Category: Educational

Hydrating The Body Pt. 2

Published on by Service Cats U.S.39 Comments

Me is so excited about this series on hydration. And just so there won’t be any confusion, today’s post will be in human speak. Me told you all about water and fountains yesterday and the importance of keeping your anipals hydrated. Our bodies are made up of mostly water, 80% to be exact for us kitties. We also talked about how kitties don’t typically drink enough water. Fountains are a great way to get your kitty to drink more water, but that’s not the only way to help your kitty get the hydration he/she needs. Is it mommy?

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No Dezi dear it’s not. Another good way to ensure the proper hydration is…

 

Wet Food right mommy? Canned food has a much higher water content than kibble and so it helps keep us kitties hydrated. Whereas dry kibble can help to dehydrate us.

 

You’re very right Dezi.

 

That’s why when sissy was diagnosed with CKD and wouldn’t eat, you bought every kind of canned food you could find. huh? And she still wasn’t eating all that well. Right before we left for BlogPaws she was only eating about a tablespoon of food every couple of days. We were so worried about her weren’t we mommy?

 

Yes honey we were. I know her well enough to know that if she could hold on till we could leave she would be much better because she loves to travel so much. And thankfully she was. Although she still didn’t want to eat anything I put in front of her.

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Till we came across the Weruva table at Blogpaws and they gave us sum pouches of their wet food to try. Me was so happy when she ate the whole pouch and asked for more

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Oh yes Dezi, I was happy too. And before I could even think, I gave Lexi another pouch, and she ate it all up too. Not eating is a common problem in CKD kitties for a variety of reasons. And there is a great debate among CKD cat owners about the diet of a CKD kitty. The prescription diets are low in phosphorous AND protein. These prescription diets are based on a study by one of the largest prescription diet manufacturers and what worked for dogs. And as any cat person will tell you, Cats Are Not Dogs. What works for dogs doesn’t always work for cats. The other side of this coin is the people who believe that cats are obligate carnivores and need protein to survive. This school of thought has several studies as well just not by anyone as prominent as the other study. But this study says that CKD kitties should eat foods that are made of high quality Proteins and low in phosphorous. So after your sister ate 2 more pouches of the Weruva food the next morning I made it a point to see what the dry matter analysis of this food was. At the end of the day it’s more important that your CKD kitty eat than serve the perfect food and have them go hungry; but I was hoping that Weruva would not only be something that Lexi would eat, but that it would also be “good” for her. So off to their website I went.

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I had my fingers crossed because often companies don’t include the dry matter analysis at all on their websites and sometimes even those who do, don’t include the phosphorous levels. To my surprise and delight, Weruva lists several analysis tables and includes the phosphorous content prominently. An ideal phosphorous level to feed a CKD kitty is 0.50 or below, but a phosphorous binder can be added to foods above that to make them more appropriate for the CKD kitty. I was thrilled to find that the TruLuxe line was almost completely under 1% and the Steak Frites which is one of the foods that Lexi had tried and loved, was within the limits of what is good for her without any additions. Meaning I could open the can and give it to her and know she was getting the proper nutrition and not worsening her condition. Her other favorites included the Peking Ducken, Quick and Quirky, On the Cat WOk, Chicken Frick A’Zee, and Funk in the Trunk from their original line. And all of these had good levels of phosphorous so no/minimal phosphorous binders were needed to make them suitable for her to eat. And the other big bonus was that picky little you loved them too. So with one purchase I could feed you both and know that you both were getting a good healthy meal suitable to your needs. And I really liked that the food was recognizable as being chicken or beef or duck or whatever. And that the first ingredients on each can after water or broth was the meat (protein) contained within the can or pouch. And it was really nice to see that beef was beef and chicken was chicken and so on. So many companies have “beef, duck, chicken, etc.”, and when you get to the ingredient list there’s no beef or duck in the can at all.

