Welcome to February 2011 edition of the Happy Cat Ezine   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS 1. New Cat Gallery Photos This Month 2. Competition 3. Byron and Shelley's Latest Diary Entry 4. Cat Poem - O.J The Rescued Cat 5.. Article - Winter Cat Care ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.New Cat Gallery Pages Lots more of your beautiful cats have been submitted to our cat photo gallery to see more visit the cat gallery . Enjoy. Don't forget to submit your cat to the cat gallery so that others can enjoy your cat as well. Click on their pictures to find out more about them. Little Cloud Polar Bear Grace Nunu Chamarky Alan Miles Damien Hope Precious Ernie Tigger & Roo   ----------------------------------------- 2. Competition Number Nov 34 Here is November's Caption Competition. All you have to do is write a caption for this picture. . Simply send us your caption to go with this picture. Click here to submit Caption The deadline for this competition is February 21st. 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 is a copy of the Book "Cat Talk" The secrets of Communicationg with your cat. written by Sonya Fitzpatrick GOOD Luck         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Byron and Shelley's Latest Diary Entry Our poor little Byron has once again come under fire from the local nasty Tom Cat and has a terrible wound on his hind leg again. A visit to the vets will be happening again this evening i'm afraid, it really is a rather nasty mess. This local Tom cat really is a menace and has attacked many cats in the street. he is a stray and our plan is to try and catch him so that we can take him to be neutered and then rehomed via one of the local cat shelters. Although I really don't like this cat I do feel sorry for this poor homeless chap. he spends all his day wandering around yowling searching for female cats and attacking all males he comes into contact with. his face is all clawed up and during the really cold weather he had no where to go. A sad case indeed and another good reason for neutering, Poor Byron is really becoming more and more afraid to go outside as he seems to get attacked every time. I will be adding regular updates about them on the web site so keep an eye on your RSS feeds for those. Here is their page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Cat Stories and Poems we like to encourage our visitors to the site to share their cat story or poetry with us here. we certainly enjoy reading your tales of rescue, joy and sadness too. So if you have a story or poem to tell us please let us know HERE Sidrick and the snowstorm. by Jossie Marie Solheim (bude, cornwall, uk) Sidrick had been lounging, lazily, before the fire for several hours. Occasionally, he’d stretch his legs out, or roll onto his back to warm his tummy, but that was all; and for Sidrick, this was a perfectly normal day. You see Sidrick, although young, was not an energetic cat, and despite being allowed to come and go as he pleased, be it indoors or out, Sidrick rarely left the comfort of his well worn spot before the fire. Instead, he chose to stay there until necessity made it impossible to do so any longer, which normally only occurred when he needed to eat, or go to the loo. Because of this, Sidrick had a somewhat larger than acceptable girth; which, if he could speak, I am quite sure he would claim was not actually fat, but in reality, just fur. Although his fur was long and thick, it could really not be held responsible for his mammoth scale, even if it did add to it. He was, however, a pretty cat with tiny white socks on each of his feet, a white belly and chest, and white etching round his nose and mouth. Read the rest of the story here   Read more stories and poems here ______________________________________________ 5.. Article - Cat First Aid It’s always good to know some cat first aid and be prepared for those little emergencies and accidents. Cats are inquisitive by nature and inevitably this can lead to little accidents and mishaps. Add this to their natural territorial instincts and therefore catfights and the subsequent scratches and bites and as you can see it becomes vital that you know what to do in these situations. It goes without saying that if you suspect that your cat is in considerable pain or is very ill then a trip to the vets is your first consideration and should be carried out as soon as possible. Cat first aid checking for injury We all have off days where we just feel a little off colour and our cats are no different. They may have a slight cold or infection or just be in a particularly quiet mood. Usually this is nothing to worry about and as long as they are back to normal within a few days no cat first aid need be carried out. However if you do suspect that something is wrong then carry out these few simple checks to try and find out what the problem might be, make a note f anything you notice so that you can accurately inform your vet. Check cat’s recent behaviour: are they eating, drinking more often, unable to urinate or defecate, suffering from diarrhoea or vomiting. Feel the cat gently all over and see if they flinch anywhere in particular or can you feel a lump. Is your cat limping or holding its body awkwardly. Are they breathing heavily or gasping for air. Check their eyes, ears and nose for any discharge or wound. Read the rest of the article here