This week’s new long video is about how I said “yes” to a stray cat, and it changed my life.

That cat was Buster, who has since passed. Charlotte is the cat in the video with me.

If you have time to listen to the whole video (about 15 minutes), I would appreciate it!

Violet’s teeth cleaning yesterday revealed that she needed to have 3 teeth removed. The situation in her mouth was much worse than when Nacho had her teeth removed earlier this year.

Violet needs 2 meds in addition to the pain medication. And the vet emphasized that Violet needs only wet food and treats for the next 10 days.

She also needs to keep the cone on because her lip is sore due to a front tooth that was removed.

I set up Violet in a large dog cage and will make a video about everything this week. Yesterday was a bit overwhelming.

Teeth are one reason that I recommend people take their cat to the vet once a year. I made a short video about that:

I made the video before I picked up Violet from the vet. The clip of her rubbing her face on my desk may not have been because of pain. The vet said it looked like she was marking her scent, but he didn’t clarify what pain rubbing would look like.

I hope you have a great week!

Heidi

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Last year, I made a list of 11 things that I don’t let my cats play with.

One of the items on this list is hair ties.

This week, I lost a hair tie, and I’m worried about it.

I have a rule to always put my hair tie in the medicine cabinet when I take it off. One day this week, I didn’t do that.

I only realized it the next day when I wanted to put my hair up to go for a walk, and it wasn’t there.

Hair ties can be very dangerous for cats if they manage to swallow them. I’ve looked all over for it, but so far it hasn’t turned up. I really am hoping a cat didn’t swallow it.

So far, they are all acting okay. So I have hope that it will turn up eventually. I will be extra careful with my hair ties and encourage you to do the same!

I also attempted to make a funny fake cat tip video.

Next week on Friday, Violet will have her teeth cleaned. I am hoping she doesn’t need any removed, as it’s expensive and it was traumatizing for Nacho back in January.

Have a great week,

Heidi

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Some of the comments on last week’s videos were about outdoor cats. So, I made a video about outdoor cats this week.

The situation with outdoor cats, at least in the United States, is misunderstood by many people.

If you’ve ever said or heard someone say, “That cat should be inside,” perhaps this video will give you new insights into outdoor cats.

I will keep this newsletter short since it is a holiday weekend.

Thank you,

Heidi

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I hope you are having a nice day.

It’s been 10 years since I started the cat channel on YouTube.

In this new video, I talk about the journey and what I will be trying next:

Someone left a comment on last week’s video, saying, “You have a great ASMR voice.”

This is not the first time I’ve heard viewers say I have a calm voice, and some people like listening to calm people talk.

I am going to test talking about cats and cat things using my naturally calm voice for a few videos (or more).

Clarification

In last week’s newsletter, I shared an old picture of Violet, which raised concerns that she had passed.

Violet is still with us and doing okay (still has ongoing diarrhea issues).

Violet is at least 14 now. We don’t know her exact age. Here is a recent picture of her that I used for a meme on Facebook:

Thanks for watching and reading,

Heidi Bender

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Recently, I was thinking about when people ask me to take in “just one more cat”.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. I made a new video to talk about it:

I also made new short videos this week, but I'm still figuring out the style and content I can do consistently that others will enjoy or learn from.

You can see them here: https://www.youtube.com/@Thejoyofcats/shorts

Violet

In the new video, I talk about how Charlotte doesn’t want any more new cats.

Back when we took in Violet and kept 2 of her kittens, I doubt I was thinking much about how the other 3 cats would feel about it.

Fortunately, it worked out okay!

Adding more cats to your household is not a decision to take lightly, which I’ve realized more as I’ve gotten older and also learned more about cats.

The photo of Violet below is from 2013. It would be more than a year later when she brought kittens to our yard, and we rescued her.

When I saw this picture yesterday in my Facebook memories, I wondered if she looked round enough to have been pregnant back then. If she was not pregnant, she was at least well fed. We only saw her occasionally that year, and I suspect it was before she was abandoned.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and cat moms!

Thanks for reading,

Heidi

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The 30-Day cat card project is complete.

I think those who received the cards enjoyed them. You can see the cards from last week below. My goal was to encourage real art (as opposed to AI art), but I didn't have the right energy to mention it every day.

Now, it’s on to the next project. I will be doing much more cat-focused content, like tips and funny stuff.

The cat Facebook page recently qualified for monetization, so I will be experimenting with different types of content, such as cat memes and short reels. The videos will be cross-posted on YouTube and Instagram.

The first one is below. I’m not sure how people will respond, as it could be read in different ways.

One way could be agreeing because cats are so awesome and the highlight of the day. Or perhaps, someone will read it as an old cat lady with nothing to do besides hang out with cats. Feel free to comment, like, and share it!

