There’s no silver bullet; there’s really no such thing as a hypoallergenic cat who works for all people, though at least one company hopes you would be willing to pay quite a bit of money for one. But it seems it was all just a scam from the beginning.

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The culprit is glycoprotein Fel d 1, found in a cat’s skin and saliva. Most allergy-prone people who won’t give up their cats find that a mix of strategies will work best. These include:

Choose a naturally low-incidence breed. Some breeds produce less of the pesky glycoprotein, either genetically, or through a happy combination of coat types and grooming strategies. There’s a great roundup of such breeds here.

The Siberian, though a longer haired cat, produces less of the glycoprotein than any other breed, which shows it’s not the fur which creates problems; it’s the skin oils, and saliva, found on the fur. This Siberian breeder even offers fur samples to see how it goes.

Cats like the Sphynx don’t shed; Rexes don’t shed very much. This can be enough to help a cat lover keep their symptoms in check.

Choose wisely, alter early. Female cats produce less of the allergen, then comes altered male cats, and by far the most allergen production comes from unaltered males. So choosing girl cats and getting them altered (so they won’t attract any males) seems like a sensible plan.

However, most allergic cat people don’t have particular breeds or sexes, though they do sensibly alter. They manage with other tactics like:

Keeping up with grooming and bathing. Getting an easy care coat, and getting the cat used to baths, was cited as an important tool in their allergy battle.

While cats enjoy grooming more than bathing, both can be made easier with training and routines. Then what fur does escape will have less of the protein on it.

Feeding a raw diet. This produces dramatic results; everyone who uses this tactic raves about it. By feeding the cat a more natural, raw food, diet, it apparently reduces the allergens the cats produce. Many allergy sufferers report having as many as three cats eating a raw food diet, without triggering their symptoms.

If this sounds interesting, try the kits at Wild Kitty Homemade as a simple way to get started.

Lower the load. Most allergy sufferers have allergies to more than cats. They figure they are taking something for the pollen, dust, or other triggers anyway, might as well have cats.

But they also use air filters and frequent vacuuming to keep ahead of all their triggers. Running an air filter in the bedroom was the most frequently cited area where it made a real difference to their symptoms. Often, people are advised to keep cats out of the bedroom, but many people slept with their cats anyway, letting the air filter cover for them.

Reduce their sensitivity. While antihistamines block the allergy reaction in the body, some people will go for a series of treatments which will “retune” their body to disregard allergic triggers.

While it’s only anecdotal, many people who have had to cut wheat or corn out of their diets because of a dietary allergy report their total allergy sensitivities have decreased as a result.

These can be seen as serious steps to take, but some people find their health improves when they aren’t struggling with allergic reactions to so many things; and then cats become less problematical.

Because exposure to cats can actually decrease allergy symptoms; at least, to our cats. “Getting used to them” was actually mentioned as a strong contributor to allergy-free cat enjoyment; many people who finally got a cat despite their allergies found that after a few months, they needed to do far less to keep their symptoms in check than they expected. It was random exposure, not constant exposure, that caused them the most problems.

While I cannot recommend getting a cat when it would lead to a strong possibility of having to rehome the cat, it’s certainly possible to have allergies, and cats.

At least; that’s what so many people tell me.

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Keeping them predictable makes for a happy cat.

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Different cat types have different security needs. A curious Alpha will find a change will trip their curiosity switch, while a cautious Gamma will find a change will trip their uncertainty switch. Betas will find changes in their routines or people more upsetting than furniture rearrangement, which they will usually take in stride.

To understand a cat’s reaction to changes in the home, we must remember that cats are terraformers. Not only do they keep track of every path through their territory, and every behavior in it, they will also try to change the objects around them to suit them better.

With a Gamma, it’s examining a vacuumed pillow to know if it has changed in any important way. With an Alpha, it can be moving as many things as they can shove.

Cats, above all, want to know what to expect. In any given situation. Smooth running routines, spots that haven’t changed since they’ve last been visited, and our predictable responses to what they do is all part of the territory/security package.

While cats will often surprise us, and act in a way that show they understand the principle, they are a classic example of dishing it out, but not being able to take it. Any surprises must be telegraphed emotionally before they will experience it happily.

Getting a new treat or canned flavor can be announced when we walk in with the bags, and our excitement and pleasure will be reflected in their response. They may or may not know what it is, but they are willing to welcome it, based on our preparation.

