Allison Helps Cats

A huge thank you to Save Lincoln Local for both hosting a contest in which I won this free promo video for my business.

Eminem is an affectionate and lively cat who thrives on interaction. She loves to play energetically and loves chasing toys. With a chatty personality, she enjoys “talking” to her humans, keeping up a lively conversation. Eminem also loves being petted and has a soft spot for cuddles, making her a sweet and engaging companion. Eminem is available at the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln, Nebraska. (https://buff.ly/3YH2Cp1)

Allison Helps Cats is currently taking a break from posting to social media to focus on other commitments. I'll still post the occasional infographic and foster update. If you have cat-related questions, please message me and I'll do my best to help! Or if you live in Nebraska and want to hire me, fill out my Contact form on my website and we'll talk about how I can help. Thank you for your interest in cats and in Allison Helps Cats.

Berry and Petal are still available for adoption at The Cat House in Lincoln, Nebraska, (https://buff.ly/3VbLMf3). Berry and Petal -- who are much larger now than they are in this video -- are playful and affectionate. They would be especially grateful to be adopted together, but of course they can also be adopted individually. If you're interested in giving Berry or Petal (or any other cat at The Cat House) a forever home, please contact The Cat House!

NEW MONTH, NEW CAT CRASH COURSE: July 27 @ 1 PM CDT. FREE registration here: https://buff.ly/4asliOH As a volunteer in our local animal shelters, I see a lot of cats surrendered, sometimes more than once. To that end, I created a FREE online Cat Crash Course that covers the essentials of cat ownership. I piloted it through our local animals shelters, and now I'm offering it to anyone who wants to understand cats and learn more about their needs. The course will be offered on the fourth Saturday of every month, 1 PM Central Daylight Time. I hope to see you in my class on July 29th.

This month, I've been featuring videos from one of my more unusual cases, that of two warehouse cats. Back in the fall, one of those cats not only attacked my client after being exposed to an outside smell, but also his two cats got into a fight. We had a few challenges ahead of us. In addition to providing my client with ways to protect himself from future attacks and desensitizing his cats to foreign smells, we also had to restore the relationship between his two cats. The main way to restore a relationship between two cats is to follow a reintroduction protocol. Throughout the month, I've already shown earlier steps in the process. Now I'll use his videos to show how supervised interactions work. Because we weren't certain how the cats would react to one another, we started the cats out on harnesses. We also started them relatively far apart. And the first time we reintroduced them in the same room, we kept the exposure short. Everything was set up to ensure success. After we had good results with the cats on harnesses, we then tried again without them. We still started out at a distance. We also occupied the cats with treats and toys. Because I wanted to make the most of my in-person visit, we covered a lot more ground in one session than I normally recommend. But the video should still be informative about how a supervised interaction can work. Sometimes reintroductions can reveal issues that previously existed. In this case, we discovered that one of the cats (not the one triggered by the smell) was territorial. As a result we still have more work to do, but over all the case is going well.

This month, I've been featuring videos from one of my more unusual cat behavior cases, that of two warehouse cats. To wrap up posts related to this case, I'm sharing a link to a video by my client that shows how he built a two-tier cat tower. The first step I take with all my clients is to recommend any environmental modification that would be helpful. With the majority of my clients, this one being no exception, I advise them to add more hiding and climbing areas. Hiding areas for cats can be created simply by adding nooks and tunnels. Climbing areas are usually created by adding cat towers, wall shelves, and window shelves. Most of the clients elect to buy these items. This particular client decided to build his own cat tower. Although my client still wants to figure out a way to make the upper bunk more accessible, his video should give you with ideas for a DYI cat tower. Next on his list are DYI wall shelves!