Practical Cat Care Tips for Happy, Healthy Cats
Caring for cats involves much more than providing food, water, and a clean litter box. Understanding their behavior, individual personalities, and everyday needs can make a tremendous difference to their happiness and well-being.
Here you'll find practical cat care tips, demonstrations, and videos drawn from my years of hands-on experience working with cats. From grooming and administering medication to playtime and other everyday challenges, I hope you'll discover something useful to help make life a little better for the cats in your care.
Giving Sub Cu Fluids
August 2026
When cat sitting you will, sooner or later, come across an older cat with failing kidneys who requires a daily subcutaneous fluid injection to keep themselves hydrated.
This is not a comprehensive list of things to do and not do, nor a 'how to' step by step procedure on giving sub cu fluids. It is simply a little tip that I have found works well.
• In the interests of being a Fear Free pet sitter, I use the gentlest approach possible at first and, if needed, gradually increase the degree of restraint.
• Project a very calm vibe. Be gentle. Be organised. Be focused. Be on task. Once you've got your needle in place, keep your hand very close to the potential scruff area, but don't scruff. Give gentle pats and occasionally the tiniest and gentlest pull on the scruff skin to communicate the need to stay still and passive. Don't be tense, but do be quick to gently scruff if and when your cat decides it's time to move away mid-procedure.
How To Play With Your Cat
October 2019
Interactive play with cats is the best. 'Interactive' is here being defined as 'a human at one end of the fishing pole toy and a cat at the other end'.
• The end of the toy is the prey. Prey never moves towards a predator. Always away. So lead the toy *away* from your cat, rather than shoving it in their face. You want your cat to get their predatory hunter energy out of their pent up system.
• Make the prey 'hide' behind things and engage with different surfaces and objects so you're providing different noises, sounds and situations to stimulate as many senses as possible and make the 'hunt' as enjoyable and engaging as possible.
• Try to simulate a cat's natural hunting style: ambush hunting prey that makes a mistake in trying to escape.
• Let your cat get a few catches and move the prey at a speed and in a style that matches prey in the wild. Don't whiz the toy around at 100mph and make it impossible to catch. This should be enjoyable for your cat, not frustrating.
• Once your cat catches the prey, it's on to round 2: 'Injured Prey'. Simulate a dying animal twitching as it tries to drag itself to a hiding place. Yes, it's macabre - but cats are both our adorable, fluffy snuggle partners and also fierce hunters who need to get their hunt on to be truly happy.
• Give your cat a treat or meal. After all, their day revolves around a desire to Hunt > Catch > Kill > Eat > Groom > Sleep.
How To Give Your Cat Medicine When You Are Not Actually Home
October 2019
Sometimes your cat needs medicine at a scheduled time, but you won't be home. A common solution, that I have found works fairly well, is as follows:
• After slightly reducing portion sizes to keep your cat slightly hungry, get a timed-release feeder.
• Check with your vet that the particular medicine you have is ok to crush and mix (some medicines are not suited to crushing, but need to enter the stomach whole).
• Use a medical-grade, stainless steel mortar and pestle to crush the medicine into a powder. I recommend using gloves if it is hyperthyroid medicine.
• Keep the feeder's gel pack and tray in the freezer along with the food or treat that you're mixing the powdered medicine into. (Churu seems to be a regular winner for mixing powdered medicine into and having your cat just slurp it all up).
• Thoroughly mix the cold, refrigerated food and medicine and set the timer. The food will come up to room temperature and, as long as your cat likes the food (again, Churu works great!) they won't even know they are gobbling down their medicine when they eat.
Note: Let's be honest, some cats are majorly fussy and finicky eaters and won't fall for this ruse. In that case, there aren't many other options than having to get a human to pop over and pill them.
Using Catnip And Silvervine
June 2025
Catnip contains a cat attractant chemical called nepetalactone. Some cats don't have the genes to respond to it. Silvervine (and Valerian) contain a different cat attractant chemical called actinidine which almost all cats do respond to with a similar effect.
• Use it no more than once a week.
• Crush it between your fingers so that the oils are released into the air. (Cats generally need to smell these chemicals before the effect takes place.
• Use it at the end of the Hunt>Catch>Kill>Eat>Groom>Sleep cycle.
• Don't disturb cats enjoying catnip & silvervine - leave them be. They don't want humans interacting with them while they are 'high'.
• Lots of good brands from different manufacturers exist - just look for 'Catnip And Silvervine/Valerian'.
• Try it with cats under 1 year old - they might just enjoy it.
• Separate piles for each cat is a good rule of thumb.
• Using it for an attempt at positive-association with a shy, caving cat falls into the 'might help, can't hurt' category.
