Ingrid King's Blog: The Conscious Cat, page 440

How to Care for a Cat With Chronic Kidney Disease

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 also produce rennin, which contributes toward regulating blood pressure. Kidneys also play a major role in turning...

Conscious Cat Sunday: Taming Technology

Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything,

except over technology. – John Tudor

I spend much of my day online, whether it’s researching for an article, moderating comments on this site, interacting with friends and fans on our various social media sites, or responding to the never-ending flow of email. I also have an iPhone and iPad to keep me connected to this site, social media and email when I’m not at my computer. And I know I’m not alone. Technology has become...

Mews and Nips: Homeless Woman and Cat Save Each Other

Stories about cats who turn someone’s life around don’t get much better than this one. When a black and white cat named Miss Tuxedo crossed paths with a homeless woman at a San Francisco Bay area cemetery, the two lost souls somehow saved each other. Rosa Katovitch would come to the cemetery to sit by her fiance’s grave. “I’d come here, sometimes 6, 7 hours a day, and just sit,” Katovitch told a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. “If you’re quiet, you’d be amazed at the things you see....

Review: Book Clubbed by Lorna Barrett

With each new installment of Lorna Barrett’s Booktown mystery series featuring mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles and her cat Miss Marple, I look forward to visiting Stoneham, the small town in New Hampshire where the series is set. What’s not to love about a series set in a town filled with bookstores, and an adorable bookstore cat?

In Book Clubbed, Tricia and he sister Angelica are trying to find a killer who used a bookshelf as the murder weapon. While Tricia is trying to solve the murder...

ResQWalk: Help Cats While You Walk

I love walking. It’s the only form of exercise I’ve consistently stayed with for my whole life, and I walk a minimum of 3 miles a day. Walking is my time to be out in nature, get exercise, let my mind flow where it wants to go, and recharge my batteries. Because of this, I was super-excited when I first heard about ResQWalk, a new iOS app that enables animal lovers to raise money for rescues and shelters just by going for a walk. The app is now available for download in the Apple App Store.

“O...

Giveaway: ModaPet Cat Bowls

ModaPet combines fashion with function while also keeping safety and stability in mind. Available in a variety of gorgeous, rich colors ranging from the flirty “Some Like it Hot” pink (our favorite!) to a creamy “Pesto” green, all ModaPet bowls have a functional non-slip bottom and are made with BPA-free, food-grade materials.

I love that these bowl have a wide opening. This helps prevent whisker stress. With a unique pedestal-style body, the sleek, sturdy and substantial ModaPet bowl comes fo...

How to Help Your Cat Cope with Fireworks

The 4th of July is probably a cat’s least favorite holiday. I know it is at our house. Even Ruby, who’s not afraid of thunderstorms, becomes unsettled when fireworks start going off in our neighborhood. The noise usually begins a few days before the holiday, and I’m afraid that this year, with the holiday falling on a Friday, it may last throughout the weekend.

A cat’s sense of hearing is much more acute than ours, and all the noises associated with the holiday are much more intense for them....

Review: Googie Cat Bed from Davies Decor

Sometimes, a cat bed is more than just a cat bed, and this is absolutely the case for the Googie Bed. While this beautifully handcrafted piece of cat furniture most definitely makes an excellent bed and scratcher, as Allegra and Ruby will show you below, it’s also a piece of art.

I don’t know about you, but my house is pretty much Allegra and Ruby’s house – I’m lucky I get to live here. We’re getting close to the point where cat furniture outnumbers my furniture, and I’m good with that. But, g...

Euthanasia: A Vet’s Perspective

Guest post by Elizabeth Colleran, DVM

The software we use in my practices will color code appointments by “reason for visit.” The one for euthanasia is, as one would expect, a very dark color. A few weeks ago, I came to work. As usual, I looked at the schedule before rounds to see any issues that needed to be covered before we convened. My heart sank. The first two appointments of the day were euthanasias.

While in many respects, I think of euthanasia as a privilege to perform when suffering is...

Conscious Cat Sunday: World Cup Memories

It’s funny how sometimes the things you’d least expect to bring back childhood memories are exactly the kinds of things that do. I’m not a big soccer fan these days, but you’d have to live under a rock to not be aware that the World Cup is happening in Brazil right now. And as the US team is getting ready for its second game of the tournament today, I found myself traveling down my own personal soccer memory lane.

I grew up in Germany, where soccer is huge. Soccer is to Germany what baseball i...