Dr Dunkle Cat Chat

06/04/2024

🤣 !!! 😹
(You just got to love cats? Don’t you? 😙😻)


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05/04/2024

Just as we have different needs during different phases of our lives, so do cats. (It’s just that cats age faster so their needs change faster too!)
Check out this article by AAFP that outlines some of these needs.
(Note: the AAFP post forgets the fifth life stage in cats that more and more are entering lately… “geriatric”, 16 years and up!😸 Think 84+yr old human)

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Cats have four life stages: kitten, young adult, mature adult, and senior. They become a senior cat when they are 11 years old, which is about 60 in human years. Senior cats have unique needs, and understanding the physical and emotional changes that happen as your cat ages can help you make the most of their golden years. Learn more at https://bit.ly/49b7o1X.

05/04/2024

There’s nothing more comforting than to have a cat sitting on top of you purring…. Or as sweet as to wake up because a cat gently kissed you…. 😽🥰 Happiness certainly is…. 😺

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04/04/2024

“Kitty vs Godzilla”! No question who is the mightier force! 😺🐾🐾😽🥰🐾🐾🤣

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03/04/2024

A cat allowing his human to rub his belly shows that there is a VERY intimate relationship going on. Bellies are a very vulnerable part of the body for a cat to allow just anyone to touch! So be honored if your cat loves your belly rubs! 😽🥰
BUT, each individual cat has her limit to how long she’ll allow her belly to be rubbed. 😼 So learn what your cat’s limits are by paying attention to when she starts to tense, thoughtfully thump the end of her tail, and/or turn her ears sideways… and then stop rubbing immediately before you get a reprimanding bite! 😳 Or be nipped or bitten a couple of times as you learn what is “too long” of a belly rub for your cat… 😼😳😸
So when your cat offers you her belly to rub and then bites you as you’re rubbing, don’t worry! Your cat isn’t schizophrenic or conniving! She’s a cat! …. and expects you to know from her “obvious” cat signs when the rubbing should end! After all, don’t we all speak “Cat”! 😄


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02/04/2024

I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely been there! 😄
(Isn’t everything that dangles a cat toy? 😳😸)

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01/04/2024

Only a cat can express the worse mood… and still look cute! 😙😼


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31/03/2024

🤣 Shh… Don’t tell anyone that there’s a cat hiding out among the Easter Bunny Team! 🐇😸 🐇
Well, anyway… Happy Easter to you and your very “inventive” cats! 💕

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30/03/2024

Cat (to human) communication 101. 🤣😸

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29/03/2024

Very good, “Little One”! 👏 😸 Yes, salads, vegetable or fruit, should NOT be part of a cat’s diet! Cats are obligate carnivores! They need to eat diets that are at least 97% poultry, animal, and/or fish! . (Not fruits, starches, and vegetables.) They need a balanced (for cats) diet high in fat and protein and that fat and protein must come from meat, chicken, and fish! Otherwise, they’ll slowly diet of malnutrition. 🙀 It’s just that important!

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29/03/2024

Today is “Respect Your Cat Day”! (Of course! Isn’t everyday?😺)


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28/03/2024

Cats are characters! A sure way to make your cat NOT want to be picked up and hugged is to pick up your cat and hug her against her will. 🙀

I know! You’re looking at your cat and you can’t resist the urge to just pick her up and hug the stuffings out of her. …Or hold her tight as you carry her off to bed or a comfy chair… But don’t! Cats fight and resist anything that is not their original idea.

If you do break down and hold your cat, let your cat go the split second that she starts to tense, indicating that a struggle to leave is coming soon. Once a struggle occurs, your cat will avoid for a while (possibly forever) being captured by your arms.

Instead, let your cat come to you to be petted. Let your cat jump up to sit in or near your lap. 😽🥰 You can make your lap more inviting with a nice blanket or pillow on it … or even some tasty treats to offer your cat as the two of you sit together.

In terms of petting, never pet in such a way that you’re pushing down or restraining your cat in any way. In fact, until you learn how your cat likes to be petted, just offer your hand, fingers slightly curled and palm down. If your cat rubs against your fingers then you can gently pet your cat a bit… until your cat wants the leave. 🙀 But patience will eventually encourage your cat to stay for a peacefully long time. 😽🥰

I know the frustration this brings to all cat parents! I often just want to grab my cat and hold and hug her! But, like you, I need to restrain myself so that I can enjoy the wonderful physical affection that my cat will bestow on me… when she wants to! 😸 ….

