Sleeping (Or Trying To!) With Your Cat
Mikkel Becker, Fear Free
As the daughter of Dr. Marty Becker, "America's Veterinarian," it was pretty much a given that Mikkel Becker would choose a career working with animals.
Mikkel knows that pet lovers like to be able to share everything with their pets, including their beds, but she knows we definitely don't get the amount of sleep with our pets as we do without.
A cat's natural sleep cycles are at odds with the average human sleep cycle. Although cats can sleep as much as 20 hours a day, they have frequent sleep-wake cycles throughout the day that are tied to their natural hunting instinct. The most active part of the day for felines just happens to be between dusk and dawn, the complete opposite of most human schedules.
But for those of us who want our furry friend at our side while we sleep, there are a few solutions that may help your cat to stay in a deeper slumber, or at the very least, make her less likely to disturb you from your sleep.
You may think that waking your cat up throughout the day will keep make them sleep at night, but it doesn't work. The best solution for a restful night's sleep is to shut your cat out of your room at night. For the first few nights you may have a sad kitty meowing and clawing at the door, but eventually she should stop, as long as you ignore her behavior and don't get up and let her in to your room in the middle of the night. Ignoring you cat is key. If you roll over and kick your feet, they think this is a fun game and that you are interacting with them.
While waking your cat during the day doesn't work, you can give them plenty of activities throughout the day. It's easy to find activity toys for your cat, like self-propelling toys. You can also keep them busy by hiding around 10 percent of their food in food puzzles around the house. You can also put treats and kibbles on their cat perches. This takes your cat's normal hunting and preying instincts to a new level.
Another thing you can do is feed them a light snack just before you go to bed, because they sometimes wake us up in the early morning because they are hungry. Or, you can have a food puzzle ready by your bed for the early morning. But if your cat is too noisy with this toy, you might want to get one of those self-programmed automatic feeders. These automatic feeders can be set back 15 minutes every day, so you can eventually trick your cat into waking up a little bit later every day, so they will eventually wake up when you do. Another thing is to keep the room dark. Perhaps you need to get blackout drapes to trick your cat into thinking its still nighttime.
By combining daytime exercise and food puzzles, redirecting your early waking cat to food, or simply ignoring your cat's wakeup tactics, your feline should become a later morning riser.
Visit Fear Free Happy Homes for tips on making your home fear free and to locate a Fear Free Veterinarian near you. Go to Fear Free Pets to become certified.
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Don't Litter - Spay or Neuter Instead! - Dr. Debbie
World Spay Day is February 25, 2025. Do you believe your beautiful pedigreed pooch just has to be bred, or that your cat can't possible get outside to become pregnant, or that you long to have just one litter from Fluffy? If so, listen in to the unified pet health message of Spay Day. Shelter staff, veterinarians and animal advocates all join together to encourage spaying and neutering. It's the right thing to do for your pet's health and is a step forward in addressing pet overpopulation issues. With approximately 1 million dogs and cats euthanized at U.S. shelters every year, pet owners can do their part to avoid unintended and unnecessary breeding.
Your individual decisions on altering your pet do matter. Animals, left to do what they will, result in a lot of generations of whiskers and tails in just a short period of time. A pair of dogs can produce 67,000 puppies in 3 years' time. And cats in that same time frame can prosper to over 420,000 kittens.
Common Spay & Neuter Fallacies:
Isn't it better to let my female dog go into heat before I spay her?
FALSE. You can minimize the risk of breast cancer to zero by spaying before the first heat. Allow her to have a few heat cycles, and your dog has a 25-percent chance of developing breast cancer. The health benefits for females also include preventing uterine cancer and the life-threatening reproductive infection, pyometra.
Isn't it better to let a female dog have at least one litter of pups?
FALSE. There is no psychological or health benefit in allowing a female dog to have a litter. It does not make her a better, more affectionate pet. On the contrary, some pregnant female dogs are quite protective and aggressive to anyone disturbing her brood.
My dog is a purebred dog with a pedigree so it is meant to be bred.
FALSE. Having purebred papers doesn't mean an animal has to be bred. There is no shortage of purebred animals, with purebred dogs accounting for 30-percent of all animals currently in shelters.
It's a great experience to allow children to witness the beauty of birth by letting your pet have a litter.
STOP. What really is beautiful is to impart children with a sense of value toward animal life. Yes, birth is a miracle to behold. But there are many books and videos that demonstrate birth in a responsible manner, without unnecessary pet breeding.
