Living the High Life

Fellow garden writer Cheval Force Opp shared another cat from her visit to South Africa. This one is living the luxury spa life at the Majeka House in Stellenbosch.

Cape Town Cat

Fellow garden writer Cheval Force Opp sent these photos of a cat who followed along with her tour group recently at the  Stellenburg Garden in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Grass is Always Greener

This photo was shared by @theasscat on Twitter.

She commented, "Neighborhood snoop. He can watch 4 yards at 1 time."

See more cute cat picks on her Twitter feed.

Berry Cute

This is Mulberry Meow of Magic Garden Nursery and Landscape in Tucson, AZ. He is still quite young and getting used to his role at the garden center and his new family -- including two boxer dogs, Tobie and Shawney. 

Forget About Your Worries and Your Strife

This is Bear, shared by Calvin Lee. Calvin says, "He was born to be a star."

WARNING: Permethrin and Cats

Because few people are aware of this issue, I thought I'd share this video here with my fellow Cat and Garden lovers.

"Permethrin is a type of insecticide. It is a pyrethroid – a synthetic compounds derived from pyrethrins, which are naturally occurring substances extracted from Chrysanthemum flowers."

It is used in flea and tick repellents for dogs, "natural" mosquito sprays, scabies and lice treatment cream, etc. The most danger is when it is still wet and the cat is exposed to it. Once dry, it is low-risk, but I'd still avoid use of it around any cats.

See more at:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/11/627843581/if-you-spray-your-clothes-with-permethrin-be-careful-around-the-cat
and
https://icatcare.org/permethrin/owner-info

Alternatives to Cat Nip

A research study covered recently in Wired shows that 3 plants can cause similar reactions in some cats to catnip. They are Silver vine (Actinidia polygama), Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica), and Valerian (Valeriana officinalis).
Most cat owners will know Valerian as "kitty valium" and that vets recommend it as a natural way to sedate kitties that have anxiety issues.

From the study results: "Nearly all domestic cats responded positively to olfactory enrichment. In agreement with previous studies, one out of every three cats did not respond to catnip. Almost 80% of the domestic cats responded to silver vine and about 50% to Tatarian honeysuckle and valerian root. Although cats predominantly responded to fruit galls of the silver vine plant, some also responded positively to its wood. Of the cats that did not respond to catnip, almost 75% did respond to silver vine and about one out of three to Tatarian honeysuckle. Unlike domestic cats, tigers were either not interested in silver vine or responded disapprovingly."

Best quote in the Wired article: "Cats love novelty, and spending part of their day blissed out on plant matter might help them cope with the sensation of living with a hairless, erratic ape."

Image Source: 
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