We should use the same cuing techniques if we are repainting the living room or getting new furniture. Walk around the room in question and tell them, with sweeping gestures, what we plan to do. If they have favorite spots in this room, pat the spots and pantomime that we will be moving them, but only temporarily. Explain we don’t like the coming turmoil either, but it will be so nice when it’s done.

Then, when the painters or movers show up, our cat will be able to say to themselves, I knew something was up. But my person seems to have a handle on it.

During the process, commiserate that the couch is gone or that they can’t hang out in the room any more. Explain the new couch is much better, or that soon these annoying people will be gone, and we’ll all be happier.

If we are going to be working late for a while, or will be getting up early to get some fitness in for a change, talk about the change, and use a clock or calendar to explain how it will impact them. It doesn’t matter that cats don’t have a complete understanding of how clocks and calendars work. They know such things shape our lives; and if the clock or calendar is going to be influencing their lives, they appreciate a warning.

Cats in the home perform a delicate balancing act that will both fulfill their instinctual desires for territory control, and keep us happy when their views on where the vase wants to be does not meet with agreement. It is always a process of negotiation; and cats are quietly aware that this is our territory, and we have the final say.

This is why our respect for their wishes, and agreeing to their deepest needs, carries such power. The cat’s wild heart wishes to keep their territory all to themselves. It is their bright brain, and their love for us, that lets them share. While the cat does not have final say, they must have some say; or they will not feel secure.

Making a show of consulting them, warning them that changes are coming, and showing them their spots which have not changed may seem, to us, like exercises in pretending and in stating the obvious.

That is exactly what they are. But doing it communicates respect to the cat about something they feel as strongly about as we do.

That is what we are acknowledging. And that, despite any changes which occur, is what will keep our cat happy.

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Anyone remember the pet-food recall of 2007?…

Anyone lost a pet from that, or had one sick?…

Anyone disgusted or angered over it?….

Reasonable estimates are that as many as four or five thousand dogs and cats were killed in the contamination of melamine and melamine-analogs in pet foods, perhaps twenty to thirty thousand made sick, dozens of manufacturers and over a hundred labels affected, costing millions to industry, thousands of taxpayer dollars spent by the FDA and USDA in investigation, and by the US Attorney’s office in investigation and prosecution.

The company which imported the contaminated food ingredient into the US, Chemnutra, and its principals Steven and Sally-Qing Miller, were indicted and prosecuted over it, charged with a total of 27 counts (one a felony, all the others misdemeanors).

In an agreement with the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, Chemnutra and Mr. and Mrs. Miller have pleaded guilty to two of the misdemeanor counts.

As part of the plea agreement the US Attorney is recommending to the judge for the Millers and ChemNutra a sentence of three years probation (PDF link) and monetary fines of $25,000 for ChemNutra; $5,000 for each of the Millers individually.

Pet-guardians… those current, and those aggrieved.. even those with dogs and cats which were unaffected, should all consider this sentencing recommendation sickening and disconcerting…

In the last few years we’ve seen numerous recalls of pet foods, humans sickened and killed due to E-coli contamination in spinach, sickened and killed due to contamination of the prescription blood-thinner Heparin, sickened and killed by Salmonella in peanut butter and peanut products … and it continues.

To date, no one has been given a severe sentence, much less seen the inside of a prison cell. The only ones brought before a US criminal court regarding any of these matters (so far) are the Millers and ChemNutra.

This sentencing recommendation, if accepted by the court as agreed to by the US Attorney’s office and Chemnutra/the Millers, unchanged, provides neither justice nor deterrence. Without deterrence … what else might find its way into our pets foods NEXT year?

Bernard Madoff’s sentencing hearing was a few days ago. Victims and their family members were heard from, prior to the judge handing down the sentence. I don’t see why this should be any different.

Pet owners who had their dogs or cats sickened as a result of this episode, or worse, lost a pet, if they live close enough to Kansas City, should want to be heard from during the Chemnutra/Miller’s sentencing hearing.

And for all the rest of us who don’t live close enough, or can’t make it to K.C., then I’m encouraging those to set aside a few minutes to protect their pets… by writing the judge who will be handing down the sentence.

So I’m asking pet-guardians to write:

Judge John T. Maughmer, U.S. Magistrate
U.S. Magistrate Judge Room 7662
US District Court for the Western District of Missouri
Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse Building
400 E. 9th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

Tell him how disgusted and angered you are over this episode and this sentencing recommendation.

