I love a good bed cat, and I’m fortunate that I have three. All of my girls pack onto the bed with me, sleeping on me, under the covers or next to me.

When we first got Violet, she wasn’t allowed in the bedroom. My husband is allergic to cats, and the bedroom was going to be the one cat-free space in the apartment.

Fortunately, his will crumbled before mine did, and Violet had soon insinuated herself onto the bed, sleeping between us (and having occasional night time adventures across the top of the headboard.) By the time we got the other two, cats were an established fixture in the bed, and I’d never go back.

I’m not sure exactly what it is about bed cats. There’s something extremely soothing and relaxing about being surrounded by cats while you sleep. And it’s not that I generally enjoy being touched or restricted in my movements at night – drape your arm over me while I sleep and I’ll fidget in discomfort until you move it or till I shove it off. But pin me down with cats so that I can’t move a single limb, much less change position and I’ll happily stay in bed long after I had planned to get up.

Sleeping with cats is special. It’s comfortable and loving and adds another dimension to the relationship we have with our cats – they love us and trust us and grace us with their presence. I intuitively feel the value in this gift they give and I deeply appreciate it. I know they could easily fall asleep anywhere else – on the couch, on the pile of reusable grocery bags in the corner, in my laundry pile, in the middle of the kitchen floor… but they choose to sleep with me.

Do you let your cats sleep in the bed with you? Are they cuddlers or do they prefer to find their own sleeping spaces? Do you have cats that go under the covers?

There is nothing quite so fine as the quiet comfort and love of a cat when you are feeling down or stressed out. Cats seem to have the amazing ability to make any situation seem a little less grim.

My cats love furry cat toys. There’s something about real fur that brings out the primal kitty in them. With real fur toys they play longer and more enthusiastically and they just seem to enjoy their toys more.

By far one of their favourites are Hartz Mini Mice and Kitty Frenzy – both real fur mice with a rubbery centre. They have a bit of weight to them and they bounce nicely and make for hours of fun.

However, despite my cats’ great love for real fur toys, I don’t buy them any more.

Ethical problems with fur

Before you bristle in indignation (or pat me on the back) please understand – I don’t have a broad ethical objection to fur in general. I eat meat, I feed my cats meat, I wear leather and I don’t have a problem with hunting or farming animals. As long as it is done humanely.

And there is where I have issues with real fur cat toys.

Most fur trim on novelties and small items, such as on cat toys, is rabbit fur imported from China. If you’re not familiar with China’s horrific track record when it comes to animal welfare abuses, there’s plenty of reading on Google. To briefly sum up some of the issues with imported fur:

• Animals are often kept packed together in tiny, filthy cages, with not even enough space to turn around.
• Animals are frequently skinned alive and then tossed aside to suffer horribly in their last moments.
• Fur is often mislabelled. What is sold as rabbit fur may actually be dog, cat, raccoon dog or any number of other fur bearing animals. In fact, once you remove the head, paws, tail and internal organs, cat and rabbit carcasses are virtually indistinguishable.
• Many animals are raised for their fur, but that imported fur could be someone’s pet that was snatched off the street.

And while it’s easy to focus on China, North American and European fur trapping and raising practises are also barbaric. Again, we have animals that have a wide natural range confined to tiny cages, normally solitary animals confined in close proximity to each other, poor care, inhumane killing methods, inhumane trapping practises and all sorts of other acts of cruelty. There’s also the matter of waste – raising an animal for nothing but its skin.

What about humanely farmed fur?

I spoke with a Hartz representative a while back, as I was concerned about the source of the fur that was used in my kitties’ favoured toys. They confirmed that the fur came from China, that it was rabbit fur and that it was obtained humanely.

I’m a naturally sceptical person, but I’m inclined to give Hartz the benefit of the doubt. If they say that their fur is humanely obtained rabbit fur, then I believe that they believe that is the truth.

