Dhivael/Anne’s Hyperactive Blog

So many people want kittens and not older cats. I admit that I love a cute kitten. They are SOOO CUTE. But kittens eventually do grow up. So when I read this article about why you should go with an older cat instead of a kitten, I just had to share. Enjoy.

John Young wrote: He leaped out of the cage and grabbed me around the shoulders. My shock quickly turned into amazement. He hadn’t sunk his claws into me! My thought was, “This cat definitely knows good manners. Somebody has worked with him.” I looked at the ticket on the cage door. It read, “Morgan, male, age 14.”

Age 14? I hesitated. That was pretty old. I put him back in the cage and walked around the shelter, looking the other cats over. There were many nice ones, as well as a few kittens.

But my mind kept going back to Morgan, and I realized that, in fact, I had bonded with him. Fourteen years notwithstanding, we had become buddies.

THE PLIGHT OF THE SENIOR CAT

One of the saddest things you’ll see in Animal Shelters is the number of older cats waiting for adoption. By and large, people are looking for kittens.

The older cats languish, many from happy homes where they were loved and cared for, but brought into the shelter for some reason known only to the owner and the cat.

Many people, who don’t like older cats, like kittens. Kittens are cute, cuddly, and funny. They make pleasing pets – but lose their “playfulness” when they grow up, and with it the “love” of their owners.

Somebody said that the mark of a true cat lover is to desire to have grown cats over kittens.

A KITTEN ISN’T ALWAYS WHERE IT’S AT

Many people don’t think through the consequences of adopting a kitten, or of taking one or two kittens from the litter a friend is trying to get rid of, or bringing into your home one left on your doorstep.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before you adopt a kitten:

1. Taking care of themselves. Kittens are pretty marginal in being able to take care of themselves, especially when it comes to using a litter box. Do you have time to house train your kitten?

2. Young children. Do you have young children in the house? A child of 2 or 3 may inadvertently kill a kitten. Older children need to be taught how to play with them and need to be closely supervised.

3. Other pets. Are you bringing a kitten home to a household with other, older pets? Make certain you have the time to spend introducing and acclimating your pets to the kitten (and vice versa)

4. House dangers. Is there anything dangerous in your house that could harm a kitten? If you are not home during the day, have you made sure your kitten is safe while unsupervised?

5. Adoptions other than from an animal shelter. If you are adopting a kitten from a friend, or taking one from a mother cat’s litter, are you prepared to neuter or spay the kitten and give her the vaccinations she needs?

6. Vaccinations. A kitten receives all of her vaccinations over a period of time. You should make sure you have the time and interest to get her the full regimen.

ADOPTING THE SENIOR CAT

Somebody said cats are like shoes: one size doesn’t fit all. Still there are some arguably general reasons for adopting a mature cat over a kitten:

1. An older cat is easier to take care of. In fact, to a great extent, an older cat pretty much can take care of itself. Great for the working person who can’t be home during the day.

2. Older cats are generally calmer than younger ones, and adapt more easily to a new environment.

3. Older cats usually come with their vaccinations and spaying or neutering. A kitten, even adopted from a shelter will need a series of vaccinations.

4. Older cats are better with small children than a kitten is. Better to get an older animal that can defend itself.

5. Older cats are usually housebroken. You’ll have to train a kitten.

6. Older cats can feed and take care of themselves whereas a kitten may need your help – not good for a busy working person.

7. An older cat can “hold its own” against the other family pets (like the dog) better than a kitten can. Unless you’re there to defend it, certain life situations aren’t good for a new kitten.

8. Older cats can better handle a move if you relocate your household. The only thing you have to make sure of is that your cat recognizes your new location as “its den” and doesn’t try to return to your old place.

9. And finally – older cats catch mice. In these days of smarter mice that avoid all known mousetraps, a mature cat can be invaluable.

THE JOY OF OWNING A SENIOR CAT

Well, his name was “Morgan”, but I renamed him “Tab” because he had the typical marks of a Tabby. Tab and I eventually learned to respect each other, and he – although a tough old alley cat – eventually enjoyed sitting in my lap having his battered ears stroked.

He lived five more years, and died at the ripe age of 19. During that time he was my companion during two years of unemployment, providing plenty of understanding, comfort, and love.

One day he definitely “earned his keep”. I found a dead rat in the living room, its neck bitten almost in half. The rat was almost as big as Tab was, but he’d wrestled it down and killed it.

So much for adopting kittens. I’d rather take a tough old alley cat any day of the week.

