What do cats do—they sleep, they eat, they play. Sure, they’ll play with just about anything that looks interesting, a blade of grass, one of the grandkids’ toys, a wine cork, a Cheerio they dug out from under the microwave stand… And they’ll usually glom onto certain store-bought toys you bring home or that you make at home.
I once made a cat sleeping bag. I saw them at a cat show and thought I could make one for my cats. One of our cats at the time, Dinah, watched the process of cutting the fabric, pinning, sewing, ripping out and sewing again. She hung with me through the entire few hours. When I finished, I placed it on the floor and stood back to look at it. Immediately, Dinah dove into it and took a long nap. Bingo! Score one for Mama!
But not all of the toys we bring home or devise are a success. Each cat seems to have 
his/her own faves among the many types of toys (and non-toys the cats pilfer). Never fear, businessmen and women everywhere are listening to our cats and they’re coming up with sturdier, more colorful, more creative and fun toys ever for cats. Yes, cat toys are becoming big business. After all, cats need to play too.
In fact some experts say that play is an anecdote to bad behavior. A cat that is bored is more likely to cause trouble in the household. Enrichment is important for cats, which means switching things up once in a while; introducing new treats, different toys, and fresh activities. http://www.petbusiness.com/April-2019/Cat-Toys/
Have you heard of a Kitten Bjorn? It’s a vest you can wear with a pouch for kittens similar to the baby packs moms and dads wear when out and about with their infants. The kittens can hang out in a large mesh pocket with their siblings and see, hear, and feel the presence of a human all the while.
This is the best spring ever. We have kittens living next door. Our neighbors adopted two of the most adorable kittens—sisters. One looks like her Maine coon-type mother and the other one is black-and-white. Their purrsonalities are as different as their coloring. But boy do they love each other. There’s nothing like adoring feline siblings.
lot of time trying to come up with reasons to visit and get a peek at them. If I’m lucky, I even get to sit and cuddle them for a few minutes. We all work at home and we’re all busy—so I’m careful not to intrude—while, of course, intruding.
spinach leaf at a time. Thursday we made chicken and dumplings, which we always share with these neighbors. I got to watch the kittens play for a few minutes when we delivered the food and after supper I received a super neat treat. The neighbors came knocking at our door saying they wanted to share dessert. Yup, they brought the kittens over for a cuddling session. Heavenly.
Now this isn’t a difficult assignment. We live to interact with and love on our cats. They bring us so much joy. And remember, having a cat around is healthy. All cats can be considered therapy or support cats.
downright opposed to hugs? This morning I felt the urge to cuddle with Lily and since this show of affection wasn’t her idea and since she was more interested in me getting right into the kitchen and feeding her, she protested by stiffening up and struggling in my arms and she even dug a claw into me. So much for Lily’s National Hug Your Cat Day hug.
she wants it. Otherwise, she will duck and sway away from my attempt to pet her. One of 15 kittens to three feral mother cats that year, I don’t think she got much human affection. Such a shame. But she does love us on her terms. She keeps me in her sight almost 24-hours a day and she’s often close to me—at my feet, mostly.
You’ve probably noticed that your cat will avoid certain people and animals and they may seem fascinated by others. While your kitty may ignore most visitors, she always approaches Aunt Mary, for example. Fluffy and Puffy might watch a wandering dog through the window with great interest, but hiss and growl every time they see Sparky, the neighborhood feral cat.
favorites. She might always curl up and cuddle with a sibling or the largest family dog, but stay clear of the other critters in the household. What is it that creates friendships within the animal kingdom? This is an interesting question because we’ve all seen cute pictures of a cat allowing a deer to lick her face, a kitten snuggled under the wings of a momma duck, a gorilla gently holding a kitten, a cat hanging out with a calf and so forth.
Many cats make friends with the household dog when adopted, which is pretty smart on the cat’s part. You sure don’t want to get on a dog’s bad side when he outweighs you by thirty pounds. But some cats even become best buddies with a pet bird or a wild bird. There are certainly a lot of videos and photos online showing best bud birds and cats. It’s absolutely charming. Just type in “cat and bird friends” at the search prompt and you’ll be treated to some of the most adorable videos and stories.
