Santa Paws is coming to town
PET BULLETIN
‘Mews and Yips’ from the Central Aroostook Humane Society
Gloria J. Towle
Board member
Well it’s that time of year again, when pets’ tails start waggin’ in anticipation of greeting Santa Paws at the Central Aroostook Humane Society!
Santa Paws will be making his appearance for two weekends, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We hope you will plan to stop by and bring your pet and also your family. Santa really loves to have the kids and adults included in the photo! For a minimal donation, you can enjoy some wonderful memories.
Watching kitty’s weight
Is there an overweight kitty in your home? Growing up being allergic to cats, it was a new experience for my husband and I when we found ourselves with two kitties years later after my allergies subsided! We would fill their bowls with dry food and then they would love the wet food that they had at the end of the day. My husband grew concerned with our male tiger cat, Willie — thinking the worst that our kitty had cancerous tumors in his belly. After a trip to the vet, we were informed that they were fat pads. My husband looked at Willie and promptly told him ‘half rations for you, buddy’. No longer were full bowls of food left out. After a few months, those “fat pads” started to disappear.
The key to trimming kitty’s waistline is pretty basic: less food and more exercise. The first step is not leaving an unlimited supply of food. Offering more frequent feedings of smaller amounts of food is one option. Pet food manufacturers have caught on and are tailoring their products to our cats’ needs. For instance, there are now formulas available for the senior, less active cats. If you’re not home during the day, you may want to invest in an automatic cat feeder that allows you to set the amount and frequency that kitty’s food is dispensed. All the dieting in the world won’t help weight loss the way dieting combined with exercise will. Of course, if you’re embarking on an exercise program for your cat, particularly if he or she is overweight, it’s best to tell your vet and get kitty a physical checkup.
One of the best ways to get your cat’s heart pumping is to toss favorite toys. You may want to purchase or build a series of shelves or perches for kitty to climb. Or put down cartons or paper bags to explore and climb in and out of. The minute any box comes into our home, Willie and Annie are always anxious to explore and play inside.
Providing your cat with something to scratch is a must, whether it is store-bought posts or a clean piece of wood or a piece of carpeting rolled so that the backing is exposed (cats prefer the backing). If your cat loves to hunt and pounce, try one of those kitty fishing poles from which a toy dangles. Of course, you’ll need to play with your cat with this one, but you’ll both have a lot of fun. Just remember to put this one away when you’re not playing to prevent your cat from getting entangled in the string and choking.
Another option is you may want to consider adding a second cat to your family as a playmate — although that wasn’t the case with our two kitties. Annie has yet to forgive us for showing up with an alien intruder named Willie!
Visit the shelter
Right now we have many wonderful pets up for adoption and hopefully the “right” family can be found for each one. Stop by the Central Aroostook Humane Society, 26 Cross St., Presque Isle. Our hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday thru Saturday, closing noon to 12:30 p.m. for lunch. You can also check us out at petfinders.com and on Facebook. Please be responsible, spay/neuter your pets!