The sentence given to Bernard Madoff (150 years) is one which will cause anyone else contemplating doing what he did to pause and think long and hard about the consequences.

Ask the judge for a more appropriate sentence, one which provides deterrence.

In a follow up question of my own, I asked if there were any indications that these defendants had premeditated culpability in this instance, (they knew the gluten was contaminated,) or were they claiming they were simply negligent in not testing something from a trusted supplier? FelineDadinFla replied:

It was the opinion of the criminal/forensic investigative team that Mrs. Sally-Qing Miller, having an advanced degree in ‘Food Chemical Engineering’ (doesn’t sound quite the same as ‘gluten-stirrer,’ does it?…) and past experience as an ‘ISO 900′ inspector and having been born in China and all the while being based there… that she was a position where she should have known that melamine would create a false-high protein indication, and that (mis)labeling the wheat-gluten as a ‘non-food’ item would alleviate the need for pre-export inspection in China. (Supported in this article here.)

Two years ago Stephen Miller in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce committee, subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, claimed they were negligent in not testing from a trusted supplier… ‘we were victims here.’

Prepared written statement, and archived webcast video here.

(He doesn’t appear until the second panel, so if you’re viewing the video, forward it up at least two and a half hours until the second panel is seated.)

They were charged with 13 counts of ‘introduction of mislabeled’ and 13 counts of ‘introduction of adulterated’…. (13 shipments in total.) They pled guilty to one count each of ‘mislabeled’ and ‘adulterated.’

If they pleaded ‘guilty’ … kind of hard to say they didn’t know…. They themselves may not have done the ‘adulterating’… but they (or she) had to have known.

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For as long as people have had cats, they have wondered if cats do, too.

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The concept of “the soul” is an extraordinarily powerful one. When we love a living being, who loves us back, we recognize both the individual who is unique and irreplaceable, and our own longing that this love, of whatever kind, would not end when the living being does.

Since the love does not go away, it only takes another form; it would seem that perhaps the loved one does go on. By taking another form. By taking with them that which inspired so much love.

Which would be their soul.

Our global society has taken great strides in understanding the physical world; we take pictures from space and make coffee in the microwave. These are readily understandable through “cause and effect,” because all the pictures from space link up with each other and look identifiable from different distances, and coffee gets hot in the microwave.

“Believing” in outer space or microwaves is not considered an option when there is so much abundant evidence that they do exist. While we may not completely understand how a rocket manages to escape the earth’s gravitational pull, or how microwaves are created in our kitchen, we are satisfied that the end result occurs whether we understand it, or not.

Someone does, or it wouldn’t be happening.

Because the existence of souls does not have such readily available, real world, evidence, it remains a source of controversy. Over the course of human history, religions rise and fall around theories on how soul mechanics might work… and influencing our views on whether a cat would have one.

Since it is a matter of belief anyway; I do think cats have souls.

Are not cats unique individuals? Don’t they love and are loved? Can’t they sense our moods and offer compassion and understanding?

What would our souls be; if not made of such stuff as this?

In life, we might like mustard or ketchup, prefer delicate antiques or fat chairs of mongrel design, dance to mazurkas or sway to Mozart. These are all unique expressions we make based on the choices we have before us.

In another time and place, we would have made different choices. But we would still be us. What drives us can take its final shape through genes and our environment, but individually driven we still are.

Since cats are also unique in their expression, different in their designs, and vary through their inheritance and their interactions to become separate and distinct personalities; I don’t think it’s stretching an observation to see the same drives flowing from the same source.

The impetus behind the soul searching is the same no matter what living being we have managed to connect with in such a profound way. We ask upon each loss; Will we see each other again?

Each person finds their own path to answering that question.

We should all remember that souls are only expressed in physical bodies for a short time. So if souls do continue, it is in the form of memories, emotions, and feelings.

These are things that may not require a structure of carbon and chemicals to exist; such a structure may only make these things easier to express.

“Belief” may not matter to souls. Like outer space and microwaves, these are things that existed before we were aware of them. And will continue on whether we are aware of them, or not.

So if we feel any living being still within our heart, if we think we sometimes pick up on their presence, it might be that we are simply wishing this were so. Or it might be that more solid, more physical, more proven methods of detection are not to be based on our five physical senses. Such thoughts are often attributed to our “imagination.”

But our five physical senses have been established to be transient in the very nature that we, in turn, use to notice what it is that they notice.