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Oh mommy yous so wight. Me sure does like that Chicken Frick A’Zee and so many of the others too. And they even have a pumpkin pouch that me really likes. But me is happiest that sis Lexi has put on some weight eating the Weruva and she’s much happier too. And Weruva gives some of their proceeds to help healthy and treatable animals in shelters. And their foods are made in a human food facility according to the International human food standards. Me and sissy are eating foods that are prepared in the same kind of facility that makes human foods. That’s a great thing because it means the standards are really high.

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And the peeps over at Weruva are so nice and told me that we could offer one lucky friend and reader a whole case of the 3 oz Tru Luxe cans of their choice. Is that not the most pawsum thing ever? Wanna know what makes it even better? It’s open to all our friends in the U.S.A. and Canada. Yep you read that right Canucks you can enter too. So, here’s how you enter:

 

Furst: Follow meez blog via email and share this post on Twitter or Facebook. (If you don’t have one of those accounts let me know).

 

Second: Leave me a comment on this post telling me which food you want to try.. (click on the words TruLuxe to see your choices).

 

Image provided by Weruva .com/truluxe.php
Image provided by Weruva .com/truluxe.php

This give away is open to all residents of the U.S. and Canada. This Give away will close on Monday 7/13/15 at 11:59 p.m. Names will be entered into Random Picker and one winner will be chosen.

 

Disclaimer: As always we received no green papers for this review and Weruva is not responsible for the content of this post or our opinions. And it is our policy to only bring you things we have tried or use and think would benefit you.

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Don’t forget before you leave to enter for your chance to win the PetSafe Dwinkwell Pagoda Fountain of your choice here.

 

Till the next time……………………Be Blest!!!

 

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

 

Dezi and Lexi

cat-animated

Hydrating The Body-Pt. 1

Published on by Service Cats U.S.48 Comments

Oh Meow, What a weekend. fire boomers all weekend long and funnew stowrms too. And fun at Cat Scouts and da Tabby Cat club too. Meez so tired. And yous know what? Me kulda been dehudwated too wiff all dat runnin’ wound out in da heat. But fankfully weez got furesh water available all da time. And not just any ole bowl of water eever, weez got a kitty fountain to dwink fwum. And yous know how much fun kitty fountains awe. Yous wunnewin’ why me be ramblin’ on ‘bout meez kitty fountain awen’t you? Well it’s cuz me wants to talk to you ‘bout sumfin’ weally purrtant today and dat’s Hydwation. Me told you earlier this mumff dat July be Pet Hydwation Awareness Mumff. And you all know how purrtant it be dat we all stay hydwated. Isn’t dat wight mommy?

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Yes Dezi that’s right. 80% of your body is water. And as a kitty it’s not really in your nature to drink a lot of water. In the wild you would get a lot of water from the prey animals that you would eat.

 

Provided by PetSafe.net
Provided by PetSafe.net

Me knows dat’s what they say mommy, but me be weally glad me dusn’t have to hunt fur meez dinner and eat little mouseys.

 

Well sweety I’m glad you don’t have to hunt and eat little mice either. But that means you need to drink more water, and that’s not something a kitty readily does.

 

We do tho’, don’t we mommy? Lexi and me? We luv to dwink fwum our fountains.

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Yes Dezi, you and your sister do like to drink from your fountains. But I remember a time beore we had a fountain, and you didn’t drink nearly enough water. You’re suppose to drink at least an ounce of water for every pound of body weight. And if you don’t, you’re in danger of becoming dehydrated. And that’s not good. Water is essential for your well being. It helps support your vital organ functions.

 

And it’s wespawnsible fur fings like digestion and waste wemoval too, wight?

 

That’s right honey. Do you know what causes dehydration Dezi?

