Cat Hack – Hewwow

August 5, 2015

Poop or Puffball?

With a lot of cats and kittens coming through the house, I have found ways to be thrifty or practical without reducing quality of car or play for them. I will spend extra money on great litter or good quality food, but there are times that spending more is not necessarily a benefit.

Take the common kitty puff ball. You can buy a pack of four for about $2 at a pet store. Or you can buy a bag of about 300 from a craft store for about $5. Granted they’re not exactly as well made, but they’re destined to be destroyed, lost, and fought over. So they’re not going to last forever in a room full of kittens.

In retrospect, I should have fully thought out my decision in the craft store when I bought a bag of several hundred assorted size puff balls, in ‘natural’ colors–black, white and shades of browns. That massive bag has lasted us through four litters of kittens.

They’ve had fun. They’ve lost them under furniture, stuffed them in water bowls and wet food dishes, and buried them in litter boxes. And because I had hundreds, whenever one got too gross, I just threw it away and pulled out a few replacements.

I, on the other hand, was introduced to a new game–poop or puffball? Kittens, and even cats, tend to kick lovely nuggets of poop out of their litter boxes when they get overexcited doing their business. Sometimes I go into the kitten room to clean up and find a brownish, roundish object on the floor, and I hear the game show music start up. Is this object a puffball or a poop? Dare I touch it with my bare hands? It’s got some litter dust on it, but that could go either way. Do I waste a paper towel and find out it’s a puffball? Hurry, hurry… time is ticking away…

Sometimes I win the game and it’s a puffball. Sometimes it’s not.

Note to future self: pick out the most colorful ones you can find next time. We’ve got these on our kitty Amazon wish list…

July 15, 2015

Kitten Litter Boxes

I’m no expert, but the simple truth is that cats naturally want the litter box experience. They want a designated space to bury it. Ad if you provide that, they’re going to use it.

Yes, there are many reasons why cats choose not to use the space you provide, but kittens are usually blank slates without the issues cats have. So kittens generally take to a litter box quickly on their own. It sometimes helps to put some of their poop in the litter box so they know this is the place to do it.

As for litter boxes, we’ve had a variety of kitten ages come through here (and box skills), and one helpful thing we’ve found is the disposable aluminum trays and pans you find in most grocery stores in the paper towel and plastic bag aisle. They come in all shapes and sizes, and when they get gross, you can switch them for new ones.

The little 1″ deep ones are great for new kittens just learning how to crawl into the tray, and the big deep turkey size ones are great for when you have to confine an adult cat to a crate with limited space. I usually keep the cake size pans (14″ by 10″) or brownie trays (8.5″ by 8.5″) on hand for whenever things pop up. They’re about 2 inches deep, great for your average kitten’s legs. Plus you can buy a two pack that comes with the clear plastic lids that are the same dimensions and can be used as litter trays also. Again, you can go through these quickly when a litter of kittens is learning, and sometimes missing.

I am not a fan of disposable stuff because why junk up the planet. But sometimes the safest and cleanest option is to toss a poop-draped aluminum tray so the yuck doesn’t get trailed everywhere.

And if you have extras after the little ones grow up, you can always use them for their intended purpose.

More helpful litter box advice:

July 14, 2015

Family Watering Hole

Back when I had multiple big dogs, I invested in a nice ceramic Pioneer water fountain water bowl. The big dog thought it was cool but the backup medium dog was suspicious that it would leap at him and give him an unexpected bath. It was all too much for him.

The cats on the other hand… the cats find it endlessly amusing. It is the one thing they all seem to agree on. It’s the cat family watering hole. They like the big pond-like bowl, and the blurbly top bowl, and the wobbly slide of water into the big bowl. It’s the bee’s knees.

Cats don’t naturally drink a lot of water. They usually get their water from the meat of their prey. But we domesticated them, and now give them dry cat food (or gross canned stuff), and so we need to give them a good source of fluid. Some cats develop issues with drinking enough water.

A water fountain is a great way to keep your kitties drinking good water. The only drawback is that in all seriousness, it needs to be kept clean, and it needs a deep clean once in a while. We had a mild lip infection whip through our cat population recently and I feel guilty because one source may have been the water bowl.

It’s a soggy process to take apart the bowl and wash the ceramic parts. And the plastic filter housing gets popped open and scrubbed out (I just do hot water and a tiny, tinny bit of soap, with a sponge and an old toothbrush to get the corners). And I don’t change the filter every time–guilty to say I’m cheap. The tough part of cleaning is that you have to keep going, like a Russian nesting doll. The little pump should get opened up and carefully cleaned (no soap at this point, just toothbrush finger tips). I recommend a few q-tips to get the tight spots, and especially the chimneys where the water is pushed out. Those get super gross if ignored.

A while back, my pump was just not moving water, and was making a funny sound, but the thought of ordering a new pump plus shipping–I’m just not ready to toss money at a problem. So I poked around online and stumbled across a video by the Pioneer folks showing how to clean the pump. And they pointed out that these instructions were in the original fountain paperwork. So, duh.

You can get a cleaning kit,or you can use things you have like toothbrush and q-tips. You can buy the filters (they’re not expensive). You can even buy a new pump if yours goes out (also not terribly expensive). There’s just going to be some maintenance and care for this fountain.

Totally worth it.

Once everything is cleaned, put it all back together making sure to line up the outflowing chimneys, fill up the bowl, and plug the pump back on. Your cats are going to be more than happy to hang out and slurp up good water. If the water gets low, you’ll hear the pump start to hum, so keep it topped up. And if you have more than a few cats, you’ll need to clean it more often because the fur gets sucked in to the grill. Still, totally worth it.

Links:

*I’m not in any way compensated by Amazon or Pioneer for this. I just like this fountain, and the cats love it.