But I’m still not going to buy anything made with imported fur, because in the end, I just don’t know enough about the source. The fact remains that suppliers have deceived their buyers in the past and it could happen again. People who thought they were buying rabbit fur, fur that was labelled as rabbit fur, have received fur from companion animals. I’m not willing to entertain that risk. I don’t know about you, but even the slight chance that my cats’ toys might contain the fur of another cat that was skinned alive is too much of a chance for me.

Left: cat fur; centre: unknown animal fur; right: rabbit fur. Would you be able to tell the difference?

Have your cake fur and… eat it too?

However, just because I’m not going to buy mass produced fur toys from corporate giants (or unknown dollar store brands), doesn’t mean my cats have to give up real fur toys for good. There are still sources of fur that I can feel comfortable with:

• Second-hand fur coats. Readily available at the Salvation Army and other second hand shops. While there are no guarantees about the original source of the fur, you won’t be contributing to the proliferation of the fur industry. Coats in good condition have gone up in price lately (around here anyway) but you can get a ridiculous number of cat toys out of a full length fur coat. If you can find a coat that is slightly ratty and cheaper, bonus! The cats won’t care if the fur is slightly worn. They’re just going to chew the hell out of it anyway.

  Note: Clean the fur with a cat-friendly cleaner before you turn it into toys. It may have been sprayed with Febreeze, stored in mothballs or treated with some other chemical cleaner that would be bad for kitty.

• Rabbit farmers. While rabbits certainly aren’t the most popular meat animals, there’s a good chance that there’s a small rabbit farming operation near where you live. Some meat rabbit operations may tan the hides, while others just throw them away. Whether you buy pre-tanned hides, or get the untanned hides and do it yourself, buying locally means you can check out the farm before hand and find out how the rabbits were raised and killed. You might even be fortunate enough to find that they make cat toys and other items from their pelts.
• Hunters. If you know any responsible hunters, ask them to save unwanted pelts for you. Most hunters will just dispose of the pelts after the finish dressing their kill, so chances are they will be up for grabs.
• Your cat (her shed fur that is). If you prefer an option that requires no animals be harmed, you can collect your cat’s fur when you have a brushing session and felt it.

* Tanning is a learned skill and quite a bit of work, so unless you have an interest in it or are really determined to prepare your own pelts, you’ll probably want to opt for sources of tanned pelts. Rabbit fur is ideal for cat toys, because it is soft and the thin skins are easy to sew. These qualities also make it one of the more challenging pelts to tan.

We need not sacrifice our ethics or turn a blind eye to cruelty in order to give our cats the things they enjoy.

What I’m doing

I still have a few fur toys kicking around the house, purchased before I clued into the major issues with imported fur. I’ll keep these around till they’re worn out, and then start making my own fur toys. I’ve made one attempt at tanning (epic fail) using the pelts of a couple of meat rabbits I bought at a local farm, and I have another fresh pelt from a wild rabbit sitting in the freezer. I’ll tackle it one of these days.

What are you thoughts on real fur toys? Do you buy them, avoid them or just not think about it? Do your cats love real fur, and would you go to the effort of making toys for them from safe sourced fur? Share your thoughts.

Toy photo from hartz.com
Fur photos by Michal Zacharzewski, Asif Akbar & Sirkullay.
Fur coat photo by RebeccaJBuckley.

Ugly Bat Boy is an unusual looking cat that resides at a New Hampshire vet clinic. He’s completely bald except for a thick fall of fur on his chest, and spends his days lounging on the computer at the Exeter Veterinary Hospital. He was one of a litter of four, with one sister who shared his unusual looks. You can read more about Ugly at WMUR New Hampshire.

While his name is Ugly, I think he’s a very handsome and exotic looking boy. I’ll also admit to having an affinity for unusual looking cats, particularly hairless ones (if  Sphynx ever popped up in our shelter I don’t think I’d be able to resist) and a fascination with the genetic and environmental factors that influence dramatic changes in appearance.

