Welcome to April 2009 edition of the Happy Cat Ezine I can't believe it's April already, it seems just like five minutes ago I was putting the Christmas decorations away. Things have been a little hectic around here lately as my home as been invaded by builders, who have kindly demolished our kitchen and bathroom (long story as why this had to happen), leaving me in rather a mess. I have been rather worried about Little Mo during all the work as cats do not like a lot of change or noise etc. But she seems to be coping really well, she doesn't even mind that her food and litter box have been moved at least 5 times in the last month, what a star. The website continues to go from strength to strength and I hope you come and visit us regularly to find out what's new etc. Subscribing to the RSS feed to our blog will keep you up to date. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who continues to contribute to the site in various ways, submitting stories, poems, pictures etc. it all helps to make Our-Happy-Cat.Com a really vibrant cat community online. Thank You. Don't forget to enter the cat competition again this month. I really enjoy reading all your humorous captions and the prizes aren't bad either. Until next month Best Wishes Kate ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS 1. What's new on Our Happy Cat.Com 2. Competition 3. Little Mo's Diary Update 4. Article - Pica And Other Cat Eating Problems   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What's new on Our Happy Cat.Com Cat Poems We have been lucky enough to welcome a new very poetical visitor and contributor to our site over the past month. Mike O'brien who comes from New Zealand has been submitting great cat poems all month to the site and I must say his work definitely brings a smile to your face. Here is one of his shorter poems: Owned by a cat We have just got a cat, I'm he,s servant for life Now he's trained me I bet he'll start on my Wife So if you get a Cat, I can tell you for sure They own you for life once there feet pass the door. I enjoyed his work so much and he had submitted so much over the past month that I felt he warranted his own page on the site. If you would like to read more of Mikes poems, why not visit his page . You may even feel like submitting one of your own cat poems. The more the merrier. Pedigree Cats As many of you will know I have a whole section on the site about different cat breeds. I try to add new breeds every month and this month I have added Spynx cats and Tonkinese to the ever growing list. Over recent months there has been lots of discussion about the ethical breeding of some dog breeds and there associated health defects and risks. Well this discussion has flowed over to the world of cat breeding too. I was interested to find out more about some of the possible health risks associated with some cat breeds and I came across a video posted by the Feline Advisory Bureau which discusses some of the things you should know and consider if you are thinking of owning a pedigree cat. You can find the video on my Cat Breed page. Cat of the week A little reminder to vote for your favorite cat on our Photo Galleries (there are now three galleries). Every week the cat who receives the most votes is highlighted on the Cat Of The Week Page   Don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed for our What's New cat Blog. Every time a new submission is made a new entry is added to the blog and the only sure way of keeping up to day is to be automatically notified when this happens. Plus you get to see the new daily Garfield cartoon as well, a sure way to brighten anyone's day. So click on the RSS button on the blog page Here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Competition Number April18 Here is April's Caption Competition. All you have to do is write a caption for this picture. You are the first to see it as it doesn't get posted onto the site for a few days, so it gives you extra time to get your entries in first. Simply send us your caption to go with this picture. picture by ButterflySha Click here to submit Caption The deadline for this competition is April 24th. The best caption will be chosen and the winners name and caption will be posted on the www.our-happy-cat.com competition page. This month the prize will be a copy of the book The Cat Owner's Survival Guide by Martin Baxendale. A humorous little book full of cat mischief. GOOD Luck         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Little Mo's Diary Update Happy Cat Diary 1st March 2009 Well the house remains in a terrible mess and things seem to disappear and then crop up somewhere else. It is very confusing for a little cat like me. I am enjoying exploring all the new nooks and crannies and climbing inside boxes and finding new places to sleep. It keeps me on the go and now that spring has sprung, I find I have much more energy to use up before bedtime. Little Mo Click here to read more of Little Mo’s Diary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Article - Pica And Other Cat Eating Problems Most cat owners will notice from time to time that their cat decides for no apparent reason that they just don't like their cat food any more and won't eat it. This often completely puzzles a cat owner, as usually their cat just can't get enough of their so-called favorite food. Everything a cat does, even if it is the strangest behavior you've ever seen is always caused by something. It is never because they are being awkward or naughty and the secret to finding out why they no longer like their food is to look at it through the eyes of the cat. This way the cause is often much clearer. The two most obvious reasons a cat may no longer want its food, is firstly has the food gone bad. Sometimes cat food can become tainted in its packaging, check to see if the can has any dents in it or if there is damage to the packaging in any way. Smell the food your self and see if there are any unusual odours or any mould on the food. Secondly, is the cat ill in any way? Sometimes bad teeth can cause problems or they have a stomach bug. A vet should check out any suspicions of illness immediately. Other reasons why your cat won't eat its food are: Getting food elsewhere - your cat may be catching its own meals if you live in an area where rodents are prolific. Or a neighbour could be feeding them. Cats have fairly small stomachs and need time between meals to digest their food. So a non-hungry cat may just be full. Mating season - female cats when in season will go off their food naturally. So if you have a queen who stops eating but starts to display normal mating behaviour this is probably the cause. Changes in situation - cats are renowned for being very fussy about change and they generally like their world to remain consistent. So even something as small as changing their feeding bowl or area can cause them to feel insecure about eating. Look around for little changes that may be causing your cat some concern. Over feeding - In the wild cats choose to hunt and eat small rodents and birds. When you consider how much of a small meal this is, you may begin to realise that by providing your cat with a large bowl of food, you are providing too large a meal all at once. So when you see your cat eat a little then walk a way it's not that they are "off their food", it's because they want time to digest what they have just eaten. Unfortunately if the rest of the food is left to sit in the bowl all day it is likely become less appealing and the cat will not eat it. Most cats will self regulate their food intake like this but in some cases you will get a greedy cat who will stuff themselves with a large bowl of food leading to an overweight kitty. As a rule it's best to feed your cat small portions of food throughout the day to avoid overeating and wastage. A less unknown fact about a cats appetite and feeding habits is that they have an inbred instinct to change their diet from time to time. This is a survival mechanism to prevent starvation in the wild if a particular food source disappears. This instinct is still present even in our domestic cats that have no worries of this. So from time to time a cat that normally loves to eat, say fish may suddenly only want chicken. From an owners point of view this is not only inconvenient but may also cause concern if their cat just won't eat it normal food. A solution is to always have some other flavour of food in stock for these occasions so that worries of ill health can be eliminated from the owner's minds. A more serious eating problem known as Pica that some cats suffer from is a rather unusual condition where a cat will choose to eat non-food items. The most common substances are rubber, electric cables, fabric and wool. The cause of this unusual eating behaviour is unknown, although it is thought that it may be caused by under stimulation, in other words boredom. This is because most cases are reported amongst indoor cats, who do not have the normal cat stimulus of hunting, exploring and climbing etc. At present there is no cure for Pica but as it is quite dangerous for cats to eat these substances, the main treatment is to make the substances they crave either inaccessible or taste very unpleasant. Whilst at the same time making their environment more stimulating and interesting, with toys, climbing frames and games. One such game is to hide small treats inside tubes or boxes, so that the cat has to seek them out and has to put some effort into retrieving them.