Ingrid King's Blog: The Conscious Cat, page 393

Mews and Nips: Cats Can Be Trained

I had a chance to meet Samantha Martin and see the Amazing Acro-Cats perform last month, and it turned out to be an absolutely wonderful experience. This week, I came across an article on the Huffington Post that featured an indepth interview and podcast with Samantha. Samantha uses only positive reinforcement (no spray bottles for her), and mainly uses two techniques — whistle training and clicker training. If you’ve ever been curious about how to train your cats, I highly recommend reading...

RAVPower UV Flashlight Pet Stain Detector Winners and 25% Discount Offer

Congratulations, Tracy Nixon, Chris Dehart and Clair Downham! You’re the winners of a RAVPower UV Flashlight Pet Stain Detector!

Look for an email from Ingrid.*

Special discount for Conscious Cat readers
25% off with coupon code CONSCCAT

The RAVPower Luster LED UV Flashlight is available from Amazon with free shipping for Prime members. Enter code CONSCCAT at checkout to get your discount. Discount code isvalid until August 5. One code per customer, cannot be combined with other Amazon disco...

Review and Giveaway: Code Grey by Clea Simon

Dulcie Schwartz, her cat Esme, and the spirit of her departed cat, Mr. Grey, are back! In Code Grey, the ninth installment in Clea Simon’s Dulcie Schwartz mystery series, featuring the Harvard graduate student, it’s spring break, but Dulcie has stayed behind to continue to work on her doctoral thesis about a mysterious 19th century author of two gothic novels. Most of her friends have left Cambridge, even her boyfriend Chris is visiting his family in New Jersey.

You would think that perhaps,...

How to Pick the Right Scratching Post for Your Cat

Scratching posts are one of the most important pieces of cat furniture, and every cat household should have at least one in every room. In addition to providing a natural outlet for your cat’s need to scratch, they can also prevent a variety of behavioral problems.

Scratching is a natural behavior for cats. Cats scratch to groom their claws, the scratching motion helps remove dead sheaths from their front claws (they usually chew them off their back claws). They scratch to mark their territo...

The Mysteries of Summer: Musetta Speaks Out on Travel, Ghost Cats, and Human Foibles

Guest post by Musetta Simon

Musetta here, and I’m logging on to tell you: I hate summer.

Does that surprise you? As a cat, I am essentially a desert animal. My body temperature runs higher than yours, and I could lay in the sun for hours, soaking up the rays. (When I do this, my mom says I’m the solar-powered kitty, recharging.) But as a writer’s cat, I’ve learned a few things. And number one is that summer means travel. For my humans, of course. Not for me, and I hate that.

Sometimes, the t...

New Test Detects Kidney Disease Early

This post is sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories

Chronic Kidney Disease, also known as Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) is a common condition in aging cats. It is the result of a gradual decrease in kidney function. Healthy kidneys act like a filter to remove waste products from the body. They regulate electrolytes such as potassium and phosphorous, and they produce erythropoietin which stimulates red blood cell production. Kidneys produce rennin, which contributes toward regulating blood pressure. K...

Heart Murmurs in Cats

Heart murmurs in cats are often detected during a routine physical exam by listening to the heart with a stethoscope. A disturbance in the blood flow produces a “whooshing” sound or another noise in addition to the heartbeat.

What causes a heart murmur?

A heart murmur is caused by turbulent blood flow within the heart. Some murmurs are considered innocent or phsyiologic. These murmurs, while not considered normal, have no impact on the cat’s health. Common causes of heart murmurs are hyperth...

Conscious Cat Sunday: Coping with Email Overload

Last Sunday, I wrote about feeling overloaded. This week, I tried a little experiment: every time that overload feeling crept in, I stopped for a moment and asked myself: why do you feel so overloaded right now? And I’m sure I’m not alone with the answer I came up with: more often than not, it was because of the never-ending influx of email.

I try to stay on top of email, and answer most within a few hours of receiving them. Then I came across a quote in an article on the difference between...

Mews and Nips: It’s Good to Be a Cat Person

None of you who read this blog need to be convinced that being a cat person is a good thing, but, given the bad press that cat lovers get at times, it was nice to see an article in Psychology Today that featured some scientific explanations how being owned by a cat reveals some important things about those of us who love cats. We’re more open to new experiences, we’re less stressed, and we’re less likely to be relationship-phobic. For more on why it’s good to be a cat person, read the full s...

Refined Feline Wallet Winner and 25% Discount Offer

Congratulations, Dorothy! You’re the winner of a Refined Feline Wallet!

Look for an email from Ingrid.*

25% Discount on the Refined Feline Wallet for Conscious Cat readers

Triple T Studios is offering the Refined Feline Wallet at a 25% discount to Conscious Cat readers. Simply type code Conscious Cat in the promo code box at checkout and then click apply. The promo code box will appear on the screen after you enter your shipping and payment information. Offer is limited and available while s...