In today’s society of designer pets, chickpea-based diets and rights for inanimate objects, it should come as no surprise to readers when I write than many pet owners are moving their pets onto vegetarian diets. Instead of tackling the issue of rights and the subject of ‘what people should do’, it is my job to give you the facts so you can make your own informed choices.

Cats are carnivores. From their bones, teeth and claws to their senses, stomach and bowels, cats are ‘designed’ to hunt, kill, eat and excrete meat. In the wild, almost 100% their nutrition comes from meat. However, let us bear in mind that, in the wild, meat is the only source of the nutrients that cats require to be healthy. This is no longer the case for a felis catus…

Although domesticated cats cannot get all their essential nutrients from a vegetarian diet alone, we humans have developed clever supplements which, when combined with a vegetarian diet, ensure cats get everything they need without having to eat meat. The same goes for our human diet as well – nobody ‘needs’ to eat meat. When combined with the fact that lots of companies conduct tests on animals, as well as the massive environmental damage that keeping livestock to slaughter for food does to the environment, it may be hard for cat owners to justify their pet’s meaty diet.

Image from adcnews.go.com

In our recent posts, we recommended keeping your cat relaxed and entertained to help deal with urination problems. In response, some people said they had trouble playing with their cat, or finding anything to keep it amused. In the next couple of posts, therefore, we’ll cover a few tips on entertaining your furry friend.

Toys are the obvious first choice for entertainment, but not all toys are created equal. The most important thing to remember when playing with a cat is that her natural instincts are to hunt prey; to get her interest you should try to stimulate that instinct. For one thing, consider a toy that looks and moves like prey; toys that scurry around, flutter about or dart from place to place will be almost sure to catch her eye. Toys that disappear will also confuse and interest her and she seeks to hunt them down!

Like dogs, cats can also learn ‘tricks’ that can help keep them stimulated both mentally and physically. Sitting, rolling over and fetching toys are all possible, though you should be warned that most training will involve some kind of food-based reward…

Next time we’ll cover play time. Image from pet-gift.net

When it comes to successfully playing with your cat, an element of routine can help. Remember a large part of playing relies of stimulating the hunting instinct in your cat, so try playing at times when your pet would be out hunting – mornings and evenings are the obvious choices. Since most of us have more free time before and after work, this works out well for pet and owner.

So set aside two regular times a day to play with your cat, for around a total of half an hour. That said, don’t feel you have to keep playing with your cat if she seems to be getting bored earlier. It is also sensible not to use the same toys over and over again and not to leave them laying around afterwards either, otherwise your cat will soon be bored of them. Hide the toys away when you’re not playing together and, when it is play time, vary which toys you use to keep things fun and interesting.

Make sure to inspect your cat’s toys regularly, to spot any broken or loose pieces that could be a health hazard. The last thing you want is your cat choking on a toy you bought to make her healthier! The best toys are those without any loose parts, parts that are glued on or any strings, ribbons and elastic bands. It should go without saying that toys should also not be small enough to swallow or made from toxic materials.

In recent news, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new talent show, Over the Rainbow, will be holding auditions for cast members for a West End musical version of the Wizard of Oz. Although we’re not normally very interested in shows like this at the Cat Blog, this one has caught our attention because Lord Llyod Webber has publically stated that he would prefer a cat to play the role of Toto, rather than a dog!

“I had to point out to [the BBC] that as a cat man, this was not something that I was very happy about at all” the composer stated. He went on to say “I might insist on having a cat on the programme, because I think the BBC as a public service broadcaster have got to give equal time in my view to cats”.

Here here Lord Lloyd Webber! It’s about time the cats got in on the action; too long they’ve been associated with bad luck and witches, it’s time they got a role with the good guys! After all, the rest of the musical is set push the boundaries, with new songs being composed and even the iconic role of Dorothy set for a change; Lloyd Webber has mentioned he wants Dorothy to be played as “a slightly rebellious girl who wants to get away from home”.

His preferance for a cat Toto is shared by judge Sheila Hancock, who said, “I absolutely loathe dogs…I think we should have a cat.” Sadly, as great an idea as it is, I fear tradition may win out this time. Still, it’s good for cats to get a mention!

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Fear not, I’m not making a bold philosphical claim in this post; I’m refering to the fat cat called Socrates, whose story we told you about all the way back in November!

You may remember Socrates was over twice his ideal body weight last year, weighing over 10.1kg! For this reason, he was chosen by PDSA (the vet charity) to take part in a 100-day diet and fitness prgramme to help him slim down and lose him dangerous levels of fat. Well, now his diet is over and he’s lost a huge 1.5kg – 15% of his body weight!

However, despite Socrates’ great achievement, Amber – a fat cat from Edinburgh – also took part in the challenge and managed to lose 17% of her body weight over the 100 days! This put Socrates in a still highly-respectable second place and has inspired his owner, Bill Duncan; “Before Pet Fit Club, Socs struggled just to groom himself properly, he had no interest in his toys or exercising and spent most of his time cat-napping. “Now, he’s like a different cat. He can groom himself and reach places he couldn’t before. “As a result his coat is in superb condition, he has loads of energy and loves playing with his cat-toys.”

Bill is determine to continue Socrate’ diet until he reaches his ‘ideal weight’ of 4.5kg. He hopes his cat will have achieved this by the summer of 2011. From everybody here at the Cat Health Blog – good luck Bill and Socrates! Keep up the good work!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ860P4iTaM[/youtube]We can’t decide whether to put this video in for the cutest or the smartest cat video…what do you think? On the one hand, it is exceptionally cute – but on the other hand, this is probably the best I’ve ever heard a cat play the piano. Next thing you know, Norah the cat will be buying her own cat food and filling in her own pet insurance paperwork!

It’s a tough choice…so I think we’ll go ahead and enter it into both! It’ll be a hard job beating that sleepy kitten for the cutest cat video though. Let us know what you think – which is cuter?

Keep sending in your findings and we’ll keep putting the best cat videos on the cat health blog!

If you’d have asked me this morning what I thought was the cutest cat video on the internet, I would have said the sleepy kitten video we posted on the Cat Health Blog on New Year’s Day.  However, thanks to your feedback and submissions, I have changed my mind and declare this new entry to be the cutest cat video in our ever-growing Best Cat Videos collection!

I shall call it simply Suprised Kitty, ater the Youtube video name – it is the perfect description really!  You have to see it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8&NR=1&feature=fvwp[/youtube]

Now is that not one of the most adorable things you’ve ever seen? If this was my cat I’d sell my car to afford the best cat insurance in the universe to protect this bundle of fur!

In our Best Cat Videos collection, we have categories for cutest, smartest and funniest – but not for most downright incredible…  However, we may well have to introduce one if you keep sending us videos like this one!  This is evidence for why you should never keep birds and cats togther – even if you think you bird in safe in a cage.  How this cat manages this trick I’ll never know, but it’s totally amazing…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EshbCjmoV7Y&feature=related[/youtube]

I hope the owner had some pet insurance for whatever bird was in that cage!  In fact, looking at the effort the cat had to put in, let’s home the owner had some cat insurance as well!

For now, I’m going to put this in the smartest videos section.