 

Me duz mommy.. It happens when we don’t dwink enuff. Or when our fluid level dwops cuz of heat or dwy kibble. We animals sweat diffewently than hoomans do. Dogs pant and we kitties sweat fwu our paw pads. Duin’ this can deplete us of dat much needed hydwation purretty fast. So we need to weplenish. And one of da ways we can get da water our bodies need is to dwink more water. But a bowl of stagnant water isn’t weally appealin’, and altho’ sum doggis dwink outta da hooman pawdee box, dat’s not weally safe. Us anipals seem to kmow dat runnin’ water be furesh water and dat’s why Lexi and me like dwinkin’ fwum a fountain. so much.

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And OMC Were we ever blest to have wecieved a pawsum Drinkwell Pagoda fountain fwum PetSafe. You can check out their udder pawsum purroducts by clickin’ on their name. And you can check ‘em out on twitter and facebook also. Our new fountain has 2 water falls to dwink fwum and two bowls too, an upper and larger bottom bowl. And it looks purretty. It comes in 4 diffewent colors to match or blend in wiff any décor. And it holds 70 ounces of furesh water dat it wecirculates over and over again. And it has not 1 but 2 filters to make da water even cleaner. It’s made of ceramic so it dusn’t cause dat feline acne. And they say it makes it easier to clean. Is it easier to clean mommy?

 

Oh yes Dezi, it sure is. I love how easy it is to clean. And that all the parts are in one place. And that there aren’t a billion little places to get all gunky and slimy. Yes Dezi, I like your new fountain as much as you and Lexi do. And the replacement filters are easy to find and not too expensive.

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Dat’s pawsum mommy. How offen do yous have to clean it?

 

Well sweety it should be cleaned and filled with fresh water weekly, or as needed, but the filters only need to be changed once every 4 – 6 weeks.

 

So then it’s easy to maintain. You know what wulda been gweat mommy?

 dw Dezi and fountain

What’s that sweety?

 

Ifin Pet Safe Wulda let us give one of these pawsum fountains away to one of our amazin’ furiends.

 

Well Dezi dear guess what? They are. You can give away 1 Drinkwell Pagoda fountain in any of the 4 colors to one U. S. reader.

 

fountains
You choose da color yous want ifin yous win.

Weally mommy? OMC Dat’s so pawsum. Well yous heard it furiends. Weez got a Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain wiff one lucky Americans name on it. (name will not be on the actual fountain) And you get to choose yous own color. Just cuz we like da beige dusn’t mean yous have to get dat color. So lissen up, cuz here’s how yous enter:

 

Furst you must follow meez bloggy by email. There’s a follow button wight there on da sidebaw.

 

Next, leave a comment tellin’ me what color yous wuld like ifin yous win. Yous have fwu Fursday 7/9/15 at 11:59 p.m. to enter.

 

Water is a gweat way to stay hydwated. Stay tuned fur more ways to Hydwate da Body.

 

 

Till da next time…………………..Be Blest!!!

 

Dezi = Blue

Mommy = Black

 

Disclaimer: We didn’t weceive any gween papers fur this post. We weceived a Pagoda fountain fur our unbiased opinion. As always we will only bwing you purroducts we use or have twied and fink will be of interwest to you.

 

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

 

Dezi and Lexi

cat-animated

Whose A SmartCat? Give Away

Published on by Service Cats U.S.56 Comments

Oh sissy awen’t you ‘cited today?

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Shur Dezi, I had a grayt brekky and treetz arr shur yoo beez on da ajenda. Whatz not too beez sided ‘bout.

 

No sissy, me means ‘bout da Give Away weez havin’. Oh, datz what youz beez tawkin’ ‘bout.

 

Yep, I’z sided ‘bout dat too. I’z rellee happee dat peepz arr awlwayz wunderin’ ‘bout what beez beztezt fur us kitteez. It meenz weez git too try nu fingz dat weez mite not git too try udderwize. Soz who’z gunna tell ebberpawdy ‘bout it?

