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Cats Life at Home New Pets Shelters & Fostering

Adopting a Shelter Cat? Here’s How to Prepare

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes June is both the ASPCA’s Adopt a Shelter Cat Month and the American Humane Association’s Adopt a Cat Month. Either way, it’s a very special month for cats. Cats definitely need adopting. According to the ASPCA, about 3.2 million cats enter shelters annually. However, only about half are adopted. While some are euthanized for medical […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home New Pets Shelters & Fostering

Introducing Cats and Dogs: How to Help Ensure Harmony in the Home

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Picture this. You work in an open-plan office, but you simply don’t get along with the person in the desk alongside yours. Or someone in the office insists on wearing perfume that gives you a headache. Once you leave that office environment and go home, it’s fine, but the tension starts up again the next […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Cats Don’t Share. Here’s Why

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Reading Time: 3 minutes There may be nothing on earth cuter than two cats cuddled up in the same cat bed. But while those particular cats may be willing to share a bed, that doesn’t mean they’re okay about sharing everything. Cats don’t actually share well. The reasons for that have as much to do with territory as they […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Other

Are You the Cause of Your Pet’s Stress?

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Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not only people who suffer from stress; our pets most certainly do, too. The question is, could you unknowingly be the cause of some of your pet’s anxiety? Everyday noises and events that humans take for granted, for instance, can cause pets to be fearful and anxious. And because pets, like people, react differently […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other Travel & Safety

Hitting the Road: Summer Travel Tips

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Reading Time: 4 minutes I love to take summer vacations with my husband and our dogs, Rio and Peach. It’s a thrill to pack the car and drive to an idyllic campground here in Colorado or head west to explore the off-leash dog beaches of Southern California or north to Wisconsin to splash around in refreshing lakes – checking […]

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Cats Life at Home

What’s in Your Cat’s DNA? Tests Are Fun but not Definitive

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Cats are enigmatic and mysterious, but DNA testing kits are helping us to learn more about them. Here’s what you can find out about your fine feline, from ancestry to health. Interestingly, no DNA kits can precisely identify a cat’s genetic makeup in the same way the dog DNA tests can. That’s because dog breeds […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Choice: What It Means for Cats

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Our cats rarely get to choose for themselves when it comes to the really important stuff. We decide what the cats will eat, where, and when. We pick the litter box and determine where to put it and what litter to use. We select all the cat furniture, from the scratching posts and pads to […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

12 Toys and More Your Pet Will Love

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Each year we trek to Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida, to check out the latest and greatest in toys, training devices, and other pet paraphernalia. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to walk the miles and miles of aisles to see all the products. We chose items in four categories: Dog Enrichment, Cat […]

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Cats Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

Stressed? You Might Be Stressing Your Cat as Well

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Reading Time: 3 minutes We all know about studies showing that sharing life with a pet has beneficial effects on human health. Even a few minutes of petting a cat or dog can lower blood pressure and release mood-enhancing endorphins. A University of Minnesota study found that cat companionship may reduce the risk of heart attack for people by […]

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Cats Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

Consent to Touch? Cats Require It, Too

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Reading Time: 3 minutes How many times have you heard a cat person say, “Kitty likes to be touched, but only on her own terms.” They say it somewhat unkindly, as if it’s proof their cat is a diva. If we’ve learned anything from the #MeToo movement, it’s that nobody likes to be touched without consent. Yet we still […]