How to make a drinking fountain

This is what we have when the water fountain is in full force because the pump only has one setting. It sometimes startles the amigos and I have yet to see either Bujang or Tanaka drinking from it. I thought it would be useful for everyone who needs a glass or porcelain fountain for the kitties or doggies.

 This is what it looks like in reality. You have one big receptacle to hold the water. This one holds 8 cups of water, enough for 4 cats. Our white receptacle (from etsy) is porcelain and human grade.

 This glass bowl (from etsy) is drilled in the middle to allow for the fountain

The bottom of this bowl is scalloped to allow for the wire of the pump. This bowl houses the pump, filter and activated carbon like below

 The tube is made of plastic and can be gotten for free at tropical fish pet stores.

This one cost me $10.50 but has only one speed. If you live in Singapore, you need to get a pump that has the correct voltage. The pump from etsy cannot be used because of this.You can get activated carbon for about $1.50.

The Assembly

 Clean the pump first :) before placing it in the centre

 Pump and sponge filter

If your pump has only one speed, the tubing is way too long. I need to find one that has different speeds though.

 Our first try was like this but the water spurts out in a long arc and everyone got very wet!

This was more like it. 

The man at the tropical fish shop reminded me to always ensure that the pump is under water. If not it gets spoiled easily. I was also given a copper tubing but that is still in the workshop for cutting. I am also experimenting with an acrylic tube.

This is our 2nd fountain. I bought the larger receptacle from BHG.It cost me $12.50 and made in Japan. The smaller bowl needs one hole drilled at the bottom and another cut at the side as this is not scalloped for the wire of the pump. This one has a fountain is not as startling. The pump is similar to the one above and even the tubing is the same. Its a great mystery to me.

This bowl is much better and I do not know why the fountain is not as vigorous as the other one as we had used the same size pump and plastic tubing.

I do not know what the fuss is. Surely they can drink from a plain water bowl like I do. Sheesh!

PS. I had bought both these fountains from etsy and some of the proceeds from the sale is sued for persian cat rescue. But I thought it good to share how they had assembled the fountain as if I assemble all these elements myself, it would be a fraction of the price. However, there is some skill involved in drilling on glass and porcelain and I have yet to learn it from the workshop teachers. Beth had also provided me with a copper tube. I am very grateful to Beth (the seller) as I was pretty desperate for a water fountain and our Cat-It one is plastic. Beth had also given me a good discount and  it arrived 2 weeks from USA, right to our door :)

Tanaka How to #6 _How to ambush your bruffer

One offur fings I like doing is ambushing my bruffers_any one offur them will do. But nuffing is better than ambushing Bujang The BOSS.

First- You must have a good hiding place. It is important that your ambushee does not suspect anyfing! Look out for them as if you miss the chance, then all is lost. Once you see him coming, then make sure you hide yourself well...

See how I do it? Make sure he sees only a little bit of your tail so he would be curious. If you have a shorter tail, I suggest a paw.
Once he is curious, get into the cube (if you have one) and show your cute face. If possible, tease him a little wif your eyes and head posture. Say lalalalala wif your eyes! Act super cute! My bruffer Bujang does not like this at all.

Then pretend to ignore him. He likes this even worse!

Once your bruffer is fed up, try hiding yourself so he would have to beat you up to save 'face'! He would not to be embarrased by a liitle tyke like you.

One more fing. Make sure you can hide in the cube. Use the cube as protection fur your body. He would be quite puzzled by this and would not be able to figure it out.

See what I mean? Bujang was confused by the fact that he could not see all of me. He only saw my paw and he was not able to beat me up at all. Hahahaha. I had such a fun time wif him. I know he did not like me at that minute because he could not figure a way to get at me at all. Laalalalalalala. Job DONE!

Hrumph! One of these days I will get him!

Tanaka How To #05_Secret Drawer

Its time for my further instructions of How To Get What YOU Want...

Drawers are tricky fings. You don't know what is inside them all unless you pay close attensiun to effurything that happens in the house. As a watch_cat, I am furry attentive and sees that san keeps my wand toy in it. Effury morning she opens this drawer and I sieze my chance.
Now for the instructions:

1. Make sure your human is occupied so she would not close the drawer. san also keeps her brush in this drawer and as soon as she brushes her hair, I make sure that she sees me inspecting the drawer carefully to see where the toy is. This is an impwtant step as your human must see that YOU are concerned about your toys. This makes them feel warm and fuzzy about you and immediately forget their own concerns.

Ah-hah. THAT is my peacock feather wand toy. I lurve it furry much. If I can get it out, san will have no choice but to play wif me.