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Me of course. Me might need a little help, but wait till me asks, okay?. (Lexi nods and starts a bath) Well kitty peeps awe always lookin’ fur da best food and carriers and tweats and toys and…well you get da picture, wight?. Seems da biggest debate among hoomans is our pawdee boxes and what to put in ‘em. Shuld it be clumpin’ or not, and just what shuld it smell like? Wild flowers or spwing bweeze, or sum udder furesh scent. And shuld it be pelleted or sandy, scoopable or not. Da choices awe weally endless. Well come weal close and lissen up, cuz meez gunna tell ya’ what yous kitties have been talkin’ ‘bout and wishin’ fur. Da bestest litter in da whole wide world be da one yous kitty weally likes and will use. After all da pawdee box be fur him/her to do their business, not you. And all those purretty scents you luv…We DON’T!!! We have noses dat can pick up a scent fwum miles away and come on, do yous wanna sit on da hooman pawdee box sneezin’ da whole time?

 

Youz tell ‘em Dezi.

dw Smartcat4112

Fanks sissy. Weally da bestest litter is unscented in a texture dat isn’t too wuff on our paws and dat we can do our business in and get on wiff our busy lives of nappin’. So dat bein’ sed, seems there’s a new litter in town and all da peeps be askkin’ ‘bout it. Just what is it? How duz it work? Duz it work? Duz it have dust? Duz it twack? What is it you ask? Well it’s Pioneer Pet’s new litter called SmartCat All Natural Clumping Litter. It’s made of…wait fur it…GRASS. Yep you read dat wight, me sed grass. And it claims to out clump clay every time. It’s chemical free, clay free and fragrance free, 99% dust free, biodegwadable and wenewable and light weight. Well those fings there oughtta make yous peeps happy. But, duz it work and awe those claims twu or just more hogwash?.

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Da folks at Pioneer Pet was gwacious enuff to send us a 20 pound bag to twy out. Mommy was a little worried cuz bein’ made of gwass and all she kinda fawt it was gunna be gween of sumfin’. And as much as we like to eat our cat gwass, she wunnewed ifin we might twy to eat da litter. (not weally but me kuldn’t wesist) Never fear mommy dear, weez smawter than that. MOL When monmmy picked up da bag she sed she wuldn’t weally call it light weight, but it kuld be considered such as 20 pounds felt more like 10. And since mommy has difficulty wiff heavy fings then weally it is lighter weight than most. So when she opened da bag, she was purrleasantly surpwised to see a golden litter dat looked a lot like what we were alweady usin’. She was happy to not be overwhelmed by purrfumes, and so were we. Now fur da furst test. Mommy began to pour da litter fwum da bag into da box…NO dust. They get a check mawk there too. Now she just sat back and waited fur us to twy it out to evaluate da west of their claims.

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Of course, she didn’t have to wait too long. You know us kitties, a clean box be callin’ our name. MOL And well you all know me. Me began to holler to make mommy aware dat she needed to clean up. So mommy got da scooper and scoop she did. OMC What a clump. it was hawd as a cement rock. So mommy bwoke it up a bit ad flushed it down da hooman pawdee box. No purrawlems there eever. We had to wait a few hours to check it’’s clumpin’ abilities wiff sis Lexi, but it clumped just as well fur her. Mommy sez she weally liked how well it clumped cuz nuffin wet bwoke off and fell back into da clean litter. Mommy also sez there was absolutely no smell. Altho’ da weal smell test comes in later wiff da…well yous know. And Pioneer Pet’s SmartCat gets 8 paws and 2 fumms up there too. We was all so impurressed dat it be all weez took to BlogPaws. And even one of our visitors liked it well enuff to give it a twy. Our weebly wobbly furiend Sophie had to avail hers selff of da facilities while visitin’, and so weez gunna say anudder 4 paws up there.