In other news, we are trying a fiber supplement (from the vet) for the indoor cats as diarrhea issues continue. Violet tested negative for parasites again.

The vet was also okay with Violet switching to regular food since the expensive prescription hydrolyzed food helped some, but did not correct the issue.

I think she has gained some weight since switching to regular food, although I did not weigh her to confirm. Just visually, she looks less skinny in the hips.

Thanks for reading, watching, and following!

Heidi

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I hope your Saturday is off to a great start!

Today is day 25 of the 30-day cat card project.

Another week without a viral video. That is okay.

People seem to like the cards, but not many comments.

I will not be moving forward with my idea to transform the channel to only being cat art.

In May, I will go back to making random vlog-style videos, cat project reviews, and cat tips.

I was tempted to stop the card project at the halfway point. However, I thought it was important to follow through, and I already had the playlist named 30 Days - 30 Cat Cards.

One of my favorite cards so far was Day 22, featuring Midnight, a big black cat I fed in my yard for several years.

If you’ve missed hearing me talk about cats, that is nice! I appreciate you.

In this old video, where I did a live stream, you can listen to me talk about cats for about 2 hours:

Thanks for continuing to read this newsletter.

Heidi

This week, my husband said the F word:

Flea!

He definitely saw a bug in the house. I’m not convinced yet that it was a flea. I have seen none on the cats or anywhere else.

To be safe, we are treating the cats. And we are doing extra vacuuming and cleaning.

If you ever have fleas in your home, only treating the cats isn’t enough, as the fleas can get under furniture, in the carpet, etc.

Random Cat Photo of the Week

Yesterday, I thought I saw the neighbor’s dog outside their fence.

It turns out it was not their dog. Just a look-a-like.

When I went over to ask them if their dog was missing, their cat gave me a judgmental stare.

Cat Card Project

I’ve been sticking with the cat card project. Today is day 18!

While no videos have gone viral as I hoped, I am very much enjoying the painting and surprising people with a card in the mail.

If you want to catch up, here is the playlist starting on card 11.

Thank you for reading and watching!

Heidi

I hope you had a good week with your cats.

Today is Day 11 of my project to send a hand-painted cat card to someone every day in April.

Here are a few of them:

To see all the cards so far, you can watch this playlist (the cats in the boat are the day 11 card, which will be posted this afternoon).

The videos are all under 30 seconds, so it will not take much time to watch them all.

Cat Weight Losses

Last week, 3 of the indoor cats had their annual checkups: Taco, Violet, and Jake. And the week prior, Charlotte had her checkup.

Violet, Jake, and Charlotte all lost weight. And the vet said Taco could gain a little.

Jake has lost 2 pounds since his visit last year, which is a lot for a cat. We had bloodwork done, and it was all fine.

The vet suspects that Jake's weight loss is due to the prescription food we have for Violet, which has fewer calories than regular food.

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When Nacho had her dental work done in January, her weight was okay.

With 3 of the 5 cats experiencing weight loss, we’ve decided to try switching them back to regular food and see how they do.

Violet’s poo isn’t perfect, and I think another is having issues as well. But with Violet, and I didn’t ask the vet this yet, I think the steroid shots may have helped her way more than the prescription food.

It’s possible that they could have a parasite, but the fecal tests have always been negative. I recently read online that they can have parasites and still test negative! So I will be bringing this up with the vet.

Why I don’t have a recliner

You may have seen this news story recently about a cat that got stuck in the parts under a recliner.

I’ve had fears of cats getting stuck or injured in the moving parts for years, so we’ve never had a recliner. The risk is probably low, but when I see stories like this one, it confirms that I don’t want to take the risk with my cats!

Thanks for reading,

Heidi

Also, happy Easter weekend!

On April 1st, I started a project of sending a handwritten note to someone each day.

In support of real art, I’m painting a cat-themed card to mail each day.

Here’s a short intro video about this 30-day challenge:

Every day, I am adding the new short video to this playlist. Eventually, it will have a video for each day.

Why am I doing this?

• I like painting, but haven’t been doing much of it lately.

• Handwritten cards received in the mail can bring a little bit of joy to someone’s day.

• I don’t know what to do with the YouTube channel to finally reach enough watch hours to qualify for monetization, so I'm testing this idea out.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Heidi

Last Saturday morning, I heard a cat fight while I was still in bed.

When I went out to feed the outdoor cats, there was a new cat on the sidewalk. It would not approach me.

I made a video later that morning while hiking, talking about my mixed feelings whenever I see a new cat outside.

You can watch it here:

I have not seen or heard the new cat since then.

Maybe Winter and Pork Chop would not let it stick around in the yard. Maybe it was an owned cat that lives nearby, and it made its way home.