Teach your children to care for your existing pets, from puppy hood or kitten hood until senior pet years. Children learn responsibility while caring for a pet and develop an appreciation for the human-animal bond by living it daily.
Won't spaying or neutering my pet make my pet fat?
FALSE. You directly control what, when and how much your pet eats. The fate of your pet's waistline lies in your hands. Your pet's metabolism may slow down some after spaying or neutering, but with sensible feeding and regular exercise you can maintain a healthy weight for your pet.
It's expensive to spay or neuter my pet.
FALSE. There are many affordable solutions to ensuring your pet is spayed or neutered. Some veterinary hospitals and shelters offer special programs on Spay Day. And other facilities offer year round low-cost options.
Still not convinced spaying & neutering is worth it? Consider that the cost of spay or neuter is less than the cost of raising kittens or pups for a year. And don't ignore the possible realities of pregnancy problems. An emergency C-section for a pet having labor difficulties costs $1000 or more.
I want my dog to guard the house. Won't spaying or neutering make my pet less protective?
FALSE. There is no relation between your pet having reproductive organs and performing as a guard dog. A dog's protective behavior is based on instinct and training. Surgically spaying or neutering doesn't change your pet's devotion to protect home and family members. And once a dog is spayed or neutered, it has less desire to roam away from home to find a mate.
Take action now.
Of course you want to do what's best for your pet. Life is busy with family demands, work and a stream of errands. But don't delay this important step to keep your pet healthy for a lifetime together with you.
For more information on Spay Day visit the Humane Society.
Featured veterinarian known as "Dr. Debbie" on national pet radio program, Animal Radio. Ebook author of "Yorkshire Terriers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Pugs: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Mini Schnauzers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; and "Shih Tzu: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend." Dr. Debbie's books.
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Animal Radio News with Stacey Cohen
Hedgehogs Can Be Dangerous
Pet hedgehogs can carry deadly strain of salmonella, health officials warn. They may be adorable, but hedgehogs are among the pets that can transmit a rare but dangerous form of salmonella, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. If you do have a hedgehog at home, washing your hands thoroughly after handling your pet is advised. One year, a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria infected twenty people, and one person died. Investigators said the illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, and such cases seem to be increasing.
How Smart (Or Dumb) Is Your Dog?
There's an online test that uses the latest scientific research to tell you EXACTLY how smart or dumb your dog is. The one time fee is $29 or $79 for the year. The test uses games to test your dog, and then gives you a full breakdown on their intelligence and personality. If you're interested, it's available at Dognition.com.
Ban On Human-Animal Hybrids
A Republican state legislator in Mississippi proposed a ban on human-animal hybrids. The State Rep. proposed the ban on using human embryos in any hybrid project. The measure was part of a bill that would restrict abortion, human cloning and assisted suicide. The ban was a way to restrict embryo research. Some countries are already doing some experimentation with embryos. "The truth of the matter is they're experimenting with some animal genes and infusion in some other countries and we just want to protect those embryos from that type of infusion and protect them. After all, they're living beings, I believe," it was stated.
Public Restrooms For Pets
Public restrooms in China are no longer limited to just pedestrians. As part of civility laws to keep city streets clean, China built bathrooms just for pets. Launched as a trial in the Luohu District of the city of Shenzhen, located in southern China's Guangdong province, the open-air pet restrooms were filled with sand and measured about 10 square feet in size. They were placed near parks and along sidewalks. The construction of the pet restrooms was all part of Shenzhen's citywide civility laws. The laws, which govern public behavior and institute fines for "uncivilized" practices, smoking in a non-smoking area or spitting, were reportedly the first of their kind in China. Under the legislation, residents who fail to pick up their pets' excrement will be slapped with a fine. "The fine is reasonable, because pet owners, who are like custodians, should be responsible for the behavior of their pets," Zhang Mizhe, a resident who owns two dogs, stated. Surprisingly, China ws not the first country to install public pet restrooms. Bogota, Colombia, installed round sandpits enclosed in cement in 2010 so pets could do their business without the messy cleanup.
Python Is Their Choice Babysitter
A family in China turned heads with their choice of babysitter. A 13-year-old boy was often watched after by the family's pet python, who measured 15-feet long and weighed 220-pounds. The father explained that they had the snake ever since the boy was born, and the two became inseparable over the years. He said they eventually learned that the snake wouldn't harm their son, so they started leaving them alone together. Plus, there aren't many kidnappers who would want to tangle with a giant python, and the boy insisted the snake was very careful around him. He said she never squeezes him too hard, and added that she even inspired him to train as a zoologist.
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