Month: June 2019

Posted in cats, experience, kittens, pet parents, pets, routine

5 Things We Cannot Live Without

Posted on by peanut& donut

We’re sure most pet owners would agree with us when we say that having pets involve MAJOR changes to our lives- you’re now entitled to only half the bed because your pets occupy the other half; a casual walk from one end of the house to the other involves you stepping around and skipping over landmines toys which they inconspicuously left all over the floor for you to trip on; you get to enjoy spontaneous foot reflexology that immediately jolts your half-asleep brain awake when you step on cat litter, the list goes on. You get it.

Your pets are not the only addition to the family because in comes the avalanche of toys, necessities, treats, clothes, accessories, et cetera. Do we need all of them? No. Do we want more? Yes. But there is a handful of holy grail items that every pet owner absolutely CANNOT do without. We swear by these things to help keep our sanity in check because having pets is not always about rainbows and unicorns. So here’s a list of items we’ve acquired and they’re now very much incorporated into our routine with the maos.

1. Water fountain

In our earlier post, we talked about how much this item has changed the game for us. We’ve noticed that both Pea Pea and Dodo drank significantly more ever since we got this water fountain for them. Cats have a natural fascination with things that are moving and that includes moving water, which could explain why some cats like to sit on the kitchen counter and drink from a dripping tap. A water fountain ensures that the water is always flowing. What is good about this particular water fountain is that it comes with a filter pad that you can replace regularly. Each of the components in the fountain can also be removed for easy cleaning.

2. Grooming brush & nail trimmer

That’s technically two items but never mind.

It is not uncommon to see fur everywhere in our house and vacuuming the floor becomes a daily routine. Both Pea Pea and Dodo have thick and long coats of fur and frequent brushing helps to eliminate shedding quite significantly. Frequent brushing can be tedious when the maos are not feeling cooperative but it is definitely worth the effort because we end up spending lesser time picking their shedding off other surfaces. There are many types of pet brushes out there but we find this to be the most effective for us. We also have fun making fur balls from the fur we collected.

The nail clipper is another must have that we’re sure all cat owners would agree. Pea Pea and Dodo are not aggressive in using their claws but sometimes accidents do happen and we might lose a bit of blood. To prevent that, we’ve been trimming their claws since they were babies, keeping them at a good length. However, with smaller kittens, we suggest using nail clippers for human babies because kittens have much smaller and softer claws and a small nail clipper would be easier to manage. Nail clipping can be intimidating for some cat owners but it is something that needs to be done in order to prevent accidents from happening not just to yourself, but also to the cats.

3. Lint roller

Need we say more?? This is an absolute life saver for us ever since we had Pea Pea and Dodo. Unless you want to hide all your dark colored clothes and never let them see light again, this tool is a must have for families with shedding pets, or just regular families in general. But if you want to wear your “pet glitter” with pride, hey, we don’t judge. You do you.

4. Wet wipes

This is extremely handy to have in every corner of the house. They are good for cleaning up the maos after they went potty or when we bring them to the park. We also use them to spot clean around their food bowls after they eat, they make cleaning up fuss-free and convenient. They are certainly multifunctional both for pets and humans, and good to have around. Just make sure that they’re suitable for human babies before using it on your pets because certain types of wet wipes contain alcohol or are too heavily-scented.

5. Wireless vacuum cleaner

With the flying fur and loose bits of cat litter in unassuming places, a wireless vacuum cleaner is a must-have for us. We vacuum the floor at least once a day and it would have been very tedious for us to drag around a massive vacuum cleaner. Not to mention, even in a household with no pets, a wireless vacuum is a good thing to have for quick and efficient cleaning. For cat owners who use clumping litter instead of pine litter, be careful to choose a vacuum that is strong enough because clumping litter can be heavier and more difficult to pick up.

All of the items mentioned have brought a lot of convenience to us, both the hoomans and the maos. There are definitely more items that we can add to the list but for now, these are the things that we find ourselves reaching for almost everyday. If you are a fellow pet owner, feel free to share with us your personal must-have items in the comments section! We’d love to hear from you! 😊

Posted in cats, checkup, experience, health, kittens, pet parents, pets, routine, vet

Visit to the Vet

Posted on by peanut& donut

Last week, we brought Pea Pea and Dodo to the vet for a routine check. Prior to that, we had planned to bring them for awhile but Cat Dad finally made the call to go last week when we noticed Dodo hasn’t been eating well and had lost quite a bit of weight. Initially we thought her lack of appetite was due to her ingesting fur balls when she’s grooming herself, which had happened before. We gave her supplements and treats for fur balls but still saw no improvement.

Cat Dad found this other pet clinic which offers an extensive variety of services. We decided to give that a try, so we packed up the maos and off we went!

Here they are waiting anxiously patiently for their turn!

