Charlie's not been well lately or at least he seems that way - lounging about on my bed barely being able to lift his head.
Now a study shows that when they are unwell, cats became less stressed when they listen to relaxing music.
Student veterinary nurse Sian Barr carried out the research on cats being treated at a vet's surgery.
She found that those who were played yoga meditation music and Om Shanti tunes calmed down and began to breathe more slowly while in cages at the practice in Powys, Wales.
Miss Barr, who has just graduated from veterinary school with a first class honours degree thanks to her research, said: "Stress in small doses can be a good thing, such as if a cat is under stress to eat, then it can perform better.
"But otherwise, it will have a negative effect, such as in a veterinary practice.
"This is because a cat is in a cage and isn't able to do what it would like to do, so stress levels will increase and it will become wound up and angry.
"This is bad for not only its behaviour, becoming difficult for staff to handle, but also for its immune system and ability to heal."
Miss Barr, of Waterlooville, Hants, studied cats when they were first admitted by assessing their ear and eye activity, how they were communicating and respiration levels.
The 21 year old then split them into two groups, only one of which was played the relaxation CDs.
She added: "I then repeated the test after 40 minutes and was able to assign each cat a cat stress score.
"By comparing the scores, I found the music had a dramatic effect on respiration rates, with those exposed to the music decreasing to a relaxed rate much quicker than those not exposed."
Well, I'll just stick some easy listening on for Charlie, should perk him up!
I've had a busy weekend gardening - well my fiance Mike has!
I left some empty boxes from our garden furniture on the patio and Charlie just couldn't resist climbing inside.
But what is it about boxes that appeal to cats so much?
Well, if it is small in area and has at least three sides, your cat will probably climb inside and make himself comfortable.
It isn't difficult to imagine why cats like being enclosed. They feel snug and protected in smaller, defined places.
Cats have a natural need for warmth and protection, their ever-present instinct tells them to be alert to dangers that might sneak up on them when they are dozing.
If the enclosure has a top, that's even better.
You should make sure your pet has a variety of snug places where he can curl up and take a nap.
We've also been cutting down brambles and weeds at the bottom of our garden.
Charlie is not happy - he was hiding out in the shrubbery keeping a close eye on us tearing down his empire!
Charlie has been very poorly - he's doesn't stop eating but he doesn't seem to be putting on weight.
Then yesterday, he started throwing up - poor Charlie!
To my absolute horror - there were creatures wiggling in his vomit!
The poor sod has worms - no wonder he's so hungry!
I'm a bit upset that I didn't recognise the symptoms they can include vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss or a dry and dull coat.
Worms may be observed in the vomit or in the faeces.
Intestinal parasites of cats can infect humans and small children are particularly at risk.
If a cat has tapeworms, the signs will not usually show until it starts to expel little white, or off-white, bits that will be seen near the cat's anus.
The bits are about the size of a sesame seed and look similar as they dry up.
Charlie does a lot of hunting and tapeworms are picked up by cats from infected fleas which they may have gotten from wild kills of birds, mice and other animals.
Tapeworms are easily treated by an over-the-counter medication at a good vet supply store or like I did with Charlie take your pet straight to the vet.
Last October, Charlie and I visited Woodlands Animal Sanctuary in Holmeswood and Charlie had the chance to stay in their cat hotel.
But now the Sanctuary have announced they only have enough funding to remain open for the next three weeks, before the situation becomes desperate.
The charity, which was formerly known as Southport Cats Protection, is currentyl home to scores of rabbits, birds, goats and of course cats, but money is running out and the centre could soon be forced to close its doors to new admissions.
Woodlands is staffed entirely by volunteers and owner Jaqui McDerby has promised that no animals will be put to sleep.
Daughter Vickie added: "We are asking people to a) donate money or set up a direct debit or b) come forward for new homes.
"If just 300 people were to set up a standing order of £3 a month that would give us some security.
"We have people that give us a monthly allowance at the moment, but that doesn't cover half our costs.
