Students Of Success

Have you ever had this happen? You’re a happy cat owner, your kitty is using the box just fine, but one day…you come home and find a giant urine spot in the living room…the bathroom…heaven forbid - on your bed!

What happened? What went wrong? It isn’t normal for a cat to use her litter box faithfully, then one day decide it’s no longer right for her. There’s always a reason why a cat stops using the litter box.

Always.

If this happens to you, don’t panic! The earlier you realize kitty isn’t using her box, the earlier you can stop this problem cold. By careful investigation, you can figure out what’s going on, and how to get kitty to use her litter box again.

Let’s examine 5 common causes that could affect kitty, and the solutions for each.

Medical condition:

Your kitty suddenly stops using the litter box because she’s developed a medical condition. It is most likely crystals in her urine, which form in the bladder, and make urination extremely painful. Kitty associates the urination pain with her litter box, so she continually tries to find a spot in the house that isn’t painful - to her!

The solution - get kitty to the vet as quickly as possible. A course of medication can clear the crystal problem in the short term. A permanent solution is to change your cat’s diet to canned food. Be sure to consult with your vet on large-scale diet changes for your cat.

New house or residence:

You moved to another location. It’s fine by you…but kitty is stressed out by the move. A week or two after moving in and unpacking boxes, you start finding “accidents” in the new digs.

To solve this problem, you will need to confine your cat to one room, and retrain her to use the litter box. She’s most likely stressed out by the new house or apartment. Set up a room with her food, water, litter box, and toys. Shrink her new world down to a manageable size, and start over with litter training. As she demonstrates her willingness to use the litter box again, bring her out, under supervision, and watch her. After a week or so, your cat should be better acclimated to the new residence, and use her litter box again.

Change to a different cat litter brand:

Cats can be fussy creatures. You change to a different brand of litter because it’s cheaper, it hides the smell better, or it’s simply more available. Kitty tells you she hates her new litter by the most obvious method - she stops using it!

Switch back to the old brand you were using. Assuming kitty liked that, the problem should be solved. If not, try Cat Attract brand litter. It has a unique blend of herbs and clay, and it really does solve the problem for about 98% of the feline population that has a litter box complex.

You change the litter box location:

You decided it’s time to move kitty’s box down to the laundry room from the dining room. Kitty is not pleased, so she continues her habit of using the dining room - minus the litter box!

One solution is to find a new location that’s acceptable to both of you. Barring that, you may well have to give in to kitty’s wishes, and put the darn box back where she likes it. It’s certainly cheaper than fighting the battle of cleaning up the urine stains and odor.

I feel your pain on this; my darn cat Scout loves the exercise room as a prime litter box location. I really, really hate it when I’m on the elliptical machine, and Scout has to answer a call of nature that lingers long after she’s vacated the box. Such is life!

A person comes to live with you and kitty:

If you subscribe to the saying, “Love me, love my cat,” it can be challenging for a new partner if she/he wasn’t a cat person. Discomfort, anger, and resentment can manifest in bad kitty behavior outside the litter box. Your significant other moves in (or you make the move), and the next thing you know, there are presents around the residence you’d rather not have.

You can solve this problem by ensuring that your cat and the other loved one give each a chance to get used to one another. This may entail confining your cat for periods of time, or getting your partner accustomed to cat behavior (climbing on the lap, meowing, sharing the couch, chair, or bed) over a period of time. The worst thing that can happen is for your partner to tease or abuse kitty. This could trigger an inappropriate elimination response.

Anytime your kitty stops using her box for no apparent reason is cause for immediate investigation. If you stop and think about any changes that have occurred in the immediate past, address those first. If you haven’t made any changes, the culprit is most likely a medical condition that can easily be diagnosed and cured by your local kitty vet.

About the Author: http://www.cat-urine-odor-advisor.com
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To thrive in the current environment of fast change, aggressive challenges and hard lessons you have to be all that you have within you to be.

To live life to the fullest you have to realise your potential, you have to know how to relate to others effectively and you have to know yourself.

This leads to the question “What is our real self?” What is the real you behind the personality you have developed during your lifetime? You adapt your behaviour to fit your current circumstances - you put on a mask. Be this mask one of cruelty or kindness, happiness or depression, generosity or selfishness it is an illusion. Our masks are often donned for good reason, indeed no-one is denying that their occasional use is appropriate in much the same way as we dress differently when attending a party or a wedding, but they cause stress, unhappiness and discontent when they become stuck.

To be authentic, to achieve a way of being which allows you to be your true self you must learn to live without your mask.

The way to achieve wellness and contentment is to allow the deepest truths within you to come out. You can do this in many ways but finding a place of stillness is a good place to start.

Many claim to have tried meditation and given it up. Meditation is like any skill - it needs daily practice for the benefits to be felt and for mastery to be achieved. The thoughts which interfere with meditation come from consciousness. This does not mean you need to be unconscious to meditate! Rather think of your consciousness as being like a shiny tap. The thoughts flow from your consciousness in much the same way as water flows from the tap. If you choose to turn the tap off, water no longer flows - if you choose to turn off your thoughts your consciousness remains but it is not permitted to interfere with your quietness.

