cat health | Savannah's Paw Tracks

Archive for the tag “cat health”

29 Apr 2012

Whew! What a Workout!

Well, Mom and Dad left me alone all day yesterday…then last night…OH MY CAT!!

They decided I needed to do my WHOLE workout routine at ONE TIME!! I was ready for bed, but said “what the heck…I can do this!” Even tho’ I, personally, had been very busy during the day…what with first watching the bedroom and hummer feeder outside…

Then I had to go do interior patrols…sittin’ on my cat tower to watch the ~~finches and doves~~…err..umm…to make sure nothing was gonna get in the house from outside…then I had to go up and down the stairs, and watch the side yard from upstairs to make sure nothing could climb the wall and get in…’course I may have taken a little nap at each patrol station…

Soooo….they decide I need some exercise just ‘cuz THEY didn’t get any…so first they had me do about a catjillion reps of my core workout…ya know the one where you have to squeeze your abs tight to flip from side to side…and I had to do 2 sets!

Then they want me to get goin’ on my aerobic stuff to get my heart rate up and all…ya know this one…chase that stupid red dot you can never catch…

So first, ya have to see it…

…now get a good focus on it…

…next get it right between your paws for contol…

..aaiiieee yowl! it got away..run..

..then use your hind legs and try to pounce on it from above…

…now just breathe…and ignore it!

Then I catch my breath thinking Mom will be tired by now…but nooooooooo…she says there is still the upper body workout to do…ya know…building your chest, back, front legs…gettin’ good eye–prey—paw coordination…so out comes the green feather thingy (which I luvluvluv) but Oh Cat!…I’m getting a bit tired here…

So first I spot it moving over my head…

..then I use my upper body to pummel it

Well, now I am totally exhausted…I need a snack and my pets and my bed…I don’t think I will be so hard on the staff next time they take a day away. Just sayin….

Paw pats, Savannah

26 Apr 2012

11 Comments

A Cat is a Cat…And That is That!

Hiya everyone…I’ve been hesitant to talk about this subject but it is related to my recovery process…I have steps to work through and one of them is talking about my disappointment in how peeps project their peeps’ issues onto us shelter cats. There, I’ve said it.

So here’s what happened…I read something on Mom’s computer screen….oh, uumm no…she didn’t know I was behind her…

What??!! Oh, oh, I see…YOU didn’t even know I could read, huh?/!! Welllll…oh yee of little faith in the intelligence of us cats!!

Anyways…I read some stuff about what people had said about me when I was a shelter cat and it kind’a hurt my feelings.

Here is why. We are cats, not people. So it isn’t helpful when people see a cat being stand off’ish, hiding lots, growling, hissing…or whatever…and call that animal things like “grouchy, mean, nasty, unfriendly, etc.”. We don’t feel those emotions, people do…but if we are behaving anything less than approachable…it is for these reasons primarily…

1. We are terrified, scared, afraid

2. We are hurt, sick, uncomfortable physically

3. We are so stressed from too many changes in our circumstances we have become depressed and withdrawn

4. People taught us not to trust them

That’s it. We don’t get mad…we get scared and THEN become aggressive to protect ourselves from what we fear may harm us.

Just ‘cuz I had my ears kind’a flat…folks thought I was “mad”…are you kidding…I put my ears like that when I am waiting for Mom and Dad to pet me OR when I am thinkin’ if I want to be touched…but I am not “MAD”

I hid at the shelters ‘cuz I was scared and I was hurting lots of the time ‘cuz I had a bladder infection no one knew about…when I was finally with Mom and Dad, and an only cat, they discovered the truth about my health…and took care of it. But I was never “grumpy or mean”…I just hurt.

So I am just asking people to not assume that we cats feel their type of complex emotions. We are concerned with food, shelter, safety, health, no pain, trust. If you see a cat at a shelter who is standoffish, or even growling or hissing–don’t assume that cat is “unfriendly, mean, angry” (those are people emotions)

…it is probably terrified, hurt, sick. Or, it might be depressed at not having had a kind touch in a long time. Those of us who are not feral have known the kind touch of someone at sometime in our lives. And we are domesticated and so we miss being touched with love and kindness.

A Cat is a Cat…and we all hope for a “forever home” of our own…just sayin’…ya might wanna check out the Nine Deadly Sins my blog pal Otis, Cult of Otis, talks about on his blog. Especially when he talks about being able to experience the True Spirit of a cat.

Hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings ‘cuz I was just trying to move through my recovery steps…thanks for the read. Paw Pats, Savannah

This was my intake photo at the county shelter…and no…I wasn’t “mad or ticked off”…I was terrififed…