Is your cat competitive? It seems that some cats are more so than others. They vie for attention, see who can run the fastest up and down the hallway, compete for food and treats, and stage friendly battles over the first morning shard of light.
animals…the list is long. Personally I’ve been involved in competing in horse shows, photography, writing, sewing/needlework, art (that was a long time ago), pool, softball, and distance walking. I’ve watched many horse competitions of various types—endurance rides, rodeo, equitation, racing—as well as dog shows and cat shows.
Now if cats were to engage in organized competitions of their choice, what do you think it would be? What skills and talents do cats embrace and seem to take pride in? I’m thinking, endurance napping, creative begging, longest period of time spent ignoring the human, litter scattering, fur flinging, fur ball urfing (largest, most yukky, most interesting yakking method). Oh yes, and there’s litter art. Lily often creates little (and large) shaped clumps for me—in heart shapes, duck shapes, and once I’m sure her intention was a replica of Mickey Mouse. Best litter art would be a very popular contest for most cats as would best clawing art not related to the scratching post.
While at the Cat Writers Conference last week, I met a lot of cat experts—experts in cat travel, cat safety, cat training, veterinary care, healthy diets for cats, cat rescue, specific cat breeds, the cat show circuit, judging cat shows, and so forth. But I like to think of myself as a cat expert. After all, I write about cats and most importantly I own cats.
each of my cats. No one knew Katy, Max, Winfield, Daisy, Molly, Pom-Pom or any of the rest of my cats like I did. And no one knows Lily and Sophie as intimately as Dennis and I do. In my mind that makes us experts on Lily and Sophie and the issues that come up with them.
This is not to say that we don’t call in experts in specific fields when we need to, such as veterinarians and second-third-fourth opinion veterinarians where it makes sense. I’ve done a lot of research over the years to resolve and understand issues that have come up. And I’ve called on professionals in many areas—behavior, holistic remedies, ordinary cat owners who’ve experienced similar problems, groomers, cat dietary experts, and even a cat psychic.
unwanted kittens. Others are happily announcing their adoption of a homeless kitten. One of my adult granddaughters adopted a kitten found in a wall at the restaurant where she works. There were several young kittens in there along with their mother, who had died. Sad. But then there are many sad stories told this time of year along with the beautiful stories of forever homes for deserving and wonderful kittens.
Adopt a kitten.
I’m still winding down from my great weekend at the 25th Cat Writers Association Conference in St. Louis. I’ve been a member of Cat Writers now for nine years (I was a kitten in 2010). And I’ve attended most of the annual conferences as a speaker and participant in New York, Texas, Los Angeles, Arizona, and this year in Missouri. What a fun event with great people and cats. Yes, some attendees bring their therapy cats. This year Arden Moore’s cat, Casey, joined 
us. This orange tabby is a pet safety cat as well as a therapy cat. And boy is he well-behaved. He did speak out during workshops every once in a while, however, giving his opinion of the topic, no doubt.
around in pet strollers throughout the conference. Summer, a Somali therapy cat was carried from place to place in the arms of her purrson, Janiss Garza or led on her leash. All were purrfectly well-behaved. Casey and Chanal even dressed for the special occasions. Chanal looked chic in her array of dresses and Casey was dapper in his bow tie as he helped MC the awards banquet.
So what do you do at a cat writers conference? We 
renew friendships that have developed at past conferences and throughout the year online as we work on cat-related projects together. We network with other cat writers, authors, artists, veterinarians, animal behaviorists, representatives from cat-related companies, and others; and we attend workshops to help us hone our craft, and learn more about cat products, new concepts and remedies, cat photography, promoting our work and so forth.
was doled out to deserving authors, writers, artists, bloggers, columnists, videographers, and photographers. What an exciting night. What great incentive to keep writing in order to continue informing, educating, and entertaining the public on behalf of cats and their well-being.
I announced a few months ago here that I am the recipient of two Awards of Excellence from the Cat Writers Association for two of my Klepto Cat Mysteries this year—FURever Bound and Secrets, Trickery, and Meows. This means that these two books earned a score of between 90 and 100 in the judging. All entries with a score of 90 or over are then pitted against each other in that category and are judged again by another independent judge. One of these books is then chosen to receive the coveted Muse Medallion. There were 11 entries in the Books: Fiction—Mystery category and Carole Nelson Douglas won for one of her Midnight Louie Café Noir Mysteries. In case you don’t know this author, she has been writing mysteries since the 1980s—a tough competitor indeed.
