All Cats Considered!

So I've done a lot a dog related posts. Therefore, I thought it was about time I did a cat post!

Wet Food–To feed or not to feed?
This is a common question for all cat owners. While I have heard both 'yes' and 'no' from vets, cat food manufacturers, pet boutique owners and friends, I am a firm believer that wet food does more good than bad.
So I say 'YES!'

Here are my reasons why:
1. If your cat doesn't drink a lot of water or you don't witness he/she drinking much, the intake of wet food means they are getting liquid in their systems and hydration is important!
2. Cats are carnivores. Wet food is a good source of protein while minimizing and/or withholding grains which cats don't eat much of in their natural diet anyways.

3. It has been said (I'm not sure if it's true) that feeding wet food can help prevent kidney failure.

4. What cat wouldn't want some variety in his/her meals?

Here are some wet cat foods I highly recommend; Evangers, Wellness, Tiki Cat, Merrick, Innova, Eagle Pack and more!

Dry Food
Dry food is just as important as wet food! There are some really great cat foods out there but I highly recommend looking for them at your local pet/boutique stores rather than at the huge corporate pet stores where more money is spent on advertising rather than quality. Also with this pet food recall going on, not many of those major brands are safe! Here's a little info on reading and understanding the information on a cat (or dog) food bag. I recommend the same brands for dry that I listed for wet above, I even highly recommend grain free such as Serengeti, Evo, Nature's Variety Raw Instincts, and Orijen.

Litter
How to choose:

I have been on a mission to find the best cat litter. Safe, earth friendly, scoopable and smells good! It has been quite a journey–I would say we've tried about 10-15 different kinds of litter over the past 3 years, including clay-based and non clay. Oh yes it is true!

Here's what you need to know. Clay litter is NOT ok. Clay litters can be harmful to pets if it is ingested or inhaled. It swells and solidifies inside them and can be problematic or even fatal. Now if you are using a clay based litter, you do NOT need to freak out. Instead I would just recommend buying a safer litter for your feline and for the earth. When I first got my cats, I knew nothing about litter and after time and research I found out about clay litter and decided that I would change. I haven't looked back since!

Here are some litter brands that are safe and some info on each of them:

Feline Pine:
non clumping, pellet formed litter, flushable

Likes: the smell
Dislikes: the whole non clumping part is not good (I think most cat owners would agree with me on this one); the tracking of litter outside of the box; it was hard for my cats to cover their feces (the pellets seemed to roll off the top)

Yesterday's News:
non clumping, pellet formed litter

Likes: it's made from recycled paper!
Dislikes: please refer the Feline Pine dislikes.

Pa Purr:
non clumping, pellet formed, flushable

Likes: it's made from recycyled paper!
Dislikes: non clumping

Pa Purr (new version):
clumping granular, flushable

Likes: smells clean, clumps, flushable
Dislikes: really dusty, clumps so well that it's hard to scoop, if you don't use box liners it's hard to clean the box with spray. It gets this odd slippery residue.

The Worlds Best Cat Litter:
clumping, granular form

Likes: clumped well; smelled decent; flushable
Dislikes: started smelling bad pretty fast; the cats tracked it everywhere

Swheat Scoop:
clumping, granular, flushable

Likes: the clumping action ROCKED; the smell was good I thought; flushable; lasted a decent amount of time before needing to change the whole box
Dislikes: my boyfriend didn't like the smell (different strokes for different folks); it was very dusty (everything near the boxes was dusty); again, litter got tracked everywhere

Tidy Cats Crystal Litter:
rock like, synthetic material

Likes: the smell was decent for a little while
Dislikes: urine pooled at the bottom and turned the crystals a funky, toxic looking green; non clumping; needed to be fully changed often; when changing the litter, it was SO GROSS!

The Winner!

Nature's Miracle:
clumping, granular and flushable

Likes: Smells awesome (like a cedar closet); scoops very well; lasts long; not overly dusty; doesn't track far!!!!!!
Dislikes: NONE

We have been using Nature's Miracle for about 4-5 months and have yet to find something we don't like about it! Our cats seem to love it too! BONUS!

Litter Box Related:
Is your cat not using his/her litter box? There are some simple and not-so-simple reasons for this. Check out this site to learn more!

Easy tip!
We had an issue where one of our cats was hanging his tush outside the litter box, therefore totally missing the litter/box! UGH, what to do?

1. If it's near a wall, try moving it away from the wall a few inches.

2. Get a top entrance litter box–wait! Don't buy one, instead get a large tupperware bin from your local hardware store. Take a plate from your kitchen and trace it on top of the lid (make sure the lid is on the bin securely). Then take a box cutter and cut out your plate tracing. You have now created your own top entrance litter box for a fraction of the price! Booyah!

I hope this helps some of you cat owners out there!

Meow!