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27/03/2024

THE LEGEND OF THE P***Y WILLOW
(Warning: This is a tearful, but sweet, legend. 😿😢😙😻)
According to an old Polish legend, many spring-times ago a mother cat was crying at the bank of the river in which her kittens were drowning. The willows at the river’s edge longed to help her, so they swept their long graceful branches into the waters to rescue the tiny kittens who had fallen into the river while chasing butterflies. The kittens gripped on tightly to their branches and were safely brought to shore.
Each springtime since, goes the legend, the willow branches sprout tiny fur-like buds at their tips where the tiny kittens once clung. 💕
-Author unknown

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26/03/2024

Cats are masters at hiding illness and pain! It comes from not wanting to let anyone that may hurt them know that they are vulnerable if attacked. But we loving cat parents need to know when our cats are in pain, so that we can get them relief from this pain!
Check out this brochure to help you know when your cat is hurting…. 😿

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Cats are masters at hiding pain and discomfort. Behavior changes in your cat can be a sign that they are in pain. Get to know the subtle signs of pain by downloading our brochure at https://bit.ly/4c0rKxD.

26/03/2024

Zoom meeting from home… Look familiar? 😳😸🤣

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25/03/2024

A cat’s ability to annoy and frustrate transcends the galaxies!!!! 😳😺
But oh how cute they are while doing it! 🤣


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24/03/2024

I think that one of the things that I love the best about cats is that they are so selective of with whom they are willing to live. If a cat’s current human isn’t serving him/her sufficiently, the cat finds another human and “rewards” that human with “favors” of companionship. Sometimes that new human is within the same household. Sometimes the cat has to wander down the street to find a suitable human. 😀👍🐈‍⬛😳
But (and here’s the good part!) if your cat has been continuing to live with you and hasn’t left you for another, then you MUST be serving your cat well!!! You’ve passed the test and have earned the prize! You must be “the best ever”, because your cat would NEVER settle for less! 😸😽🥰

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23/03/2024

Comfy window perches…Bird feeders outside your cat’s favorite window…These are what makes for great “Cat TV” and a REALLY Happy Cat! 😸

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22/03/2024

Now how did she know that? 🤣😹

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21/03/2024

Ah, life with a cat! 😳 But then would any of us trade it for something else?💕

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20/03/2024

Don’t worry little one! Being a “clingy cat” doesn’t make you less of a “cat”! It just makes you a devoted lifelong companion to your human! 😽🥰

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19/03/2024

Reminder: Lilies, including Easter Lilies, are beautiful. But if your cat brushes up against the flower or nibbles on a tiny piece of any part of the lily, it will probably kill your cat, unless your cat receives immediate emergency veterinary care! 🙀😢
So, this Easter season, keep Lilies out of the house and keep Easter happy! 😙😻


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18/03/2024

Ah, yes, the challenges of having a team of “cat helpers” (or even one “cat helper”) when you’re trying to work… 😸😳😺. Ok, it’s annoying, but when your assistant is that soft and charming it’s hard to get truly mad… 🤨😽🥰 Agree? 😸

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17/03/2024

Well, in spite of that 🤣 I hope that you and your cat have a VERY Happy St Patrick’s Day! 😸

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16/03/2024

…Watching for the Tuna Fleet to come in… 😺😺😺

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15/03/2024

The cat hissing… swatting… growling… yeowing… and making sounds that sound downright scary! These are all part of the way cats communicate… especially with each other.

In the wild, cats have an “intermediate” position in the food chain where they are both prey and predator. Combine that with their small size and cats are quite vulnerable to being harmed and killed if they are not extremely careful and cunning.

