Articles tagged with: Debbie Nicholson

Cats In A Medically Supportive Role Pt 3

Date: May 19, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: she had had a stroke and there was nothing that could be down for her as she was so paralysed

: I know on her birthday we took her to the Vet for an annual check-up

: Keith rushed her down to the emergency Vet as it was 9 o’clock at night

: they are much needed in our society to fill a gap in someone’s heart

Cats In A Medically Supportive Role Pt 3

Poor Keith, he cried and cried, mind you we had been married 8 years and therefore Mottel was of an age that is quite long for an animal. We of course were not expecting any problems though as why would we because every day you have your cat, and she is just there all the time. I never thought of a cat as being of a certain age. I know on her birthday we took her to the Vet for an annual check-up and somewhere I still have that little birthday card the Vet gave us when we first took her to him when we got her. I will have to hunt around in storage boxes for it and perhaps show it to you when I find it at a later date.

Needless to say, Mottel’s time on earth had come. Keith rushed her down to the emergency Vet as it was 9 o’clock at night and he never came home for hours. When he did, he returned without her and he cried most of the night for our Mottel. The next day he was down to the Vet’s for many more hours after work. After a couple of days, he came home and said he would have to have her put down as she had had a stroke and there was nothing that could be down for her as she was so paralysed and no longer eating or drinking – my poor husband. It is a time in our lives that I will never forget and until I started writing about Cats in my Cat series of books, I didn’t realise the significance of what she had meant to him really, really deep down.

So when one asks about Cats In A Medically Supportive Role I would say yes, they are much needed in our society to fill a gap in someone’s heart in times of severe heart break for sure.

Since then, we have downsized and no longer are able to have a cat in our lives. I know Keith would like one, but how when we don’t have room in our mobile home for one anymore. Even I do not even presume that my own presence in his life could take the place of either Mottel or Whitey.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Emotional Support Therapy Cats

Cats

How To Describe A Cat

Amis de Chat Book 2

New Product Launch

Cats In A Medically Supportive Role Pt 2

Date: May 18, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: I talk about this time for him extensively in my book Amis de Chat.

: he and his dad who worked together

: when the angel cat Whitey wandered into their lives

: Mottel took to him as though they had been friends for life

Cats In A Medically Supportive Role Pt 2

My husband has always been very fond of cats as well. He has always found them therapeutic as his own mum and dad split up rather badly when he was 25 years old and he took the entire situation and reacted to it as though he were only 5. So it is with regret that I tell you how he never spoke to his mother until I came along thirteen years later, during which time Whitey adopted him and the other truck drivers in their company – I talk about this time for him extensively in my book Amis de Chat. See link here for your copy.

Whitey helped him through this painful time in his life. He had his mother on a pedestal, but when she chose another man to share her life with his heart was completely broken. It was a painful time for both he and his dad who worked together and each of them found it difficult to cope except through work and more work. So when the angel cat Whitey wandered into their lives, their emotions became calmer and over time they were able to work through the heartbreak with much-needed comfort that came to them through their new found friend Whitey the cat.

When Keith married us and I say us, because I came as a package deal with three ready-made children we had a cat called Mottel. How he loved our cat (and us of course) and Mottel took to him as though they had been friends for life. We had had Mottel since before my youngest had been born, therefore Mottel must have been at least seven years old when Keith entered the scene. He had gone past the kitten stage and was very much an adult cat – soft and furry, playful and yet thoughtful. She was very affectionate and I say was because her last moments of life were jumping up into his arms only to collapse half way to her goal back onto the floor having suffered a stroke in that last jump.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Emotional Support Therapy Cats

Cats

How To Describe A Cat

Amis de Chat Book 2

New Product Launch

Cats In A Medically Supportive Role Pt1

Date: May 17, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: In times of illness, pain and grief, getting over an operation or a stroke,

: They can be funny, serious, loving, generous, kind and whacky.

: So I think that bringing 2 wee dogs back with us after that holiday would have been great for us.

: Our neighbour’s cat was always having a litter

Cats In A Medically Supportive Role Pt1

In times of illness, pain and grief, getting over an operation or a stroke, I think that a cat can provide a very supportive role during these times.

Cats are so adorable. They can be funny, serious, loving, generous, kind and whacky. They would also be the most sympathetic animals that I have known in my own personal life.