"There are no full time staff - we are all volunteers."
Vickie added that any money donated would be spent entirely on the animals.
"Feeding, neutering, general vets costs that's all the money is spent on, that and the up keep of the sanctuary.
"For example, the hedgehogs costs £200 each through the Winter.
"They come in cold, they have to be hand reared and given medication, anti-biotics and vitamin injections, all the food.
"And we've 30 hedgehogs in at the moment."
And it's not just Woodlands who are feeling the strain, other animal charities are in need of help.
"The RSPCA brought cats to us last week because they are so busy," Vickie said.
A recent Winter Ball raised £1,600 for the sanctuary and a barn dance is planned for April to raise further funds.
Vicky added: "You feel like you are back to the same people saying you want more money - there's only so much you can ask of the same people and so we need people that have never helped us before to come forward."
To find out more about helping the registered charity log on to www.animalsanctuary.org.uk, call 01704 823293 or buy a ticket for the barn dance at Rufford Village Hall on April 17 for £12.
A cat from Massachusetts in America has over 1.5 million people following him on Twitter
(Well, that means Charlie's got a long way to go!)
The cat's owner Jason Scott said he opened the Twitter account to post catlike musings from his feline's point of view.
Jason 37, said he started the "inner monologue" micro-blog for his cat, Sockington, in 2007 and the Twitter feed now has 1.5 million followers and has even inspired a rap song.
Scott said his goals include "breaking up the self-important and bland Twittering" and sharing Sockington's "life of boredom" with the world.
"If you have a cat," he said, "you realise their life is mostly food and sleep."
He said the posts are mostly centered around those themes. "HMM YOU ARE VERY INTERESTING TO ME oh it looks like you're finished eating NOT QUITE AS INTERESTING ANYMORE," one post reads.
The Southport, Birkdale & District Branch of the RSPCA is offering to microchip Ormskirk pets free of charge.
Pet owners can take their dogs, cats and rabbits to a special free microchipping event to be held on February 1, between 11am and 3 pm, at Ormskirk Cricket Club, Brook Lane Ormskirk.
The RSPCA believes that microchipping is the most reliable way of finding your pet if it is lost or stolen.
The quick and painless procedure places a small chip, the size of a grain of rice, underneath the animal's skin.
Each microchip has a unique number, which is then entered into a national database alongside the owner's name, address and telephone number.
The RSPCA's chief veterinary officer Steve Cheetham said: "Microchipping your pet provides the ultimate assurance that should your pet go missing it can be easily traced.
"Even the most pampered pets can stray too far from home and get lost or stolen but a microchip permanently links the pet and the owner to ensure a happy reunion should the worst happen."
The RSPCA asks pet owners to put their dogs on a lead while cats and rabbits need to be in a suitable carrier.
Owners of other small animals should check with the Animal Shelter before taking them to the Cricket Club.
Further details can be obtained from the Animal Shelter in New Cut Lane Southport
or by phone on 01704 567624
Poor Charlie - everyone's been out buying up all the cat litter to grit their roads with and now the poor man has none for his toilet!
With councils across Britain struggling to get hold of grit - people are finding alternatives to including table salt!
Asda say they've seen a 55% increase in sales of cat litter in the last 48 hours.
I went to my local Tesco and the shelves were practically empty - so Charlie has had to do his business outside - the only problem is once I let him out he won't come back in!
He loves the snow!
Cats are funny creatures - check out this clip of Charlie playing with my dog Mitzy in the back garden!
In fact, Charlie and I were having a discussion the other day and he was telling me all sorts of things about his species.
*Did you know people should never pick up cats by the nape of the neck? Only a mother cat knows how to do that carefully and safely.
*Charlie says that cats have a third eyelid, called a "haw", but we only see that when he isn't feeling well.
For more funny cat facts and a little quiz, see below:
*Did you know that cats can see six times better at night than humans can? Charlie has very pretty yellow eyes, but all cats have blue eyes when they are born.