2. Once you locate your toy, make sure your human notices you. Its no use if they ignore your effort. So make sure you SHOW them that you are a little kitty who needs a lot offur help in getting your toy out. Paw at it a little to show _desperation. Human beings are always willing to help a despearte kitty and if you're cute as well, you may get in some play time before your human goes to work. 3. Make sure you get a good grip of the edge of the drawer. This would allow you to perch steadily and NOT fall. Falling off only makes your human laugh and then they would forget that they need to play wif you.

4. Once you know your human had seen you and how desperately you want to play, RELAX. This is an impawtant step. You have to make your human feel a little sad that you seem to lose hope. THIS will make them want to help you get your toy and then play with you so you would be happier.

5. Look at the toy that you human helped you to take out offur the drawer. Look sad until they move it about and asks you to play. "Here Tanaka..c'com..kitty...."

WHEEEEEE! All done.

Tanaka How-To #3: How to Deal with Laundry

It is time for me to take over from san. She has not been furry good at blogging lately and says she has no pikshurs. So I told san I would help her out. Its time fur my How-To tips. This time about laundry.
san send out most offur our laundry to the man who helps her to wash them. She gives them paper - a lot offur it for him to keep our laundry safe and sound and of course smelling good. She usually send out our fings as she says all the mats and quilts are too difficult for her to wash by herself.

So I have to keep my ears out for the sound of the bell effury Sunday morning. Here I am doing my best to hear for the bell. But first I always hear for his footsteps.
Then I have to turn around to see if it was really the laundry man. Sometimes its the post that brings our medicine from far away. Once I hear the laundryman I always

check if its the rights bags. san puts our laundry in Ikea bags as they are distinct and the laundryman knows the bags belong to us.

Sometimes I send my helper Toro to see if the laundryman has arrived. He is my right-handcat and does his job well.

Once the laundryman takes away our dirty linen (hehe), he would drop off the clean ones. This menas the laundry would smell nice and clean. Both of us would do the sniff test. san would give the laundryman a lot of paper also at this point. You can see from the pikshurs that we have the same stuff that we sent out before. Now they are in plastic. I always make sure that this is the case as it is my duty. It would not be right if the laundryman sends us someone else's laundry. Then I would have to tell san and she would have to make our complaints to the person-in-charge at the laundramat.

But as the BOSS, I would have to make sure that the right bags are taken in exchange for the paper and then I make sure the lundryman goes away. We do not want him to come back and take away our clean ones again.

So then san puts away our newly cleaned laundry. THAT is when I know my job is done.

How to make a collar

I guess now I can try to make cat collars with breakaway buckles. I just realised last week, after many years of throwing old buckles that I can try to make my own. Probably have to buy webbing from someplace and a sewing -machine. I can borrow the machine I guess. We'll see lah

How to brush your cat's teeth...

You must be kidding me...

I was reading the Fanny Syufy article Clean Your Cat's Teeth and thought it would be better to reproduce it here for my reference as I know I would need to read it several times over.

Dental health is every bit as important to cats as it is to humans. A regular program of teeth cleaning will ensure your cat will enjoy his senior years with all his teeth intact

Difficulty: Average (Hmmm..maybe for me not so average but not insurmountable)
Time Required: 5 minutes (plus 20 - first to persuade Toro that he can trust me, to get him to open his mouth long enough for the whole operation, to cope with his struggles as he is rather strong and can be stubborn)

Here's How:

Assemble supplies: sterile gauze, scissors, cat toothpaste (available at pet stores) or a weak sterile solution recommended by your veterinarian.

Directions:

1. Wrap a strip of gauze around the index finger of your dominant hand and either dip it in the sterile solution, or apply a small amount of toothpaste to your fingertip.

2. Holding the cat in your lap, open his mouth

3. Gently rub your 'finger brush' in a circular motion on his teeth, concentrating on the area next to the gums. Gently massage the gums at the same time. It's not necessary to do the back sides of the teeth.

4. Once your cat will tolerate this procedure, you can graduate to a small child's toothbrush.
Give kitty a few loving pats and kind words, along with a little treat to polish off with his shiny clean teeth.

Tips:

• You might want to experiment with flavored toothpaste for cats. There is a fish-flavored one that is quite tasty.
• If you start practicing examining your cats teeth at a very young age, this process will be much easier. See 'How To Gentle a Kitten' for suggestions.
• Bleeding of the gums is a sign your cat needs professional dental scaling by your veterinarian, so attend to that as soon as possible.
  
• What You Need:
  Sterile gauze
  Cat toothpaste / solution
  Opt: small toothbrush
  Scissors
• Suggested Reading
  How to Examine Cat's Teeth
  Dental Health in Cats
  Dental Care Plan for Cats
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