Poggies help for Moggies. Cat behaviour advice and cat sitting by Leanne

12/01/2025

Antifreeze warning!⚠️

With the weather turning much colder many people are turning to antifreeze to defrost their vehicle - but please remember that it is highly toxic to cats.

Antifreeze spilled from car radiators, screen wash or de-icers can be walked through by cats, who then lick or groom themselves and then become very poorly, very quickly.

Ethylene glycol is a colourless, odourless and sweet-tasting main component of antifreeze which can be fatal even if only a small bit is ingested. Once consumed, ethylene glycol gets rapidly absorbed into the body and starts to cause severe damage to the kidneys, nervous system and other vital organs.

It’s crucial that your cat receives urgent medical attention if there is a chance they have consumed antifreeze and are showing signs of poisoning.

Symptoms can be seen within 30 minutes to 12 hours after ingestion. These include appearing wobbly or uncoordinated, drooling, vomiting, becoming depressed and not wanting to eat.

Because antifreeze poisoning affects cats quickly, it’s important to take them to the vet immediately after a suspected ingestion. If left cats often go into kidney failure and can die. If you can see some antifreeze on their paws or fur, wash it off straight away to minimise re-exposure before travelling to the vet.

If we all use antifreeze safely we can reduce the risk to all our pets.
Tips for keeping pets safe around antifreeze:
❄️watch for leaks in your car and keep pets away from the area where antifreeze is stored
❄️be careful not to spill antifreeze when using it and make sure you clean up carefully if you do. A cat may walk through it and then lick it off their paws. If you see your cat stepping on it, gently clean their paws and contact your vet
❄️if you drain your antifreeze, do not leave it in an open container because animals will be attracted to it
❄️dispose of the waste properly and keep empty and full antifreeze containers away from animals. For safe disposal, contact your local council for advice

Here are a few ‘Pet-safe’ ways to defrost your car
⚠️use a windscreen cover the night before
⚠️manually scrape off ice with an ice scraper or a soft bristle brush
⚠️ look for biodegradable antifreeze that is made from natural and organic compounds
⚠️ switch to a propylene glycol-based antifreeze, although this type of antifreeze is not completely non-toxic, it is much safer to keep around pets and animals

31/12/2024

Your cat may be feeling a little bit anxious today. Whether it's due to fireworks 🎆 or because your home is a bit noisier and busier than usual.
Here are some tips which may help:
🐈 provide your cat with a safe space it can retreat to undisturbed.
🐈‍⬛️ Some may prefer to be up high. Perches, cat trees and shelves can achieve this.
🐈 Others may wish to hide. Make use of snuggle beds, Igloos, cardboard boxes 📦, open cat carriers (with or without the top on) and leaving doors ajar in wardrobes or under the bed
🐈‍⬛️ close the blinds or curtains
🐈 dim the lights
🐈‍⬛️ depending on the length of the stressful event you may need to provide your cats key resources in the safe space area
🐈 make use of pheromone or valerian based sprays and diffusers
🐈‍⬛️️ play classical or cat specific music to help drown out the noise, I have shared my playlist below 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
Check out this playlist on Amazon Music: Cat music
https://music.amazon.co.uk/user-playlists/939a918c872941b39bbd3c76495702c9engb?ref=dm_sh_H2pSfxmDi16kRKdME1hxtrRkC

Playlist

12/12/2024

20/11/2024

Ethylene glycol: Don't receive a frosty fright

The weather has turned, people may be defrosting their cars on frosty or snowy mornings. Many people reach for a product to speed up this defrosting process: antifreeze.

Antifreeze has its implications as a sweet tasting liquid our pets (particularly dogs and cats) often get into mischief with it.

Unfortunately ethylene glycol tends to have a low minimum toxic dose and is rapidly absorbed by the animals gastrointestinal tract. The toxic byproducts of this metabolism causes renal damage and metabolic acidosis.

Clinical signs are dose and time dependant.

