Authors In Bloom Bloghop: A Gardening Tip For Your Indoor Cats
PICTURE: My Foster Five
This post may contain affiliate links, which will not cost you anything but might send a few pennies my way. Thank you for helping me to support my many cats! #CrazyCatLady by day #Author by night. 🙂
On a cold rainy March day in 2015, I found myself a foster mom of five orphaned four-day-old kittens. A friend who fosters for Maricats Rescue contacted me to let me know these kittens were in my local shelter and would be tagged for rescue if they could get a foster. Would I be interested? Given I have six children (two still at home) and a daughter who is a vet tech (although she lives three hours away), I said, sure, sounds like a fun project for me and the kids. Famous last words.  To say it was a challenge would be an understatement. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. It was like having a newborn times five, they had to be fed every few hours even through the night. Soon, I was walking around the house, bumping into things, and mumbling to myself I was so tired.
But we survived, and I grew so close to the girls (they all turned out to be female) that I became an epic foster fail and adopted all of them. As they got older, I noticed that when I’d come in from mowing, if I tracked grass inside, they all pounced on the grass clippings. That’s when it occurred to me that perhaps they would like their own grass. So I went to one of my favorite online stores—Amazon—and found cat grass seeds.
I planted a combination of wheat and oat grass seeds in four small pots. I’d bring two in at a time, leaving the other two to grow. In about a day, all the grass would be gone, so I would set that one back outside to grow more and bring in the other two. Really, as fast as they went through it, I needed at least six pots. Maybe eight. But keep in mind I had 5 kittens.
There was also the problem of them knocking the pots over and scattering dirt, which I did read about in the comments on one of the seed pages. Turns out there’s a solution that I’m going to try this year!
You can take the Bergan Turbo Scratche
r and buy an accessory for it that grows cat grass in the middle! No more spilled dirt!
I’m a little behind right now and don’t have any grass growing, even though it is warm here in Texas already. (The grass died over the winter). Because I recently had a pregnant stray show up who ended up needing an emergency C-section and it’s taken up a lot of my time. (But not as much as when I had to bottle feed the five; although I did bottle feed these new kittens one day when she was sick.) Now she’s getting better and the kittens are doing great. You can read more about Emma’s Emergency on my crowdfunding page.
And now, since I’ve had unexpected cat emergency expenses, sadly, I can only offer a $10 Amazon gift card plus a digital copy of one of my Vista Security suspense series books to one randomly chosen winner (I use random.org). Just sign up for my blog and let me know in the comments! Be sure and leave your email address (you can type it like this: dianalayne at yahoo dot com) so I know how to get in touch with you. Good luck!
If you have inside cats, I hope my gardening tip helps! And if you have any tips of your own to make life on the inside more fun for your cats, please share!
Follow the linky below to keep hopping!
April 7, 2016 @ 7:06 pm
Poor kitty. I’m glad she is feeling better.
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
April 8, 2016 @ 11:59 pm
she is doing a lot better, thanks! And the kittens are fat and healthy!
April 7, 2016 @ 7:56 pm
Thanks for the hop and the tip. We have 6 children with 5 still at home 🙂
In addition to our large family we also have 5 cats and a dog. We recently inherited a stray cat that is not only wild but pregnant as well. I signed up for blog and newsletter with email address lorih@yahoo (dot)com
April 9, 2016 @ 12:05 am
Sounds like a busy and fun life! Thanks for signing up!
April 7, 2016 @ 9:40 pm
I only have 2 cats,one loves caatnip the other one doesn’t because she can’t smell. So I grow a small pot of catnip for the one cat.
April 9, 2016 @ 12:29 am
I have never tried catnip for the cats, I will have to research into growing it!
April 7, 2016 @ 10:33 pm
Thanks for the tip!
April 9, 2016 @ 12:37 am
You’re welcome!
April 8, 2016 @ 12:34 am
I had to take an unexpected trip out of town today (Thursday). I’ll get back with everyone tomorrow, thanks!
April 8, 2016 @ 3:00 pm
The kitties are adorable! I’m a crazy cat lady myself, but it’s starting to wind down now that they’re getting older (along with me!) and passing on. My husband says “no more cats!” We’ll see. LOL! cchant86 @ yahoo.com
April 9, 2016 @ 12:38 am
Yeah, we’ll see what he says when a cute little kitten shows up! They seem to find us crazy cat ladies!
April 8, 2016 @ 3:03 pm
I’ve made a small pan of grass for my cats in the past. I keep meaning to make (grow) another batch, but haven’t gotten around to it. Thanks for the reminder.
acm05atjuno.com
April 9, 2016 @ 12:39 am
You’re welcome! I need to get mine going soon, too, because now that I’m mowing again, the cats are pouncing on the grass clippings I track in…again. Should be a hint, right?