It was quite a long wait because the clinic did not allow appointment bookings. Pea Pea and Dodo (and their astronaut bags) got a bit of attention 😄. There were already a few people waiting in the clinic when we got there but as the night progresses, more and more people trickled in.

Despite the number of patients and concerned pet parents in the waiting area, Dr. Vanessa was very patient and thorough in her procedures. We found out that Dodo was actually running a fever and Dr. Vanessa suggested doing blood tests on both Pea Pea and Dodo to make sure that everything was well with them. We also found out that Pea Pea was borderline overweight and have to watch his diet from now on 😂.

The process of waiting for the blood test results was very quick (15-20mins). We waited a little longer though, which was understood because of the sheer number of patients that evening. When the clinic assistant finally called us in, we were so relieved to hear that the results were good. Dr. Vanessa even said that both the maos were very well behaved throughout the whole time they were in the examination room. #Proudparents. Dodo had to be on medication for the next 8 days, but otherwise, we were told that everything we are doing for the maos is good, and we were cleared to go.

Fast forward to current time, Dodo is completely recovered now. Her appetite has improved quite a bit since a week ago.

Meanwhile, Pea Pea’s tummy is still round 🤣🤣.

The routine that we now have, comes from endless research and experiment to find out what works for the maos and what doesn’t. For us hoomans, it was especially rewarding to hear that what we are currently doing is good for them. Here are some of the things we do to ensure that the maos are living the best they can.

Cats are not exactly the biggest fans of being in water. Same applies for drinking them. As such, they can be more prone to kidney and urinary tract diseases. To encourage the maos to increase their daily water intake, we have multiple drinking bowls in the house, one of them is a water fountain which we set up in the bedroom. The water fountain includes a pump which ensures that the water is always moving. Ever since we had the fountain, we noticed that both the maos have been drinking way more than before. They would even go into the bedroom in the midst of doing their daily cat stuff just to drink from the fountain.

In addition to more water points, we also give the maos canned food once a day. Canned food are higher in water content, keeping the maos nice and hydrated. Not to mention, they love the stinky-ness of canned tuna 🤢. Apart from canned food, we make sure that the dry food we give them are low in artificial contents and fillers. As the majority of their diet should be dry food, we felt that it is important that the food should be of good nutritional value.

Hygiene-wise, we try to brush their teeth whenever we can with toothpastes that are specifically for pets. It was also suggested by Dr. Vanessa to give them dental treats that can help with clearing the bacteria and build-ups in their teeth.

We have two litter boxes that are cleaned daily. The litter is changed and the litter boxes are washed every two weeks. We used to have only one litter box and for the most part, Pea Pea and Dodo shared it quite well. However, Pea Pea is a bit of a clean freak (although he really doesn’t look like it 😂 ) and would not use the litter box if it was not cleaned. As a result, there were a few mishaps. After countless bedsheets, bath mats, handbags, and one REALLY soiled cat condo later, we got another litter box. Yeah… that boy sure knows how to make a statement 😪. Having two litter boxes would mean that at least one would be clean at all times for either cats to deposit their gems.

On top of that, we also keep their fur clean by giving them baths once every few weeks. They don’t seem to mind being in the water and we’ve recently upgraded the size of their bath tub.

So far, both Pea Pea and Dodo are contented with standing on the spot or taking small steps around the tub. We have yet to see them swim. Any cat swim coach out there who is interested in collaborating, hit us up! 😂😂

Having cats, or any pets for the matter, is a huge responsibility and a lot of work. Sometimes you sweat, sometimes you cry, other times you bleed. But one thing that we can say on behalf of all pet owners is, nothing beats the feeling of seeing our pets happy and contented, and knowing they are healthy. It almost makes all the soiled bedsheets worth it 😜.

Posted in cats, experience, harness, kittens, leash, pet parents, pets, shoes, walking

Things We Learned From Bringing the Cats Out

Posted on by peanut& donut

We’ve been bringing Pea Pea and Dodo on walks pretty much as soon as they can fit comfortably into harnesses. In a previous post we mentioned why we wanted to bring them out and how we started with their training. Along the way, we learned a few tips and tricks that we found to have worked on our cats in helping them enjoy their outdoor experiences more. In this post, we will be sharing some of them with you. Again, these were what we have found to work for us, if you decide to try them on your cats, do practice some precaution as different cats may react differently in such situations.

For the most part, we only bring them out in the evening or when the sun is setting. We found that to be the best condition for them to be out in terms of outdoor temperatures. In the past we have tried bringing them out early in the morning and we’ve noticed that they are not in the mood to walk or are simply feeling too hot to walk. As both of them have rather thick and long fur, the night time weather suits them well enough, keeping them cool and allowing them to kill off some energy after a perfectly timed dinner. When we go home, they’re usually nicely drained and ready to sleep for the night.