The distinctiveness and uniqueness of unusual looking cats has huge appeal to me. When I first saw Violet with her stubby paw and short tail I was immediately attracted to her, not just because of the soft spot I have for cats with issues (which I do – a huge, huge soft spot for cats with problems) but because her features really made her stand out.

When I was looking for a second cat, my first choice was a small black female with an unusually shaped face – with big round eyes and a very small lower jaw she bore a resemblance to a rabbit.

An orange tabby cat with big, clearly defined patches of brown tabby markings came up in the pet giveaway section of the online classifieds one day and it took all my will power not to respond to the ad and there are currently two white cats each with a black dot on their nose at our shelter that I am drawn to (Natasha and Penelope, both available for adoption by the way!)

While unusual looks can make it difficult to find an adopter at times, alternately they can make a cat stand out, when even getting noticed can be a challenge and a second may be all a cat gets to make an impression.

Do you find unconventional looks appealing or off putting? Do you prefer a classic looking cat or one whose appearance falls outside the norm (or are looks not a factor when it comes to choosing a cat?) Share your pictures and stories of unusual looking cats.

This picture was posted on Cute Overload a few days ago, and I’ll admit, I’m confused. What exactly is cute about a cat this obese? He certainly has a handsome face, but from the neck down he’s looking more tragic than cute. This cat should probably be 1/3 as wide as he currently is.

Thankfully his family is putting him on a diet, but it begs the question – why, as a culture of cat lovers, do we still have positive associations with the image of the overweight cat, when the negative health consequences of being over weight are so well known?

Many cat owners recognize the risks of an overweight kitty, but others still hold it up as an ideal.

Where does this attitude come from?

The strange perception of fat cats being cute probably comes from a variety of sources.

• Is it the happy fat cat image that is portrayed in the media (Garfield et al)?
  
• Is it lack of education by veterinarians and organizations that adopt out cats (shelters, pet stores, breeders etc) to new owners?
  
• Do cat owners lack the ability or education to distinguish between muscle mass (healthy weight) and fat mass (unhealthy weight)? Or even between a cat looking “fat” because of dense fur, vs a cat being fat because it is carrying excess weight?
• Do people just fail to make the connection that obesity is a health issue that crosses species lines?
  
• Have pet food manufacturers provided misinformation about cat health and appropriate feeding?
• Are cat owners, unable to manage their cats weight, assuaging their guilt and negative feelings about this failure by attributing positive traits to obesity, thereby making it seem “not as bad”?

I believe all these are contributing factors to the “cute fat cat” perception.

Why should we care?

Even if we know that being obese is bad for our kitties, it’s much easier to ignore the very real dangers of obesity if we have a positive aesthetic association. We’re more likely to take our own cats’ weight less seriously and we’re less likely to discuss the inherent problems when the topic of fat cats comes up with other cat owners who may be less educated or aware.

So what can we do?

As a cat owner you can:

• monitor your cat’s weight,
• put your fat cats on a diet,
• discuss your experiences with dieting and health problems caused by feline obesity with other cat owners,
• contact cat food companies and demand that they put better feeding guidelines on cat food packages & provide accurate information about cat nutrition,
• learn to determine if your cats are at a healthy weight through observation,
• discuss weight concerns with your vet,
• don’t glorify obesity by sharing images without discussion or expression of concern.

As a shelter volunteer or worker you can:

• talk to the public and other volunteers about cat nutrition,
• talk to potential owners about the special needs of over weight cats,
• ensure that new owners of over weight cats are prepared to take the necessary steps to bring their new cat’s weight down,
• educate others about the dangers and health risks of feline obesity,
• show potential owners the consequences of obesity that some of the shelter cats are experiencing (poopy bottoms, mats, arthritis, daily medical treatment required for diabetic cats etc)
• correct misconceptions that fluffy, cobby or large cats are “fat”,
• correct misconceptions that fat cats are “big boned” or “muscular”.

