Here is a picture of Jupiter, my overweight kitty trying to gain access! Mello, my underweight one is well on her way to gaining more confidence. Right now she needs a nudge to gain entry and is quite adept on how to exit. So far, so good.

Update: My overweight cat goes to the vet on Thurs and I’m going to give them one of your brochures.

Update: We had success this morning…I heard the CH sound and Mello was eating her breakfast!

Kim J., New York, NY

Some Topics On This Page: underweight cat | overweight cat | cat confidence | confident cat

I received an email today from a person who originally bought two MeowSpaces®  for their cat named “Cat.” Seems they have several small dogs who love to eat Cat’s food, as well as Cat’s litter. One MeowSpace® holds the litter box, and the other holds his food and water. With that problem solved, another problem took center stage. Apparently the dogs take turns attempting to play and roughhouse with Cat, and all Cat wants to do is hang out with the family without being bothered by the dogs. If everyone’s in the tv room watching a show, Cat wants to be there, too, even though he would be left unbothered by the dogs if he chose to be in another room. No matter where Cat goes in the tv room, the dogs can get to him.

Cat’s family decided to try something creative. They bought another MeowSpace® and stocked it with Cat’s toys, blanket and even some catnip.

“Cat has developed his own routine each night after dinner. When we all move into the tv room, he goes into the Meowspace with the food and eats a bit. He then enters the litter Meowspace. Next thing we know, he’s lying comfortably in his blanket Meowspace, which we conveniently have between our two easy chairs. He loves being able to see what’s going on through the clear plastic, but also realizes he’s safe from the dogs’ attentions. It’s his own little flat of rooms. You might say it’s his own Cat Haven, and he loves it.”

“The best part of it for us is that there is peace in our home after dinner for the first time in two years. I think I’ve never seen a full uninterrupted tv program since we’ve had Cat, though it was never his fault. It’s still so new to us to hear the quietude that it’s the topic of conversation during commercials!”

-Bill T.

Thanks, Bill, for taking the time to share your story.

-Casey

Some Topics On This Page: house for cat | cats house | cat haven | cats haven

Carol McBride did not grow up with cats. Her mother was Mrs. Clean, and animals did not fit the picture of cleanliness in her mind or home, so Carol remained pet-free until adulthood.

Then one day, while Carol was going home from her job at the local tv station, she heard a cry. Carol found a pure black kitten, no bigger than the palm of her hand, mewing and nursing a bloody paw. She took him to the nearest veterinary clinic for treatment, and the vet techs placed a little blue bow on his head. Carol named her new gift, “Mr. Lincoln,” since he was found on Lincoln Park Dr, and took him home. He was her soul-mate and read her mind with amazing accuracy.

For the next 3 years, “Linc” enjoyed the status of being the only cat. Then one day, while Carol was out biking on a highway, she happened upon a solid gray cat. She draped him over her arm, and the two of them biked home together. “Slate” was not well received by Lincoln at first, but within 5 days they were cuddling together in a chair. Thus began Carol’s cat dynasty, and from that moment on, her life, and the lives of many rescued cats would never be the same.

After finding Slate, cats just seemed to find Carol until she had 18 of them. Today, Carol is the mother of 12 elderly cats. She rescues because there are so many “beautiful babies out there who need homes.” “I love everything about my cats—but most particularly the way we connect—they talk to me all the time. I have most of them in bed with me very night. And if I’m down or do not feel well, they are well aware of this and make an effort to comfort me.”

A Family Affair
Carol’s husband suffered with Alzheimer’s and kidney cancer, and during his illness, the “babies” were excellent care-givers and companions. He loved them, and they would sit on his lap in multiples. As the result, her husband never wandered (due to the Alzheimer’s), and she was able to continue working as an office manager, watching him from work on a webcam.

Even Carol’s oldest daughter has caught the cat bug. She runs a non-profit feral cat colony rescue in Oneida County, where they spay, neuter, and vaccinate the healthy cats.

