Introducing Your New Cat

Introducing Your New Cat

Safe & Slow Thanks for opening your heart to your new cat! Cats are creatures of habit and changes are stressful for them. They do best with one new thing at a time. You are the bridge to your new cat's new life. We recommend two important things: Help your new...

read more
A Safe Room for Your New Kitty

A Safe Room for Your New Kitty

You've just adopted your new kitty and are excited to bring her home. You've been told to make a safe room but aren't sure you want to designate a whole room to her. What is a safe room and why is it so important? Cats are creatures of habit so change can be stressful...

read more
Play With Your Cat!

Play With Your Cat!

Cats are getting fatter. About 1 in 5 cats were obese 25 years ago. Now that number is almost 1 in 3. While they've gotten safer in the last 20 years, the typical indoor cat is bored, overweight and at risk for disease and early death. Most dog owners know they need...

read more
Declawing and cats

Declawing and cats

"Can a kitten be declawed at birth?" Someone asked this through the Happy Cats Haven website recently. It's a fact that cats come with claws. Scratching and touching with their claws is a basic cat instinct, like eating or purring. Not only does it keep their bodies...

read more
Why Does My Cat Do That?

Why Does My Cat Do That?

Experts think dogs have been domesticated for around 10,000 years. It's estimated that cats have been domesticated half to a third of that time. As pack animals, dog survival depends on being able to understand the communications of their pack mates. Dogs have...

read more
Tuna Jerky Recipe

Tuna Jerky Recipe

One of the biggest challenges to training a cat is finding the right treat. It's not enough the bag screams CAT TREAT...what matters is that your cat thinks it is! We try commercial cat treats here at Happy Cats, but the ones that most cats and kittens really go for...

read more
Clicker Training Basics

Clicker Training Basics

Clicker training is not your Grandpa's obedience training. You don't force the cat to do anything. You partner with your cats so they choose to do the behavior instead of being coerced, which makes them think and learn for themselves. That's why we call it Clicker...

read more
Clicker Play for Cats

Clicker Play for Cats

It used to be thought the word cat and the word training didn't go together. Most older books on cats will tell you it's too difficult or not even possible. Back then, training meant punishing to stop a behavior, not teaching to create new and better ones. A Little...

read more
Clicker Cheat Sheet

Clicker Cheat Sheet

Clicker training sets up a contract between you and the cat: if they do certain things, they get a click then a treat. Cat translation: If I do certain things, I can train my human to give me treats...Sweet! TWO CLICKER RULES: 1. The click marks the behavior, telling...

read more