We had Pomeranians when we were very young, and truly while they were little and we were little, I was too young to remember what they helped us with. If I could take myself back to the time when our own natural mother gave one to each of us when we left her after a court-induced holiday with her, then I would probably be filled with gratitude that we had someone to love us and to love in return. The home we spent the rest of our lives from the ages of 3 and 5 was so miserable- without the natural love of a mother, a father who was away at nights and slept during the day but seemed to not have any say in the treatment of us his supposedly precious daughters. So I think that bringing 2 wee dogs back with us after that holiday would have been great for us. But you know, I have no recollection of having the dogs as it was very short lived. My sister seems to recall that either our stepmother didn’t like them or our step father didn’t like them when we returned to our mother the next holidays – so I don’t even remember what happened to them. My sister does, and she says it is so painful a memory for her, she does not wish to discuss it with me even though we are now both in our 60’s.

In my own adult life, I had cats for my own children to enjoy. And they loved them and played with them from the time they were very small kittens. Our neighbour’s cat was always having a litter, therefore we knew where they came from and were very accessible to us.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Emotional Support Therapy Cats

Cats

How To Describe A Cat

Amis de Chat Book 2

New Product Launch

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? Pt 6

Date: May 16, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: Don’t make the space cramped.

: A cat is there to keep you company and give you someone to care for

: They like to dig and dig deep to cover up their business

: your cat does NOT LIKE what you have provided for his toilet habits

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? Pt 6

My advice is, whether you wish to heed it or not.

Don’t make the space cramped.

Don’t make the space so state of the art, that he ends up poling his bottom over the edge and does his business outside of the box anyway.

As for hooded, I don’t think so.

If you don’t want to clean regularly, then don’t have an animal as a pet. They are going to make a mess regardless of what you think – everyone of us whether we be 2 or 4 legged need to use the toilet several times over the hours of the day and night.

No matter how much money you have, be caring about your animal in all aspects of it’s life. A cat is there to keep you company and give you someone to care for. Any amount of money is not going to make you his favourite person if you do not respect his own toilet needs as you would for yourself.

Cats do not want privacy – why would they? They are creatures of the greater outer world. They do no seek mollycoddling like we do.

They don’t worry about heated toilet seats and bidets that flush warm water.

They don’t worry about matching toilet seat covers and toilet surround mats either.

They like to dig and dig deep to cover up their business. Remember that they do not look at what they are covering up either when they are doing it – they just turn around and use their paws to throw dirt at the mess where they just left it.

And my advice to you is that if you constantly come home and see the mess outside the kitty litter box, then sure as eggs, your cat does NOT LIKE what you have provided for his toilet habits. No, he is not missing the box. He is very carefully, just NOT USING the box.

When they are disturbed by a threat that is perceived by them to be dangerous, they need to move quickly. Allow them that privilege.

Kittens grow into cats – some very large. AND so should there toilet facilities.

Now, my idea of a perfectly designed kitty litter box –

cat designed
clean
large
uncovered
at least their length plus another half-length again in size
they want to turn comfortably in it and around it
Highish sides that they can see over or through
Under-the-bed 60 litre storage containers are a great size

So what’s it going to be my human?

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Litter Box Problems

What Is A Litter Box

Keeping Your Home Odour-Free

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? Pt 5

Date: May 15, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: They do not want to be sitting doing their fresh business when last week’s business is still in there as well

: Some of these hooded contraptions have a small opening at the top that the cat is supposed to be able to be agile enough to climb in and out of

: Yes, there are a lot of things to be said about kitty litter boxes

: there you are eating off the same place knowing he is underneath doing his business

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? Pt 5

Do we not realise that most animals have clean toilet habits – very clean. They do not want to be inside something that is hard to escape from quickly. They do not want to be sitting doing their fresh business when last week’s business is still in there as well. I doubt that cats like their very own toilet smell anyway – well I don’t think so – why would they?

Some of these hooded contraptions have a small opening at the top that the cat is supposed to be able to be agile enough to climb in and out of. Or there is no opening in the top but a small U shape opening on the side – very small. Like a mouse entrance through a wall.

And in case of disturbance – how quickly could a cat who feels entrapped be able to get out of there? I can just envision a hooded enclosed kitty litter being turned upside down and thrashed across the floor as the occupant panics BIG time inside doing his best to claw his way outside.

Yes, there are a lot of things to be said about kitty litter boxes, buildings, enclosures or whatever they are named at the time.

Can you imagine having a friend over for coffee only for the coffee table to suddenly be visited by the feline in the house and there you are eating off the same place knowing he is underneath doing his business? Not my idea of a pleasant cup of tea morning with a friend I can tell you now.

