One of the old classics. Another was one posted by someone who called herself "Mother"...big into ornamental grasses. She posted something about rules for eating in the form of biblical commandments. and speaking of Catdude.....reminds me of Tammy of fudge fame. Anyone hear from her?

If the sparrows attacking the cat were House Sparrows, the cat is welcome to all it can eat, in my opinion. Otherwise, cats prey on songbird fledglings and if a cat so much as scratches a bird, it can get blood poisoning. Domestic cat feces are able to infect both humans and wildlife with dangerous diseases for months http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-cats-disease-wildlife-remote-areas.html

I've had so many cats over the years I've lost count. All have been indoor/outdoor but live "in" in the winter. We have found leather furniture to be best for upkeep with animals in general be they cats, dogs, birds or children... Never really had an issue with furniture clawing. Years ago I found my oldest cat had developed a 'love' for an old wooden box, 24X18X18(antique ammunition box I kept magazines in) This became the scratching post. If this wasn't handy sometimes she would use the decorative logs in the fireplace. So I've kept it handy. If the cats scratch they go there. Original kitties passed away, current two have not developed the scratch thing yet. Cats scratch to mark their territory. Scent in their paws. I've hissed at cats all my life, everyone in my family does. Keeps em honest...

Hey, if you win the lottery, I'm going to start charging you BIG BUCKS for my oh-so-sage advice. LOL! Funny, but that "foot" thing bugs me, too! My mom was always a stickler for any sort of typographical or grammatical mistake. When I started my personal website, she would even post messages in my guestbook telling me to correct the grammatical and spelling errors that OTHER PEOPLE made in their entries in my guestbook! LOL! You're going to love the medical spreadsheet once you get that started. It's going to help you feel so much more empowered and confident in your management protocol for Tigger. If you don't already have one, a digital baby scale is a very important investment, particularly when caring for a cat with a chronic, progressive illness like CKD. My experience with feline nutrition is a lot like my experience with putting up hay for my horses. In college, I took an equine nutrition course that taught me what I believed at the time were all the basics I needed to know about putting up excellent hay for horses. I knew about forage types, the optimal stage of maturity for cutting forage, drying times, and baling techniques. I thought I knew it all, and I was ready to make one perfect bale after another happily ever after. When I eventually bought my farm and was faced with my first actual haying season, it became tragically and frustratingly evident that one MAJOR element had been left out of my education. At no point during any of the lectures or in any of the texts in that equine nutrition course was mention made of the blackening effects that a week of rain would have on cut hay laying on the ground, or of how hay would rather rot than dry on cool, overcast days with high humidity, or any of a hundred other variables that were completely out of my control when trying to put up those "perfect" bales. Feline nutrition isn't any different. I could spend the rest of my life studying the intricacies and aspects of feline nutrition. I could learn everything there is to know and become the world authority on the subject. I could bring all of that impressive, unmatched expertise home to my own cats and prepare "perfect" meals for them ... and then watch them snub the meals, turn tail, and unceremoniously strut from the room with dismissive arrogance and empty bellies. What????? Laurie