 

Carol & Cats Today
Carol McBride is technically retired but keeps busy as a traveling notary, working for signing services which act as outsourcing avenues for mortgage lenders who need notaries willing to go to people’s homes and close paperwork involved in mortgages. She also does site inspections to determine the genuineness of businesses before pulling credit reports or running credit cards.

Carol continues to rescue and foster adult cats, and has made legal provisions through a trust and a pet guardianship to be certain that her cats will be cared for should she cross the rainbow bridge ahead of them.

Carol’s MeowSpace® Connection: Teaching a cat with Alzheimer’s to use the MeowSpace®
In caring for her cats, Carol has found it necessary to feed one of them, Ms Cissy, who struggles with kitty Alzheimer’s, an expensive wet food. She noticed the MeowSpace® brochure in her vet’s office and ordered one in order to keep the special food away from her other kitties. Ms Cissy learned to exit the MeowSpace® right away. But it took more than a month to teach her how to enter. When she finally did it, Carol was high-fiving everyone around her. Now, Ms Cissy likes to “play it cute” with Carol. She stands in front of the MeowSpace® and won’t go in until Carol freshens up the food and helps her in. But if Carol simply ignores her, Ms Cissy huffs a bit, then enters by herself.

Thank you, Carol for your love and devotion to your beloved felines. You are an inspiration!

 

Some Topics On This Page: feline alzheimers | cat alzheimers | multiple cats | cat rescue

 

CLICK FOR MORE CUSTOMER REVIEWS…

Just received from a recent MeowSpace® customer, Marie S., from San Francisco:

Hi Casey,

 

 

 

 

CLICK FOR MORE CUSTOMER REVIEWS…

 

Do you have a starving cat because your other cat is stealing food? Chances are that, in addition to both cats being unhealthy physically, they are also struggling mentally and emotionally. Both may be exhibiting undesirable and unwanted behaviors toward one another and toward you (and any other human caretakers).

This was a case in San Antonio, Texas, when Dr. Gary Norsworthy‘s veterinary technician took home a MeowSpace® to keep her fat cat from eating her skinny cat’s food. The vet tech was surprised to discover a hidden but positive result. She set up the MeowSpace® so that her skinny cat would use it, and her fat cat could not. She used the Magnetic Door System and put the magnet on the collar of her skinny cat. Her fat cat, not having a collar magnet, couldn’t enter the MeowSpace®, so the skinny cat’s food was safe from being eaten by any other pet except for the skinny cat who possessed the only key.

Not only did her skinny cat begin to gain weight, his entire personality changed for the better. He had been a rather mean cat. Suddenly his demeanor changed and he became a sweet cat. I imagine not being hungry all the time would have some impact on his attitude. I believe there was an additional reason behind the personality shift…now that the vet tech wasn’t so uptight, aggravated and worried about the feeding/eating situation any longer, she was a sweeter mommy, too.

 

 

Some Topics On This Page: starving cats | starved cat | starving cat | cat stealing food

This blog was inspired by my Google Analytics page, which lists the keywords people have used to find the MeowSpace.biz site. You see, the MeowSpace® is a unique product. The multiple pet household problems it solves are what people usually search by because they are seeking a yet unknown solution to “heretofore unsolvable problems.” In other words, it’s not a new kind of pet brush, or dish, or bed. It’s a…well…I’ll let those seeking us tell you. Here are some of the many search terms used to find us:

• Keeping one cat away from the other when they eat
• Cat feeding device
• Dog eats cat poop
• Fat cat skinny cat
• Ventilated pet enclosure
• Segregate food from cats
• Cat feeding box
• Cat fat
• Pet feeding station
• Automatic pet feeding station
• Cat feeder
• My dog eats cat poop
• Stop dog cat poop
• Dog eat cat food enclosure
• Magnetic cat box
• Cat box solutions
• Feeding solutions for multi-pet households
• Locked cat feeders
• Locking litterbox
• Custom rfid cat food dispenser
• Cat feeders away from dogs

One day, people will simply type in the search term, meowspace, and they’ll find exactly the solution they seek.