If you have seen your pet ingest antifreeze OR you get home to find an empty destroyed container and are suspicious of a possible ingestion the best thing you can do is CONTACT YOUR VETERINARY TEAM IMMEDIATELY AND PREPARE TO GO DOWN ASAP.

You may have not seen the ingestion but the following symptoms suggest concerns (although can be suggestive of other issues too!). Again calling your wonderful veterinary practice immediately is the action to take.

❄️Lethargy
❄️Vomiting
❄️Polyuria (Urinating excessively)
❄️Polydipsia (Drinking excessively)
❄️Neurological signs
❄️Seizures
❄️Ataxia (Wobbly)
❄️Coma
❄️Dehydration
❄️ Abdominal pain

Untreated antifreeze toxicity can be fatal.

Your veterinary team may need to:

🌀Induce emesis (vomiting)
🌀Preform gastric lavage
🌀Start intravenous fluid therapy
🌀Start ethanol treatment
🌀Provide symptomatic treatment
🌀Take regular blood samples
🌀Take regular urine samples

How can I prevent it?

Firstly appropriate storage and disposal is essential. Ensuring you clear up any spillages on the ground so cats (and other animals) don't lap it up and ensuring any products you have are up high and out of reach for inquisitive paws is essential.

30/10/2024

🪔 Diwali celebrations will be starting soon. Here are a few tips to help you keep your cat safe during the festivities. 👇

🕯️ Keep candles out of reach to avoid them being knocked over or burning paws. Consider switching to battery-powered lights instead

🍬 Keep any foods that contain harmful ingredients to cats out of reach

🐈 Make sure your cat has some quiet safe places to retreat to

🎆 Keep your cat indoors during any fireworks displays. Try using some soothing music to mask the sounds, and keep windows and doors closed

🏮 Be aware of electrical cables used for decorations, like hanging lights, because cats may try playing with these, leading to potential entanglement or electric shocks.

🌼 Check to make sure any flowers used in decorations are not poisonous to cats.

To all those who celebrate, we wish you a happy and safe Diwali. 😺

29/10/2024

16/10/2024

Please see the links to help prepare for fireworks 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

With Diwali and Bonfire night approaching, we have some TOP TIPS for keeping your pet safe this firework season.

Dogs: https://bit.ly/3A3NFWB

Cats: https://bit.ly/4083arc

12/10/2024

01/10/2024

25/09/2024

20/09/2024

With so many options out there, it’s confusing to know what type of litter to choose for your cat! 😵‍💫 It’s reasonable to think that because the domestic cat’s ancestor would have toileted in sandy material in a desert environment, cats have an instinctive preference for soft and finely grained litter material. This makes sense as cats have very sensitive paws, and finer grained material is less likely to cause discomfort. 🐾

🐱 But every cat is an individual and will have their own litter preference that they develop early in kittenhood. One way to find out what litter your cat prefers is to offer a few types in different trays and see which one they go for.

Find out more about cat friendly resources to support toileting 👉 https://icatcare.org/international-cat-day-2023/icd-2022/toileting-tips/

20/09/2024

When a cat holds their tail upright with a little kink in the end it means that they are feeling positively engaged. If your cat is doing this around you they are likely enjoying interacting with you ❤️
Share you photos of your cats tail kink in the comments section.

all photos shared with the permission of owners.

18/09/2024

Ever seen your cat pull a funny face, that looks like a grimace? Ever wondered what they are doing?
Don't worry this is not something to worry about, it is called the Flehmen response and happens when your cat is detecting scent/pheromones.
🐈‍⬛Cats use pheromones as a form of chemical communication between the species.
🐈‍⬛they are born with the natural ability of secreting, detecting and understanding pheromones.
🐈‍⬛cats secrete pheromones from various locations for various reasons such as intermingling scent with other cats (and humans) within their social group to make a communal scent, making it easy to identify members and maintain a positive relationship. Territory marking, helping a cat feel more confident and for sexual communication.
Pheromones are one way that cats communicate various messages. The territorial signals can help a cat decide whether to continue on its path, helps them to identify who has been there and how long ago, therefore providing the advantage of preventing face to face aggressive encounters with other cats.
Information that may be gained from investigating pheromones includes gender, physiological state, past social and environment experience, sexual receptivity, fitness and familiarity.
Pheromones can also be investigated by the cat that deposited them as they can serve as a reassuring signal to increase familiarity in their territory.

