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Cats are very clean animals by nature. If they no longer use their cat toilet correctly or don't clean themselves adequately, this is the first warning sign of serious health or psychological problems! Poor feline hygiene manifests itself in different manners and cannot be overlooked if your cat does its business outside of its litter box. Equally, if your cat no longer cleans itself or does so too regularly, this can indicate a serious mental or psychological illness.

In the first few weeks of life, kittens absorb a wealth of information from their mother and their siblings. However, the importance of bringing up a kitten through human contact cannot be overstated. This combination of learning from different sources is the best way to prepare your kitten for its journey through life.   The cat mother will take care of the socialisation aspect: she will do everything she can to make ready her kittens for whatever comes their way and give them the wisdom to thrive as fully-fledged cats. The motto? Learn by doing.   Your job is a little different: the first task is to make your new friend understand that the furniture in your home is not intended as a scratch post. It is generally helpful to understand why your cat does this before trying to change behaviours. Everyone knows that dogs use urine to mark their territory, but it is a lesser known fact that scratching releases odours to that serve as territorial markers. This scent is undetected by the human nose, but does not escape cats and other animals. Scratching also keeps claws sharp and healthy, while allowing cats to stretch and shake off any lethargy. So, scratching is totally normal behaviour for cats, and you should simply direct their attention away from your prized furniture and towards one of these cat trees or perhaps a scratching pads or boards. As long as you are patient and kind, you should easily be able to get this across to your cat.

Cats are very clean animals by nature. If they no longer use their cat toilet correctly or don't clean themselves adequately, this is the first warning sign of serious health or psychological problems! Poor feline hygiene manifests itself in different manners and cannot be overlooked if your cat does its business outside of its litter box. Equally, if your cat no longer cleans itself or does so too regularly, this can indicate a serious mental or psychological illness.

Bladder infections affecting dogs (cystitis) mostly emerge in connection to the urethra being inflamed, so it should not be treated in isolation. The urethra and bladder are known together as the lower urinary tract.

There can be many different causes for your beloved cat reacting sensitively to its favorite food, suddenly losing fur, breaking out in a rash, vomiting or its digestion going haywire. However, good advice doesn't necessarily have to be expensive! When it comes to nutrition for cats with allergies or food intolerances , the main priority is to avoid allergenic ingredients and specifically cater to the cat's special requirements.

When both cats and dogs form part of your household, you may ask yourself if it would be harmful for them to eat from the other animal's bowl. There is a clear answer to this: dogs and cats need their own specific food. However, it's no cause for great concern if your canine companion occasionally has a nibble at the contents of your cat's bowl or vice versa. Be aware though that 90% of illnesses that cats and dogs suffer from can be traced back to inappropriate food.