Do you remember your experience inside a car washing facility? How the blowers go up and down serving out water and then polish and then a vacuum system to suck the water off your car? Well, they even have kitty litters like that too. My cat would freak out at just the sounds coming along to disturb his peace when the automated box thinks he has finished and he HAS NOT.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Litter Box Problems

What Is A Litter Box

Keeping Your Home Odour-Free

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? Pt 4

Date: May 14, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: Even designs to make them look like a piece of your furniture

: They come with and without covers, with and without access doors, with and without great height,

: you can push a button and little rakes come in and out

: Then I have seen the hooded enclosures – what a smell trap they are

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? Pt 4

They are made in all shapes and sizes, come odour-free if you wish. Even designs to make them look like a piece of your furniture are out there now, readily available to even fit into a tight corner. I mean – were it a choice for you – would you use them is all that I ask? They come with and without covers, with and without access doors, with and without great height, with and without transparency, actually if you desire a particular kitty litter that is totally able to fit into your lifestyle, then I know there will be someone out there who would be willing to make it for you.

Again I would ask though – is your design something you would use yourself if you were the cat?

The other day I even saw one that after use, you can push a button and little rakes come in and out raking the mess to one side and out to a delivery room away from the kitty litter box. Now, how convenient for the busy person who doesn’t want to clean themselves. The only drawback I could see with one of those is if they get clogged, what happens then? Who would be called in to clean the rakes? The owner told me that you can get one that is automatic as well, that senses when the cat has finished his business, and turns itself on automatically. I can just imagine what that would be like: much like my first experience with an automatically flushing toilet at the airport once – I hadn’t quite finished and next thing the water started gushing around and gurgling noises below me half scared the wits out of me. Imagine your poor cat who hasn’t got a clue that people have such innovative ideas about things.

Then I have seen the hooded enclosures – what a smell trap they are for goodness sakes. Every time the poor cat uses it I can just imagine comparing it to the roadside toilet that never gets cleaned – and I most certainly have never seen a cat that smoked heavily to help remove the smell while he is using it himself.

Again I ask, would you use one of these hooded types yourself?

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Litter Box Problems

What Is A Litter Box

Keeping Your Home Odour-Free

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? pt 3

Date: May 13, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: kitty litter spread out haphazardly across the floor

: If I were a cat, I would like to stretch out and be able to turn around without hindrance

: have you ever been forced to use public conveniences on the side of the road?

: Now I am referring here to a kitty litter with a hood

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy?pt 3

I often wonder when I visit other obvious cat homes, what on earth the owner was thinking when sometimes I have to step carefully between pieces of kitty litter spread out haphazardly across the floor of their laundry or their bathroom and sometimes even a kitchen corner. It is so obvious to an outsider that the tray is far too small for their cat because it is so evident in the mess that he leaves when he uses it.

If I were a cat, I would like to stretch out and be able to turn around without hindrance. I would be very delicate in the covering up of my mess and therefore I would enjoy a deep spread of kitty litter. Of course I am not a cat, but these are things that go through my mind whenever I find myself having to provide someone other than myself with something of value. Like for instance when I am buying someone a present I go to great pains to be on their side of the fence as to whether it is something suitable that they would use and even with the accompanying card, is what is written on the card appropriate for the occasion etc ,etc.

So with a kitty litter.

I don’t know about you, but have you ever been forced to use public conveniences on the side of the road? Honestly we stopped alongside one once on one of our many rental relocation jobs and you would need to be a heavy smoker to just step up and open the door of one. The smell was so overwhelming. Even when I was very young and stayed often with my grandparents, their outdoor long-drop toilet never smelled like that.

Now I am referring here to a kitty litter with a hood, or that is enclosed in some way simply to suit yourself because you don’t want to clean up as often as maybe you should. There are many ridiculous designs out there nowadays that to my way of thinking do not even consider the needs of the cat but rather the owner whose house it is going to grace.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Litter Box Problems

What Is A Litter Box

Keeping Your Home Odour-Free

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? pt 2

Date: May 12, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: Our cat even knew what the garden was for

: Our daughter has an inside cat because they live in an apartment at the top of a 39 storey building

: imperative from the start that he should have a kitty litter box. She started out small

: a large laundry size basket one – really large and it does the job perfectly.

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? pt 2

I was very happy once he was big enough to move him in and out of the cat flap until he got used to going in and out by himself. Once he realised that there was all of this freedom outside he never looked back. I certainly never had to use a kitty litter ever again. Our cat even knew what the garden was for – it was like an automatic bee-line for the dirt at the edge of the pathway – I didn’t even have to show him that – what a clever kitty kat we had now that I look back in hindsight.

Our daughter has an inside cat because they live in an apartment at the top of a 39 storey building. He cannot even go out on the deck for fear of him chasing a bird and ultimately falling to his certain death. Therefore, it was imperative from the start that he should have a kitty litter box. She started out small and as he has grown so is the kitty litter box. Last time we visited her he had a really good size one that did not allow too much mess outside the enclosure. As I recall she brought a large laundry size basket one – really large and it does the job perfectly. She keeps it in her ensuite, therefore it is away from the house as they entertain a lot. As he is really a shy cat, no one would even know that he is part of their family because he only ventures between her bed and the ensuite when he hears strange voices in the house.

