Kitties & the Terrible 2s

by Wendy Nolan

Cats, like people, like dogs, have a time period where they are between adolescence and adult. They seem to get into trouble all the time between the age of 1 to sometimes 3 years old. Its their teenage years and they are all about testing boundaries. They'll grow out of it and one day be an "adult". Then you'll miss the kitten years.
Somewhere in this time frame of 0 to 1 year, they gain fear. Fear of people, things, sounds, animals. Because before this, everyone is a play friend to kittens. There could be a snarling dog, and they'll claw up the poor dogs neck to nibble on its ears. But the terrible 2s are a time period when you really have to cat proof your house. From the kitchen garbage can, to the vase that is too close to the edge of a shelf. Murphy's Law is the golden rule here, because if it could happen, then it will. My cat wasn't too terrible, only because he isn't a jumper. So he was limited to the things he could destroy from the waste down.

Pizza Recipe

by Wendy Nolan

1 can of 15oz tomato sauce

(some times I add a small can of diced stewed tomatoes to make it chunky)
2 large minced garlic cloves
dash of onion flakes
dash of Oregano
dash of crushed Rosemary
pinch of Basil
a little salt and pepper

Mix all this together and let it simmer.

either buy real pizza dough from your grocer

How to Train a Cat, part 1

by Wendy Nolan

I decided to go over a 6 part blog of how to raise a cat with manners. It is everything I've learned from raising my cat who is now 17 years old.

Typically, it's easier to train a cat when they are a year or younger.
It is well known you need to kitty proof your house before you bring the little monster home, but that doesn't mean your looking for just safety issues. You are also looking for mischief issues. If you have a pile of decorative grapes on your coffee table, what makes you think kitty wont see that as a toy. And then you yell at kitty for scattering decorative grapes all over the floor. To me, this is the owners fault and kitty shouldn't be yelled at at all.

It's like putting a steak in front of lion and telling it not to touch it. They just can't resist. The owner needs to realize this and remove the possible misbehavior. Kitty does not realize its not a toy.

When they are very little, it is good to pick them up a lot, cuddle and kiss them so they get used to close affection. And that is really the first step in instilling manners in the furry critter made of teeth and claws.

Your first objective should be to instill manners in your cat.
If you respect your cat, then they will respect you.
Which means, if you play nasty with them, they will be nasty back to you-and everyone else.

The Octopus

by Wendy Nolan

The octopus is considered the most intelligent invertebrate there is. They also appear to have a good memory. Tales abound of their achievements in aquariums. The Internet is full of videos showing their tricks.

 ~In 1994, an octopus named Octavia drained her tank when she pulled a plastic pipe loose at her aquarium. 200 gallons of seawater flooded various displays and also offices. Employees entering the Santa Monica Aquarium Thursday morning were greeted by seawater and a lazy, tiny octopus floating in a nearby tank that was nearly empty of water. She stared at them as they cleaned up the mess.
The aquarium education specialist estimated the water flowed for 10 hours before anyone found it. She had swum to the top of her enclosure and disassembled a water control valve. This caused a spray of water outside of the tank and flooded the aquarium with 2 inches of water.

How to Name Your Kitten

A cool way to name your Kitten

by Wendy Nolan

So far, everyone I know who has tried this said it worked;
This is how I named my cat-or I should say, he named himself.

-Works best on kitties 4 months or younger.
-Get a list of names, even names you don't particularly care for. Approximately 30 or more.
-Then while your in the room with your kitten, slowly rattle off the names and see if kitty turns to look at you for any of them.