Creature Comforts Blog
Kitten Acclimation
The best time to get a kitten used to new and different experiences and places is between 2 and 10 weeks of age. Never fear if you have an older kitten! It is still possible, but 2-10 weeks is just the easiest time because they have not created associations with new experiences and are more…
What is Cooperative care?
Cooperative care training teaches animals to be active participants in their care both at home and at the veterinary office, rather than just tolerating procedures. This training builds trust and reduces stress for both the dog and the handler. The focus is on positive reinforcement using praise and rewards to encourage animals to participate and…
How Cats Learn
Cats are thought of as self-sufficient, making them a good fit for people who work longer hours or live in smaller homes. But because of this pervasive belief that cats are independent, it is a common misconception that cats cannot be trained or do not need training. Many times if a cat has a behavioral…
Litter Box Solutions
There are a lot of ways to prevent and solve litter box problems with cats. Unfortunately, these often easily solvable problems are the number one reason for surrendering a cat. You don’t have to give up your sweet friend! Here are some ways to keep your cat in the box. First and foremost is a…
Answer Your Cat’s Question Day
More than 600 million cats share the planet with us, and although we have cohabitated for close to 12,000 years, cats and humans don’t always understand each other. Researchers at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine say that a cat’s brain is more similar to the human brain than to a dog’s brain, yet feline…
January 2nd is National Pet Travel Safety Day,
but it is also a great time to assess and upgrade best practices for transporting your dog or cat safely. Whether you’re heading to the vet or groomer, off to the park, or hitting the road for vacation, travel safely. Thousands of animals get injured and die in car accidents every year. During a collision,…
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Kitten Kindergarten is a thing!
Did you know that many common behavior problems in cats can be prevented with early training and socialization? There are things you can do with your kitten to help them learn important skills to help make life more enjoyable and less stressful for everyone involved (humans too!) Creature Comforts is proud to announce a new…
Dangerous Dough Ornaments & Pets
This favorite holiday tradition can prove deadly to pets! Three simple ingredients: 2 cups flour 1 cup salt 1 cup water can be mixed, flattened, and shaped into the doggone cutest tree ornaments, but if ingested by the family dog, joy can turn tragic due to the abundance of salt in the recipe! Additional complications…
Pets Safety Tips and your Holiday Tree
Whether artificial or real, you must look out for your pets when decorating for the holidays. To keep dogs and cats safe, here are four pet safety tips concerning the holiday tree: 1) Male dogs and cats pee on trees. It is that simple, so when their pee station moves indoors, it becomes confusing when…
Top 5 Holiday Safety Tips
Practice these Top 5 Holiday Pet Safety Tips, and sign up for a Pet First Aid Class so you will have the skills and confidence to help your best friend! With Christmas upon us, the chances for ingestion of pet-UNfriendly foods and choking incidents, multiplies, so supervise, supervise, supervise throughout the celebration, and learn pet…
What can you do to increase your bond with your cat?
Here are some quick tips for things you can do to help both yourself and your cat to be happier and more relaxed. While some of these don’t seem to directly affect you and your cat bonding. A cat that is relaxed in his environment will be far happier and easier to live with. Enriching…
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Proper Introductions
You have a loving relationship with your sweet kitty, why not increase the love and offer home to another cat or kitten? Then they could have a friend to play and cuddle with! Suddenly your sweet and relaxed kitty is angry, hissing, and chasing the new cat and possibly even not using the litter box! …
Feline Enrichment and Routine
Let’s face it, cats are control freaks. They like to know what’s coming and when. You can help your cat to live his best life by making things predictable and stable for him. Have you noticed how your cat knows exactly what time dinner is supposed to be? We all have our internal timers and…
Cats can be worked with!
Cats are often seen as spiteful, elusive, secretive, and totally untrainable. Not one of these views is true. In working with cats two important things to keep in mind are their biology and their domestication history with humans. First off, cats were never fully domesticated. Most likely they were allowed to be around because they…
Why does my cat scratch my couch?!!
