5 Hacks Every Cat Owner Should Know

Keeping your feline healthy and happy

As cat owners, there are certain things we should all know how to do to keep our felines happy and healthy, as well as to better communicate with them. Here are five must-know hacks every cat owner should know. These promote feline happiness and wellbeing.

How to Cut Your Cat’s Nails

Cats who have an indoor lifestyle need lots of feline-approved surfaces to scratch on to keep nails in good shape. Nevertheless, it’s a really good idea to know how to cut your cat’s nails to prevent them snagging and getting caught on things. Ideally, you will have desensitized your cat to having her nails clipped when she was young.

However, if you haven’t and your cat really does not like having her paws touched, using the kitty burrito method is probably the best. To make a kitty burrito, wrap your cat in a towel so that only her head is outside of it. Next, take one paw out at a time to trim the nails. This can be a two person-task; one person to hold the cat and one to handle the mani-pedi.

If you can convince your cat to hold still for a few moments (sans towel), cut as many nails as you can in one session, followed by as many sessions as necessary over the next few days. This will make it less stressful for your cat—and you. Note: You should never use human nail clippers on a cat; always use feline-specific ones.

How to Read Your Cat’s Tail

Cats are great communicators and every cat owner should be able to “read” their cat’s tail, which is a great indicator of their current emotions. An upright, very fluffed out tail is a sign of anger or fear. An upright tail with a curl on its end is a sign of friendliness. A madly wagging or thumping tail is a sign of annoyance. There are tell-tail signs for fear, submissiveness and more.

How to Interpret Your Cat’s Whisker Radar System

A cat’s whiskers are nature’s amazing version of a radar/early warning system that literally guides every step a cat takes. As a result, cats are capable of truly amazing feats such as walking on narrow ledges, gauging and jumping distances and squeezing through narrow spaces. The whiskers are also an indicator of feline mood swings and cat owners will get a better understanding of what is going on by knowing the basic signs.

A cat’s whiskers are immobile when he is sitting or lying and completely content. When they bunch up and flatten against the face, it’s an indicator of potential danger and fear of a pending situation. And, when the whiskers “swivel” and point forward, your cat is about to go into hunting mode.

How to Remove Static Electricity from Your Cat’s Fur

When the air is very dry, you’re likely to get a slight electric shock every time you stroke your favorite feline. Here is a quick fix beauty tip. Take your cat into the bathroom with you when you shower. The steam from the hot water will remove the static from the fur. You could also lightly wet your hand before stroking your cat; however, you could end up with a handful of hair.

How to Deal with Hypoglycemia

Sadly, diabetes is common in cats and, apart from giving daily insulin shots; their overall wellbeing needs to be closely monitored all the time. Fortunately, there are now devices that allow owners to check their cat’s sugar levels daily at home.

Cats on insulin can suffer from a possible overdose that causes insulin shock, better known as hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. A cat who is about to go into a coma may drool, shiver or appear disoriented, glassy-eyed and sleepy. It’s important to keep a bottle of corn syrup on hand for rubbing on to the gums or under the tongue. This is a temporary fix to get glucose levels to rise and prevent your cat from losing consciousness and give you time to call the vet, or better still, go there.