How do they secrete pheromones?
😸 facial rubbing- cats have various glands on their faces for this and so far 5 different pheromones types have been identified. They will rub on you, furniture and other companion animals.
😸Tail wrapping-often seen between cats but you may notice them wrap their tail around you.
😸Scratching- yes your cat is not just maintaining their claws when scratching or leaving visual territorial marking, they are also leaving pheromone deposits from the pads of their feet.
😸Leaving deposits in urine (urine spraying) and in faeces (middening).
😸Females also deposit them from their mammary glands when nursing.

How do they detect these pheromones?
Did you know your cat has a special organ for this known as the vomeronasal organ (VNO)? It can be found within the hard palate.
The pheromones can be drawn into the area from the nose when a cat is breathing. Or through two little ducts in the roof of your cats mouth behind the upper front teeth.
Tips:
💡avoid cleaning any facial or tail deposits that your cat has left on furniture, corners etc they help your cat feel secure in their territory. If you really don't like the look of theses greasy deposits then you can fit special brushes that your cat can continue to rub on, whilst getting a little bonus groom.
💡If your cat has started to excessively scratch or started urine spraying in the home this could be a sign that your cat is feeling insecure in the territory-perhaps something has changed in the environment, or a new cat has moved into the neighbourhood.



All photos and videos shared with permission from owners.

14/09/2024

11/09/2024

are you looking to extend the summer by getting away? Need someone to look after your cat? I am available for local
You can contact me directly here or on my or profiles
https://catinaflat.co.uk/pet-sitter/668213
https://www.pawshake.co.uk/sitter/EU_HTtzgSTe4qq

03/09/2024

Right now, we are facing possibly the greatest challenge to cat welfare due to overpopulation that we have seen in decades.

24/08/2024

Did you know that your cats dream too?

It is thought that they dream for similar reasons to why we do. To help them process and understand the days events.
They could be dreaming about the play session they had with you, the bird they saw from the window or rehearsing their next hunting session ❤️
Signs your cat is dreaming include:
🐈 facial and body twitching like in the below video 👇👇👇
🐈 little vocalisations such as chattering
🐈 eye movements under the eyelids
🐈 snoring 😂
🐈 funny sleep positions

What does your cat do when they are dreaming?
#

23/08/2024

Please see our below position statement, as part of The Cat Group, on ‘Bully’ and ‘Dwelf’ cats.

The Cat Group is a collection of professional organisations dedicated to feline welfare through joint campaigns and collaborative research, making expert recommendations on the care and keeping of all cats.

The Cat Group is very concerned about the breeding and promotion of so-called ‘Bully’ or ‘Dwelf’ cats.
We are completely opposed to the breeding of cats with extreme physical characteristics that negatively impact on their welfare and quality of life.

‘Bully’ and ‘Dwelf’ cats suffer from physical deformities, including hairlessness and distorted limbs, among other defects. Breeding for deformity is unethical and causes unacceptable pain and suffering. These defects, particularly limb deformities (short, bowed legs) and abnormal joints are painful and restrict mobility, thus preventing these cats from carrying out normal behaviours essential for their welfare and their ability to live a good quality of life.

The Cat Group strongly urges breeders to cease breeding ‘Bully’ or ‘Dwelf’ cats. These cats should not be promoted in any way, for example through social media, or by their presence at cat shows.

We ask the public not to buy these cats under any circumstances; doing so is irresponsible as it promotes popularity and leads to more cats with these issues being born to suffer.

More information about the health issues affecting ‘Bully’ and ‘Dwelf’ cats is available on the iCatCare website
https://icatcare.org/advice/dwelf/?fbclid=IwAR0WJl3yNt7wFWIfMThOxP44oPkPwzKR_oPTaptKbQUM6b-9NtZoEDNeTt8