Natural Remedy for Grief
I have enjoyed your magazine for many years and wanted to pass this along to other cat lovers. When my Siamese lost her litter sister to cancer and she was grieving, a naturopath gave her a few doses of Ignatia Amara. The difference was incredible—a cheerful and happy cat. The bean is named after St Ignatius and is indigenous to the Philippine Islands. I hope that this information will help.
Fiona Moore
Harare Zimbabwe
Litterbox Training Tip
I just wanted to say that I have a rescued feral cat that, in the beginning, would not cover her eliminations in the litterbox. I have since trained her to do so by the following method:
- Pick her up and carry her to the litterbox (she hisses/wiggles but has never scratched/bitten me).
- Hold her paw and cover her elimination with scraping motion as most cats do.
- Give her lots of praise and a treat.
It took a month or so of doing this, and she currently covers solid eliminations about 75 percent of the time. Recently, if she leaves solid elimination uncovered she has started returning to the litterbox within a few hours to cover it up.
Perhaps this method will not work for all cats, but it certainly has for me.
Ellen C. Hyatt
Via email
Our Beloved Friend
My husband found our beloved cat, Mitaine, under our balcony one afternoon. She was about 2 months old and very hungry. He gave her milk until I returned from work. I fell immediately in love with her and decided that she deserved to live. She was very cute, not afraid of us and was a loving cat.
Today she sits on my lap and purrs when I read and watch TV. Like most cats, she sleeps with us in our bed. She is our joy and changed our life. We sincerely hope that she will share our life for a long time.
Sylvie Lamoureux
Mascouche, Québec, Canada
Pet Sitters Are Best Bet
I strongly disagree with the “Home Alone” in the September issue, which states: “Our experts agree that a responsible friend or relative with whom the cat is familiar actually is a better choice than a professional sitter.” I have been pet sitting for approximately five years. I also have had pet sitters to my home to care for my kitties, even when I had a diabetic kitty that needed insulin twice a day.
The pet sitters I know and I have the highest respect and love for the animals in our care. I care for clients’ babies as if they were my own. Often times, I think of things that not even the owners think about in relation to the comfort and security of their pets. A family member or relative are not always available to care for pets when their human is away. Most pet sitters feel it is in the best interest that the pets to stay in familiar surroundings and feel less stressed in their own homes.
It is obvious that any professional pet sitter one hires should be extremely willing to give as many references as a client requests to be assured their precious babies are in the best of care. It goes without saying that a pet sitter should only be in the business of caring for clients’ pets if they love, not just like the animals in their care.
Pat Cantrell-Smith
Damascus, Ore.