Ingrid King's Blog: The Conscious Cat, page 184

Sunday Quotes: Darkness and Light

It’s hard these days to not sink into despair at the state of the world, but focusing on gloom and doom scenarios has never helped anyone and only makes things worse. We may not be able to control much, but we can control our thoughts, so why not choose light-filled, positive thoughts?

I’m not suggesting that you turn a blind eye to reality, but holding the vision of a brighter and better future for the world seems to me to be a much better use of the power of our thoughts than focusing on all...

Mews and Nips: Rescued “Twin” Kittens Never Leave Each Other’s Side

Warning: today’s edition of Mews and Nips may cause cuteness overload! When a litter of kittens was dropped off at Animal Welfare League of Arlington, volunteers in their kitten nursery worked around the clock to care for them. Two of the kittens needed extra attention, so Lauren Strycula, one of AWL’s foster parents, took the pair home. The male kitten in particular had a hard time. His sister never left his side, and soon both kittens were thriving. For more about the pair, and super adorabl...

Cat Care Guides from the 1960’s

A friend recently gave me two cat care guides from the 1960’s. The Common Sense Book of Kitten and Cat Care is from 1966, Cats is from 1969. Looking through the books was a fascinating exercise in realizing how far we’ve come in understanding cats better over the last 50 years.

The books got some of the basics right, but they got so much so very wrong. I thought I’d share some of the examples with you.

“Milk (whole or condensed) is essential to a kitten’s development. Until he is three months ...

PawPrint App Giveaway Winners

Congratulations, Janine, Dana and Tanya Ankers! You’re the winners of our PawPrint App giveaway.

Look for an email from Ingrid.*

For more information and to download the app, please visit https://www.getpawprint.com/

Exclusive discount for Conscious Cat readers

Get free vaccination records or 50% off full vet records with promo code PawPrint.

*Winners are selected by random drawing. Winners need to provide a physical address to which the prize will be mailed within 72 hours of receipt of notif...

Why Quality Matters: Fresh Food for Cats

This post is sponsored by Smalls and contains affiliate links*

Have you ever opened a can of food or a bag of kibble and wondered about the contents? Why does it smell so bad? Why are the ingredient lists so complicated and long? What’s even in it? Cats may be mysterious, but their food shouldn’t be. That’s where Smalls comes in. Smalls is human-grade, fresh food, for cats.

A brief history of cat food

Smalls was founded on the simple discovery that cat food was never really made for cats’ uni...

Giveaway: Win a DIY Catio Plan by Catio Spaces in Honor of National Animal Safety & Protection Month

Sponsored guest post by Cythia Chomos

This giveaway is sponsored and administered by Catio Spaces*

Does your indoor cat want outside? Do you have a door dasher and worry about your cat’s safety? Many cat parents struggle with the indoor/outdoor dilemma and a catio, an outdoor “cat patio”, is a purrfect solution. Catios can provide peace of mind, safety, and the stimulation cats crave on a daily basis.

In honor of National Animal Safety and Protection Month and as the founder of Catio Spaces, I...

Review: CritterZone Air Naturalizer

I couldn’t have been more delighted when the folks at CritterZone approached me to see if I wanted to review their air naturalizer*. You see, I’ve owned two CritterZone units for more than seven years, and I use them frequently to successfully combat odors (and yes, they’re still working well after all that time.) Since then, CritterZone has made some improvements to their original unit, and I couldn’t wait to try it out.

What does the CritterZone Air Naturalizer do?

It creates a natural, cha...

New Feline Vaccination Guidelines Focus on Individual Risk-Benefit Assessment

The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) recently released the 2020 AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines to the veterinary community. The release provides updated recommendations and the most current information for feline vaccinations.

There is no single protocol for all cats

The updated guidelines stress the need for an expanded understanding by veterinary professionals of individualized feline risk factors to determine a ...

Sunday Quotes: Noise

I found this week utterly draining, and I found that much of my exhaustion came from letting too much noise in. Social media noise, headline noise, email noise, text noise, you name it, there’s just too much of it.

I’m super sensitive to physical noise, but that’s fairly easily fixed with a good pair of active noise-canceling headphones (affiliate link*.) But the other kind of noise is harder to tune out unless you’re disciplined about it. I’ve been pretty good about limiting my time on social...

Mews and Nips: Cat Takes Dozens of Selfies on His Human’s iPad

A Chinese cat seems to have the art of taking selfies down pat: seven-month-old Er Niu’s human came home one day to not only find clumps of white fur on her iPad, but she also discovered dozens of photos and even a video of the kitty. He even figured out how to use the camera’s flashlight function to showcase his handsomness. For more about Er Niu, visit the Daily Mail.

If you missed any of the stories featured on the Conscious Cat this week, here’s a recap: on Sunday, we talked about how we c...