Welcome to July's edition of the Happy Cat Ezine Well its finally hot here in the UK, summer has kindly decided to visit us this year. As a consequence I hardly see our two cats Byron and Shelley, who spend all of their day out and about somewhere in the shade. Lucky cats, i'm stuck inside with my computer phew! Thanks you for all your competition entries last month, I received many great captions and it was quite difficult to choose the winner. Keep up the good work, there is another competition below. Remember if you have a cat story to tell us or a favorite feline poem to share it with us here. hope you are all well and i hope to see you soon on Our-happy-cat.com. See you next month Best Wishes Kate   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS 1. New Cat Gallery Photos This Month 2. Competition 3. Byron and Shelley's Latest Diary Entry 4. Cat Story - A Cosmic Kind of Love - My Cat And I 5.. Article - Itchy Sneezy Cats – Cats Can Have Allergies Too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Edith Ariel Mavrick Bella Jane Sheba Pretty Girl   ----------------------------------------- 2. Competition Number July31 Here is July'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. picture by silgeo on flicker.com Click here to submit Caption The deadline for this competition is July 26th. 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 "Quotable Cats" A beautiful photographic book with quotes about cats. GOOD Luck         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Byron and Shelley's Latest Diary Entry Looks like Byron has decided that he would rather sleep in our old hat storage box than sit on his cushion. Typical cat, you buy them luxury bed and they prefer a rotten old box. looks like Shelley can't understand his decision either. As you can see from the picture Matt decided to use my camera mono pod to prop the lid open. i knew that would come in handy for something. Does your cat like to sit in unusual places too?   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 This month we were sent a story from poem by by Angie (Minnesota). A Cosmic Kind of Love - My Cat And I I love Cosmo. I'll even tolerate his drippy, drool-spigot of a mouth that soaks my clothing because when he looks at me he may as well have those cartoon hearts pulsing in his eyes. Never mind that I can't spend more than three minutes behind a closed door in the bathroom before he's desperately hammering away at the door. It makes no difference that his high-pitched mews slice my sleep at 4:30am. I could care less that he wants to park his fuzzy butt in the most awkward spots on the bed at night, causing me to twist my body into positions that would challenge even Gumby. Why do I endure these quirks that might drive someone else to toss out the whole kitten caboodle? He's the only cat that's ever claimed me for their very own. I'm elated that he enjoys being held like a baby and melts into my shoulder, his body buzzing with purrs and drooling like a deliriously happy baby. I am over-the-moon, smitten with this kitty cat. And maybe it sounds a little selfish, but I love that he adores me better than anyone else in his furry, drippy little world. ______________________________________________ 5.. Article - Itchy Sneezy Cats – Cats Can Have Allergies Too. When we suffer an allergic reaction it can affect either our breathing or our skin but when a cat suffers an allergic reaction it is much more likely just to affect their skin. With around 15% of cats suffering from some sort of an allergic reaction you would think that cat owners would be very aware of the problem, however this is not the case and when a cat scratches excessively the first thing most people think or is a flea infestation. Symptoms of an allergic reaction can vary from cat to cat and from the type of allergen involved. However common symptoms are, severe scratching and itchy rippling of the fur, sneezing, face rubbing, excessive grooming causing bald spots to appear, eye and nose discharges or breathing difficulties although this last one is rare. In some cases small hives can appear on the skin which look like little raised circles, these hives will be very itchy for your cat but will normally disappear within 24 hours. With 15 % of cats suffering from some sort of allergic reaction it is important to know what the possible causes of these allergies could be, to be able to eliminate them from the cat’s environment if possible. There are four main possible things that could cause an allergic reaction in your cat and by experimenting with use and then removing it from the cat’s environment, it should be possible to discover the actual cause. The first thing to consider is the type of food you are feeding your pet. Although most of the main commercial cats foods claim now to contain only the best ingredients there main be certain additives in the food that may affect your cat or it may simply be that the cat is allergic to a certain food type such as tuna. Try a different brand of food at first, if there is no difference then change alter the type of food i.e. chicken instead of fish. Some medications including some vaccines can cause and allergic reaction in some cats. However cases of an allergic reaction are rare and although there is no way of knowing this before hand it should not prevent owners from protecting there cats from far more harmful illnesses. Most allergic reaction if caught early enough should be able to be successfully treated by a vet. One of the most common things that can cause a cat allergy are insects and parasites. A sting or a bite from a garden insect although generally completely harmless and only mildly irritating for most cats can cause a slightly more severe reaction in some cases, but is generally not long lasting. Fleas are generally the most common parasite that can cause a nasty itchy in some cats from their bite. It may not necessarily mean that the cat is infested with fleas, as only one bite can cause the reaction. Although the symptoms are short lived, it may be severe enough to require an antihistamine injection from a vet, usually where the cats scratching is breaking the skin and causing bald spots. Making sure that the cat is regularly treated for fleas should prevent the allergy in the long term. As in humans, cats can also be allergic to airborne allergens such as pollen, grass seen, mould and household chemicals such as air fresheners or cleaners. Obviously the owner cannot do much to eliminate the natural airborne irritants from the environment but ensuring that the cat is not present when household chemicals are being used could prevent any adverse reactions. In most cases the symptoms of an allergic reaction should clear up fairly quickly once the allergen is removed from the environment. It is the responsibility of the owner to try and discover the possible cause of the allergy to prevent the cat from suffering unnecessarily. In severe cases or where the allergic reaction is occurring often without the cause being discovered, a vet should be consulted to provide regular medication to relieve the symptoms.