 

help for diabetic cats | multiple cat household feeding solutions | cat eats other cats food | overweight cat problems

These two words, fat and cat, may rhyme, but they should never be used together in the same sentence to describe your feline friend. When there is too much fat on your cat, it ain’t pretty, or cute, or healthy. It’s downright dangerous. Some statistics about cats who are overweight:

• They are twice as likely to die within the 6 to 12 year mark, which is middle aged for a cat.
• Three times more likely to develop non-allergic skin conditions.
• Four and a half times more likely to develop diabetes mellitus.
• Obese cats are seven times more likely to require veterinary care for lameness generally caused by joint diseases, such as arthritis or muscle injuries, whereas heavy cats are three times more likely.

A 2011 study by APOP (Association for Pet Obesity Prevention) found that over 50 percent of cats were either obese or overweight. According to PetMD, the main reason for feline obesity is the consumption of too much food. This is where the MeowSpace® comes into play.

If you are having trouble monitoring your fat cat’s food intake due to having multiple pets in your household, the MeowSpace® is key to creating that kind of control. Without having to separate your pets from one another during feeding time, or when they are alone in the home, the MeowSpace® becomes the pet owner’s best friend, and the pet’s best chance at a long life.

“The MeowSpace offers a solution to several heretofore unsolvable problems. We use it when one cat in a multicat household needs to eat a special diet. We also use it when one cat is dominating another at the food bowl. This happened to a cat belonging to one of my technicians; the cat was losing weight due to food deprivation. The MeowSpace prevented the dominating cat access to the other cat’s food bowl and solved the problem.

With a little creativity, I expect to find many more uses for this wonderful device. There is a short learning curve for the cat, but in a few days the device is working perfectly.”

-Gary D. Norsworthy, DVM
Diplomate, ABVP (Feline)
Alamo Feline Health Center
16201 San Pedro Avenue
San Antonio, TX 78232

 

Some Topics On This Page: fat and cat | overweight cat | obese cat | feline obesity

There are many advantages to using a clear plastic feeding station. Here’s a simple history lesson on the development of the MeowSpace®:

We began our quest for the perfect feeding station to separate food from one of our cats by building a wooden box and attaching the magnetic door. This worked very well, but after a time, odors became noticeable, even with constant cleaning. We replaced it several times, which began getting rather expensive, given the cost of the plywood.

After several of our friends asked us to build MeowSpaces for them, we decided to try acrylic plastic. It’s clean, and the parts that needed to be glued on stuck extremely well using the special odor free glue specially made for acrylic plastics. We soon learned that the main problem with acrylic plastic was that it broke easily, and we were often replacing panels for people using the MeowSpace®.

We changed to a more expensive plastic called PETG. This was much stronger, but there were still breakages. Our plastics company, Calsac Plastics, suggested we try another more expensive plastic, polycarbonate, on certain parts. Worked like a charm. Please click here to learn more about using clear plastic for the MeowSpace®.

 

 

Some Topics On This Page: acrylic feeding box | clear feeding box | cat feeding box | dog feeding box

 

MeowSpace® is usually used for cats. But what about small dogs who experience the same problems? While many dogs scarf down their food all at once, there are those, usually small dogs, like miniature or tea cup Poodles, Yorkies, Schnauzers, Llasa Apsos, and the like, who nibble a little here and nibble a little there, throughout the day. Can the MeowSpace® be used for them? Absolutely!

If you have a cat that likes to eat the dog food, or a dog who eats other dogs’ food; sometimes a fat dog, who does eat all his food at once and then makes a bee line to another dog’s food bowl, you could use a MeowSpace® to solve your problem. We’ve been asked many times if we ever plan to make the MeowSpace® bigger to accommodate large dogs. The answer to that is, “Eventually.” For now, when we get a call from someone who needs one, we make a custom MeowSpace®…er…ArfPlace™ as the case may be…for them.

In the meantime, if you know someone who has a similar feeding problem with a small dog, send them our way, and thanks!

 

 

Some Topics On This Page: small dog feeder | dog eats other dogs food | small dog feeding | fat dog

Providence Happens

Every now and then, without our conscious realization, the timing, circumstances and idiosyncrasies of life come together and set the foundation of our destinies. Meeting Laura Speirs in 1995 was one such example. Before telling you more about her, I want you to understand why she is so important to me, personally, and to MeowSpace®.

