With daylight hours decreasing, your cat may experience depression, just like some people do when there is less natural light. Here’s a new solution to cheer up kitty (and you, too!). It’s the Sol Box from Portland, Oregon-based Pawsitive Lighting. It provides light therapy for your pet as a holistic alternative to treating depression, rather than resorting to pharmaceuticals.

The compact design provides filtered UV light that can help improve your cat’s mood in just 30 to 45 minutes per day. Benefits of light therapy include increased energy, decreased anxiety, enhanced sleep and elevated mood.

The Sol Box is now available for pre-sale from PawsitiveLighting.com for $199. Orders will ship in three to four weeks. The Sol Box in manufactured in England.

There are so many life changes that can cause our cats to become upset and agitated on an emotional level — everything from moving to a new house, adding a new cat to the family, the arrival of a baby, or even just a thunder storm. These stresses can eventually lead to physical problems as well. What if there was a way to naturally and safely reduce your cat’s stress to help them live a calmer, more balanced life? That’s exactly what Spirit Essences can do for you. Without any drugs or chemicals, using just a safe, non-toxic natural remedy.

So, what are Spirit Essences exactly? They are vibrational essences, meaning they are remedies that are infused with the energy from natural elements like flowers and gem stones. You may have heard of Dr. Edward Bach who pioneered flower essence therapy in the 1930s. Spirit Essences use flower essences similar to those developed by Dr. Bach, but they also take advantage of a wide variety of other vibrational essences to create remedies specifically for treating animals.

Spirit Essences was founded by holistic veterinarian Dr. Jean Hofve in 1995. In addition to conventional veterinary training, Dr. Jean studied veterinary homeopathy, homotoxicology, Reiki, and many other facets of holistic medicine. In 2002 Dr. Jean partnered with cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy who became the President of Spirit Essences and is now the star of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell (season 2 airs in January!), and who uses the remedies frequently in his work as a cat behavior consultant. Jackson has been using the essences for many years in his practice and has come to appreciate their power as well as their gentle, safe method of creating noticeable change for his clients.

Spirit Essences remedies are very easy to administer. You can add the essences to your cat’s water or food, spray the room with a mister, or apply them directly to the cat’s fur while you pet them. Most issues can usually be resolved in 2 to 6 weeks with regular application. Read all about how the essences are made and what you can expect from using them on the Spirit Essences website FAQ page.

There are a variety of Spirit Essences designed specifically for cats. There’s one for separation anxiety, and another for scaredy cats. If your cat has obsessive-compulsive behavior such as over-grooming, you might need the Obsession Remedy. From Healthy Helper, to Nervous Nelly, to Bully Remedy, there’s a Spirit Essence for every issue. You may be having a difficult time deciding which remedy to choose, so Jackson is going to help. Five readers are going to win a Spirit Essences remedy specific to their issue, plus Jackson will offer personalized advice for your situation.

Here’s how to enter: leave a comment on this post describing the issue you are having with your cat that you think Spirit Essences might help. Jackson is going to choose five comments and he will recommend the appropriate Spirit Essences formula. Each winner will receive the Spirit Essences that Jackson recommends. We’ll post the winners’ entries along with Jackson’s customized tips here on Moderncat for everyone to read. Please only leave one comment and try to be brief when describing your cat’s issues. We will choose the winners next week and post the recommendations the following week. Comments must be submitted by December 22, 2011 in order to be eligible. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere.

Get 10% Off Your Order

Use coupon code moderncat to get 10% off your order at SpiritEssences.com.

If you have cats — especially multiple cats — you are familiar with the constant battle against odor. I have searched and searched for the perfect pet odor elimination products and I think I’ve finally decided on a combination that works. Here is my Odor Elimination Survival Guide, plus an important tip about cat health and safety.

The Big Guns

My favorite product for serious odor elimination is Odorzout. This is a powdered mineral (Zeolite) that absorbs odors, kind of the way baking soda does, but it is much more powerful. Odorzout is all natural and completely safe for use around pets. I use the Odorzout All Surface Granules for big accidents on the floor. You have to sprinkle the powder on the floor, let it set, and then vacuum. I’m always amazed at how well it works! My other favorite Odorzout product is the Litter Additive Powder. I sprinkle this in the litter box and also in the little bucket where I scoop. Odorzout is labeled as cruelty-free.