Many people compare their cats to kids and so they end up taking a bunch of pictures of their cat. I wouldn’t put it quite that way, personally, but I do like cats and kittens. And I admit that I should, perhaps, take more pictures of my pets. I rarely do, in fact.

It is kind of hard to get decent pictures of any animal, especially young ones.

But here are a few tips that I plan to take advantage of next time I am going to photograph a kitty:

• Always try to avoid sudden movements.If you wish to take better kitten pictures, then you should learn not to make any sudden movements and always use better quality high speed film. If you use a digital camera, use one with no shutter sound.
• Lower your camera angle to the height of your kitten.Any kitten picture you wish to take, should be at an angle that is equal to the height of your kitten. This is for much better pictures and also some very cute facial expression that your kitten shows once they start staring down the lens.
• Always make sure your kitten is well fed.This tip is the most important of all, it is very difficult to take kitten pictures of a hungry kitten, they won’t stand still long enough for you to be able to get one shot. That is why it is so important to make sure that the kitten has just been fed, before you try to take any picture of your kitten. Wait at least 15 minutes after the you just fed your kitten. It is also very wise to study your kitten movements, that way you will be sure when you kitten naps, and what time is best to start taking your kitten picture.
• Always have a couple of their favorite treats on hand.A tip I learned online, was to always have a couple of your kitten favorite treats with you, that way you will give them a treat anytime they start to get rowdy.
  Try to keep thing simple.
• The best kitten pictures are taken when they least expect it.Try to keep things simple and never ever try to take too many pictures at a time. The kitten will become frustrated and walks away, and it is very difficult after that to get your kitten to stand still for any more pictures.

I now interrupt your day with this dose of cuuuuuuuute kittens. These kittens aren’t my kittens, but darn are they cute! There are a couple of stray kittens outside right now that look like the grey ones, but the kittens are too scared of me.

Oh well, at least they know I mean ‘food’, which is a good thing.

Darn, kittens are just too cute! I wish cats would stay kittens forever, then they’d always be extra fun. Older cats are okay, but they’re just not as funny as kittens.

Or as cute.

Kittens and bathrooms do not mix

Originally uploaded by Sapphiren

I’ve been getting a lot of people coming to my site looking for ‘hyperactive kittens’, so I thought I’d give them something entertaining to look at. No, these aren’t my kittens. I just thought they looked pretty cute. And hyperactive. Woo! Hyperactive kitties!

One of my cats, whom I call ‘MushyKitty’, used to like to get outside a lot. No matter what we did, he kept trying to escape and get outside. Of course, we were always afraid that he would get run over or something along those lines, especially since it would sometimes be days before he would finally return. I wish now that we had thought to strap a camera to him, then we could’ve seen where he went.

My theory is that he might have found another family out there who liked him about as much as we did. Unfortunately for them, we had MushyKitty first (having found him as a small kitten in a completely different city). MushyKitty no longer wanders so I cannot strap any cameras to him to document his adventures.

Of course, there is always ‘PorchKitty’, who has recently adopted my porch as his home. Probably helps that I do feed him when I see him out there. Maybe one day…

When I was younger, my mom got me a Visa Buxx card. I think I even still have that card, for no particular reason at all, considering I have no money on it and haven’t used it for years.

But now I’ve found out about the new PAYjr Visa Buxx card service. With this new service, not only can a teen get a ‘credit card’ (without actually having a credit card, it’s a pre-paid debit card), their card can be completely personalized. What do I mean like that? You can upload a pic and put it on the face of the card!

This is so cool. Most banks don’t even offer this. I may just have to get a Visa Buxx card for myself and put a picture of my kitten on it, just because she’s so cute.

Maybe, if I can get a picture of my kitten, I’ll enter her picture into the card design contest that they’re having. There are all sorts of prizes to win, but I just think it’d be funny to know that somewhere out there… someone is buying things with pictures of my kitty!

This kitten is… really insane. She absolutely loves just about everything. Actually, I haven’t been able to find anything that she doesn’t like to eat yet. Mashed potatoes, beans, bacon, pizza, vegetable soup, plain pasta… What a crazy cat!

Fortunately, she also eats cat food, or else she’d be getting severely malnourished.

And, darn, she’s got to be the sweetest cat I’ve ever had. I talk to her, she talks back. And, when I pick her up, she immediately starts purring much of the time.

I should take a picture of her, but I’m not certain I could get her to hold still for it. When she’s awake, she’s always jumping around, it’s so cute.