Between my husband and me, we’ve had more than two dozen cats as pets throughout our lifetimes, so we think we know everything there is to know about cats. But how can someone really know the answers to all of the cat questions out there?

How many cats you should have definitely depends upon a variety of factors. How much space do you have? Will they be indoor or outdoor cats? How much can you afford for cat food, cat litter, and veterinarian bills? As you can see, there are a lot of cat questions to ask yourself before you fill up your house with them.

My 17 year old and 16 year old cats have passed away during the last year, so we’re now down to two cats. My husband jokes about forbidding me from going into the animal shelters because he knows I’d come home with as many cats as I could carry. I just can’t resist their adorable little furry faces!

Photo ©  Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

Additionally, they have several balls that they like to chase around the house. These balls are like cages with little bells inside of them. Naturally, they like to play with the noisiest toys in the middle of the night. Another “toy” they like is when we give them the ring tops off of drink bottles. For some reason, they enjoy us throwing them and they like to catch the rings in their teeth or by sticking a paw up through the ring to catch it.

Catnip toys are very popular with cats because they stimulate the cat and make it more playful. Even our older cats enjoy playing with kitty toys that contain catnip. It makes them spunky. Catnip toys are very inexpensive and you can usually buy them in packages of three, five, or ten. When thinking of buying kitty toys for your furry children this Christmas, be sure to throw in a couple of catnip toys. Your cats will love them.

Photo © JD Hancock

Next week will be our youngest child’s, I mean, cat’s birthday. He is our only male cat, he is solid gray, and he is turning six years old. We adopted him from an animal shelter when he was two years old and have loved the heck out of him for the past four years. As the youngest, he is the only one who still plays with stuffed cat toys, so we’ll probably get him a couple new fuzzy mice as presents.

He will be joined at this cat birthday party by his older sister, a fat, white, ill-tempered solid white cat, and the stray cat that recently adopted us, an approximately ten year old solid black female cat. Being an outdoor cat, she plays with real mice instead of stuffed cat toys.

Sure, it might seem silly to celebrate our cat’s birthdays, but we don’t have children, so we treat the cats as if they were kids. Plus, it’s an excuse to spoil them with tuna and special treats. No, we don’t put party hats on them and take their photographs. We just let them drink as much Cat sip as they want and eat tuna and then retire to take, what else, cat naps!

Photo © aprillynn77

But if you’re one of those parents who wants to name their child something different, there are some unique names for kittens that include some male cat names, such as Al E. Cat, Bogie, Clooney, Daxter, and Ember.

Some people chose names for kittens based on the cat’s behavior, such as “Rascal” for a cat who was, well, quite a rascal, and “Prozac” for a cat who was, well, let’s just say more than a little bit nervous. Some people like to choose male cat names that are very masculine like Harley, Ace, Slick, and Axel.

If you’re at your wits’ end trying to come up with a name for your new loved one, all you have to do is type “cat names” into a search engine on your computer and the internet will provide you with thousands of potential names broken down into lists by gender, by funny names, by cute names, by unique names, and more.

Photo © mathias-erhart

When the stray cat I was hoping to find a home for tested positive for feline leukemia, I knew right away that I’d have to care for her. I could barely take care of myself, but I knew no one else would take her. Either I took her, or she’d die. She wasn’t quite a year old. I guess she picked the right person, because I kept her until her death, eight years later. Life expectancy for a feluek-positive kitten is three years, by the way.

I read up on cat illnesses and holistic cat care, found an excellent vet and improved her diet. I kept her away from other cats. I moved twice, traveled a lot, and tried again to give her away, without success. Like many rescue cats, mine had psychological problems. At first, she was afraid of being alone and afraid of being hungry. Sometimes she just got afraid for no apparent reason. Her body stayed sick but eventually her mind healed.

A feluek-positive cat does not necessarily have leukemia. Instead, she has a virus which will someday cause some form of cancer, usually leukemia or lymphoma, unless her immune system can throw it off first. As long as the virus has not invaded the cat’s bone marrow, there is hope. A positive cat can pass the virus to other cats. Young cats are especially vulnerable, and the vaccine does not provide complete immunity, but the older cats are, the more likely they are to have survived infection already and be immune. A positive cat can stay healthy for years with good care. Even cancer can be managed for a while.

Usually I’d cite my sources so you could get more information, but I did no new research to write this. After a fight with terminal cat illnesses, you never forget.

Photo © vincent.chen

According to a couple of websites I visited, here are the Top 5 female cat names: Princess, Samantha, Kitty, Molly, and Maggie. For boys, it’s Max, Sam, Tigger, Tiger, and Smokey.

Isn’t it funny how people determine names for cats? Some of the newer names for cats out there are Malika, Chestnut, Carlisle, Grim, and Gilagon. Go figure!

When I named my oldest cat, I didn’t want to pick from a list of common female cat names. I tried to think of something that would fit her without being too cutesy. She is solid white, female, fat, and cranky. I didn’t picture her as a Snowflake or Snowball, so I ended up naming her Casper the Unfriendly Ghost Cat, Casper for short.