Brushing
May 2025
Hints and tips on brushing cats gleaned from years of cat sitting.
Not an exhaustive list and there are exceptions to every rule, but I hope these tips help:
• Offer the brush
• Six to eight inches from the cat
• Tines facing up
• Watch for acceptance or refusal
• Quit while you're ahead
• Don't overstimulate
• Celebrate the groom
• Watch for slinking
• Offer and re-offer the brush
• Pay attention to direction, speed and position
• Cat's own brush is usually best
• Cat sitters might want to purchase some purple Zoom Groom brushes made by Korg
Adjusting play-hunting for the cat's style preference and special needs.
Dec 2024
Sometimes you get to cat-sit a declawed cat. (Please spread the word that declawing is never, ever necessary as it is a cruel, barbaric and totally unnecessary procedure. Cats need their claws. Anyway, on with my hints and tips on play hunting with a front-paw declawed cat).
There are exceptions to every rule in cat sitting, but I have noticed a tendency for front-paw declawed cats to:
• not get so excited about flying, visual prey (that they can't get their claws into)
• prefer rustling, hidden prey
• have the opportunity to use paw weight and body weight for 'capturing' their prey
These are just tendencies I have noticed while cat sitting over the years; I am sure there are numerous exceptions. If there is a point, I suppose it is that there is no 'one size fits all' when play hunting with cats and it takes time, patience and observation to discover your cat's play hunting style preferences.
Walking With Cats Underfoot
Sep 2024
Some cats get underfoot while you are cat sitting. They weave in and out of your feet, tread on your toes and always seem to be a moment away from tripping you up and creating a terrible injury for you and/or the cat. This video is not about distraction techniques, wand toys, electronic toys or throwing ping pong balls to get them away from your feet (all of which are great things to do). Nor is it about why they are under your feet to begin with - that's a separate issue and video. This video is about modifying how you walk and being deliberate, slow and steady in how you go about your cat care.
• Look down.
• Reduce chance. Be deliberate in your intentions.
• Don't rush.
• Don't "pick your feet up". Do the opposite. Scuff and slide.
• Don't get distracted by anything irrelevant (eg phone notifications, sounds outside, furnishings in the home)
How To Clean Your Cat's Water Fountain
Sep 2018
Running, filtered, water is usually more attractive to cats (who have a low thirst drive inherited from their (mostly) African cat ancestors) than still water in a bowl. There are no hard-and-fast rules for how often to change the water and dismantle the water fountain as it all depends on how many cats you have and how many water fountains, but err on the side of more often, rather than less often. Especially if you have a cat, like my elderly boy Kazu, who likes to use the water fountains as a paw bath!
As a professional pet sitter, I have seen water fountains encrusted with grime, dirt and mold and with algae growing in them profusely. I still cannot understand how the human guardians can let things get this bad so my recommendation is this: look at the water fountain and ask yourself "Would *I* drink from this?"
• All pet water fountains are variations on the same design. There is a molded housing, a filter and a pump. Don't be afraid to pull it apart. Often there is a 'lid' that the pumped up water slams into in order to be diverted into the reservoir down a ramp.
• Absolute minimum: fully dismantle and clean it once a month.
• Don't use detergent to clean the charcoal filters. Rub them under running hot water and fully replace them every 3 months. A new filter often needs a lot of rinsing to get rid of the charcoal dust.
• Use your fingernail or knife to remove the pump cover then remove the flow meter controller and impeller.
• Soak in a 50/50 cleaning vinegar/hot water solution, rinse, reassemble and you're good to go!
Train Your Cat To Walk On A Harness & Leash
Feb 2020
All cats are different - that's one of the reasons we love them.
One of my rescued, special-needs seniors - Bear - let me put a harness and leash on him and he walked around the apartment building parking, landscaping and garden area as if he had been doing it his whole life.
Other cats need more time, gentle positive-reinforcement and step-by-step training. And, even then, not every cat is going to want to walk on a harness and leash, but I hope this video - which breaks up the training into incredibly small bit by bit baby steps - will help give you the best chance of encouraging your cat to enjoy safely exploring the outdoors on a harness and leash.
If you are impatient and are looking for a magic pill, quick-fix solution that will turn your indoor cat into an adventurous hiker in a couple of minutes, then this video is not for you.
If you understand that positive reinforcement training takes time and is best done in very small steps that always end positively, then this video is for you.
• Each step only takes 1-2 minutes a day.
• In the video, when I say 'do this for a couple of days', I mean 'do this for as long as it takes for your cat to get comfortable with it - maybe 1 day, maybe 2 days, maybe even 3, but probably not more than that in my experience'.
• With a couple of minutes every day - you and your cat will have the best chance of success.