Are you a helicopter cat mom or dad? Are you constantly watching and searching for and checking over and fussing over your cat(s). If so—good for you!!! There are a lot of difficulties and serious problems that you can thwart by your diligent attention to your cat. It’s the same with a dog, a horse, even a gold fish, I would imagine. It’s important to keep a close eye and 
hand on the animal at all times so you’re aware when a problem occurs in time to make a difference.
You will want to know as early as possible if your cat is losing weight, gaining too much weight, constantly licking a spot on her paw or elsewhere, using the litter box more or 
less often, or if there are changes in her mood or behavior. Is she less present and social and affectionate, for example. You want to notice a lump or a growth early on. Is her fur becoming matted because she isn’t grooming herself? Is she losing patches of fur? Has she become touchy anyplace—ears, back, paws…?
Keep in mind that any change in personality or 
behavior could have a physical cause.
Just last week I noticed a strange growth or something on the bottom of Olivia’s paw. She wasn’t licking it excessively, nor was she limping or favoring that paw in anyway. I happened to notice it during a cuddle session. Even though it didn’t seem to be bothering her, I thought the discoloration was not normal, so off to the veterinarian we went.
This was not a happy day for Olivia. She does NOT like a change in her routine unless she initiates it and being put into a carrier and carted off somewhere in the car is very frightening for her. Then she was poked and probed and messed with by strangers while we watched. No, she was not happy. But she cooperated.
It was found that she had a growth on a toe pad. They 
cleaned it up and took a snippet of it for a biopsy. We brought her home with a big cast-like bandage on that paw which lasted for less than 6 minutes once we got home. But the bleeding had stopped–she seemed to have no discomfort. Vet said it was okay if she managed to work the bandage off.
Biopsy shows no cancer–just a random sore that we will watch. So far so good.
Whew!!!! Otherwise the vet gave Olivia a clean bill of health. Good weight, good condition–everything good, but I am still keeping an eye on that little blip on her toe pad because I’m a helicopter mom, just like most of you are.
I’m extra excited about an upcoming book in the Klepto Cat Mystery series. Not only is it, in my opinion, a riveting story, the cover will feature one of my favorite photographs. The picture to the left is gorgeous–but this isn’t it. Smokey was my mother’s beloved cat. He now lives happily with my niece and her family. As many of you know, Smokey is the model for Rags in the Klepto Cat Mystery stories and on the book covers.
We celebrate cats here at this blog, but we also need to pat ourselves on the back occasionally and own up to that once derogatory label people might put on someone like us who adore our cats. Remember when we used to shudder and back away from the term, Cat Lady—well, I think that was probably the term Crazy Cat Lady. Now most of us wear that badge and 
crown proudly.
videos on social media. We get excited when we see a cat in a window as we’re walking in our neighborhood, or a cat on the porch. I take pictures of cats I see out and about. And I’ll stop at a pet store just to look at the cats up for rescue that week.
have deep conversations with our own cats. Yeah, it might sound a little over-the-top to some, but I own it. Yeah, I’m one of those Cat Ladies and I am a little crazy at times. So what?
Today is National Tortie Cat Day (or Tortoisehell Cat Appreciation Day). If you’ve ever had a tortie, you’re probably celebrating in your heart. I am.
Those I’ve known had little minds of their own. Some torties are a bit sassy at times, but mostly, in my experience, they have a sweetness that is quite intriguing—and they’re smart. In my experience torties are smarter than the average cat and they know how to get what they want.
Fun facts: One in every 3,000 torties is a male.
Do you have friends who still offer their cats the freedom of the out of doors? I imagine you have neighbors who do. I now have six neighborhood cats visiting my yard pretty much on a daily basis. Two coming from one neighbor, one each from two other neighbors and two cats that I don’t know where they 
belong.
do about the cats roaming free in your neighborhood.
while others let their cats roam. One of my friends says, “Keep a cat indoors? I couldn’t do that to a cat.” Of course, countless cat owners 
today, including me, say quite the opposite, “Allow a cat to roam free? I couldn’t do that to a cat.”
were concerned. I’ve had numerous cats over the years which I allowed out if they wanted to go out—they all did. And too many of them never came back. Some came back with injuries.
that you can train a cat to be happy as a housecat. I mean, if they never know anything different and if they have everything they need inside, it’s easy to keep them safe and happy.
last thirty-five years and this commitment has served me and all of the cats I’ve rescued since very well.
