Ingrid King's Blog: The Conscious Cat, page 419

Ask a Cat Vet: How Do I Transition My Cat to a Healthy Diet?

Guest post by Fern Crist, DVM

You have done your research. You know that cats are obligate carnivores who need meat in their diet not just to survive, but to thrive. You understand why cats should never eat dry food. You’ve found the right premium grain-free canned or raw diet.

Now you have a case or a frozen bag of this great new food – and your cat “won’t eat it.” He puts up his nose and walks away, and you are left with a stack of useless cans or bags and a strong sense of annoyance. You fee...

Conscious Cat Sunday: The Holiday Edition

My two little elves and I have been busy getting ready for the holidays, and we ran out of time to get a brand new Conscious Cat Sunday column ready for you, so instead, today we’re bringing you a round up of a few of our favorite holiday columns. We hope they’ll help you find the time to slow down and enjoy the true meaning of the season in the middle of all the “busyness.”

Create meaningful holiday memories

I believe that setting aside time for family, friends, and of course, our cats, during...

Mews and Nips: Cartier’s Winter Tale Brings Fantasies To Life With Baby Panthers

I’ve loved Cartier’s panther campaigns since they released their ”L’Odysée de Cartier” commercial two years ago. The gorgeously produced fantasy featuring a crystal-encrustedpanther come to life and his adventurous journey through spectacularly beautiful scenery, accompanied by a dramatic musical score, took my breath away. Cartier has since used the panther in its product line and advertising in a lot of different ways. This year’s “Winter Tale” features two adorable baby panthers frolicking...

Review: 67 Reasons Why Cats are Better than Dogs

I’m not a big fan of the “cats are better than dogs” meme, because I’m not a fan of anything that polarizes people rather than brings them together. For that reason, I was a little hesitant to take a look at 67 Reasons Why Cats are Better than Dogs by Jack Shepherd, the editorial director of the massive social media and entertainment company Buzzfeed. I’m glad I decided to check this book out.

In this tongue-in-cheek collection, Shepherd teamed up with National Geographic to document cats’ sup...

Giveaway: SmartyKat® Feather Whirl™: Final Chance to Win!

The SmartyKat® Feather Whirl™ is a great way to exercise your kitties, and it provides endless entertainment for the humans. This innovative toy works at the push of a button. The wand whirls and swirls, mimicking prey and inviting kitties to pounce. The toy has a constantly changing pattern that never repeats itself, so cats won’t get bored. Non-toxic and safe for cats and kids, the SmartyKat® Feather Whirl™ is made of durable BHA-free plastic so your cat can grab, chew, pull or bite all he...

Allegra and Ruby’s Kitchen Catification

While reading Jackson Galaxy and Kate Benjamin’s new book, Catification: Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for Your Cat (and You), I found myself re-evaluating every room in my home, making small changes as I went along, and taking notes for more complex projects that I want to tackle in the future. I also discovered at least three areas in my home that needed immediate catification improvements.

One of those was my kitchen. My microwave is located on top of a cabinet that puts it at about ey...

Review and Giveaway: Simple Solution Pet Hair CleanUp System

When you share your life with cats, cat hair is a fact of life, and you pretty much have two options: you give in to the inevitability of it, or you keep trying to find different solutions.

Simple Solution has launched a new system of products to make pet hair clean up easier. The system is made of up three products.

The Twin-Head Sweeper has dual heads designed to lay flat and cover two times more surface area than conventional sweepers. One of the dual heads is moveable and flips up to lock a...

Ask a Cat Vet: What Should I Feed My Cat?

Guest post by Fern Crist, DVM

In veterinary school, I was taught to feed cats breakfast cereal.

This is not a joke. It is hard to imagine anything further removed from a cat’s evolutionary diet (small animals of the feathered and furred varieties) than a diet consisting of corn, wheat, rice, squash, peas, tapioca, carrots, apples, sage, oregano…. The list goes on. Many trendy cat foods today have ingredient lists that look just like this. Sounds like the makings of a wonderful Thanksgiving feas...

Allegra and Ruby Write a Letter to Santa

Allegra and Ruby finished writing their letter to Santa last week, and they gave me permission to share it with you.

Dear Santa,

we’ve been very good girls this year. We keep Mom company while she works. We pose for pictures so she can share our beauty and cuteness with our friends and fans. We always clean our plates. We snuggle with Mom when she watches TV, and we keep her warm at night. We took care of her when she was under the weather.

Ruby: I haven’t gotten in trouble in a very long time.

A...

Mews and Nips: Dying Woman Reunited With Her Cat

It’s not often that I come across a story that is as heart-breakingly beautiful as that of Isis, a two-and-a-half year old cat, and Joan, a terminally ill woman in a South Florida hospice. It’s the kind of story that restores your faith in mankind. Joan knows she won’t be able to be home again with Isis, but continues to pay the rent on her empty apartment so Isis would have place to stay until a permanent home could be found for her, but with once daily visits from a caretaker, Isis was lone...