If we have indelible, indestructible souls, then what those souls touch are made of the same indelible, indestructible, indefinable materials.

It is these other “senses,” so difficult to define and yet so difficult to discount, that we are using to become aware of something we have few and futile words for.

That might be a simple consequence of having two sides of our brains. The logical, rational, side, the one which puts cameras on the moon and coffee in our microwave, is also the side which has a speech center. It is the side which can put things into words, understands how to use physical efforts towards a physical end, and will communicate the results in words with other logical, rational, brain sides with speech centers.

We have a whole other half of the brain where we create art, channel passionate attachments to ephemeral concepts, and share lofty appreciation for such non-physical objectives as fairness, kindness, beauty, and love. Such things exist; and they dwell in our imagination.

This side does not have a speech center. It expresses itself in feelings.

If we are to detect and connect with the souls around us; emotions are the way we would do it.

Look at these images from the Hubble Space Telescope! Listen to music. Want some coffee?

If you are a Pink Floyd fan, this is also a lovely one.

I have always found it extraordinary how much we can love cats, and how much they can love us. Sharing love is its own purpose, and its own reward.

Because there are no small souls.

Only small creatures.

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Not the cat’s pregnancy. Their human’s.

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It takes two doctors (Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and Dr. Joshua Sparrow) to give this much wrong-headed advice to pregnant cat owners. Dr. Brazelton is a respected pediatrician, and their books on raising toddlers are popular. I can only conclude this indicates some deep seated anti-cat prejudice on somebody’s part.

They certainly made sure people don’t have to read past the headline to know their take on the subject: Cats are a danger to babies during, after pregnancy. Dear heavens! Babies in danger. Doctors, do tell.

First up, toxoplasmosis. Now, it’s true that women who contract this illness during their pregnancy can pass on the infection to the developing child; that isn’t good. It can lead to serious complications as the child grows; if it is untreated.

However, if the woman has already had toxoplasmosis (and in adults this can be so mild the person doesn’t even know they have had it) the immunity usually lingers in the mother’s body, and this protection is passed on to her child.

How are people exposed to this illness? Cats who eat infected birds or rodents can shed communicable material in their feces; thus the warnings on all the cat litter bags to use gloves or let someone else do the cat litter during pregnancy. But there are many other ways to be exposed to this parasitic illness, such as uncooked meats, unwashed vegetables, or working in contaminated soil.

In this two year Norwegian Study, 10% of pregnant women showed previous exposure in their blood antibodies, and the only infection that resulted in complications for the resulting child was a single, untreated, infection.

So blaming cats seems overblown to me, when vegetables from the farmer’s market or planting a flat of pansies runs the same risks. Cats who have spent their whole lives indoors have less of a chance of picking up this illness than their people who garden.

What does the Center for Disease Control think of cats and pregnant women? Check out their fact page on the subject. They take a much less hysterical approach, especially in this paragraph:

Do I have to give up my cat if I’m pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant?

No. You should follow these helpful tips to reduce your risk of environmental exposure to Toxoplasma.

Gee, the CDC is awfully calm about it. Their recommendations are not that different from Brazelton and Sparrow’s article; precaution is probably a better word to use than danger. That is, unless a writer has another agenda. The real danger is tipped off in the question they use to open the column:

My daughter is pregnant. She lives with three rather large cats that have been the center of her life for many years and are a little spoiled. I’m worried they will be jealous of the new family member and get into the crib with the baby.

Cats may be the issue of the article, but it’s the potential grandmother who has the issues. Spoiled cats are happy cats; happy cats love greeting new family members. I’m sure this isn’t the first time “the cats” have come up between mother and daughter. And now there’s a baby on the way, Grandma has less use for the cats, and wishes to impose those same views on her daughter. Just whose jealousy is at issue here, I wonder?

The mere act of a cat getting into the crib is, of course, fraught with danger. The Drs. agree; here’s how they address her worries:

You are right to be concerned about your daughter’s big cats and her new baby for other reasons as well. Cats lovers may be upset with us for saying so, but because cats attach themselves to their human caregivers, they have been known to be jealous of new babies as if the new arrivals were siblings!

I find something very strange in this statement; at least one of these doctors is a pediatrician, and can’t be completely unacquainted with the concept of sibling jealousy. If siblings are humans, they are taught how to act towards the baby. Dogs, though not mentioned, are certainly attached to their human caregivers, and are as capable of jealousy; and they can be taught how to act towards the baby.

