When I was a baby we had a cat named George… George was lovely, I adored her and when she went to live on a nice farm at the beach one day (a story I believed until I was 14 and retelling it to a friend before my Mum said ‘Oh… Ruth, I think there’s something you ought to know…) I was very sad and I remember begging my Mum to get a kitten for what seemed like years! We eventually did and I’ve always had cats ever since aside from a brief few years in London when it wasn’t really possible because of where we lived. We tried to have one in our flat but our big boy Bollo just wasn’t happy there and went on permanent sabbatical to Norfolk to live with my Mum. I kind of feel like a house isn’t a home without one though so when we moved back to Norwich and realised that my Mum had grown far too fond of Bollo to let us have him back, the children and I went to a cat rescue home and came home with… Not one, but TWO, much to Daddy’s (not QUITE as fond on cats as me) delight!

I think it’s important to have pets and I wanted my children to feel a bond with one like I did with mine when I was little and with Blossom and Fuzzy (Princess Blossom and Fuzzy Wuzzy Woz A Bear to give them their FULL names) joining us just over a year ago they have been LOVING being cat owners. It’s fantastic watching the children love the cats and my house does definitely feel a lot more homely with them sat in front of the fire, curled up on the end of a bed or just mooching in the garden. I love how independent they are and how intelligently they won’t just give you their affection if you haven’t given them what they want – I like a bit of personality and cats definitely give you that!

Teaching the children about cats and how to love them is a great education for them too. They are learning to care and be responsible for something else and a great tool for helping them learn about cat behaviour is the K.I.T (Kat Institute of technology) provided by WHISKAS! Everything WHISKAS does is for the love of cats. For them, cats aren’t just their job, cats are their life.  From their nutritious food and adorable Kitten Kollege to their Lifestage and Curiosity campaign helping owners to feed their cats curiosity by giving them the right food for every stage of their life – they’re passionate about cats. WHISKAS want to encourage owners to feed their cats a nutritious diet made up of dry food or wet food and a responsible amount of treats – Florence feeds our cats as the first thing she does when she waked up, it’s her little job and as a result I’m sure they love her just a little bit more than the rest of us! WHISKAS also want to ensure cat owners know how to keep their cat happy with love, attention and play and that’s where the K.I.T videos on YouTube are brilliant, especially with small children so that they can learn using a medium they know and love!

The platform offers a series of cute & quirky videos to answer the most commonly asked questions by cat owners. To help encourage knowledge sharing and proper cat care WHISKAS® have created a series of informative videos designed to educate and entertain. We have watched them all: ‘Why does my cat meow?’, ‘Why does my cat purr?’, ‘What is a healthy diet for cats?’, ‘How much should I feed my cat?’ and our personal favourite, ‘How do I know if my cat is happy?’

The children love the animation which keeps them interested and they are learning to look for behavioural signs to show that their cats are happy. If their cats are unhappy with something they are doing (like being picked up by the tail – a mistake Jimmy made when we first had them) then they let us know and of course, they can be terribly snooty and not pay us any attention at all if we have done something so terrible like go away for a night and leave them alone, but watching out for ‘happy’ signs is a bit trickier! Now we have watched the video we are all clued up and our cats, thankfully, do show these signs a lot more than the signs that they are ignoring us in demonstration!

Check out your cats behaviour displays by watching all the K.I.T videos and let us know what you think!

This post is a collaboration with Whiskas, but all thoughts are my own. Check out their website and their KIT hub for more information on cat happiness and their Youtube video for fantastic KIT videos.

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