Welcome to Octobers edition of the Happy Cat Ezine October is Upon us and the nights are drawing in. Hallowwen is just a few week away and so I thought that for this month our monthly caption competion picture should have a spooky but amusing twist to it, don't forget to enter below. Thanks you for all your continued support of the site it is most appreciated and thank you for all your submissions to the cat gallery, names section etc. All your entries help make the site a fun and informative place for all cat lovers. For all of you that are the owners of one of the CAT HUTS for your cat, please remember that you can add pictures to your Hut at any time by simply using the form on your own cat hut page. We would love to see more of your what your cat gets up to, you can never see too many cat pictures you know, its very good for the blood pressure, teehee. I hope you enjoy this Ezine and if you would like me to include anything on the site i have missed out, simply drop me a line. i am always happy to hear from you all. I hope you come and visit us soon at Our-Happy-Cat.Com Until next month Best Wishes Kate ------------------------------------------ CONTENTS 1. What's new on Our Happy Cat.Com 2. Competition 3. Little Mo's Diary Update 4. Article - Cat Arthritis - What are the symptoms and how can you help your pet. 5. Special E-zine subscribers offer -------------------------------------- 1. What's new on Our Happy Cat.Com The cat gallery continues to grow and I have had to spilt the gallery into two just to accomodate all your entries. Every week I receive lost of votes for CAT OF THE WEEK with nominations from these galleries, so thats proof that a lot of people love to see all your cat pictures. A specail thank you goes to the Author of a book entitled Tatianna — Tales and Teachings of My Feline Friend, who submitted one of the chapters for everyone to read, see it Here , to our cat Stories Page. Don't forget if you have a cat story or Poem, we would love to read it. You can submit your entries to our Cat stories page here. The cat breeds area has increased by four more pages this month with Burmese, Javanese, Maine Coon and Manx cats added this month. Every month four more will be added. Don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed for our Whats New cat Blog. every time a new submission is made a new entry is added to the blog and the only sure way of keeping up to day is to be automatically notified when this happens. Plus you get to see the new daily Garfield cartoon as well, a sure way to brighten anyones day. So click on the RSS buttom on the blog page Here. ----------------------------------- 2. Competition Number Oct08 Here is Octobers Caption Competition. This month with Halloween approaching I thought it would be fun to have a spooky theme to this months competition.You are the first to see it as it doesn't get posted onto the site for a few days, so it gives you extra time to get your entries in first. Simply send us your caption to go with this picture. Click here to submit Caption The deadline for this competition is October 24th. The best caption will be chosen and the winners name and caption will be posted on the www.our-happy-cat.com competition page. This month the prize will be a six peice cat stationary set which contains two pencils, a glittery sharpener, a eraser, a ruler, a note book and writing pad. GOOD Luck -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Little Mo's Diary Update Happy Cat Diary 22nd september 2008 It's getting a bit nippy in the evenings lately and mum and dad are wrapping up warm in blankets when they sit on the sofa in the evening, so I have started to demand that i also sit on the sofa with them. well i don't want to miss out on Blanket time, now do I? All I have to do is give them my big sad eyes and they lift my cushion with me on it in the midddle of them both, where I can keep an eye on both of them. we sit there the whole evening, with me getting tickles behind the ye from both Mum and dad. Oh this is the life. Little Mo Click here to read more of Little Mo’s Diary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Article - Cat Arthritis - What are the symptoms and how can you help your pet. Arthritis in an elderly cat is as common as it is in an elderly person. Just like humans their cartilage wears out and becomes thin allowing for bones to rub together causing inflammation and pain. Knowing if your cat has arthritis is something that only a vet can accurately diagnose however there are various symptoms that might lead you to suspect that your cat is feeling their age and a little creaky. It may become noticeable that your cat starts to walk with stiff legs and becomes more and more reluctant to go outside, preferring instead to sleep more and generally be less active. Picking up your cat may also become something that you do less as they tend to cry out as they are lifted, this could be due to pain in their joints. If your cat is diagnosed with arthritis there is unfortunately no cure for the condition, but there are medicines that can be given which will ease the inflammation and pain for your pet. Your vet is likely to prescribe one of the NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) that are similar to the human drug ibuprofen; as well reducing pain they will also slow the progression of the illness. As a cat owner it can be difficult for us to see our pets in discomfort and not being able to get around as much as they used to. The desire to want to provide your cat with as much help and support to cope with the arthritis and through their old age is natural and luckily there are a few things that can be done to make your pets life a little more comfortable. Making sure that your home is cat friendly and that it is easy for your arthritic cat to get around is probably one of the easiest things you can do. Make sure that their bedding is placed on a low surface and that it is easy to climb into. The bed should also be well padded to make it as comfortable for old bones as possible, there are even special orthopaedic cat beds available that help to distribute body weight so that joints are not under any pressure. Make sure that litter trays do not have high sides, which would be difficult to climb in and out of and place all food, and water bowls on the floor in a safe area where the cat will not be disturbed. Even floor surfaces should be made easy to walk on. Polished floors can be slippy and difficult to walk on with stiff legs; placing mats down in areas where your cat normally spends their time is a good solution. A cat with arthritis will need special food to meet their dietary needs, which will help support their system to fend off illness and to keep their bones as strong as possible. If possible home prepared cat food is the best option as it allows you to only feed your pet the best food without any of the synthetic preservatives found in commercial food. The types of food which would help your pet are fresh meat, raw vegetables with added pet vitamins and daily supplements, but it is always best to check with your vet to make sure that certain foods are ok to feed to your cat. If preparing your own homemade cat food is not for you, there are plenty of top quality cat foods available on the market that is suited for the elderly cat. However do check that they do not contain ethoxyquin preservatives, BHA and BHT nitrates, as these over time can be harmful to your arthritic cat. Keeping your cat as active as possible is also to be encouraged with a cat with arthritis. They will not want to do much and so will require some gentle persuasion on your part. Keeping them active is important for two reasons. Firstly an inactive cat is prone to put weight on which will increase the pressure on their joints. Secondly it will help to keep the joints mobile and not to stiffen too much. Even a very gentle game of chase the string or find the treat once a day may make all the difference for your cats long term mobility and health.

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