But cats, while being given credit for attachment, apparently only use this power for evil. Because the next sentence is:

Some cats will seek out a baby’s mouth or nose and lie on them to smother the child.

I had to read that sentence twice to make sure they had actually said that. Did two scientists actually say that? And what are they basing this extraordinary statement on? Are there really instances of cats deliberately smothering babies?

According to this Snopes article, a coroner’s jury in 1791 brought forth such a verdict. And they also burned witches, so we probably shouldn’t take them too seriously on this matter.

What about the December 2000 death of a six week old infant? The mother claimed she found the cat sleeping on the baby’s head. But an autopsy indicated it was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Not the cat.

So the answer, according to our best scholarship, is no, cats don’t deliberately smother babies. There might be instances of cats accidentally smothering babies, somehow, but so can bedding and pillows and blankets. Small infants should always be monitored and their cribs cleared of such items they are too small to free themselves from. In fact, an exhaustive CDC study, dissected here, takes issue with the press report about the study, but does detail the many causes of smothering cases in infants.

And cats are not mentioned once.

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I am happy to report their next column on the subject was about the barrage of mail they got, offering sensible suggestions about merging cats with babies. Read the PDF here. I can sum it up as follows: If they were backpedaling any faster, the chain would come off their bicycle.

A big Way of Cats thank you to the reader who brought this to my attention, and supplied the articles, which I otherwise would not have seen. This is exactly the kind of hysterical over-reaction that puts perfectly lovely cats into shelters when a baby is coming.

It’s not only misinformed, it’s a terrible way to welcome new life. What kind of dynamic is this communicating? Hello, darling child. To welcome you into the world I banished someone else who loved and trusted me.

That’s one heck of an introduction to the family.

Jealousy anywhere in the family should be dealt with before the baby comes, and then it’s not a problem. See my post, Do cats get jealous?

I touched on some of these myths with a previous post, Cats and Small Children.

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If we have a cat who tries to hog all our love for themselves, these are usually cats who have had heartbreak or deprivation in their past. Once they conclude that love and caring are in short supply, they will resent any indication that it might be applied elsewhere.

In games theory, this is called zero sum. It is used for finite, unchanging resources, such as a cake. Cutting a bigger slice for you means having a smaller slice for me.

The jealous cat doesn’t know that love doesn’t work that way.

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We certainly want to cure the jealous cat. Many people do not realize the trouble encouraging jealousy can create. They might feel amused by the focus, or flattered by the demonstration of attachment. They think it’s an index of how much the cat loves them.

But they are mistaken.

This isn’t devotion. This isn’t love. This is screaming insecurity.

Jealous cats can also be aggressive and bullying, or shy and fearful. Either way, to make the cat happy, we will not indulge this misconception of theirs.

We must work to show the cat that love is infinite, and will expand to fill any container.

This is not the same as the One Person Cat. These are cats who get what they need from Their Person, but do not object to that person loving other living beings. The jealous cat will drive off others, and display anger when their person shows affection towards others.

Indulging the cat in this dysfunctional behavior by laughing at their displays, teasing them into reactions, and moving our other affection displays out of the cat’s sight only increases the cat’s insecurity.

We are giving them the false information that love is finite. If we give a slice of affection to another, it is taken from them.

What we are doing when we put up with jealousy is reinforcing a warped view of affection. The cat fears the loss of love and thinks they can demand what they see as a limited resource. Only there is never enough love for the insecure.

They demand more and more because the love is never actually touching them and working its reassuring power.

We must redirect this raging anger (for anger is what it is) into a better appreciation of love and caring.

React to the cat’s displays properly. When we love another, and the cat shows aggression or distress, we must continue our attention to the other (the cat does not control us) while verbally assuring the cat that we still love them. We wait for a point when the cat is not showing bad behavior to transfer our attention to them.

And if we have to wait a while, we wait a while. If the cat runs off to sulk, let them. They will have to come up with new ways to gain our affection that does not involve driving away others.

The negative feedback the cat should get is not getting what they want. If the cat makes threatening motions toward the object of our affection, only then should we scold, or even spray some water in their general direction if the cat is actually being aggressive.

We encouraged this situation. Now, knowing better, we must discourage it.

Show the cat loving others does not diminish our love for them. This is the key concept the cat is not getting, and that we encouraged by indulging the jealousy. So continue our favorite ways of showing the cat we love them when we are alone, and initiate these favorite ways when others are around, too.