The rest of the day he spends sleeping stretched out really long inside her sheets.

There is no possibility of fleas as he goes nowhere to get any. A lovely clean cat with all of his own cat furniture to play and scratch on – he is rather spoilt.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Litter Box Problems

What Is A Llitter Box

Keeping Your Home Odour-Free

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy? pt 1

Date: May 11, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: the first thing I would be doing if I were the cat would be to find out where the toilet is – or at least how to access it.

: If you intend that he should go outside to do his business

: Cat flaps are great things

: He always was able to get more kitty litter outside during his covering up movements than what was inside

If It Was Your Toilet, Would You Be Happy?pt 1

Today I am going to tackle the Catty Litter problem most households have when they decide to have a cat join their family. As with yourself, the first thing I would be doing if I were the cat would be to find out where the toilet is – or at least how to access it. So before you bring home the cat, you must have everything ready. If you intend that he should go outside to do his business, then make sure he has easy access to outside through a cat flap that is easily negotiable. If you do not have one installed, then be assured that he is going to want to go in and out many times of a day, some of those times while you should be sleeping. Decide between you just who is going to be the one to get up and let him in or out.

Cat flaps are great things, although when we had one, all his friends used to use it as well – and often we would wake up to see a stranger looking at us from the bottom of our water bed. Scary at first, but then after a while you get used to it! Naturally, you can have them fitted with little protections that only your cat can access but then that is another story for down the road.

Only when our cat was at its kitten stage did I ever bother with kitty litter. At that stage he was only tiny, tiny, therefore I just brought a largish tray from the supermarket along with a few bags of kitty litter and we used that until he was big enough to train to go in and out of the cat flap. I never bothered up-sizing the tray, because it was not my intention to always have to be cleaning up after him inside. And clean up meant just that. He always was able to get more kitty litter outside during his covering up movements than what was inside. So I was always sweeping up after him which I never had time for as I also worked outside of the home and the children were too young to do it themselves or for me.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Please comment below and share my link.

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site

Debbie’s Other Blog

Litter Box Problems

What Is A Llitter Box

Keeping Your Home Odour-Free

The Tales of Leo pt4

Date: May 10, 2017 Author: Debbie Comments: Leave a reply

: “No, no, I have looked and is this all you have? Is this the collection you have from yesterday?”

: “No, no, I have looked and is this all you have? Is this the collection you have from yesterday?”

: So off with his goods, neath his arm tightly tucked Sargent Todd left in seeming good spirits.

: “Their own faults,” he says, “because they do take them in Giving them food, water, shelter when it hoses.”

: So when it is time all they all need is to climb Over the walls, and I bet he lets them straight in!”

: When I found him, so desperately starving. Some beggar had gone off and left him to drown

The Tales of Leo pt4

“Ah well, any more Sergeant Todd? I declare,
Are there items you see that are claimed for
On your list that I see that you have carefully
Unfolded, it looks mighty long Sir.”

“No, no, I have looked and is this all you have?
Is this the collection you have from yesterday?”
“Yes, it is all right here, I remember you said
That you needed to look every day.”

“Well, we are a great team – with my list and your things
Better to go about it rather professional.
That way we can keep the complainers at bay
And to make sure to keep all things quite credible. “

So off with his goods, neath his arm tightly tucked
Sargent Todd left in seeming good spirits.
He laughed to himself when he mused what they’d done.
“Cats as burglars, who’d think? When I read the minutes. “

It’s hard to suppose, that a mere cat can be guilty
Of such crime right beneath all their noses
“Their own faults,” he says, “because they do take them in
Giving them food, water, shelter when it hoses.”

“I bet Leo uses every opportunity to scope
All the places that are so friendly to him.
So when it is time all they all need is to climb
Over the walls, and I bet he lets them straight in!”

“And 7 there be soon, so the hauls will amass
I wonder what Leo does with what’s over?
He does wait for me, thankfully, Cleo’s a good lass
She has tamed him, he was such a pushover.”

“How times have changed, since Leo came to town
When I found him, so desperately starving.
Some beggar had gone off and left him to drown
That night never forgot! Leo’s now my son.”

And that’s the end of part 4.

Thanks for reading my blog
Please comment below and share my link

Debbie Nicholson

Click here for your Audio link to this blog

Life Happens Volume 1 A Collection of Funny Emails and Facebook Messages Dating From The 1980s To 2012

Our Favourite Links

Cathy’s Well Groomed Site