“movement.” Cat organizations and experts everywhere support this decision. Major companies are creating amazing things to keep indoor cats active and entertained and healthy. There are podcasts and videos and conferences and professionals to show us how to keep our cats happy and healthy indoors—by giving the cats lots of attention and using window perches, climbing apparatus and places to claw, chew, play, hide. You can even build or purchase simple or elaborate outdoor tunnels and other enclosures for your cat to enjoy the out of doors in safety.
debate between keeping a cat indoors or allowing them total freedom, but there are statistics that show which decision is actually healthier for your cat. Can you guess which one it is?
It’s inevitable that you will leave your cat(s) home alone at some point for varying amounts of time. How does your cat react to this? Are her reactions different when you’ve left her for a quick grocery store run than when you go away for a day or longer? If you have more than one cat, they probably all act differently when you return.
home after an inexcusably long absence—you know, like an hour or a day. Some of my cats have completely dissed me when I’d return. I remember Katy (my Himalayan) coming into the room when I’d return, but she wouldn’t be social. She’d stare at me—glare at me—from across the room until she felt I’d been punished enough, then she’d show me some love.
Winfield, (our white odd-eye cat) would usually greet us when we returned from anywhere no matter how long we’d been gone, especially if we brought back a ripe cantaloupe. I always knew, when I came home with groceries, whether or not I’d picked a good cantaloupe. If Winfield greeted me in the kitchen, 
sniffing the air, I knew it was a good one. He loved cantaloupe and he knew how to choose them.
If you’ve adopted a lot of cats over the years as I have, you know how different each of them can be. Some of them develop very interesting habits and ways. Olivia loves her morning treat, but there’s a ritual she insists on before she’ll accept it. First she walks into the room where the treat-man is. Then she stretches, walks closer for petting, rubbing back and forth against his legs. When she’s had enough petting, she sits down, looks up at him, and sweetly mews letting him know she’s ready to accept her treat.
stare at me until I pat the sofa next to me, then she’ll run to me, jump up onto the sofa, and curl up next to me. Doesn’t she know she doesn’t need an invitation to cuddle?
She loves an open window (with a sturdy screen behind it, of course). On a nice day I’ll call, “Window, Olivia. Want window?” and she’ll come running.
over their fear of other people. Olivia is learning the difference between someone coming here to visit and a delivery person simply dropping off a package. She no longer hides when she sees the Amazon or UPS trucks pull up. She watches the delivery person trot up to the house and drop the package, then rush back to their truck. No fear. It’s a start—and then, sometimes the package is for her, so maybe that’s why she’s 
now interested in the delivery people.
when he saw us preparing for bed. If he was low on kibbles, he’d wait at the bowl for someone to walk past and notice that he needed a refill. He wasn’t always hungry at that time. As soon as we filled the bowl, he’d often go on to bed with us. He was just planning ahead. This is the cat who drank water with his paw. And that was all the 
time. We never did see him lapping water from a bowl, he’d dip his paw and lick the water off it.
For those of you who missed the announcements, we have two new books for your spring reading pleasure almost back-to-back.
Bad, and Olivia (Book 19) on March 11 and Within Paw’s Reach (Book 69 in the Klepto Cat Mystery series) on March 26.
April 6—tomorrow—is National Siamese Cat Day. If you’re like most long-time cat people, you’ve either had a Siamese cat or knew one well. My grandmother had Siamese cats as I grew up. Hers were the
applehead or traditional seal point or classic Siamese. I adopted (rescued) a cat once that had the Siamese markings. In fact Siamese cats were quite popular and you saw a lot of them around, but then they all looked pretty much the same—cream-colored fur with dark brown points. The body style was similar, too.
In Monday’s blog I attempted to post a picture of my favorite exotic cat–the Pallas cat, but wasn’t able to. My amazing web and otherwise techie person worked with that photo until she made it compatible with this blog. So here it is–along with a couple of my other favorite wild-cat photos.