Alternating our attentions between everyone in the room plants the important notion that they get love, and so do others, and then the love comes back to them.

The cat’s successful campaign to drive away others will be collapsed if we do not let them do that any more.

Good policing is important. An insecure cat might bully others when our back is turned, and while our significant other might report it, our other cats cannot. We should monitor our jealous cat and look for signs they are taking their frustration out on the other cats, such as blocking the way to the litter box, acting up during mealtimes, or driving them away from their favorite spots.

Make a point of announcing that we are taking Insecure Cat into another room for some cuddling. This lets Insecure Cat not feel ignored, and lets the other cats do some business while they are being left alone.

Then, we have set the stage for our return. When Insecure Cat gets out with the others, he or she will feel momentarily secure and confident, and wish to build on that, in their dysfunctional way, by pushing around the other cats. Only now we are there to protect the other cats, scold Insecure Cat for bad behavior, and start our round robin of Everybody Gets Some Love!

By creating actions we can then react to, we have our chance to show what kind of behavior we wish to encourage.

Consider isolation. Sometimes all the cat needs is a few demonstrations that we can love others and them at the same time. Then they “get it.”

But if this dysfunction is deep-seated, it may take longer. If our Insecure Cat cannot take Others, we are doing them a favor by putting them in their own room while we are away from home. This lets the other cats enjoy themselves, and does not let Insecure Cat continue with their bad behavior when we are not there to put a stop to it.

If Insecure Cat feels lonely in their room, good! They are recognizing that they need Others. They can develop the realization that they could get attention and affection from those Others; if they were out there being a good Cat Citizen.

Upon our return, let Insecure Cat out after we have already greeted and fussed over the good Cat Citizens, or the other people in the house. Insecure Cat gets love in the right time; but they will get it.

As Insecure Cat develops the inner resources to recognize what love really is, they will moderate their behavior, and we can reduce and eliminate their time in isolation. They will learn that love actually grows when it is bestowed.

It is not zero-sum. It is infinite.

There is enough for everybody.

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But they were happy I was happy.

It led me into the Kindle application, and the joy of instant books. Bam, and the book was on my touch, ready for any long line or doctor’s office waiting room.

Which led me to the realization that I could self publish on Kindle. And I did!

My Kindle book, Cat 911, is on Amazon now. This is for cat emergencies; those stubborn cat care problems which drive people to distraction and heartbreak.

Don’t have a Kindle? No problem. Soon, I will also be making Cat 911 available as a general ebook.

This is just the first in what will become a Way of Cats series; training cats, handling multiple cats, and getting affection from cats are all planned ebooks.

And you, my treasured audience, are the ones who made it happen. You made me feel my advice worked for others. Your enthusiasm gave me the confidence to venture forth. Your cats’ happiness was my reward.

But there’s a whole bunch of people who aren’t into blogs; and need cat advice. Maybe you know some of them. So if you would be so kind as to spread the word, I’d be grateful.

Thank you!

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If we choose responsibly.

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There are animal advocates who are anti-purebred, feeling that with so many animals in shelters needing homes, it’s wrong for people to breed pets for money. But I see nothing wrong with ethical breeders preserving and perpetuating particular kinds of cats.

Not only are there many reasons all cat breeds have their fans, the relative certainty of a purebred can make Cat People out of those who might otherwise feel too apprehensive about acquiring a pet cat.

The only bad thing about purebred cats is when people look for bargains. This keeps the careless breeders in business, and results in serious misery for the cats caught in kitten mill situations, and serious heartbreak when an uninformed bargain hunter pays much more than the ethical breeder’s price tag in vet bills for a kitten with a shortened lifespan or serious mental problems.

For a look at what problems can occur from choosing a genetically damaged cat, see this article. And it describes a success story!

By only getting cats from shelters or ethical breeders, we stop the deliberate breeding of damaged cats.

So we either start a little savings program for our dream kitten, or we consider these alternatives:

Be open to an older cat. Many breeders offer retired show cats or are involved in breed rescue. We can get our dream cat faster and more affordably by adopting a cat who has already been altered and is past the kitten stage.

Good breeders are careful about where they place their cats; and don’t want to see their once-kittens abandoned. So they might have “boomerangs.” These are perfectly lovely cats who became homeless through no fault of their own, and go back to the breeder to be just as carefully placed a second time.

