A Cat's Prayer

I am very sensitive to animals and I never have really understood the reason until today. Everything the Lord made in creation reflects His honor but because we don't recognize God in our lives we don't see His hand in creation. When we dishonor animals and creation we dishonor, not only our Creator and Savior but ourselves. When we debase any part of the earth, we debase ourselves. However there are some pockets of God's creation, like animals because of their innocence, that remain untarnished by us and its these that some of us are sensitive to.

The growing mind, filled with the love of Jesus, searches creation for the message: God the Creator be praised!  Because of our spiritual and natural gifts each of us is able to see and hear them in particular areas more than in others. For me, its animals. And we are enabled to take this creation material and identify it, shape it, reconfigure it or in other ways use it so that God is further glorified. The carpenter works with wood; the physician listens to the body; the musician shapes sounds; the educator trains youth; the researcher analyzes, innovates and implements with the elements of the universe. We develop our minds for these tasks and rejoice as we do them for all that God is revealing to us out of His loving and forgiving heart.

What is your toughest decision today?  Pray over it and search God's word for advice. Its there for the accepting.

Catspaw

A Readers Narration

A visitor to my blog told me this story and I wanted to share it with you, verbatim:

Quote: “I don't really have much of a story, we had a white color mini poodle who died then we got three cats from the SPCA . :) We got a Maine-Coon that was about 10 years old, she seemed lonely. :)
So we got a Tux Boy that was only about 1 year old but he was too much energy for the Maine-Coon :)
And then we got a several month old ginger Tabby to play with the Tux as he is very high energy. :)
Our Tux cat is like a dog, he is smart and he nods his head at you to say hello. :) He always gives you a double head nod as a way to say hi. :) It's funny, as he's like a person since people often nod too. :)” End Quote

I decided to see if I could find some pictures of a Maine-Coon and a Tux Boy, here's what I came up with. A Tux is a Tuxedo cat and I didn't realize it but I believe Molly and Boo were Tux's! Go figure, the things you learn huh! 

Pictures of Maine Coons

Pictures of Tuxedo cats

Picture of Boo, the baby I lost just last year was definitely a Tux Cat!

Molly, Tux Cat!

Catspaw

Its A Molly-Sneak!

I can always tell when Molly is bored, she picks up and plays with the blue plastic ring from a peanut butter jar, happily yowling and chattering to herself while racing after it, getting it lost under the mini carpet in the kitchen or tossing it in the air. 
Other times she amuses herself sneaking up on an unsuspecting Sassy. Its funny to watch as she stealthily picks her time to give Sassy a 'what for' swat and waits to the predictable reaction. 

Molly's stealthy sneak on Sassy...

Sassy's predictable snarl and yip reaction

...

...leads to their mutual distrust of each other.

Life is never boring living with 4 cats! 

Catspaw

Homemade Cat Food Advice and Ideas

For some time now I have been concerned with my pet food bill and finding helpful ways I can shave a dollar or two off the cost, perhaps by supplementing healthier sources in combination with the no name dry and canned products I purchase now.

There are many good ideas on the net for making homemade cat fare and I have tried some of them usually with mixed reactions from my cats. I decided to pursue a safer method and researched several vet sites to get the input of professionals. I found some interesting insights for feeding an all-natural diet but drawbacks arose with the added expense of buying specialty items like whole rabbits, especially if you lack a local supplier and depending on how dedicated you plan to be in this venture, making volume amounts of animal provisions is the more beneficial way to go as it does involve some work.

If you're unsure how your cats will react to raw meat try giving them a little. When I'm preparing dinner using meats like fish, chicken, turkey or liver I cut small chucks and offer them to my felines to test how easily they will take to it. Usually all four will eat it without hesitation and beg more. You can also experiment with trying them on cooked meats to see how readily they will eat that.

To change your pet’s diet to completely natural foods you will need a quality Grinder. I purchased a Tasin 180 online from the States after learning they're not available in Canada. It was cheaper than I thought and the company got it to me within three days. This machine is recommended because of its ability to grind small, cooked bones well. Adding bone to your mixture insures the much needed calcium content of the food. If you're not certain about grinding the bone sufficiently, save eggshells and wash them well; leave to dry out completely for a few days then use a coffee grinder to grind the shells to a fine powder. Add a teaspoon to the finished food. I’ve done this myself so I know it works. I found this very idea on several vet sites that prepare whole raw diets for their cats otherwise I would never have tried it.