Spray Away

It’s not always convenient to use a powder to eliminate odors, so I like to also have a spray on hand. I really liked Zero Odor, but we could not get confirmation from the manufacturer that it was not tested on animals during development, so I came across Nose Offense. They sent me some to test and I love it! The packaging is definitely not as sexy as Zero Odor, but it’s what’s in the bottle that counts. Just spray Nose Offense in the air and it immediately absorbs odors instead of masking them. It has no scent and it’s labeled as non-toxic, safe for animals, and not tested on animals.

A Special Touch

As a special little touch that doesn’t really eliminate odors, but makes life more enjoyable, I’m completely addicted to scented garbage bags, especially for the little bucket next to the litter box. They don’t really scent the air, they just make changing the trash bag a bit more pleasant. I like the vanilla and lavender varieties. You can find them at Target and most grocery stores.

WARNING: Essential Oils May Be Harmful to Cats!

These odor elimination products simply remove the bad odors without adding any perfumes or other scents. You may want to add a nice scent to the air, but please, be careful when choosing a scented air freshener to use around your cats. Chemical fragrances, like those used in commercial air fresheners, can cause eye and throat irritation in humans, so image how they are affecting cats. I always stay away from any chemical air freshener. So that leaves us with essential oils, which I have been a fan of for many years. Essential oils are wonderfully scented and are believed to have healing properties, but it is also believed that essential oils may be toxic to cats when either inhaled or used topically. As an article on About.com outlines, a cat’s liver cannot properly metabolize the compounds found in essential oils. This may lead to liver damage and possibly death. A more technical description can be found in this article at The Lavender Cat. There are differing arguments on this topic, so I urge you to do your own research and come to your own conclusion.

Hydrosols May Be An Option

When essential oils are distilled, the byproduct is a scented water called a hydrosol. I have read that it may be safe to use hydrosols — also known as floral waters — around cats, but again there are differing opinions. If, after doing your own research, you decide to use hydrosols, make sure you are using a true hydrosol, not a floral water that was made by adding essential oils to water. My favorite brand is Wyndmere. They have several true hydrosols to choose from.

How do you fight odors?

Please leave a comment with your thoughts and tips on pet odor elimination. I’m always looking for a new trick!

My little Simba was recently diagnosed with feline asthma, so I wanted to share my experience with you, just in case you ever notice similar symptoms in your cat. A couple of months ago, she started having coughing spells, like she was trying to cough up a big hairball that just wouldn’t dislodge itself. I tried giving her hairball medicine, but the spells got worse and increased in frequency so I took her to the vet for a check-up. Of course, she wouldn’t make the noise for the doctor, but a chest x-ray did show some dark patches around her lungs, which is an indication of asthma. While we waited a few days for the blood work to come back to rule out any other problems, the doctor recommended that I look for some videos online of asthmatic cats to see if that is what Simba was doing. That was such a great suggestion, because I found the following video (if you can’t see the video below in your email, click here to watch it on the site):

I am truly grateful to Dave’s owner for posting this video because it helped me understand exactly what Simba was doing. Just so you know, Dave had already received her medicine when her owner shot this video. They were waiting for the medicine to kick in and he thought that the video might be helpful to others, and he was right!

My vet prescribed a number of medicines, some to get the asthma under control initially, others for maintenance, and still others for emergency attacks. It was a bit overwhelming. I was also nervous about giving Simba the inhaler, which is the most important part of the treatment. The inhaler is administered with a special device called the Aerokat, but I didn’t completely understand how to use it from the directions, so YouTube came to the rescue again! I found the following video of a woman demonstrating how to use the Aerokat and it really gave me the confidence I needed:

It has been about two weeks since Simba started her asthma treatment and I’m pleased to report that the attacks lessened over the first few days, and now I haven’t seen one in about a week. I’m not sure, but Simba seems to know that the inhaler is helping her, so she takes her dose twice a day with relative ease, although she is nowhere near as nice as the kitty in the video.

Feline asthma can be life threatening for cats. If you would like more information, please read this excellent overview article from Renee L. Austin, just posted this week over at The Conscious Cat, and also visit FelineAsthma.org.

These adorable mini Halloween cards are from Etsy seller ShesBattyDesigns. Measuring 2.5 x 2.25 inches they are the perfect way to send a tiny Halloween greeting with Moderncat style.