I admit to a level of exasperation with people who want a certain breed; but somehow don’t want to pay the going price for a kitten. I know bargain hunting is an American sport, but we are going to be feeding the cat, giving them medical care, and buying them toys and treats, aren’t we? We’re committing to a certain level of expenditure with any cat.

If we work out the price asked for a pet-quality kitten from one of the more popular, less rare, breeds, and extend it over a 15-year lifespan, we would be paying less than fifty dollars a year for the privilege of getting a healthy purebred kitten. That’s one dinner out, or a pair of shoes, a year, to get a kitten who had prenatal care for mom, was raised in a home, “underfoot,” and had their proper shots and socialization.

If we want to pay less, just go to the shelter. It’s not only cheaper, but more sensible, to opt for hybrid vigor over careless backyard breeding. A restricted gene pool demands care and maintenance. That’s what we are paying for.

Which leads to the other alternative.

Be open to purebred mixes. We can still get a kitten or cat with the purebred traits we want. By going to the shelter and looking for those traits.

I’ve seen Siamese with tabby “points.” I’ve seen Persian mixes with more pronounced noses which will avoid the health problems associated with flat profiles. Our own Reverend Jim may not be a purebred Maine Coon, but he’s close enough for people who meet him to exclaim, “What a lovely Maine Coon!” He acts like one, too, right down to the chirping trill voice.

My father was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room when a little kitten strolled in and started making friends. So Dad went home with a cat who is at least half Abyssinian, with all the personality.

When I say “at least half,” of course I mean that half of the genes came from another breed or breeds of cat. But the cat can wind up expressing most or all of the distinctive traits we look for in a purebred cat. Cats in a litter can wind up looking mostly like mom or dad, and can be remarkably close to the breed we desire.

Go to Petfinder right now. Enter the search options on the left hand side, and put in your zip code. I looked for “Siberian.” That’s a rare breed… but there’s eight of them looking for homes. I tried this month’s featured breed, the Scottish Fold, also fairly rare. There’s pages of them.

How the cat looks is going to determine how the cat acts. If they look like a Siamese, they are going to act a lot like a Siamese. In fact, especially if we are new to this breed, a mix is not necessarily a bad thing at all. Those purebred traits, expressed full strength, can tend towards extremes; we might prefer our Siamese a little less stubborn, or our Abyssinian a tad calmer.

So we aren’t just getting one breed; we get two!

Now that’s a bargain.

Love certain breeds?
There’s more about getting the cat you dream of at The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See MORE ABOUT CAT BREEDS.

Definitely.

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After all, we have no doubt that cats can love us, and each other. With love, there is also the recognition of loss.

It was a long time ago now, when I picked up a cat magazine and read a letter from a woman who was confused and troubled. She had taken in her daughter’s pet cat after the daughter’s death. She asked about care; she had never had a cat before.

But in her questions about taking proper care of the cat was a bigger one; why did the cat hang around the boxes of her daughter’s things that she had stacked in her child’s old room, as yet unable to do anything about them?

When, moved by her loss, she had laid out her daughter’s favorite skirt on the bed; the cat had claimed it and spent a lot of time lying on it.

The magazine counseled sensible cat care tips; and suggested that the cat associated the familiar smells of the daughter’s things with comforting memories of their former home. Just as unspoken was what both the letter writer and the letter answerer knew was true; yet hesitated to put into words.

That the cat missed the daughter profoundly, and longed to be with her again. Very much as the mother did.

As someone with both academic training in psychology, and long experience observing cats, I understand when I make myself vulnerable to criticism for too much anthropomorphism. This is the practice of attributing human characteristics to animals; and is severely frowned upon by science.

It is true that this outlook can lead us down the wrong path; we can hesitate to alter our cats, decide to let them roam unsupervised, and be reluctant to interfere in how our cats shape their relationships with each other. All from a misplaced sense of how we would feel about having our reproductive, recreational, and relationship activities curtailed in such a way.

This is the wrong side of anthropomorphism; as wrong as wanting our cats to wear clothes or drive cars. Cats handled their own affairs in the wild. But they are not in the wild now. When they live with us, they are both happier and better cared for when we remove their hormonal influences, take steps to safeguard them in a World They Did Not Make, and monitor their cat companionship options for maximum harmony.

It might not be how the cat would decide in a theoretical perfect world. But in our present, imperfect world, these steps balance our cat’s autonomy with their happiness. As we all do.