Consequently, it’s a cat’s instinct to be defensive when they approach a new situation or environment and when a new animal (or person) approaches them. This may take on the form of running and hiding or, if there’s no where to escape or it’s a question of retaining a much needed resource, the defensiveness takes on the form of looking extremely scary! Hissing so sharp teeth show; Swatting to show off those sharp claws; And puffing up and/or standing tall on their rear legs in order to look bigger; are all ways that cats communicate “I’m big and ferocious and will hurt you bad if you try to hurt me… So Don’t!!!!! 🙀

Almost all cats and many animals, given a way to escape from this crazy cat will do so …. Or at least back off enough for the “crazy cat” to escape.
It’s when there is no place to escape (e.g.,- too many cats or animals in a small space) or when the cat signs aren’t read properly by the other party (as in the case of humans facing a cat) and therefore no backing off happens, that actual fights with potential injury occur.

So if your cat is hissing and swatting at you, back off from your cat immediately and stay calm. (Your being upset worsens your cat’s defensive state.).

If your cat hisses, etc at another cat let them finish “the conversation” as you remain calm and stay totally out of their argument. If there are multiple places that both cats can instantaneously run to get away, it will almost always end with loud “argument” only. (Occasionally one cat will chase the other cat to his hiding place before ending the argument, but again, it’s just a loud scary argument, not a fight!).

Fights happen if the one being hissed and swatted at doesn’t understand “cat” and therefore doesn’t verbally argue or quickly back off appropriately. (So, if a dog or person doesn’t quickly leave the argument, remove them from the fight before the cat is pushed to fighting!).

And fighting results if we humans get excited and verbalize our fears and terrors of the “conversation” between the cats. (Remember, our cats get extra scared and defensive when we’re excited or fearful. So we can push our cat or the other cat to fight by just being upset!). Or we keep interrupting the “conversation” between cats and, since they still have things to work out between them, we push each repeat “conversation” to become more and more “aggressive”, until a full force, blood and injury fight results.

So let your cat hiss, swat, growl, yeow, etc as he wishes! He’s just expressing fear or frustration. Stay calm! And try to figure out what scared or upset your cat so that you can later help your cat feel safer in his environment. But never prevent him from saying “Hey! I’m scared! Don’t hurt me!!!l”. For expressing fear and defensiveness is normal for us all! And doing it so that you could sell the sounds to Steven King is just “cat”! 🤣

14/03/2024

Well, you know what they say…”Behind every genius is a cat inspiring him (or her)!”…. 🤔😺

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13/03/2024

It’s tempting…. Your cat has a knot in his fur and you just want to cut it out… But Don’t! PUT DOWN THOSE SCISSORS!!! Due to a cat’s “stretchy skin” it’s just too easy to cut the skin when you’re sure that you’re only cutting the knot!
Instead, take your cat to the groomer or your cat’s veterinarian to have the knot shaved off. Good professional clippers in the hands of someone who knows what she is doing will enable the knot to be removed.

Of course, since it’s a real pain to take our cats anywhere, the best plan is to practice “knot avoidance”: Deep and ultra-fine comb your cat every 1 to 2 days, depending on how much he sheds. (Make it a “fun” activity for your cat and slowly wean up on the length of time spent combing so that your cat will allow it). 😺

Definitely run your hand over your cat everyday and, if you feel an early knot (loose clump of fur) forming, gently loosen it with your fingers and remove it. (Then do an ultra fine combing asap after you’ve removed the knot to prevent a new knot from forming there in the near future.)

Be aware that knots are just shed fur that got caught up in itself before it fell out or was groomed off. (Which is why combing and petting is important.). But nothing makes a knot form and get tight quicker than the fur getting wet and then the clump of shed fur tightening as it dries!
So if your cat becomes wet accidentally, quickly (before it dries) comb out any shed fur from that area of the coat and periodically recomb until the fur is totally dry.
If you plan to make your cat wet for any reason, comb all the shed fur off your cat before your cat becomes wet. (I’m not a big proponent of bathing a cat, partly due to the damage done to a cat’s coat, but I do know that some cats like to swim, jump into the bath or shower, or go boating with their people. Plus a lot of cats get “wet bibs” when they drink or eat. These cats need to be combed A LOT to keep the knots down!)

So bottom line, try to prevent knots with frequent combing, especially if your cat becomes wet (or even damp). But if knots do develop, put down the scissors and call your groomer or veterinarian! Knots are uncomfortable to the cat. But not as uncomfortable as the inevitable cut by a loving cat parent! 🙀

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12/03/2024

That pretty much describes a kitten! Doesn’t it? 😺 Crazy and then sound asleep with almost split second changes in settings! 😸🙀🤪😺😙😻

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