*Some of them start to change colour at about three weeks.
*Many cats lack the necessary gene required to be affected by catnip, but Charlie goes mad for it!
*Charlie has four rows of whiskers on either side of her face. The top two rows move independently from the bottom two. He says it's because the whiskers help measure openings. He can only fit through an opening as long as either side doesn't touch his whiskers. Pretty cool, huh!
*Charles has a really cute nose, but did you know that's not the only way he smells? He has something called the Jacobson's organ, which is located in the upper surface of the mouth.
*Did you know a cat, left to its own devices may have three to seven kittens every four or five months?
*This means that during a cat's lifetime, she can have up to 2,100 kittens in a 10-year life span. This is why spaying and neutering is so important.
*Charlie said when he was a stray, he would use her homing ability to get back to the place he started but I don't think it worked because he walked into my life.
*He uses her biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the earth's magnetic field to get back home. Who knew cats were this smart?
*Did you know cats are three times more likely to contract rabies than dogs? They cover more territory, they roam freely and spend a large part of their time at night, increasing their chance of running into a rabid animal.
*Rabies vaccinations are so important to cats. Please make sure your cat visits the vet every year for this.
*Cats have over 100 vocal sounds. Dogs have only about 10. Charlie says you can learn a lot about a cat by its tail.
*First of all, a cat's tail has 32 muscles. You can tell how a cat is feeling by how it controls its tail. For instance, a cat's tail held high means happiness.
*A twitching tail is a warning sign and a tail tucked in close to the body is a sign of insecurity. Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The only other animals that do this are giraffe and camel.
*Charlie says she ages differently than I do. A cat that is one year old is equivalent to 16 human years. The second year, a cat ages eight human years, and each year after that, about four human years.
*This means a six-year-old cat is equivalent to 40 human years!
*God help me when Charlie turns one in a few year!
Test your knowledge in Charlie's Cat Quiz below:
1) How many breeds of cat is there?
2) What is group of cats called?
3) What is a group of kittens called?
4) Charlie says that, in Egypt, entire families would do what to show they were in mourning when the family cat died?
5) How many cats is there in the world? a) 420 million 6) 800 million or c) 600 million?
6) Which ancient civilization is widely believed to have been the first to domesticate cats?
7)Which breed of long-haired cat became popular in Britain during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria?
8)At about what age does a domestic cat reach puberty?
9) Which two pigment colors form the basis for all coat colors in the modern domestic cat?
10) Which breed of short-haired cat is known for its rabbitlike gait and the absence of a tail?
11) A cat's "righting reflex" allows it to: a) Find its way around even in the dimmest light
b) Always land on four feet when falling from a reasonable height
c) Retract or extend its claws immediately
d) Look more imposing by arching its back and raising its fur?
12)Allergies to cats are one of the most common allergies in humans. What causes cat allergies in people?
13) What breed of hairless cat, first bred in Canada in 1966, was given full Championship Class status in 2002 by the Cat Fanciers' Association?
14) British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's successful musical "Cats" (1981) was based on which work of literature: a) "Cat That Walked by Himself" (1902) by Rudyard Kipling
b) "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) by Lewis Carroll
c) "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" (1939) by T. S. Eliot
d) "The Cat in the Hat" (1957) by Dr. Seuss
15) A polydactyl cat has extra a) hair b) toes or c) whiskers?
Answers
1) About 100.
2) A clowder.
3) A kindle.
4) Shaved off their eyebrows.
5) There are an estimated 600 million house cats in the world. With a human population of roughly 6.6 billion, there's one house cat for every 10 people on the planet.
6) Most people agree that the domestic cat descended from the Caffre cat, a small breed of African wildcat that was domesticated in ancient Egypt, possibly as early as 2500 BC.
7) The correct answer is a Persian. Persians became popular in 19th-century Britain during Queen Victoria's reign; she and other members of the royal family kept blue Persians.