Have you given any thought to the type of material used in your cat’s food bowl and food storage container? Well, I recently learned a little about this topic when faced with Mackenzie’s breakout of kitty acne (see photo below – it’s not pretty.) This is really a two-part issue:

1) Plastic pet food dishes and containers can trap bacteria that causes kitty acne. What is kitty acne? It looks like little black flakes usually found on the chin and around the mouth. Not all cats are prone to acne, but when they do get a bad case, like Mackenzie did, it can lead to open sores and infection. I treated Mackenzie with antibiotics and “kitty facials” with a cleanser followed by Neutrogena On-the-Spot acne treatment, as prescribed by my vet. He’s all better now, but I also switched all the food and water dishes to porcelain*. Stainless steel, ceramic*, glass, and stoneware* are all excellent options, too, because they are not porous like plastic, which can trap oily food particles and harbor bacteria. It’s also very important to thoroughly clean and dry all food and water dishes daily and food storage containers weekly.

* With any glazed material, make sure that the glaze is food grade, it should not be marked “for decoration only.”

And as if that wasn’t bad enough…

2) Some plastics can contain chemicals that may leach into your cat’s food and water, possibly causing other health issues. This is a controversial issue which has been in the media quite a bit over the past year, specifically regarding Bisphenol-A (BpA) in water bottles and children’s products, as well as phthalates in other plastic products. Apparently not all plastics are bad, but since we really don’t know much about the long-term effects of eating and drinking out of plastic, I’m choosing to avoid it whenever possible, for both me and my cats (which is proving to be MUCH easier to do for the cats than it is for me!) Research done by Environmental Working Group has shown that pets have much higher levels of chemical contamination than humans, some up to 23 times the levels. The study points out that “with their compressed lifespans, developing and aging seven or more times faster than children, pets also develop health problems from exposures much more rapidly.” This is a complicated study that looks into chemical contaminants from multiple sources, but if eliminating plastic food containers might help just a little, it’s an easy change to make.

There are lots of beautiful and functional non-plastic pet food bowls available. If you haven’t already, please consider making this change.

BONUS GIVEAWAY!

And to help you make a change with your cat food storage, the folks at Stor-in-Style are offering one lucky winner a designer metal food storage container. The metal canister has a durable, non-toxic powder-coated finish and comes with six graphic decals and a metal scoop. To enter, please leave a comment on this post telling us what you currently use to store your cat food. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on April 24.

The Moderncat household has been diagnosed with its first case of feline diabetes. Sophie is a senior kitty — somewhere around 15 — who came to live with me about three years ago. When I first got her, tests showed that she was in what looked like the early stages of kidney failure. I started her on prescription food and her kidney levels went back to normal. Recently her drinking and urination had become excessive, so I took her in for a check-up and some blood work. The vet called today with the news that her blood glucose levels are dangerously high, so I am starting her on insulin right away, as well as beginning the task of learning as much as I can about this disease.

So far, I’ve found one excellent resource, www.felinediabetes.com. They have a page of information if your pet has just been diagnosed, as well as an introduction to diabetes in cats for beginners. The site is very well written and incredibly reassuring. Feline diabetes is apparently a disease that can be treated and conrolled with the proper attention and care. They even have a forum where other cat owners offer advice and support.

I’ll keep you updated on our progress. Sophie is a tough old girl with a great spirit, so I have confidence that she will be able to handle whatever comes our way.

Chicken, eggs, potatoes, yams, flaxseed, zucchini, spinach, honey, cranberries, and rosemary. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, you could almost eat this cat food yourself (but please don’t).

Prowl is an all-natural, organic, dehydrated cat food from The Honest Kitchen. This San Diego-based company is changing the pet food industry. All of their products are 100% human-food-grade and they are made in an FDA-approved human-food-producing facility in southern California. They use absolutely no by-products, added salt or sugar, chemical preservatives, artificial colors or flavors in their pet foods. Their grains are certified organic, their meats are hormone and antibiotic free, and their fruits and vegetables are guaranteed non-GMO. Their Quinoa is even certified fair-trade.

Prowl is made especially for cats. It is grain-free and packed with vitamins and minerals. Simply re-hydrate the powder by adding warm water. Dehydrated foods have many advantages; they are highly nutritious, easy to prepare and store, and they ship easily and inexpensively.

Available at Amazon