So, we will keep an eye out for it. The new trail camera hasn’t been reliable yet. I think it’s a settings issue, but it suddenly stops taking pictures even though the memory card isn’t full.

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This week, I took Charlotte to the vet for her annual checkup in the Cabrio cat carrier.

When we tipped the carrier for Charlotte to come out, the carrier door slid off the hinges!

When the door is latched, it’s secure, but when it’s open, the door comes off easily.

I’ve added this experience to my review of the cat carrier.

Thank you for reading and watching!

Heidi

I am happy that the weather here is warming up. It makes life a little easier for outdoor cats.

This week, one of our cat water fountains stopped working again. It turns out the parts inside the pump needed cleaning.

If you have a fountain that is having trouble, check to see if the pump comes apart for cleaning.

My favorite fountains are quiet, and we currently have these two fountains. All the cats drink from the fountains except for Violet. I’m not sure why she avoids them! We provide her with fresh water in a bowl daily.

I made a new playlist on YouTube of all of my cat water fountain videos.

Some of them we didn’t keep, like the one in the first video in the list:

If the video isn’t appearing above (I’m not sure if embedding playlists works on Substack, so this is an experiment), here is the link.

That’s it for this week! I hope you and your cats are well.

Heidi

I’m still feeling stuck, not knowing what to focus on for this newsletter and how to pivot the YouTube channel to make it more engaging and useful (or entertaining).

My mom suggested today’s topic. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me or comment on Substack.

Yesterday was very windy in my area. Not like hurricane-force winds, but windier than typical for southeast Michigan.

Pork Chop, one of the outdoor cats, is afraid of even moderate wind. The extra noises spook him. I think he and Winter hunker down in the shed on cold, windy days like yesterday.

If you are helping outdoor cats, it’s a good idea to make sure they have appropriate shelter for the weather they will face. I’m referring to typical weather conditions like rain, snow, wind, heat, and cold.

This could mean, in windy conditions, having something heavy on top of the container shelters to keep them stable. My husband constructed the container shelter in the video below.

I don’t have experience helping outdoor cats in extreme conditions like tornadoes and hurricanes.

Tornadoes have been on my mind this week as I live less than 2 hours from Union City, MI, where a tornado destroyed homes, and people lost their lives recently.

I read this article today about how quickly the tornado formed. There was no warning. No time to secure pets or to get somewhere safe.

It could be hard to get indoor cats into a basement or other designated “safer” area of a home during a tornado. Unless the outdoor cats could sense the danger, then maybe they would be easier to get inside.

This is getting depressing! All we can do is our best for ourselves and the cats when facing traumatic weather.

I hope you have a great week, and I hope the weather in your area is calm.

Heidi

This week, we moved a cat tower into the hallway to give the appliance delivery men enough space to get the new refrigerator into the kitchen.

Jake (orange) and Nacho (calico tabby) investigated! It’s amazing how moving something makes it more interesting to the cats.

We also had to move the 3 other cat towers that are in this video.

Questions about Cats

I am not sure what to do with the YouTube channel. While I think about that, I’ve been posting more often on Facebook.

My goal is to get invited into the Facebook monetization program by posting engaging content.

So I’ve been asking random cat questions once or twice a day. If you’re on Facebook, you can follow the page here: https://www.facebook.com/thejoyofcats.

I’ve noticed some of you reading this newsletter have been answering the questions. Thank you for that!

Have a great week!

Heidi

This week was a little different in my home because we had issues with our refrigerator. I’ll spare you the details, but it will need to be replaced.

We tried defrosting it for a day to see if that would fix it, based on Internet tips. It didn’t.

However, Charlotte quite enjoyed the towels on the floor. She made it a priority to sit on them!

Charlotte also liked walking through the passageway when the door was open.

Perhaps I should make a maze for her with cardboard boxes. And I might place towels randomly on the floor to see if she chooses to sit on them.

The unexpected refrigerator problem zapped my energy for creativity, so I didn’t get around to making a new video this week.

I hope you and your cats have a great week!

Heidi

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My cats and I enjoyed a week of slightly warmer weather. It was nice to see the snow melt!

In this week’s new video, I tried out a grooming glove.

I was surprised by how well it removed cat hair from the cat towers.

If you decide to watch the video, can you please watch it all the way through?

I think this will help my videos on YouTube get more exposure. If you start watching it and decide you’re not interested (which is fine), maybe you can just let it play out on mute in the background.

The YouTube video is about 5 minutes. If you want just the highlights, there is a shorter version on my Amazon shop page (it should be the first video).

I purchased a second grooming glove for the outdoor cats, but I have only used it once on them.

Pork Chop was very nervous, which he is about anything new. Winter seemed confused by what was happening. I will slowly introduce it with them once it’s a bit warmer.