Laura (pronounced “Lara”) is the person who introduced me to the amazing world of cats. At the time, my family was all about dogs. We had two of them, but never a cat. Over the years knowing Laura, my understanding and awareness of the feline species kept increasing in a positive way, despite my best efforts at disinterest and (yes, I’ll admit it) stubborn ignorance.

Long story short, in 2006, we happened upon a 6 month old abandoned kitty. Unbeknown to us, this cat (the one in the MeowSpace® on our home page), who we named “Mitchell” after the street where he adopted us…er…we adopted him (yeah, right!), hatched his scheme to be a part of our two-dog household. It didn’t take much. Laura had already paved the way for us to appreciate him. What she didn’t tell us was how manipulative cats could be. He forced me to pick him up, and then ceremoniously wrapped his arms around my neck. I knew I was in deep trouble, so I called the only person I knew who could help me: Laura Speirs, The Kitty Sitter and Kitty Counselor extraordinaire.

Laura advised us as to how to introduce Mitchell to our dogs, what to feed him, how to care for him, how to serve his every need. We followed directions. Then came 2007, a very sad year for us. We lost both our old dogs within months of one another, and Mitchell was now alone. He had loved the dogs and was a very social little guy, so Laura thought he would do well with another cat. At the time, Laura was volunteering at a local, very large, no-kill cat shelter. We met her there, and with her help, found Flopsie, who turned out to be our piggy piggy cat, our “mews” you might say, who was the reason and inspiration for the invention of the MeowSpace®. From meeting Laura in 1995 to MeowSpace®—this is destiny. Given the fact that the MeowSpace® is now helping people all over the country, that 1995 meeting becomes the all important catalyst for the sanity of cat lovers everywhere. Without Laura’s all important influence, I would have taken Mitchell to a shelter (it hurts me just to say that!).

So who is Laura Speirs?

Laura is an accomplished professional opera singer, pottery thrower, and dedicated cat shelter volunteer, who took the risk of following her heart and became The Kitty Sitter. Her clean and bright home in Beaverton, OR is designed for the comfort and care of cats, whether they are her own rescues or the cats of families going on vacation. Each bedroom is a kitty heaven, complete with cat trees, wall perches, and windows.  The lucky feline who gets a vacation with Laura receives the love and expertise of a person who knows them inside and out. She is an expert in cat talk.

The Kitty Counselor

Laura specializes in consulting with humans about issues of utmost importance to the well-being of their cats, and ultimately the joy we experience from our relationships with them. Cat behaviors are not much different from our own. We are affected by the changes of our lives, and we act out. So do cats. Talk to Laura before the baby is born; before another pet is introduced into the home; before moving. Says Laura, “Without proper preparation and consideration with these kinds of changes, the poor cats are at a serious disadvantage, and things can turn south very quickly.”

Her mantra: “Remember, when your cat is not being its best self, loving patience, NOT punishment, is called for.”

Laura addresses issues such as: Problems with litter box compliance; Inappropriate scratching; Preparing your cat for the arrival of a new baby; Aggression with other cats or with people; How to choose a great buddy for the cat you already have; How to introduce a new animal into your home; Urine marking (spraying) behavior; Creating a stimulating, cat-friendly environment in your home; Accommodations in your living arrangement for senior cats; Creating a kitten-safe home and kitten training; How to transition an outdoor cat to indoor only.

Laura is the author of the EBook: Walking Hand and Paw With Your New Kitten, a Guardian’s Manual, and she has written many free educational articles.

Regarding MeowSpace®, it was Laura who encouraged us to make it available to the public. Her belief in the value of MeowSpace® to the cat world was essential in our decision to take the leap into the world of advertisement and sales, a world as foreign to us as was cats at one time. We thank you, Laura, for all you have been as a friend, and all you are to the world of furry love.

 

Some Topics On This Page: cat counselor | kitty sitter | kitty counselor | cat talk