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Old litter on da left, SmartCat on da wight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a lot of you know we be purretty big kitties so there’s only one fing we found purroblematic. Me duz seem to “sink” a bit cuz it be so lightweight. Sissy has lost a lot of weight and mommy didn’t notice it happenin’ wiff her, so ifin yous kitty be 15 pounds or less, you shuld be fine. Fur me a little mixin’ and all’s good again. As wiff most of da natural clumpin’ litters Pioneer Pet wecommends keeping 3” – 4” of SmartCat in da box fur optimum purrfurmance. And a 20 pound bag filled da extwa lawge pawdee box and we had a little more than a 1/3 of a bag left. Me wuld like to tell ya’ a bit ‘bout Pioneer Pet. It was founded by Betsy Lipscomb, a cat behaviorist. She also stawrted Catsinternational.org, a non-purrofit organization whose mission is to help peeps better unnewstand their feline companions. The mission of Pioneer Pets is to make purroducts to impurrove da quality of life fur hoomans and us kitties.

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Now fur da big news. Pioneer Pet has agweed to give one lucky U.S. reader a 20 pound bag of SmartCat litter. Just leave a comment on this blog posty by Tuesday June 23, 2015 tellin’ us yous wanna enter to win. And you can say more too ya’ know. Weez’ll be usin’ da randomizer to choose a winner fwum all da entwies. And ifin yous just can’t wait, you can order yous own bag wiff a flat rate shippin’ now by pawin’ here. And check out their Facebook page too. So to wecap, It duz out clump clay, it weally weally is 99% dust furee. it contains odors wiffout smelly purrfumes, it’s all natural grass, so it’s good fur da planet too. All paws and fumms up here fur Pioneer Pet’s SmartCat cat litter. Sissy you wanna add anyfin?

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Nope Dezi youz sed it all. But weez do wanna wish a…

 

Happy Father’s day to all da dads out there and all da mommys who be purrlayin’ daddys too. (like our mommy)

Disclaimer: Weez didn’t weceive any gween papers fur this weview. We did weceive a bag of litter fur furee. Our opinions awe our own and not fur sale. Pioneer Pet is not wesponsible fur da content of this posty.

 

 

Till da next time…………………. Be blest!!!

 

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

 

Dezi and Lexi

cat-animated

Dezi selfie in lap

Are They Bad? Pt. 3

Published on by Service Cats U.S.25 Comments

Oh mommy weez sure awe havin’ sum bad stowms. Me dusn’t fink it’s ever gunna stop rainin’. It makes me feel so sad fur all those feral kitties we talked ‘bout. Cuz most of them never end up in da shelter or a furever home. At least those kitties in da shelter don’t have to be outside when da wedder be so bad.

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No Dezi the shelter kitties don’t have to be out in the bad weather. But they’re just as sad.

Why mommy? What zactly is a shelter cat? Me knows it’s Adopt a Shelter Cat mumff, but me dusn’t know why.

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Well sweety every year at this time shelters get over crowded because kitties are having babies, and a lot of them. A lot of those kitties are strays that haven’t been outside long enough to become feral yet, and some are brought in because their people don’t want them anymore.

Why would their people not want them anymore mommy? Are they bad kitties?

Oh honey no, they’re not bad kitties at all. Sometimes their people just get bored with them, or kitty gets sick and they can’t afford or don’t want to spend the money to help them. And sometimes a kitty will develop a bad habit like going potty outside the box. There are all kinds of reasons kitties end up in the shelter baby, but none of them are good reasons or the the kitties fault really. A kitty that’s sick or has behavior problems doesn’t have a very good chance of being adopted.

Cassidy at Adoptapet.com
Cassidy at Adoptapet.com

OMC Mommy do you mean me kuld have been a shelter kitty when me waz peein’ on da floor stead of da box?

No baby you were never at risk of bein’ a shelter kitty. I knew there was a reason you were doing that and I am/was willing to do whatever it takes/took to fix that. You’re my baby girl and there’s no way you will ever be a shelter kitty, so don’t worry your pretty little head about that.