Many cat owners are mystified at how to get this destructive behavior to stop. First off, keep in mind your cat is not scratching your couch to punish you or get back at you. Cats can scratch for a number of reasons. Stress is one of them. Loud noises or too much change in their…
Scent and Touch in Cats
Imagine if you were to walk out your front door in the morning and take a deep breath and breathe in all the neighborhood information. The neighbor on your right is not feeling well today, and the neighbor on your left took the dog out for an early walk and went down the trail across…
Vocalizations in Cats
Has your cat ever talked to you? Cats have a wide range of vocalizations to communicate with and can vary their pitch, length, and volume depending on what they are trying to convey. Cats’ auditory communications can be divided into categories: social conflicts between cats, during sexual behaviors, between mothers and youngsters, and interacting with…
Why cats are different than dogs?
It is really as simple as predator vs prey. Dogs are purely predators. They follow directions from pack members while hunting and show clear body language because that is how they communicate as a pack. Cats, on the other hand, are both predator and prey. As prey cats are wary, they’re going to assume that…
Vibrissae! What are your cat’s whiskers telling you?
Such a sensual sounding word, and it really is. It is another word for cat whiskers. The very thing they use to “sense” the environment around them. Each whisker is equipped with tactile receptors that communicate both vibrations and touch. They can detect a breath of air, they are so sensitive. This can help them…
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Is July 4th your cat’s least favorite holiday?
It is not just from sudden booms from fireworks, but holidays in general tend to take a toll on cats. Cats derive a huge amount of security and comfort from things being predictable. Any holiday that changes the normal events of the day is harder for our feline friends. Here are some things you can…
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Cat Eyes!
Cats get a bit trickier than dogs here. Dogs evolved to work together in packs so their facial expressions are more obvious for the sake of communication with the pack. Cats, on the other hand, are solitary hunters and don’t need for others to know what they are thinking as readily. Still cats’ eyes do…
What are your cats ears telling you?
Imagine if humans had cat ears and we could easily see each other’s moods. Imagine driving up to a 4 way stop and all you had to do was glance around to see what each of the other drivers were thinking. Your cat gives you some pretty visible clues with her ears as to what…
What?! You can train a Cat?!
Yes, not only can it be done, but most likely if you live with a cat you are already doing it. When you call your cat for dinner, or make the sound of a can opening, and they come running, training is happening. When you walk in the door and say hello and your kitty…
Benefits of Clicker Training
Clicker training can be a fast and effective way for you to communicate to your pet exactly what you do want her to do. The concept is simple. The clicker is used to mark the exact behavior you are looking for her to do. All you need to do is watch for something you would…
Cat Communication
Cat Tails It is always a good idea to get to know what your cat is thinking. Most of us intuitively understand them, but it can help to know the various ways a cat can communicate. Keep in mind it is a good idea to note the context in which a cat is displaying certain…
Pet Food Guidelines
When it comes to pet nutrition it boils down to what works best for your particular animal, that includes what is tasty and interesting, and nutritionally appropriate. There is such a huge variety out there these days it can be hard to choose. For the most part, any of the major brands out there will…
Feline developmental Stages
Feline Developmental Stages In order to understand your cat’s behavior it can be helpful to know the social development stages kittens go through as they grow. Evolutionarily cats come from solitary predators. The closest living ancestors is the African Wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica. As you can see from the photos (right) they look just like…
Possible New Canine Disease
***Update***** It may not be viral, but bacterial and resistant to antibiotics. There is a new respiratory virus emerging called Canine Atypical Respiratory Disease. There are currently no reported cases in Washington (closest has been Oregon) and it does seem to be isolated to canines only. However, it is long lasting, non to minimally responsive…
Winter weather considerations for our furry friends
Since we have just had our first,and possibly only, snowstorm of the year, thoughts for keeping your pets safe and healthy for the winter are on my mind. Exposure to the dry, cold air and cold rain can cause chapped paws and dry itchy skin much like it is for us. But these are not…
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Halloween Safety Tips for Pets
What is great fun for us is not always so fun for our pets. Halloween is second only to 4th of July on numbers of animals that end up in shelters, making it an excellent time to make sure your contact information is up to date on microchip registries and legible on ID tags. Both…
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