Thank you so much for "dropping by!" Sky-Cats has been in the making for a very long time.

This all started when my gorgeous Maine coon girl (pictured) was diagnosed with heart disease. I had to learn a LOT - and very quickly - about feline health care, nutrition, special needs and loads of stuff that is cat-related.

With all that information, her 2-6 month prognosis was extended to 2½ years, and she was healthy and active right up to her last days.

After she passed on, I used that information to help foster hundreds of cats and kittens - many with medical and behavioral issues. With the support of other rescue group members and some local vets, I've learned a LOT!!

My plan is for this site to be a centralized location for information as well as products to help your feline friends lead a healthier and more comfortable existance.

So, please be patient while Sky-Cats grows.

Sue

Please feel free to send questions. As a long-time cat-owner and foster home, I've had literally hundreds of cats in my life. Send your questions to me at catsitter007@gmail.com

Having litter box issues? It's amazing how many factors contribute to this wide-spread problem. Some of the most common are:

You may think that these are not a big deal but they can be.

Location - the litter box should be away from high-traffic areas and places that are scary to a cat. The noise from your furnace or clothes dryer, etc. could be scaring the cat. Maybe the breeze from your a/c or heating ducts is disturbing. Could it be that another pet ambushes the cat near the box? When you have more than one box, it is also best to keep them in different rooms if possible.

Size - the cat needs to fit in the box with enough room to move around and for its waste to fall inside the box. Rule-of-thumb is that the box should be 1-1/2 times the length of the cat. That means that the litter box you bought in the pet store may not suffice. Try using a plastic storage container with a hole cut in the side (leave the top off) or whatever you can find in a home supply store.

Number of boxes - the standard is that you have one more box than you have cats. Now I know a lot of homes don't have room for that so you have to compensate by getting larger litter boxes or cleaning them more often. At one point, I was using a small cement-mixing pan (almost 2' x 3') for my 5 cats. I only had the one box and that worked for me! The clumping litter was picked at least once daily - sometimes more often.

Type of litter - if only they could talk! There are so many kinds - clumping litter made of clay, corn, wheat, pine and other items, traditional clay, pellets made of paper or pine, "pearls," and other non-absorbant litter that work with an absorbant pad. Add to that all the scents, amount of dust, etc. and the combinations are frightening! On top of that, some cats like their litter deep and others like it shallow. This can become a big experiment to see which your cat prefers. Keep in mind that most cats hate any artificial scents.

Experiences in the litter box and Declawing - you're probably wondering why I combined these two items. It is very common for declawed cats to stop using the litter box. Whether you agree with declawing or not, it's an extremely painful procedure for a cat. The last joint of the toe is amputated and the end of the toe is sutured or glued. While the cat is healing, it still has to use the litter box and one of the things a cat always does is to dig in the litter. It's very painful for the cat to be digging with its newly-declawed paws. This is usually the only time the cat experiences that pain and and sometimes the cat will learn to associate the pain with the litter box - "when I go in there, it hurts me!" If the cat is sick with painful diarrhea, it can have the same experience and learn that pooping in the box is painful so they poop outside the box. They usually still pee inside. A cat could also have been ambushed or frightened while in the box.

Covered boxes - while it's nice for you to keep those nasty smells contained with a covered box, the cat experiences concentrated smells and dust in a covered box. Also, some are just nervous about using a covered box. Most cats don't want a cover!

For a really great list, I recommend you purchase a copy of Cats Come Clean – 50 Tips About Cats and Litterboxes

PLEASE support your LOCAL rescue groups. Those huge national groups have more than enough money to keep them going. Need to find a local group? Please try looking on PetFinder.com. You can search for rescue groups for just about any creature.

Some additional cat facts to chew on:

• Do you think that dry food scrapes your cat's teeth clean? Turns out that the tendency for your cat to get tarter is entirely related to genetics and is not affected by what it eats.
• The cheapest canned food is better for your cat than the most expensive dry food.
• Cats are "obligate carnivores." That means they need balanced animal protein to be healthy. Cats do not possess the digestive enzymes to correctly process ANY plant matter - whether it's grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds, or whatever. Don't be fooled by advertisers trying to sell you a "healthy food" for cats when it's really something that may be healthy for humans. We have ENTIRELY different nutritional needs.

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