 

Fank you mommy. But ifin a kitty goes to da shelter cuz they be havin’ purrawllems how awe they ever gunna get a furever home? Me wuld be terrified to be in a cage wiff all da stwange peeps and sounds. And wiffout meez sissy and you me purrawlly wuldn’t be very furiendly eever. Nopawdy wuld want me wuld they mommy?

Parker at Adoptapet.com
Parker at Adoptapet.com

Well baby, sometimes there are wonderful rescue groups that will take a chance on kitties that are scared and have problems and they take them home to live with foster parents where the kitties can get help and hopefully find forever homes.

Like me and sissy wight mommy?

Well sort of honey. You and your sister were rescued before you ever went to a shelter. But yes, if those rescue groups hadn’t been there y’all would have gone to shelters.

Princess Peach Adoptapet.com
Princess Peach Adoptapet.com

What happens to da kitties dat don’t get lucky enuff to get a foster home mommy?

Sometimes they do okay in the cages until someone comes along and adopts them. And some shelters are doing wonderful things and making cat rooms so the kitties don’t have to be in a cage all the time. They’re realizing that kitties don’t do well in cages.

But what about those kitties dat not do well in a cage and isn’t in one of those pawsum shelters?

Oh Dezi, (hugs Dezi and holds her close) sometimes those kitties are euthanized. And sometimes they do get lucky and somebody does take a chance on them. Your friend Ms. Layla just brought home such a kitty.

Dat’s Radish, isn’t it mommy? (wipes tears from mommys eyes with paw)

Yes it is. Radish is a prime example of a wonderful kitty that didn’t do well in a cage. He was older, scared and struck out and would bite people. And he was sick too, so he didn’t ever stand a chance. But with social media today a lot more kitties get a chance than ever before. That’s why it’s so important for us to share those kitties and posts.

Faulkner at Adoptapet.com
Faulkner at Adoptapet.com

Like when we see one of our furiends make a posty wiff a kitty needin’ a home. We share da posty and purray fur dat kitty and all da kitties wight mommy?

That’s right baby. You just never know who might be reading your posts and see the kitty for them in one of those posts.

What else can we do to help those kitties find luvvin’ furever homes?

Tricia at Adoptapet.com
Tricia at Adoptapet.com

Well we can volunteer, donate money and supplies, and share, share, share. Shelters are always in need of supplies and funds. There’s always something you can do to help. Spay and neuter your own pets and commit to them for their entire life, and not just when they’re cute little kitties or puppies, but also when they’re older and can’t get around as well. As a society we tend to want to adopt the younger kitties, puppies, even babies. But older pets are just as wonderful.

Like sissy wight? She’s da bestest.

Sis Lexi today at 16 years old. She's still got it.
Sis Lexi today at 16 years old. She’s still got it.

Yes baby she is the bestest. Remember to adopt and not shop. And next time, take a look at the older kitties available before you make your decision. And get involved in some way. You can check this website to Find a shelter in your area.

Fank you fur tellin’ me ‘bout da shelter kitties mommy. Me sure hopes and purrays lots of kitties get adopted by luvvin’ mommys and daddys not only this mumff but every mumff. And we want to fank all of you who volunteer and give tirelessly of yous time to help da kitties in shelters and on da stweets. And to all of you foster mommys and daddys, fanks fur takin’ da time and givin’ a second chance to those kitties dat society sez awen’t purrfect. Member, shelter kitties awen’t bad. Adopt, Adopt, Adopt!!!

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Me will be havin’ a give away this weekend, so me sure hopes yous’ll stop by and enter. And if you missed Pt. 1 or Pt. 2 of our Adopt a Shelter Cat Mumff postys, you can read them here and here. And keep us in yous purrayers. Weez goin’ to da VET today.

Till da next time…………..Be Blest!!!

 

 

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses 

 

Dezi and Lexi

cat-animated

Dezi = Blue

Mommy = Black