yes, cats can get diabetes, too. They are just like us in that respect. They can’t take care of this themselves, so we get to do the hard part. Unfortunately they don’t quite understand that it is for their own good.

Once you find out your cat has feline diabetes, you will be spending a lot of time with your veterinarian, so make sure he or she is someone you trust completely. Some vets will take all the time you need to tell you everything you want to know about the disease, and some don’t like to explain anything. So choose wisely.

You can choose to try and change his diet to lower his glucose, and possibly eliminate the problem, but he will have to be watched for any changes. In a multi-cat household that may not be possible. Any specialized food for cats is very expensive, and depending how many cats you have, it may not be feasible for you. If changing the food doesn’t work, then he will have to go on insulin.

Your cat will have to spend a week or 2 with the vet after the diagnosis. He can be boarded the whole time, or you can drop him off in the morning, and pick him back up at night. They will be giving him small doses of insulin twice a day to lower his glucose levels. They check these at least 3 times daily to check his reaction. This can get very expensive, and usually isn’t covered by pet insurance. Once the correct insulin dosage has been established, your cat can start spending the days (and nights if he was boarded) at home.

Now it is up to you to take care of the insulin. Your vet will tell you how much to give, and how often. Usually twice daily so that it isn’t too much at one time and send your poor cat into insulin shock. You will get a small vial of insulin, and syringes.

Make sure you keep it refrigerated. If it gets too warm, it can kill the insulin, and you might as well be injecting water for all the good it does. Don’t shake it hard. Just roll it gently around till the whole vial is cloudy. Now put the needle in the soft rubber top of the vial, and hold the vial above the needle, and bring back the plunger and draw out more than the dosage. Then push the plunger back in to the correct dosage. This gets rid of air bubbles which can be very bad. You might want to roll the syringe between your fingers a bit to warm it up slightly. Make sure the insulin is the part between your fingers. It isn’t absolutely necessary, but taking the chill off it before injecting it into your cat will probably be appreciated.

Now, pull up a swatch of hair, and clear it to see skin (if he will let you) and stick the needle in. Try not to go through both sides of the fold of skin, which is easy to do. You are trying to get the insulin in the area between the skin and muscles, so make sure you pull the skin up. You might also want to rub the area a little to take away the sting.

If you miss, or think you missed, you can give your cat an additional injection, but be sure. If you give them more, and you didn’t miss, you can send them into shock from overdosing them. It would be better not to give it at all than to give too much. Make sure you get it close to 12 hours apart if you are dosing twice a day. You don’t want to give them a full dose, then give them another too soon, before they have metabolized the first. An hour on either side of the 12 hour mark will be fine. You may want to give your cat a treat for being so good about the injection. Make sure it is a regular thing, because that can throw off their system if it is a hit or miss deal.

Your vet will probably not want you to order the meds online, but it is perfectly acceptable. The vet will tell you that you will get bad meds, expired, shaken in the mail, etc. They get theirs in the mail, too. They have the same chance of getting expired, shaken medicine. You will have to pay for shipping, even on the free shipping sites. Insulin has to be refrigerated, and that means overnight shipping. Check the cost at your vet, then check the online with shipping, then decide. If you decide to go online, you will have to have a prescription from the vet. If your vet won’t deal with online sites, get a written prescription and fax it. The vet will have to verify it is a real prescription, but they usually don’t have a problem with that.

I hope you have a better idea of what it takes to keep your diabetic cat comfortable. If you follow these guidelines, your cat can live a long and happy life.

Chubby is Grey Girl’s first born, and he was such a chubby little butterball, the name stuck.  He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 6, and has to have 2 insulin shots every day, but loves the extra kitty treat that goes along with it.

This is Grey Girl, she started hanging around the house and we said “no way are we getting another cat, we already have 5!!!”  Well, we lost Gidget, and started allowing Grey Girl to come in.  Much to our surprise she was pregnant.  She had 4 boys – Chubby, Cutie, Sammy & Mouthie.  They really got her stomach good!!!

Your cat can get into so much trouble this time of year it can be overwhelming. I know you want to enjoy the Christmas season, so here are some tips on keeping away from the veterinarian.

Holiday plants. Many plants are toxic to cats, and most holiday favorites are in this list. Holly, lilies, poinsettia, and mistletoe are the major culprits. Keeping things up high doesn’t really work for cats since they like to jump everywhere you don’t want them to go. Shooting your cat with water usually works, but you can’t be there all the time, plus there are a few cats that actually enjoy being shot. Placing a zapmat around the plant may help. Unfortunately, keeping these plants out of the house completely, or inside a glass cabinet seems to be the only way to keep kitty healthy.

The tree can be a danger to you and your cat. Cats like to climb trees. Christmas trees are no exception. Even when covered in decorations and lights they are a temptation. You don’t want to go without a tree, and you don’t want to lock your cat out of the room, so what to do? Tie the tree to the wall, preferably 2 walls in a corner. It doesn’t have to be obvious, just make it secure.

Lights are beautiful, but tempting. Cats love to chew, and a light cord is exactly what they like. Long and skinny, sometimes moving around, just like a snake. They revert to hunter mode when they see cords. They will stalk them, pounce, then chew. Then get electrocuted. Make sure to keep cords covered, if they can’t see them, they won’t try to play with them.

Tinsel sets off the tree to perfection. Cats love to eat tinsel. Unfortunately, tinsel doesn’t agree with them. It doesn’t just go in and then out, it stays. It wraps around your cats organs, and will need to be removed surgically. If you see some hanging out of their mouth, gently tug. If it doesn’t come out easily, DON’T YANK, go immediately to your veterinarian. Yanking can cause permanent damage. To avoid this, put tinsel only on the top of the tree, or don’t use any at all.

Ornaments are fun to bat. They swing around, making tempting targets, and easily get knocked off the tree and broken. Use twist-ties to attach your ornaments, or only use non-breakable ornaments on the bottom branches. Put your precious and most delicate ornaments higher on the tree.

We love to wrap gifts. Ok, we love to look at wrapped gifts, sometimes the wrapping part is a little too much for us. Cats love to look at the gifts, too, but their focus is on the ribbons. Ribbons are tons of fun to play with. It bounces around, flies through the air when batted and is just a whole day of playing by itself. Fun to eat, too, but just like tinsel, very dangerous. Eating ribbon can get your cat’s organs tied in knots, literally. If you see ribbon in your cat’s mouth, gently tug, if it doesn’t come out, call your veterinarian immediately. DO NOT YANK the ribbon, you can cause serious harm.

As long as we pay attention, and look at the holiday from a cat’s perspective, we can make it happy and safe holiday for all of us.

Mouthie was the last of his litter born on March 18, 2000.  He got his name because he never stopped talking.  He still hasn’t.

Sammy was an adorable little kitten born 3rd in his litter on March 18, 2000.  He was so pretty with his blue eyes we named him Samantha.  Imagine our shock when our Samantha turned into Sam.