First of all, i would never try to advise people not to give cats psychiatric medications for cats if they really need them. Some cats need them. But my Sooty didn't, and for 2 years it took away his personality. Don't worry, this story has a (very unexpected) happy ending!! My Sooty has always chased my brother's cat Perla, and in spite of the fact that he and Perla are both fixed he has always behaved aggressively (and sometimes amorously) toward her. The vet told us it's not his fault,…

Anyone who knows my name also knows I am the author of several cat care books that have won awards, a certified cat behaviorist and rehabilitate feral cats.

Well, I am working on a new book (several new books actually, but only one that's cat stories) and I could use your help in choosing a name for the book. 

Even though editors always change the titles of my books, this book is the first that I have ever put out on my own without going through the "proper" channels. That…

Feral cats cannot be blamed for being feral. People expect them not to eat birds and wildlife, but what else are they supposed to eat? You can't expect them not to eat!! Feral cats are as sweet and loving as any other kind of cats. The reason there are so many feral cats is because many pet owners are irresponsible- they don't get their cats desexed, causing overpopulation, crowded animal shelters, etc. Also, irresponsible pet owners often abandon their pets, causing them to become feral. If…

I frequently hear cat people say they are adopting a kitten to keep their older adult cat company. In some cases these older cats have been the king and queen of their households, enjoying the luxury of having their person all to themselves. And there are also situations that involve older, adult cats who have suffered the loss of a bonded or maybe not so bonded resident other.

Some cats enjoy the company of another cat—others prefer a solitary cat-free life. Before bringing home a…

The first cat I ever had was an orange male named Tom , with a charming little curl of a tail. He was born to my uncle's cat Lily, a calico mouser. Lily and my uncle lived in a small, rented house on acreage facing the beach on California's Central Coast.

This was the early 1980s, before the massive campaigns for low cost spaying and neutering that has since taken place. Lily, like many rural outdoor cats, had numerous litters of kittens. This was bad, first, because not all of them…

In today’s economic climate, many cat lovers find themselves agonizing over how to pay for treatments for the kitties. We all love our cats, and for many of us, they are members of the family. But what to do when we have a senior cat (10 plus years) which begins to develop health problems?

In this blog, I will share a few tricks my family and I have discovered for offering home care to senior cats with health problems. I would like to emphasize that before administering medications…

Today, while attending a wonderful poetry event at the Gillis Branch librarian Fresno, I was momentarily distracted by the display one of the librarians had put up of a black cat with its back arched.

It’s nearly Halloween, and this is the time when the more mysterious side of our feline friends is celebrated.  Inky felines abound, as stuffed animals, Halloween decorations, and in Halloween-themed cartoons and films.

Yet, while our image of the Chat Noir at Halloween is now…

My cats tend to drink quite a bit of milk, i swap it over to water whenever i can because my mum has a habit of giving them milk literally every day.

Is this right? is it okay for cats to religiously drink milk?

I know you can get Whiskers own brand cat milk, and then there is the whole question of, "Are cats lactose intolerant?"

The more i tell my mum to offer the cats water instead, she just complains, and swaps it back to milk as if my point isn't even…

Cats are by nature crepuscular. It's a word I don't like very much as its sounds creepy, but it means they are most active at dawn and dusk. This could be related to their hunting instincts as many prey animals are also most active at these times.

But what it means to me is that in the summer, Rain wants to be up early -- too early. She has a window seat that gets the morning sun and she usually will lay about on it, absorbing the morning sun until 6 a.m., maybe 6:30 if I'm lucky.…

Rain  and I have a routine, one that she only lets me stray from occasionally on Sundays.  She sometimes lets me sleep in then--sometimes.

Part of the routine involves her playtimes and nap times, and, of course, the times she gets fed, but one of the important parts for both of us is the bonding over brushing.

Choosing a brush

When we first got Rain, we had no idea what kind of brush to buy. So we got several.  Actually, we started with…

My beloved kitty Rain didn't start out as a perfect house pet. In fact, when we first saw her, she was darting out from

under my car where she had been hiding from the rain.

Guess how we picked her name?

The second time we saw her, she was lounging on a camp chair on my porch, using the towel that cleaned my gardening shears as a blanket. Rain was amazingly comfortable with people and began to rub against

our ankles immediately but that's not true of…

I have a black/white bicolor named Obi (who has a mustache that looks like an infamous dictator) who loves to eat things most cats tend not to eat. Obi loves Club Crackers, Chex Mix, potato chips (Pringle's Cheddar Cheese seems to be his favorite), French Fries (especially In-n-Out's fries), and corn on the cob. 

He also is great on prewashing dishes and seems to enjoy vanilla ice cream, lasagne,  and blue cheese dressing (from salad plates/bowls).  Anyone else have cats with…

...or just a weird dose of my own reality, I have created a blog (www.notacrazycatlady.com) where I post drawings of mostly cats, of course.  I call them cattoons.  :)  They make me giggle and that's the most important but I'll bet you can relate with my strange kitties and their stories and will enjoy it, too.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

If anyone has their own funny stories/ideas…