So when I describe a cat’s actions as stemming from insecurity or grief, this is a simple observation that is just as supported as describing a cat’s actions from fear or panic; emotions scientists will attribute to animals without feeling that they are anthropromorphizing. They feel scientific about fear in animals because it is observable and the animal’s actions conform to a fear reaction.

So when I say cats feel grief, I’m doing the same thing. Cats seek out shared objects or experiences that remind them of the lost individual, they show signs of unhappiness after a loss, and they display distress when the passed on being’s name is mentioned.

Just as we do.

Cats don’t drive cars to find prey, or get upset about losing equipment they are not aware they have; such concerns are outside of the cat’s conceptual experience. While such speculations are funny in cat cartoons, it is because it is not normal for cats to think such things. It is a juxtaposition that is funny because it is absurd.

But some situations and feelings are shared by both cats and humans. Love, and loss, are two sides of the same coin. My concept of proper cat care is based on such “shared emotional money.”

Respect, consideration, empathy, intelligence, and how cause and effect work; these might be expressed differently by cats and humans, but they are concepts that are also shared by cats and humans.

So when we lose someone from the household, we should recognize that cats also feel it. Searching for the gone one when their name is mentioned, having digestive upsets, pacing and wailing, and lying around in a depressed funk are all ways cats express their grief.

We should discuss the situation with the cat as we would with a small child; simple expressions of how much we also miss the gone one, how circumstances made them unable to remain in the body we knew them in, and explaining how they might continue on in whatever way we believe to be so. We can tell our grieving cat that we love them and that we, and they, are not going to go away because of it.

Just as with a child, they might not understand everything we are saying. But they feel comforted by the effort we make towards reassurance.

Because it is reassurance, and grief is easier when it is shared. We don’t need to worry about whether they “understand.”

Because, after all, how well do we understand it, ourselves?

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There’s more ways to understand our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on WHY CATS DO THAT.

While we can’t start over, we can start changing cat attitudes. They might never be friends, but we can usually convince them not to be enemies.

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We must set up a separate room for one of the combatants; and commit to letting it take as long as it takes. A successful re-introduction will be worth it, because not only will we have a more peaceful house, the cats in question will have more peaceful minds.

Our first impulse of which cat to choose for the room is probably the wrong one; we will think of the cat we see as the aggressor as the one who should be quarantined. Or we will automatically decide to put the come-lately cat into the smaller space. But that is not the best criteria.

We should choose the most timid and anxious cat for the smaller space.

This is because the timid cat needs the smaller space. They will not feel compelled to defend the whole house, which they are not up to doing. They will know they are alone in the space, which would not be the case even if the more bold cat is locked away; timid cat will see them lurking in every shadow, anyway. The timid cat needs their own territory; they will find it more easily in the smaller space, alone.

Likewise, it is the bolder cat who will suffer in the smaller space. They have already staked out territory, even if they took it from timid cat; it is theirs now. The smaller space will get them stir-crazy; they will be more determined and frantic to get out; they will wail and intimidate the other cat, even from another room.

So we are choosing for the cat’s sake. Not ours.

We will be spending time with both of them. Go into timid cat’s space with a book, a laptop, a video game, a cell phone. See how many of our activities we can transfer into timid cat’s territory so they won’t miss us.

In the rest of the house, we will be continuing our relationship with bold cat. After all, these are usually two perfectly good cats who are sweet with us; just not the cat they hate. So what we are doing is establishing separate territories… that we will slowly merge.

This is how we will accomplish what we should have done in the first place.

With separation, we will have a sense of peace in the house; and the two battling cats will feel it, too. They will be calmer and more able to work out their problems, which we will only throw at them at the pace they can handle.

At lot of homes establish different spaces; but stop there. We won’t.

We will leave the door open more and more as we transition between the rooms. Any hissing or yowling, on either side, will be met with a blast of water or air aimed between them, and they will fall back into their respective territories.

What we are doing is creating new routines and new attitudes. The more the two cats associate good things with each other, the more relaxed they can be in their interactions. Without the constant stress of being unavoidably in each other’s faces, with the coping strategy of each having their own territory to retreat to, they will find each other less irritating.

As the door gets left open more and more, they will come to a new relationship. Things are better when they get along; we have established that for them. We will find we can keep the door open when we are home, then also at night, then start trying it all the time.

All we need is the patience and policing that eluded us the first time.

See all the reasons Why Cats Fight.

Want to avoid this situation?
There’s more help at The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my BEST WAY CAT INTRODUCTIONS.