As a veterinarian you can:

• make sure your clients understand the dangers of feline obesity,
• determine your patient’s ideal weight so that their owners have a baseline,
• teach your clients how to use their hands and eyes to determine if their cat’s weight is changing,
• teach your clients how to use their bathroom scale to weight their cat,
• provide feeding guidelines based on what your clients are feeding, and make recommendations on switching to a more appropriate diet if necessary,
• make sure your clients understand the seriousness of obesity and how important it is to be persistent in reaching and maintaining ideal weight,
• promote the benefits of a healthy cat.

We live in a society that has a tendency to glorify unhealthy extremes and ignore the underlying dangers of things we consider aesthetically pleasing. Changing cultural attitudes isn’t easy, but we can start by changing our own and promoting the beauty that comes with good health.

I keep hearing about people getting their cats declawed or cat owners casually talking about their plans to have their cat declawed. While the idea of declawing a cat causes me great outrage, what upsets me even more is that these cat owners are almost invariably ignorant of what the procedure actually involves – they think declawing is okay because they don’t know any better.

While the general public may be excused for not knowing what declawing is (really, could anything sound more innocuous than “declaw”?) I consider it inexcusable that anyone who has had a cat declawed or is planning to have their cat declawed does not fully understand what the procedure is and the potential negative side effects.

Some questions for the vets

So, veterinarians, why are you declawing cats without having a serious discussion with your clients before hand?

Why are you performing an elective procedure, that is so painful and cruel that almost every country in Europe has forbidden it, without making sure the owners of these cats can make an educated decision?

Why are you not ensuring that cat owners have tried and exhausted all other options for modifying undesirable scratching behaviour before consenting to declaw surgery?

I’m sure some vets find declawing to be a lucrative business – perhaps money is a motivating factor?

I’m sure others are concerned about alientating people by questioning a client’s request for declaw surgery or trying to open up a discussion about it. I also think that that is absurd. I often hear of vets being very vocal in their disapproval of other choices made by pet owners and yet their practices aren’t going out of business for lack of clients.

And ultimately, as the veterinary professional it is your responsibility to make recommendations that are in the best interests of the animal and to help pet owners make informed decisions. It is your responsibility to act ethically.

Some questions for cat owners who have declawed/are considering declaw

And cat owners – why are you not educating yourself about a major surgical procedure?

Why would you consider a major elective procedure without knowing anything about it and without asking your vet a single question about what will be done or what might happen afterward?

Have you made a genuine attempt to address scratching behaviour before considering declawing, or did you jump to declawing as a “easy” solution?

As a cat owner it is your responsibility to make good, informed decisions for your cat. You are all they have and their life and wellbeing is in your hands. Requesting a procedure that is painful, cruel, irreversible and often results in other behavioural issues is not responsible pet ownership.

As a cat owner you also must be willing to accept and manage natural cat behaviours. This doesn’t mean letting your cat destroy everything in your home or injure your family – it means taking the time and effort to train your cat, to channel natural behaviour so that it is not destructive and to understand & work with your cat’s fundamental nature to create a situation where you can both live happily.

Mutilating your cat to save your couch is just bad pet ownership. Doing it out of ignorance is tragic.

Don’t let ignorance hurt cats

Ultimately, ignorance is inexcusable and the damage done to cats out of ignorance is permanent. Almost every single person I’ve talked to who has been educated about what declawing is has expressed their shock and revulsion at the realities of the procedure. Vets – take the time to educate your clients and help them make responsible choices. Cat owners – take the time to educate yourself and do what is right for you and your cat.

Watch for upcoming articles with more on declawing – what it is, why it’s harmful, why cats need their claws, declaw alternatives and fixing undesirable behaviour without harming your cat.

Declawing resources:

• http://www.declawing.com/
• http://www.de-clawing.com/