Page 20 - Complete Cat Care: How To Keep Your Cat Healthy and Happy

Essential equipment

There are a few essentials that should be in place before a new cat
arrives. Once you get to know your pet’s preferences and personality,
you can choose more particular items and equipment.

Comfort first Food and water bowls
Cats are good at making Your cat needs separate bowls
themselves comfortable and have for food and water, and if you
an unerring eye for the best places have more than one cat each
to curl up in and snooze. They should have his own set. Bowls
are more than willing to share can be either plastic or metal and
your favorite armchair or should have a wide base that
cushions, or the comforter on your prevents them from being tipped
bed, if that is permitted. Most over. Buy bowls that are shallow-
people delight in seeing their cat sided and fairly wide—cats do
18 make free use of the home—and △ Cats like high places not like having their whiskers
will be prepared to forgive the A hammock bed hung from a radiator or cramped while they are eating
mounted on the wall provides both a cosy
nest made in a pile of newly retreat and a good vantage point. or drinking. If you are out of the
house for long periods, it may be
laundered towels. However, cats
Your new cat do need a safe and special bed fleece—are desirable, as are beds worth buying an automatic feeder.
with soft sides to snuggle up
that is indisputably their own.
Such feeders have a lid to prevent
the food from going stale and are
There is a wide range of cat
against. You can always add a
beds on the market, from baskets
set with a timer to pop open at
folded blanket or a cushion for
and roofed-in tent-style beds to
the equivalent of a king-sized bed
bean bags and hammocks. From extra padding. Do not buy your cat your cat’s regular mealtime (see
pp.26–7 and pp.28–9).
an owner’s point of view, whether under the impression that he will
the bed looks attractive and is easy enjoy stretching out in it. Cats Cat carriers
to wash may be priorities. From usually prefer to sleep somewhere Even if you borrow a carrier just to
your cat’s point of view, soft fabrics fairly compact that gives them a bring a new cat home, it is wise to
that generate warmth—such as sense of wrap-around security. invest in one of your own. There
Litter pan

A cat likes a litter pan
to himself, so more than
one cat means more Scoop Plastic bowl
than one pan. Litter pans
should be fairly large with
sides high enough to
prevent spillages when
the cat scrapes the litter
around. Litter materials Fiber pellets
made of clay or absorbent
pellets are the most
convenient to use, Steel bowl
because they form
clumps when wet, which △ Choosing bowls
are easy to scoop up. Litter pan Clay pellets Choose wide-based food and water bowls that
are sturdy enough not to slide around the floor
when your cat uses them.

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