Guest Articles

Enrichment for your outdoor cat

Guest Articles

Playing With Your Cat? Choose The Right Toy! for Pet Owner’s World

Guest Article by Dr. Marci Koski for Pet Owner’s World (9-8-2019) A comprehensive guide to the why’s and how’s of stimulating your cat through play. Great for pet owners and pet sitters.

 5 Reasons Why You Should NOT Toilet Train Your Cat

Guest Post by Dr. Marci Koski for Modern Cat (6-21-2018) Dr. Koski saw a short article in a newsletter sent out by Modern Cat Magazine about toilet-training your cat. She immediately sent an email to the magazine saying why toilet-training cats is irresponsible and shouldn’t be done. In response, Modern Cat Magazine published her article about reasons to not toilet-train cats on their website. Way to go, and thank you, Modern Cat! “…Toilets were made for humans. Humans sit on toilets, do their business, and flush the toilet to get rid of our waste. Toilets were not designed for cats, and in fact, I can’t really think of a more unnatural potty experience for a cat than training it to sit on a toilet to urinate or defecate. Why do we want our cats to do this? If you have a dog, you walk your dog, you clean up after your dog…why is that any less gross or inconvenient than cleaning a litterbox? Yet, we would never consider training dogs to use the toilet, right? It just sounds ridiculous! So let’s break this down. Why am I so vehemently opposed to toilet training your cat?…”

Take a (Cat)Walk on the Wild Side

Guest Post by Dr. Marci Koski for Pet Radio Show Magazine (8-24-2017) “I want you imagine a hypothetical situation. You live in your home and you have sole discretion of what goes on there. But because you want some company, you decide to invite someone to live with you. Well, actually, “invite” isn’t quite the right word; rather, you bring someone to live with you. And this someone happens to be a wild animal. This animal has claws and teeth because it is a carnivorous predator. This animal tends to be most active during dawn and dusk, when its prey is out and about. This animal also hunts up to 20 times per day, which equates to about 30% of its time awake. But, this animal also happens to be lap-sized, covered with fur, and absolutely adorable. This animal we are speaking of is a house cat.”…

Introducing a New Cat: Patience Makes Purrfect Pals!

Guest Post by Dr. Marci Koski for Core Paws (6-1-2016) “For feline aficionados, there is little more exciting than bringing home a new kitty. However, we’re also usually nervous about how our existing cats will react to the new housemate: will the new addition be considered a non-threatening playmate, or an interloper whom your cats will designate as a ‘mortal enemy who must be destroyed’? Like people, cats have different personalities and sometimes they have to learn how to get along (or at least tolerate each other) if they are going to live together long-term.”…

Outdoor Catios for Enrichment and Entertainment

Guest Post by Dr. Marci Koski for Lincoln Animal Ambassadors (3-22-2016) “Catios have been all the rage lately, and if you’re not thinking about building one for your indoor kitty, she might be missing out on a great opportunity for enrichment and entertainment! And because catios are easy to build, come in many sizes and price ranges, and are completely customizeable, there’s probably a catio out there that will suit both you and your cat purrfectly.”

Cat Tales Blog – The Columbian Daily Newspaper

Dr. Marci Koski was a writer for The Columbian daily newspaper’s Cat Tales Blog. She wrote articles from 11-4-2015 through 8-19-2016 and covered a range of topics concerning cat behavior, health, and welfare.

9 Most Common Bad Kitty Behaviors Explained

featured on iheartcats.com (10-12-2015) “Ever wonder why your kitty does those naughty things? Dr. Marci Koski is a Certified Feline Behavior Specialist from the Portland, Oregon area who works with owners of cats with behavioral issues to figure out which biological/emotional need is not being met, and then developing a plan to help meet the kitties’ needs, thus ending the inappropriate behavior. Koski explained the 9 most common inappropriate behaviors and cats. If your cat is doing one or more of these things, contact a local certified feline behaviorist to help you tackle the problem.”