Ingrid King's Blog: The Conscious Cat, page 497

Natural doesn’t always mean healthy when it comes to cat food

Recently, a major pet food company announced a complete reformulation of one of its core product lines. The new formulas are to contain more natural ingredients, no by-products and no artificial colors or flavors. After looking at the list of ingredients, the new formulas don’t look much better to methan the old ones did, and still contain fillers such as wheat gluten, corn meal and powdered cellulose. While they may not contain by-products anymore, the non-specific proteins listed,such as “o...

Conscious Cat Sunday: how to be content

Be content with what you have;rejoice in the way things are.When you realize

there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. -Lao Tzu

When I think about what contentment looks like, I think of a purring cat. If there’s anything that illustrates happiness better, I don’t know what that would be.And it doesn’t take much for cats to be content: a sunny spot on the floor, a full tummy, a lap to curl up on – those are the ingredients for contentment when you’re a cat.

Why is it so hard for...

Celebrity Cat Names winner

Congratulations, Bernadette! You’re the winner of a copy of by Christina Hamilton!

Look for an e-mail from Ingrid*.

*Winners were selected by random drawing. Winners need to provide a physical address to which the prize will be mailed within 72 hours of receipt of notification e-mail. If this information is not received, an alternate winner will be chosen.

Mews and Nips: Downward Facing Cat, dental health, and more

Our first item on today’s edition of Mews and Nips is our very own Allegra! She was featured on Feline Yogi as their cat of the week, where she got a chance to spread word about her mission to renameone of the most widely recognized yoga poses in the world, referred to as Downward Facing Dog. Allegra feels pretty strongly thatthis asana was most definitely inspired by a feline and it’s timecats get proper credit for it! Read the full feature on Feline Yogini.

February is dental health month, a...

Copy Cat Festival entertains cat lovers

Guest post by Clea Simon

Somerville, MAis not Minneapolis. But this gritty little city, living cheek by jowl with Boston, is not only fun and funky (second only in artists per capita to New York) but also feline friendly. And so, after seeing the success of the Internet Cat Video Festival at the bigger city’s Walker Art Center, Somerville got on board with the honestly named Copy Cat Festival. Despite a winter storm that brought an additional several inches of snow and gale-force winds to town...

Giveaway: BOB Pet Bowl from Pet Pet Studios

The ergonomically designed and environmentally friendly BOB Pet Bowlfrom Pet Pet Studios is more than just another pretty pet bowl.

These combination food and waterbowls are madefrom food-grade Polypropylene, a material that is highly resistant to acids, chemicals and heat. It is the very same material that food containers and bottles that we eat and drink from is made of.The bowls are BPA free, and they’re recyclable.

The bowlsare slightly raised, which makes for a more comfortable eating expe...

What is it about cats and sinks?

Most cats seem to have a fascination with sinks. Maybe it’s the cool surface. Maybe it’s the purr-fect shape. After all, most sinks are just the right size to make the ideal cat bed.Then of course, there’s the fascination with water: some cats seem to find drinking from a dripping tap simply irresistible, and hang out in the sink until their guardian will turn on the faucet.

Ruby is utterly fascinated with my bathroom. She usually sits on the vanity right next to the sink while I brush my teet...

Review: Kitty Sprinkles from Lincoln Bark

Cats can go through finicky phases where they will turn their little noses up at a food they’ve been eating for months. This can happen when a cat is not feeling well, but it can also happen when a manufacturer has changed the formula. One of the ways to avoid this is feeding a rotation diet usingdifferent proteins, textures and flavors) so your cat doesn’t become dependent on any one brand or flavor. But sometimes, you just need a little extra help to tempt finicky felines to eat. That’s whe...

A team approach to caring for cats with cancer

While cancer in cats is not as common as it in dogs, it is still one of the leading causes of death in older cats. According to the Animal Cancer Foundation, 6 million cats will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States along. And because cats are masters at masking illness, it is often harder to detect.

Cancer used to be a death sentence for cats, but recent advances in feline cancer research have made treatment possible in many cases. Just like with human cancers, early detection is key...

Conscious Cat Sunday: Be your cat

Our cats do have the best lives, don’t they? I often say that in my next life, I’m going to come back as one of my cats. If I did, here’s what a typical day would look like:

I wake up when I’m good and ready. I stretch, and then I slowly get up. When I walk into the kitchen, breakfast is being prepared for me, and served on my favorite blue dish. After breakfast, I make the rounds of the house, and take a look out the windows to make sure nothing has changed while I was sleeping. After all tha...