The easiest way to start is to take leftover cooked chicken or turkey and separate the meat you want to use; be sure to add skin and fat along with at least two small thigh or leg bones. Add a few slices of raw liver for more nutrition. Please note that you don't need to add much bone to get the amount of calcium required and because they are cooked they will go through more easily. With a half cup of water grind the meat and bones. I put it through twice, then I 'feel' the finished meat to find the larger pieces of bone to remove them. Adding water brings the moisture content up and makes grinding easier on the machine. Refrigerate in air tight containers and serve.

Since it comes out like wet canned food sometimes I will add chunks of meat to make it more attractive. Some cats prefer chunky fare as apposed to a more liquified consistency. Don't include a lot of vegetables in the meat mix. I have tried this and it was not a grand success. Cats are primarily meat eaters, though I have found that if I add a small chunk of potato, they like it better; you don't need to add spices of any kind either.

As an additional advantage to being a proud owner of a Grinder, I make my own sausage by cutting beef and pork roasts into chunks and mixing in my special spices. The cats love that too and its pure meat.

After reading about all the herbs and supplements I would need to invest in and the access to certain animals like rabbits and other smaller prey that I'd need to purchase again online, from the States; well, I had my budget to consider so I decided to go with half measures instead. Surely I could improve their diets by adding to rather than by making a complete and drastic change right now. Its gone well so far and my pocketbook, as well as my cats, are the happier for the alterations.

Catspaw

Molly's Introduction

Cat Friend One

There’s this noise that becomes a scratching, then a weight against my back; my cats are up before I am again this morning and are unobtrusively demanding that I rise to greet the day with them. What does it mean when Emerald sits on top of me, batting my nose at 6 am? Is it a ‘get up already and feed me!’ or a ‘good morning, I clicked the button and the coffee is on.’ You can almost hear the sing-song in her meow, almost.

I’m up. Sassy wants outside, Molly wants to be left alone, Emerald is demanding her treat and laid back Winston is just waiting for something to happen; another typical day in the Stewart household. All four have completely different personalities that clash, rather loudly and dramatically at times. Molly is my drama queen, Emerald is a very moody princess; if there was a cat click, she’d be the one dominating it!  Sassy is the ever practical wise mother/matron and Winston, my schoolboy, just seems confused most of the time about what the big deal is between these three girls. So that’s our warm and fuzzy family. 

I will introduce Molly first. Merrill surprised me with this little bundle of delight just after we lost one of our beloved males one night to a car on the dirt road outside our trailer in Alberta. She was a tiny black and white kitten that grew up with Boo, our remaining male. Boo looked over his whiskers at an over- enthusiastic, bouncy kitten who had moved in just when he’d just lost his brother Greymalk but by the time she was half grown they were inseparable; buddies to the end!  Molly turned out to be rather too clever for her own good at times, even as a baby she’d get herself into trouble with her escapades. Oh the tribulations! 

She was originally raised to be an indoor cat; safety, longer life, health issues and all that. But she would jealously watch whenever Boo was let outside then she’d send up a pitiful wail all full of ‘Life’s just not fair!’ and hammer at the door until it was showing signs of being shredded, after that she dashed from window to window trying to see where Boo was outside. I remember her silently and resolutely plotting my downfall as she sat and scornfully glared at me; seeing I was unmoved by this expression of harrumph she adopted another scheme and would follow me from room to room as I opened the windows early on hot days to cool the trailer. Somewhere in her mind’s eye a strategy was forming.  

Maybe, just maybe if she pushed hard enough on the mesh that covered the open window, she could tear a hole in it and get outside. I became suspicious of her designs on my window screens too late when I realized she was suddenly and unusually too quiet, I went to check on her. Yep, that’s exactly what she did. Now a lovely cool breeze was coming through the flapping mesh along with every flying bug in the neighborhood to take up residence in my spare room. Arrrg!

One Saturday morning when Merrill was working on adjusting the pipes from the hot water heater to the underground tubing under the trailer, Molly found this a fascinating occupation to watch. She also found that she could just squeeze her little body through the opening and the great outdoors awaited. Unfortunately, it was later in the evening while I was wondering where she’d gotten herself to that I realized she might have gotten outside again. That sent hubby out the door, at my express command to crawl under the trailer with a flash light to find her, sitting rather uncertainly, on the end of the pipe at 10 o’clock at night and mount a rescue operation.

Eventually I just gave up and let her go out on supervised excursions when I was working in the garden. She quickly improved her techniques for avoiding capture when it was time to come in but Boo usually knew where she was and kept an eye on her. How she loved being outdoors exploring every nook and cranny of her environment.  

Thus started many an adventure with our new companion and family member that would eventually take us all on a cross Canada road trip from Penhold, AB to Prince Edward Island and to new, more bizarre adventures. 

Catspaw