8) The domestic cat usually reaches puberty at around 9 or 10 months of age.
9) Two pigments, black and orange, form the basis for all coat colors in the modern domestic cat. These pigments may be combined with each other or with white (the absence of pigment). A single gene, the O (Orange) gene, determines whether a cat's coat contains black or orange pigment. The O gene can be thought of as a switch that is either on (orange) or off (black). The gene is located on the X chromosome, so its inheritance is sex-linked.
10) Manx is a breed of short-haired cat native to the Isle of Man, a British island off the coast of Great Britain. Although there are many stories about how tailless cats first came to the island, it is most likely that the genetic mutation originated there.
11) A cat's "righting reflex" allows it to always land on four feet. A cat reflexively rights itself when its head is not square with the ground - thus, when dropped or when falling through the air from a reasonable height, the animal lands on its feet regardless of the position in which it begins its descent. Its supple spine allows it to twist midair and, given enough room, the cat's muscles relax, minimizing injury upon impact. Because this reflex coordinates input from both the eyes and the middle ear, newborn kittens whose eyes have not yet opened do not fall so gracefully.
12)A protein in the cat's skin and saliva causes a reaction in people with cat allergies, leading to itching, sneezing and other allergy symptoms. For allergic people who wish to have a cat, allergists recommend keeping the cat out of the bedroom; bathing the cat, if the cat tolerates washing; using air purifiers to remove allergens; and, in some cases, receiving injections to desensitize the body against the allergen.
13)The Sphynx, a breed of hairless cat, the result of a natural mutation.
14) British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's successful musical "Cats" (1981) was based on poet T. S. Eliot's book for children, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" (1939). "Cats" the musical is an almost plotless story about a group of cats in a junkyard.
15)A polydactyl cat is a cat with more than usual number of toes on one or more of its paws as a result of a genetic mutation. Normal cats have four toes and one dewclaw (thumb) on each front paw and four toes on each hind paw. Polydactyl cats may have as many as seven digits on front and/or hind paws.
WHEN I heard about a cat hotel in Holmeswood, I knew there was only one fella - or rather feline could take with me - my kitty Charlie.
Woodlands Cat Hotel based at Woodlands Animal Sanctuary on Sandy Lane has been open for 15 years and offers 24 hour care for tabbies while their owners are away.
Owner Jacqui McDerby, an avid cat lover from a young age, runs the hotel with her family including daughter Vickie.
Jacqui used to breed and show pedigree Siamese cats for a number of years before going into rescue work which led her to becoming coordinator of the Southport and District Branch of the Cats Protection for over 10 years.
She is now founder and trustee of Woodlands Animal Sanctuary.
The same love of cats prompted her to open Woodlands Cat Hotel to enable all cats to enjoy her high standard of love and attention whilst their owners are on holiday.
Vickie, 25, said: "My mum's been looking after cats and kittens for over 20 years. Cats that are ill or strays.
"The place just grew and grew and as well as cats people were bringing rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, goats and birds."
In 2005, Woodlands Animal Sanctury was officially registered as a charity and cares for unwanted and neglected farm animals, small domestic animals and species of native wildlife that, over the years, have been given to them to care for.
"We solely run on donations and that's where the cat hotel comes in we use the profits from it to put back into the sanctuary."
Charlie was given a guided tour of the hotel by Vickie and spent time in the spacious sleeping quarters alongside residents Rocky and Ellie.
Vickie added: "They are fully heated and each pen has a ladder giving access to the lower floor and their toilet.
"At the moment Rocky is staying with us and he has diabetes and must have insulin every day. We cater for all sorts of cats."
So what was Charlie's verdict? Woodlands Cat Hotel is a purrfect place to stay.
If you would like more information about the hotel or sanctuary or are interesting in volunteering your time visit www.animalsanctuary.org.uk or call 01704-823293.
Charlie's not been well lately or at least he seems that way - lounging about on my bed barely being able to lift his head.