If you’ve tried this grooming mitt or another one, feel free to share your experience in a comment! Perhaps I will review another one.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Heidi

I hope your cats gave you a nice treat today. Or, perhaps, you gave your cat something.

My cats gave me this box of Russell Stover’s chocolates:

I discovered this morning that Russel Stover reused the same cat pictures on the box as in 2020!

It’s the second box, I show in the video from 2020:

I thought that was interesting! Same cats on the same chocolates, rearranged on a different background.

There will be a new video for next week! I’ve started on a review of a cat grooming glove, but I still need to finish the editing.

Have a great week!

Heidi

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We had more snow again this week.

I made a short video while shoveling snow for the outdoor cats.

And, apparently, the raccoons, as I saw one in the old cat house this week! There is a short clip of a raccoon in the video.

Next week, the temperatures are predicted to warm up, which will make life easier for the cats and other critters.

While we’ve had more snow than in recent years, we haven’t had as much at one time as in 2014.

Here’s a picture of Other Buster, the very first feral outdoor cat we fed, from February 2014. The food we had out for Other Buster is what attracted Violet to my yard later that year. You can read that story here.

If you want the cat distribution system to bring you a cat, having cat food outside may speed up the process. 😅

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Routines

As you may know, cats like routine.

Sometimes, keeping a habit the same every day is easier than remembering to do it on random days.

On Mondays, my husband scoops the litter boxes because it’s our night to take out the trash.

It’s a day off from this task for me, but sometimes I end up skipping Tuesday from breaking the routine.

We have enough litter boxes that it’s okay if I miss a day. They don’t get full or gross. It would be better if I just did it on Mondays too! It only takes a few minutes, and the cats would be happier.

Thanks for reading!

Heidi

I am happy to share that Winter and Pork Chop, the two outdoor cats, survived the freezing cold nights last week.

It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for me!

After the two coldest nights, both cats stopped using the shed. I don’t know exactly why, but it could have had something to do with my “improvements” to the shed.

If you read last week’s newsletter, you may remember that I put a bowl of cat food and a litter box into the shed.

I talk about the caregiver guilt I felt in this week’s new video:

Fortunately, the cats are both back to using the shed!

I hope you and your cats are doing well.

Thank you for reading,

Heidi

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I hope you and your cats are staying warm this weekend! More on that later.

First, I want to share that I’ve been giving my cats probiotics to see if it will help with digestive issues (diarrhea).

For years, the only option I knew about was Purina's Forti Flora. Recently, I discovered another option, which I talk about in this new video:

If you watched last week’s video, you may notice that there was only 1 painting behind me. This week, I added two more.

They are attached to the wall with command strips, making it easy to swap them out for other art pieces in upcoming videos.

Extremely Cold Weather

Last night into this morning, the temperatures were predicted to be -10 degrees (Fahrenheit). And a snowstorm is forecasted for Sunday.

Usually, I do not worry about the outdoor cats in the winter. This is Pork Chop’s 8th or 9th winter in the yard. However, this may be the coldest it’s been.

We had a couple of days in the 20’s and low 30’s, so I offered extra wet food to the cats to give them extra calories.

Another thing I decided to do, just for this weekend, is to put the food dish in the shed.

This is not recommended, as the food can attract other critters, such as raccoons and possums, in my area. The shed is for the cats, not them. And we don’t want conflict happening in the shed.

When it’s cold like this, the other critters usually do not come around for food. I decided to help the cats as much as possible with the cold weather by having the dry food in the shed this weekend.

I also placed a small litter box in the shed, but I do not know if they will use it. The heated water bowl is still on the deck, where it’s struggling to keep the water from freezing in this extreme cold.

I will check it and break up the ice layer a few times a day. It’s possible that they will decide to hunkerdown all weekend and not come out for a drink.

Both cats were startled and darted out of the shed when I put in the food. This means I will not be checking on them until Monday, as I do not want to scare them out into the cold. We finally got a new trail camera, but its battery isn't holding a charge well in the cold.

Why Don’t You Put Them in the Garage?

It’s complicated and not as straightforward as it might seem. We haven’t trained them to come into the garage, so they would need to be trapped and then placed in playpens in the garage (which is not heated). I might be able to get Winter into a cat carrier, but definitely not Pork Chop.

With no guarantee of successfully trapping Pork Chop again (it’s much harder to trap most cats for the 3rd time than it was the 1st), I decided it wasn't worth the extra stress on the cats and me, since temperatures will warm up a bit on Monday.

They should be fine in the heated houses, and the wind will not be an issue if they stay in the shed

Of course, if one of them doesn’t make it through the weekend, I will regret my choices.

Thank you for reading and watching my videos!

Heidi