Things to Bring

  • Harness, leash, shoes
  • Carriers
  • Ice/cooling packs, portable fans
  • Treats

When pet parents think of walking their pets, the essentials that comes to mind are usually harnesses, leashes, and shoes. In fact, we first got exposed to the idea of walking our cats from YouTube videos of adventurous cats hiking with their owners. These cats were wearing special harnesses attached to leashes. Some of them were even wearing little windbreaker jackets or tiny life vests. As for shoes, we got them because we didn’t want them to injure their paws by stepping on sharp objects or rough surfaces.

However, our experiences with our cats have taught us that they are not walkable cats. They cannot be attached to a leash and walked, like how dog owners walk their dogs. Most of the time, once the harnesses and leashes are on, they lay flat on the ground refusing to budge and we’d have to drag them across the floor in order to get them to move. We thought that would only happen in the comfort of our home but we were so wrong. Believe me, you wouldn’t want your cat lying on the ground outside. Owners who share their beds with their cats, you feel my pain. Don’t even get me started on the shoes. For the most part, the shoes stay on Dodo and she actually walks quite well with them on. But Pea Pea has what we termed “Shadowless Paws”. As soon as the shoes go up, his paws start to spin and go into a blur and before you know it, you have shoes flying off in all directions. No matter how tightly we secured them, they ALWAYS come off.

And so, we wanted to think of ways to make their experience better and to actually see them WALK instead of being carried around. We realized that the number one cause of discomfort for them was probably the shoes. So we started letting them walk around the void deck bare-pawed and they immediately walked so much better. Both Pea Pea and Dodo do not have much stamina – meaning even if they start running, they don’t go far. With that knowledge, we decided to remove their leashes and let them walk completely unrestricted. Of course we were always within a few feet distance of them just in case they do decide to start running or if they were approaching potential danger. As soon as all that came off, they began to walk less awkwardly and they also started to express more curiosity towards their surroundings. At the end of the walk, we would simply wipe them down with wet wipes or a damp towel and they will be good to go. Even though they technically do not use the harnesses and leashes to walk, we still like to bring them along as they helped us hold onto the cats when the situation calls for it.

For easy transportation to and from the park, we have individual carriers for them.

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These are the ones we’re currently using but we use a different front cover that provides more ventilation when they are in the bags. With these cute bags, Pea Pea and Dodo always receive a lot of attention every time we bring them out!

If it is a particularly warm day, we would bring frozen ice packs in their carriers to keep them cool. We found that they tend to not pant at all with the cooling packs. We also have portable mini fans, but those are mostly for us humans. Bringing along some kind of treat helps too! Although when we first started bringing them out, they were too nervous about being out to enjoy the treats. As most pet trainers would suggest, we wanted to let Pea Pea and Dodo associate being outdoors with yummy treat treats so that they would be more at ease and enjoy being outdoors, and we’re glad that they did eventually calm down enough to eat the treats.

Location

  • Quiet, less people, away from roads
  • Large empty spaces, flat ground
  • Away from grass/trees, water bodies, drains

Pea Pea and Dodo are indoor cats and do not have a lot of interactions with humans other than family members living in the same household. As such, we made sure to bring them to places with less traffic, as far away from noisy roads as possible. We did encounter some problems when finding a good location for them to roam. Most of the reservoir parks in Singapore have wonderful facilities for kids, some even have water features and splash parks in them. However, these places were not pet friendly, or at least we cannot go anywhere near the water features, which is where the shade is usually at.

We did eventually manage to find a park that has quite a nice environment and Pea Pea and Dodo seemed to quite like it as well. It’s the Waterfront Park at Woodlands! There is a huge open-air play area near the entrance where we let them roam freely. The rubber flooring of the area does not affect their paw paws as much, although there was once their white paw paws stained blue after a particularly foggy and wet day 😂. The big open space is good for them to explore, it’s cooling enough for them to lay there and watch the other park-goers as well. We also did not have to worry much about them going into the grassy areas where insects might be found. The playground is quite a distance from the sea and jetty, so we did not need to worry about them going for a swim.

All good habits should start at a young age. From our experience with bringing the cats out thus far, we have learned that it might have been better to start bringing them out when they were younger. We started bringing Dodo out in her little carrier pretty much as soon as we brought her home. But Pea Pea lived most of his kittenhood in the safety of our home. We feel that that could have led to the difference in their reactions towards the outdoors and strangers. Dodo, although cautious, is definitely more calm while Pea Pea often froze up. Perhaps bringing them out at an earlier age would help them get used to being outside.

Nonetheless, we’re constantly trying out new routines and things that might help Pea Pea and Dodo enjoy the outdoors. Maybe one day we’ll be able to bring along their toys and let them run around! If you are also a cat owner or have experience with pets, please let us know if you have any tips that worked for you! We would greatly appreciate them! 😁