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January 2012
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Fat Cats and Free Feeding

Fat Cats and Free Feeding

Are your cats or is your cat getting fatter and you just don't seem to know what you can do about it? It is more of a problem with a multiple cat household than it is in a one cat home.
The problem we had was the food bowl was available to all of the cats during the day and night. During that time only two of our 5 cats kept eating until the food was gone, the others ate what they wanted and left. We were afraid to change anything, at first, because we were worried that the cats would go hungry. Our vet said that the weight had to come off of the cats or they would get diabetes or kidney disease and eventually die.


We decided that it would be best if we could devise a way to keep the cats separated while they ate so none had access to anothers food. A small dog crate seemed to be the best idea so we bought four of them, one for each cat and began feeding the cats in the crate only. They only had access to the food that was measured out for them and no more. We have been doing this for one month so far and so far the cats don't seem to be getting any fatter, at least, after six months we will take them to be re-weighed.


An added benefit of using the crates is there are no more urine accidents around the house. With each crate we added a small cat box so they could use the box without having to worry about being attacked by one of the other cats while they are using the cat box.

January 1st, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Cats | Comments are closed

Cats Need Blood Pressure Tested Like Humans

Cats Need Blood Pressure Tested Like Humans

Our 14 year old cat gradually began drinking more and more water. At first it just looked like she was thirsty, but after more careful observations we noticed that she would spend a lot of time around all of the cat water bowls around the house drinking for around five minutes at a time. We use a clumping cat litter and her bat box would have a fairly large ball in it unlike our other cats that make golf ball size urine balls. We took our 14 year old to the vet. for a check-up and he did a wellness blood test while we were there. The blood test revealed that her kidneys were borderline in their functioning so the test was inconclusive as to why the cat was drinking so much. At that time the vet. suggested that we get a blood pressure reading of the cat. It turned out that her blood pressure was slightly high. The vet. said that the high blood pressure could eventually cause kidney failure so he prescribed a blood pressure medicine to lower the BP.


It has been a month since we started giving our cat the blood pressure medicine and her drinking and urinating seems to be more normal than it was before. Before administering the blood pressure medicine the cat would drink so much water that her bladder would fill up and cause her such discomfort she would pee on the floor near the cat box, but not in it, she just couldn't make the 6 inch jump to get into the cat box with so much pressure on her bladder which cause her to pee on the floor.

December 31st, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Cats, Cats Peeing Outside the box | Comments are closed

Stop Cats Peeing Outside of Their Litter Box

Stop Cats Peeing Outside of Their Litter Box

Our female cats never went outside of the litter box before we got the male cat, unless they were ill.

It turned out that we started to notice a cat urine smell in parts of the house that we never noticed it before. The female cats had started urinating in dark corners in the house where they thought they were safe from the male cat. The male cat had been scaring the female cats away from the cat box when they had to go so they ran off to another part of the house where they could hide from the male cat and do their business in peace.

We tried the covered cat box and it worked for a little while until the male cat started to ambush the females when they started to leave the box. He would wait outside the box opening and wrestle with them as they came out. It probably would have been a good idea to find the male cat a new home, but we had already became attached to him. He was very affectionate and acted like a dog more than a cat sometimes in the way that he wanted to be in our company. So he was a keeper, we just had to solve the peeing outside of the cat box problem.

One thing we tried was to put a cat box in every room in the house with the hope that the cats would use the box before they resorted to using the floor as a bathroom. It didn’t work. I think it was because by the time we put in the extra cat boxes the cats were scared to use any cat box for fear that they would be attacked by the male cat.

The way we finally fixed the problem was to get an iCrate for each cat so each one would have her/his own territory. In each crate we put a cat box that they could use without fear of ambush. That has worked out the best, so far. Each cat has his/her own domain and is able to use the box in peace. Also, our cats were becoming obese so now we can control the feeding quantities and times for all of the cats. We had been free feeding the cats prior to getting the crates and it seemed that one or two of the cats would eat up all of the food and put on excess weight. The free feeding worked out well at first while we were working and not able to be home to feed the cats as needed until they started over eating and putting on weight. Now with the crates we measure out the food each cat is supposed to have and feed then in their own cages so they cannot eat more than they are supposed to get.

Cats in their cages:
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December 29th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Cats Peeing Outside the box | Comments are closed

Sears Small Lawn Edger Model 77238 Blade

The Sears small lawn edger, Model# 77238
The blade that comes with this lawn edger is very thin causing it to wear out fast. I have a three car length driveway and my edger blade didn't even last all summer. It was bought new in January of 2011.


The Sears lawn edger, model # 77238 is comparable to the Troy Bilt TB 516 lawn edger. They both use the same blade, and the Troy Bilt blade is cheaper in Lowe's where it is sold, at around $8.00 compared to the Sears blade for the 77238 of $13.50. I bought and am now using the Troy Bilt blade on my Sears edger with no problem at all.
It would be a good idea to check for other parts, such as, the belt from Troy Bilt first if and when you need it, it may be cheaper there too. 
I had a problem with my Sears edger blade slowing down for no reason so I took the cover off and found the belt housing full of debris. I just blew it out and it was as good as new.


September 27th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Model# 77238, Sears Small Lawn Edger | Comments are closed

1995 Toyota Corolla Idles rough

On my 1995 Toyota Corolla the idle started to get rough most of the time and gallop occasionally. After checking the fuel system and finding no problems I removed each spark plug and checked it for any reason that it would malfunction. Other than some discoloration the plugs all looked good with no cracks or electrodes out of adjustment.

I checked the vacuum hoses for cracks and seal and they all looked good. Then I went to the evaporator system, the charcoal canister. After removing the charcoal canister I tested the flow of air through it by one half of a pound of air through the small inlet. You have to be careful not to force too much air through there because the charcoal canister can become damaged.


The air didn’t pass through the charcoal canister at all so I took it and tapped gently on the sides of the canister with a rubber hammer to loosen up the media inside of the canister. I tapped on the side of the canister all the way around it six times and then tried to blow air through it. This time it worked. I re-installed the canister and started the car. Now it idles perfectly and takes the fumes out of the gas tank as well.

I have read in some tech journals that the Ethanol in the gas can screw up the charcoal in the charcoal canisters because it can become sticky under some driving conditions.


August 29th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Toyota, Toyota Corolla, Uncategorized | Comments are closed
 
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