How did you celebrate National Cat Day

Two days ago, October 29 was National Cat Day established in 2005 to celebrate our love for cats, worldwide as well as to raise awareness of cats that need to be rescued.  Cats lower blood pressure, offer unconditional love and of course, make us laugh with their antics. In my opinion the establishment of National Cat Day is long overdue...even though "cat day" is everyday in my house!

To celebrate the day and in honor of Halloween as well, I was sent a special treat from www.chewy.com called Raw Boost Mixers by Nature's Variety Instinct. This is like getting two treats in one in terms of the way you can "serve" your cats this kibble!  My cats like it both ways.  One is to use it as a topper on their favorite wet food to add an extra healthy boost to it and the other way is to serve the kibble as is as a treat...my cats really love it this way.

To mix up their diet I decided to try the Instinct Raw Boost Rabbit Formula Mixers and they loved it... and why wouldn't they as it is made  to mirror a cat's ancestral diet!  This formula has lots of protein, rabbit, pork liver, pork heart, for lean muscles and strong bones plus natural oils such as salmon and rosemary to keep their coats and skins healthy, pumpkin seeds for good digestion and montmorillonite clay, that has become increasingly popular with veterinarians because it works as a detoxifier.  The mixers are also grain free and free from "fillers".

Best of all, these mixers are easy to serve.  I sometimes crumble it up and sprinkle it on their wet food or give it to the cats as a morning treat or bedtime snack.  When they hear the rattle of the bag, they come running!  A 6 oz. bag of boosters is 24 1/8 cup servings.... a perfect start and finish to the day! Mocha and Sabu, looking like a pair of bookends, are ready to pounce on the treats!

About Nature's Variety
Nature's Variety is an independent pet food company based in St. Louis Missouri with manufacturing operations in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company produces pet food through two brands, Instinct, the leader in raw pet food and Prairie, a holistic line of pet food.

Travel Tip - Mark Twain House

It is well known that famous author, Mark Twain loved cats....He once said,  "I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent  things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course."

If you are a fan of  Mark Twain, don't miss a visit to his 25 room house in Hartford Connecticut that was built in 1874 in the Gothic style.  Mark Twain and his family enjoyed what the author would later call the happiest and most productive years of his life in his Hartford home.  It was here that Twain wrote: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper and a CT Yankee in King Arthur's Court.   National Geographic has named it one of the ten best historic homes in the world.

Purrfect Pairings from Solidgold - Is Goat Milk Healthy for Pets?

Yesterday was a perfect day for a walk with Mocha...  he had a lot of fun playing with the leaves and certainly worked up an appetite !  With that in mind, I  decided to have the cats try a new catfood from www.chewy.com by Solid Gold called Purrfect Pairings; it is a healthy grain and gluten free savory mousse with chicken and goat milk!

This mousse looks so creamy, light and airy; it's consistency is definitely unique. I was intrigued that this recipe contains goat milk and come to find out it is possibly the MOST nutritionally complete food according to the "American Journal of Medicine".  Goat's milk can counteract inflammation and has some antiviral properties that enhance the immune system.  It is said to have a similar nutritional profile as human mother's milk and is easily digestible.

There are  several health benefits of the addition of goat's milk to your cat's diet. The enzymes in  goat's milk helps alleviate inflammation caused by arthritis or other joint problems; it is also good for cats that are underweight and is good for cats that have digestive issues such as colitis, diarrhea and IBS to name a few.

In addition to goat's milk, Purrfect Pairings Savory Chicken and Goat Milk Mousse is formulated with chicken, tuna, potato and a variety of vitamins to ensure your pet's health and give them a balanced diet.  Solidgold has been developing pet food for more than forty years and pride themselves on developing  balanced nutrient dense superfoods with high quality proteins.  As soon as I opened the container, I could not get it out of the cup fast enough for my cats!  They really seemed to enjoy this savory mousse and devoured it in one minute flat if that !

For an extra special trick or treat, I added Nature's Variety Instinct  Rawboost Mixers in the Rabbit Formual to top off  the  Purrfect Pairings from Solidgold's Savory Mousse with Chicken and Goat's Milk is available from www.chewy.com at a 30% discount.  A case comes with six convenient cups of this yummy holistic food.

Sabu the Birthday Boy and Natural Balance

Sabu my Tonkinese is two years old today!  He is everything and more that the Tonkinese breed is known for and beloved by many.  The Tonkinese breed, or "tonks" is a breed that came about as a result of crossing the siamese and burmese breeds with the result of a very solid medium size cat that is reminiscent of the apple headed siamese cats of 25 plus years ago...with an amazing personality... even though my breeder told me (Sabu's parents are from Thailand) that Sabu was the shy... quiet one!  This of course is not true at all -- but then again, you have to gain the trust of some cats.  Tonks have a long history in Thailand and resemble chocolate colored Siamese. Sabu is a sable Tonk -- he is amazing!

To celebrate Sabu's birthday, I decided to try a new brand of cat food by Natural Balance - Venison and Green Pea Limited Ingredient Diet.  This food is being offered by www.chewy.com at a 20% descount making it a great value and affordable to try. It is a good change from the proteins  -- beef, chicken and fish that my cats normally eat.

This is a grain free food that has a limited  number of premium protein and carbohydrate sources with the added health benefit of  pea flour made from split peas that is a better alternative to wheat or rice flour.  The Venison and Green Pea cat food by New Balance is designed to support healthy digestion and to maintain skin and coat health.  Sabu's coat is as sleek and soft as silk so maintaining his coat is  very important. It also provides a healthy diet for cats of all ages.

I choose venison because it is not usually found in pet food and I thought it would be a special treat for Sabu and company!  I also liked the fact that this food contains additional taurine that  helps to maintain healthy heart function and includes canola and salmon oil that are excellent sources of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.  It is fun to change up the cat food a bit and to serve them a protein that they never have tasted and that they seem to enjoy.  This  food did have a rather distinctive smell -- not bad -- just  a bit stronger than that I usually  feed them.   It was gone in an instant...apparently they liked it --  so what do I know!   Sabu says... "Yum" to  Natural Balance - Venison and Green Pea Limited Ingredient Diet.