6 Simple Ways to Make Your Home Comfortable and Safe For Your Cats

If you have decided to adopt a new kitten or adult cat, then you have probably already begun your preparations.

You've purchased food supplies, toys, and a litter box.

Catnip Plants

Now, it's time to go through your home and make it safe for your kitty.

Locate chewable items

Cats like to chew on things, and they usually resort to chewing just out of plain boredom.

1. Electrical cords can pose a danger. If your cat chews through a cord, she could be shocked or create a fire hazard in your home. You can buy plastic tubing at a home improvement store that fits around electrical cords. Plastic tubing will protect the cords, but your cat may continue to chew. For this reason, you should check the conditions of your cords often. Other options include simply hiding the cords or spraying them with a cat repellent. Cat repellents make the cords taste bad, and they can be found at many pet stores.

2. The cords hanging from your blinds can be a choking hazard to your kitty. If the cords are within reach of your fully-extended cat, then tie them up out of her reach.

Take care of plants

Cats will eat and dig into your plants. Many household plants are toxic to animals.

1. Identify the toxic plants in your home. Common poisonous plants include aloe, ferns, and peace lilies.

2. Either remove the poisonous plants or place them out of reach of your cat. Don't forget that cat's love to climb, so "out of reach" often requires a hanging basket.

3. If you don't want your cat eating or playing in the non-toxic house plants, then place them out of reach. You can also buy cat repellent for the leaves, black pepper for the soil, or place sticky tape around the base of the plant.

4. Bring in some plants that your cat will love, and that are okay for her to play in. You can plant catnip, Cat Thyme, or Valerian. These plants can double as something to chew and something to do!

Secure potentially poisonous items

You probably have chemicals and cleaning supplies all over your house that could endanger your kitty.

1. Never leave detergents (laundry, dish, etc.) out in the open.

2. Keep cleaning supplies and other chemicals in a cabinet or area that is inaccessible to your cat.

3. Certain foods can be poisonous to your kitty. Until you know what can be deadly, make sure she does not have access to any human food.

4. Keep waste stored in containers that cannot be easily knocked over.

Protect your valuables

Cats like to jump on top of things, run through the house wide open, and try their hardest to knock something off a table.

1. Any valuable item that can be broken easily should be moved to an area that is inaccessible to the cat.

2. Items that can be destroyed by your pet's claws (such as Grandma's homemade quilt) should not be readily available to your cat.

Proofing your bathroom

You spend time in the bathroom and so will your cat.

1. Always place toothpaste and mouthwash in a drawer or cabinet.

2. Don't allow your cat access to the bathroom when a curling iron or flat iron is still hot.

3. Close the toilet seat! Your cat will try to drink the water. Small kittens can fall in the toilet and not be able to pull themselves out.

Perform a "kitty level" search

You've got the basics down, so now it's time to figure out what you are missing.

1. The best way to find hazardous or precious items is to get down on your hands and knees.

2. Search your house thoroughly from your kitty's eye level.

3. Look for items that pose choking hazards like rubber bands, paper clips, or anything that can easily be swallowed.

Not only have your prepared a place for your cat to eat, sleep, and do her business, but now you have cat-proofed your home! It's always a good idea to perform a "kitty level" search every so often to locate potentially hazardous items. Cat-proofing your home is important for both new kittens and new adult cats.

6 Simple Ways to Make Your Home Comfortable and Safe For Your Cats

Make a Simple Medicinal Indoor Herb Garden

Make an indoor medicinal herb garden to have your own year-round supply of herbs, for medicines, food flavourings and lovely aromas. Incidentally, the aroma in herbs derives from oils in the cell of the plants. So, a herb garden is not that difficult to make, and gives great satisfaction to adults and children alike.

Begin by selecting a suitable container, as large as possible within your home. You can use different materials including plastics, but the most recommended are clay, wood or ceramic pots. You can use many containers placed around the house, preferably in areas near windows, all of them with a different kind of herb.

Catnip Plants

Around autumn/fall time is the best time to divide grown herbs such as mint, sage, chives, and parsley, placing some of them outdoors and one or two as part of your indoor herb garden, bringing plants indoors prior to the frost period. Please, remember that young perennials like bay, sage, rosemary, can be destroyed by a harsh, cold frost, so they are best grown in pots and brought inside in winter.

When growing herbs in dry climates, supplemental watering is necessary, but not in temperate parts of the world, because excess of water could harm the plants or promote worms. A good quality, compost, from your own garden or bought can be used. Herbs aren't fussy about their soil and very often grow like weeds in their native habitat. Plant seeds just under the surface of a warm soil and water well. Germination will happen in a few days. Several perennial herbs grow for more than one season, including parsley, thyme, marjoram, sage, mint, and chives. Annual herbs include coriander, oregano, basil and dill. So try when possible, to begin annual herbs from the seed and perennial herbs from fairly young plants, however, parsley is advised to be grown on from a good quality seed. If you are hoping to grow your herbs totally from seed, purchase it from online seed companies or at your local garden supply stores. This ensures the quality of the seed, thus improving your chances to grow all of them successfully.

Some gardeners advise to plant the herbs outdoors and let them 'grow on' for a while, then moving them indoors before a frost, re-potting them to other containers. Once your herbs start to grow, pick them, even if you are not going to use them on a daily basis for cooking, as gathering them regularly encourages them to flourish, and you can dry them to store for later use, all-year-round. Dried herbs can last for up to a year, keeping the most of their full flavour.

Some herbs require sun, moving them onto a window ledge where sunlight will fall on them is sufficient, some herbs may require darkened glass pots, to help protect them against deterioration.

So, outdoors or indoors, herbs thrive in temperate areas, flavouring foods with their leaves and seeds and their aroma filling the kitchen, or wherever you set up your indoor herb garden, with aromatic essences, eliminating household cooking or smoking/pet odours. But best of all, you have the satisfaction of having your own home-grown supply of medicinal herbs, that can be taken alongside your conventional medicines. Also, think about taking herbs for preventative medicine, rather than waiting for your body to get sick. Lots of cultures around the world think of herbs as foods and take them with every meal, to prevent sickness.

Make a Simple Medicinal Indoor Herb Garden