Keeping Kitten Safe
There are many things you can do to make sure your cat has a long and happy life, the most important is to keep your cat indoors, or if you do let it out let it out in a secure pen in the garden or on a leash and harness set, very much like you see dogs wearing. In my short time if speaking to other breeders and being in contact with many different cat owners I have heard countless tales of heartache where someone had a much loved cat that went out and got hit by a car, usually fatally, I have heard of cats that have been stolen because of their beauty and markings not usually seen on the streets and also, the most awful I think, is when your cat goes out and simply never comes home again, you spend weeks, months and years never knowing if he is alive, or in pain somewhere suffering, or is dead. Please please don’t let any of your animals become one of these victims, even if you don’t have a kitten from us many breeders will have the same hopes and wishes of their kittens as we do. If you must let your cat out to roam free and be at risk then please go to a local animal shelter where many of their cats are streetwise and have had experience of fending for themselves outside and the staff can match a cat to your needs better then we can.
Even if you do keep your cat inside there are still many hidden dangers that people don’t even think of, lurking about that could easily kill a curious kitten or cat. There are also the obvious ones such as electrocution by biting through cables and leads from electrical appliances. People don’t give up electrical items when they get a cat, there are perfectly good items you can get to protect your cats and cables. Also cats escaping through the window, no one could be expected to keep their windows shut in a very hot, sunny day so there are measures you can take to have the best of both worlds, if you fit window screens like the ones they have in hot countries the cats cant get out, the windows can be opened and also they have the added benefit of keeping insects and flies out which is not only more hygienic but a lot nicer then having an annoying buzzing sound about the house.
danger to your cats that a lot of people don’t realise is the products you use to combat germs themselves, cleaning products, now we don’t expect you to stop cleaning your house when kitty arrives, it’s about choosing the RIGHT things to clean with! A lot of household products contain something called Phenols, for all you scientific minds out there Phenols are “alcohol like” compounds that have more then one hydroxyl group bound to a benzene ring. Now these are usually easy to spot, you take your cleaning product and add water, if it contains Phenols then the water will go cloudy. Phenols are very poisonous to cats, please do not use cleaning products containing this compound. An Example of phenols in the household is (but not limited to) disinfectants. Also other cleaning products are highly poisonous to cats, the detergents and tablets you use in your dishwasher, furniture polish. There are obvious dangers too such as rat poison, insecticide, and slug pellets. Also medicines either human or animal can be dangerous, like it would be in a human, if you take too many, or something that is not prescribed to you its not good. For those of you that like to tinker with your cars, fluids are not good for cats, please keep antifreeze and the like in the garage or an outdoor shed.
Don’t forget foods too, cat food is designed for cats, human food quite often contains additives, and salt and animals cant digest this easily, the kindest thing by far to do would be to ignore your pets begging at the table and just feed it the food designed for them. Of course the odd treat of chicken breast and beef or fish is beneficial and a nice treat for them, but not too often. You must be careful not to feed tuna to cats, it contains mercury, and also milk believe it or not. Cow milk can be very bad for cats, and can upset their tummies, if you want to feed milk you can get specific cat milk for cats from most superstores and pet shops, this is much better for the cat. Chocolate is very poisonous to cats and dogs, even the tiniest amount can be fatal.
Please take a look on the links page for the window screens and cable covers that could save your cats life one day. Certain plants are so deadly to cats it only takes the cat to brush up against the plant and then later licks its fur and it can be fatal.
Dangerous Plants
Please note that this is not the complete list, it is a very comprehensive list but I cannot guarantee that if the plant is not on this list that your cat will be safe if he ingests it. The easiest policy in my eyes would be to have silk flowers only but for those who do like to have fresh flowers please be careful and supervise your cat around them at all times, also please be aware that plants sometimes have several names and if one name is not on this list another of its names might be.
This list was reproduced to help identify plants that are poisonous to cats, put together by Christine Hughes of Merrydancer cats and she kindly allowed me to link to it here.