As humans we grow - this is a natural process unless we deliberately limit ourselves in some way. You will know people who appear to be more advanced, more developed or more “together” than you. Such development is available to you if you simply stop selling yourself short and putting things on the too-hard-to-do list.

So often our focus is on acquiring more things to allow us to do what we want to do in the hope that we can be happy, content and fulfilled. Ask yourself, has this strategy worked for you? Have you stretched yourself to unrealistic financial limits in order to acquire more? Do you have debts incurred for articles which you seldom look at or use? Did the acquisition of these things give you the enduring contentment and happiness you sought?

Surely if you turn this process around, if you can be your true self, you will do things which really give you enjoyment and pleasure and then you shall have all you want!

Adapted behaviour or masked behaviour can be maintained for a short time but not without cost. It is a bit like wearing someone else’s shoes. They are fine to nip out to the garage but not to wear all day! To force yourself into being something you are not is to rub yourself sore, just as the shoes will inevitably rub. You become a square peg in a round hole. You begin questioning your purpose. Masked behaviour can even differ between the sexes. How many men do you know who find it difficult to express their hurt so instead demonstrate anger? How many women cannot express their anger so experience hurt instead? What does this concealment of the true way of being cost the individual and their relationships? Can you see how much additional stress we induce by not being authentic?

Real change occurs in our lives when we become what we are, not when we try to become what we are not! Is this a challenge you are ready to embrace?

Donetta Harrison is building http://www.wellnessforlife.info, an information resource on all aspects of wellness in all domains of life, to encourage individuals to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing in order that that they may live life to the full. More Information from wellnessforlife@btinternet.com.

In most of my newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or
meal recipe that not only is delicious, but also helps to get
you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking
for. In this article, I’d like to give you healthy food ideas in
a different way. This time, I figured I’d just give you some
ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with. Remember, if
you don’t have junk around the house, you’re less likely to eat
junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you’re
forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with
making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your
grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal
preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that
you’ll enjoy.

Alright, so let’s start with the fridge. Each week, I try to
make sure I’m loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh
vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce,
but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the
grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of
vegetables like zucchini, onions, fresh mushrooms, spinach,
broccoli, red peppers, etc. to use in my morning eggs. I also
like to dice up some lean chicken or turkey sausage into the
eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses. Coconut milk
is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with
smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only
does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes,
but it’s also full of healthy saturated fats. Yeah, you heard
me…I said healthy saturated fats! Healthy saturated fats like
medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric
acid. If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you,
check out my article at
http://truthaboutabs.com/dietary-fat-article.html

Back to the fridge, some other staples:

* Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt - I like to mix
cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts
and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.

* Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources
of healthy fats.

* Whole flax seeds - I grind these in a mini coffee grinder and
add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the
omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to
oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground
flax.

* Eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and
remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol).

* Nut butters - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old
for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with
sesame seed butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia
butter…delicious and unbeatable nutrition!

* Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic
varieties of salsas.

* Butter - don’t believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor
to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the
quantity small because it is calorie dense…and NEVER use
margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack).

* Avocados - love them…plus a great source of healthy fats,
fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or
sandwiches.

* Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and
bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total
carbs).

* Rice bran and wheat germ - these may sound way too healthy for
some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste
to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or
breads to add nutrients and fiber.

* Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for
salads with dinner.

* Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, extra
virgin olive oil, and Udo’s Choice oil blend. This is much
better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly
refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).

Some of the staples in the freezer:

* Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish
each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have
to get bored.

* Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get
fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I
always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries,
blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber
cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies

* Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I
can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the
best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents
compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of
miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner
table.

* Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient to nuke up for a
quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.

* Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other “exotic” lean
meats - Yeah, I know…I’m weird, but I can tell you that these
are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you’re serious
about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better
for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork
that’s sold at most grocery stores.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

* Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little
packs of instant oats.

* Cans of coconut milk - to be transferred to a container in the
fridge after opening.

* Various antioxidant rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos
are some of the best.

* Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an
excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial
sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.

* Organic maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup
Aunt Jemima crap…only real maple syrup can be considered real
food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar
load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up
and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your
muscles.

* Raw honey - better than processed honey…higher quantities of
beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in
studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I
use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas.

* Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta - much higher fiber
than normal pastas

* Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice

* Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops
to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content.
Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth
promoting antioxidants!

* Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I’m sure you’ve heard a
million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch
out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn
syrup.

* Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) - This is one of my
treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of
antioxidants at the same time. It’s still calorie dense, so I
keep it to just a couple squares; but that is enough to do the
trick, so I don’t feel like I need to go out and get cake and
ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

* Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my
smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own
low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with
stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean
body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes
are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave
you some good ideas you can use next time you’re at the grocery
store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of
groceries.