Some people name their cats after celebrities or name them for something funny that they do. Some of the funny names I’ve seen are Catzilla, Chairman Meow, D. Claude Cat, Dan D. Lion, and Edward Claws Scissorpaws.

There’s really no rule for naming cats. Whatever you name them, they don’t answer to it anyway because, after all, they’re cats. Cats don’t do anything you want them to do. So whether you name your cat after your great Aunt Sally or after a brand name of spaghetti sauce, just have fun with it.

Photo © johnnyberg

When I found out my cat was dying, I was at a party. The vet called me with test results, but my head was far from clear, there were people everywhere, and I couldn’t think of any questions. I could have kicked myself; I’d known she was sick for years, why hadn’t I thought of my questions already? But no one wants to think of things like that.

Think about them. Be prepared to deal not only with cat illnesses but also with cat death. Remember, purring for no reason is a sign of pain or labored breathing. A silent, inwardly-focused cat may also be in pain. Your vet may not suggest pain killers. Typically, recommended palliative care is simply love followed by euthanasia, but if your cat wants to keep fighting, your job is to get the information you need to support your cat. Sometimes supportive care, such as subcutaneous rehydration, can work unexpected cures. Sometimes it can’t. Above all, remember you are only responsible for providing care; you are not responsible for making your cat’s life—or death—perfect. No one can do that.

Photo © sokoladas

Yes, but while I knew a lot about cats, I didn’t know a lot about ecology. Now, as a graduate student, I know that while predation is part of the balance, that doesn’t mean all hunting by any animal under any circumstances is. Ecologists call cats “subsidized predators,” meaning that the food we give them, or that they pull from garbage, supports a lot more cats that could live only by hunting. We rescue cats from the balance of nature, so that makes us responsible for their behavior. What made me angry was what I saw as a sentimental denial of cats’ reality, or perhaps an arbitrary preference for backyard bird-watching over a cat’s freedom. But ecological issues have nothing to do with sentiment or preference, not even mine. Science is famous for what seems like no-brainer studies that prove things everyone already knows. The reason why scientists conduct those studies is that a lot of the time what everyone thinks they know is actually wrong. So are hunting cats a problem?

People usually become ecologists so they can go work in the wilderness, but there are important questions about suburban wildlife, too. Some studies about cats have been done, and it looks like cats can, indeed, lower the populations of the animals they hunt. All ours are rescue cats, and two are so used to going outside that we can’t keep them in, but the youngest is, and will be, an indoor cat.

Photo © Meneer Zjeroen

The first recipe I used came from the book Anitra Frazier’s New Natural Cat, by Anitra Frazier, and focused on raw meat and steamed vegetables, plus supplements. According to http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/felv.html, feluek-positive cats should not have raw meat, because their immune systems are weak, but Frazier thought raw food is healthier, as long as it is free-range organic. Our vet agreed. Later, I simplified food preparation by using a dried raw meat base from Wysong and adding raw, organic, grass-fed ground beef and vet-recommended supplements. I would mix two cups of food at a time and then freeze it in ice-cube trays. Twice a day, I defrosted one to three cubes and mixed in whatever meds she needed. It was more work than ordinary cat food, but not that hard, and if I left for a few days the sitter did not need to mix anything.

Fighting cat illnesses with home-made food and herbal supplements sounds foolish, and it’s true she eventually died from cancer probably caused by the feluek virus. But as the website above repeats, feluek-positive cats usually last only a couple of months, or three years on the outside. My Gertie had been infected as a kitten, and she was nine years old when she died. I know a lot about cats, but I mostly credit Gertie’s own will to live. She fought very hard. Still, the home-made food could not have hurt.

Photo © zimbio

Pet cat insurance could have made our lives much easier. You can also buy dog insurance, because insurance is available for dogs too, though not always for all breeds; pitbull breeds, for example, may not be accepted. But if you have several pets, getting pet cat insurance and getting dogs of other breeds insured can help make sure you have room in your budget for your pitbull breeds when they get sick.

Pets become part of our families, and we owe it to our families to provide for their care. Health insurance for pets doesn’t have to be expensive; depending on the age and breed of your animal, insurance might cost less per month than food. You can’t say that about your own care!

Pet cat health insurance, like insurance for dogs and other animals, is not just about loving your pets; it’s also about caring for yourself. Like me, you’re probably willing to do without to care for your pets. After all, they can’t choose how they live, so we owe it to them to give them the best quality of life we can. But if I’d had insurance for my cat, maybe I could have been able to go to the doctor more often, too.

Cats and dogs don’t live as long as we do. It’s sad, but that cute puppy or kitten will not remain healthy forever. Even if we do everything right for them, eventually our animals get old and need special care, and accidents can happen at any time and any age. We have to be ready.

Medicines are available to help our animal friends age gracefully and with dignity. Prompt veterinary care after a fall or a fight can mean the difference between death and many more happy years. How terrible to lose an animal who could have been saved because you couldn’t pay the vet. Insurance is a way to stay prepared for the unexpected.

Photo © Yukari