April 8, 2016 @ 6:12 pm
I signed up for your blog.
I like these hops since I get introduced to a lot of authors I have yet to read.
April 9, 2016 @ 12:42 am
Thank you!
April 8, 2016 @ 7:47 pm
Well I no longer have a kitty sadly I lost mine this past year :(. But I do have 3 pups and I can safely say they tend to knock my pretty flowers over just as much as my kitty did!!
April 9, 2016 @ 12:40 am
Aw, so sorry you lost your kitty, that’s always tough. I know about the dogs, too. I have four! One was a recently adopted elderly chihuahua, her picture is in that crowdfunding post picture gallery.
April 8, 2016 @ 10:53 pm
I signed up for your blog 🙂 Such cute kitties! Thank you.
kissedbymidnight AT gmail.com
April 9, 2016 @ 12:41 am
Thank you, I think they’re adorable even if they can get into a mess of trouble. 🙂 Good luck!
April 14, 2016 @ 9:12 pm
Thank you 🙂
April 10, 2016 @ 9:06 pm
I signed up for your Blog jean60212@gmail.com Thanks
April 10, 2016 @ 9:07 pm
Already subscribed as choirlady27 at hotmail dot com
I’d be a crazy cat lady too if I wasn’t allergic. I’ve been adopted by a stray who is fed, along with about a dozen others, by two neighbors. I go outside to play with her when it’s warm enough. We’ve started letting her inside for an hour or so each evening. She really wants to live indoors, but my husband won’t let her. Thanks so much for the giveaway.
April 10, 2016 @ 9:08 pm
I’ve signed up for your blog with patanne dot walker at hotmail dot co dot uk
I love the sound of your cats! I had one cat for 13 years and miss her terribly
April 10, 2016 @ 9:24 pm
Hello Diana, I am already subscribed to your site isisthe12th( at )gmail( dot )com
I have 2 cats and It’s hard to keep them entertained, but one sure way is a laser pointer. It never fails they love chasing the light all over the house.
April 10, 2016 @ 9:42 pm
Diana –
I love hearing your stories about your cat! Two years ago when we were living in Rode Island we had a cat that showed up on our back door one winter night and the temperature was in the low 20’s. We let him in and then the next day went around the neighborhood trying to find his owner as well as putting a message on a pole at the end of the street. No one claimed him so he adopted us! Almost two years ago we moved to South Carolina to be closer to our grandchildren. I bet you already guested that another little fellow (a dog this time) showed up at our door on a day with the rain coming down so once again we opened the door for another furry friend. After going around our new neighborhood and again no one that was home claiming him my husband took a picture of him, made copies and left them on the neighbors front door. No one could tell us where he came from and he was thrilled to adopt us! He’s just a little fellow who thinks he a a threat to our cat (who weights twice what he does!).
Fortunately both of them treat us well and we couldn’t think of having had anyone one else adopt us!
April 10, 2016 @ 10:02 pm
Signed up ! nlamore79 at gmail dot com
April 10, 2016 @ 10:17 pm
Awe poor kitty but I’m glad to hear that they are doing better! Thanks for being part of the hop.
sienkiel1821 at yahoo dot com
April 11, 2016 @ 4:11 am
I am already signed up for your newsletter. eendrizzi79 at gmail dot com.
April 12, 2016 @ 4:00 am
Your kitties are SO cute!
videoclimber AT yahoo DOT com
April 13, 2016 @ 3:18 am
This is a really great idea for cat lovers. jeanna_massman at hotmail dot com
April 13, 2016 @ 3:20 am
I forgot to tell you I signed up for your blog! jeanna_massman at hotmail dot com
April 13, 2016 @ 9:34 pm
Thanks for the tip, I never heard of cat grass. Also signed up for your blog.
(mybeach52 at yahoo dot com)
April 14, 2016 @ 2:26 am
I signed up for your blog. Saw a sticker on a car the other day you might enjoy. It said: One cat away from being a crazy cat lady. I had a good laugh.
April 14, 2016 @ 4:32 pm
My cat, Cunningham loves is oat grass. Thanks for sharing the pics of your kitties!
blueberrycrisp@gmail dot com
April 15, 2016 @ 5:26 am
SIgned up for your blog as rsbrandt44 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Good luck riding herd on them grazing kitties.
April 16, 2016 @ 3:46 pm
Good luck with the kitties! I grow catnip for my indoor cat. He seems to enjoy it!
Happy Spring!
sprocket 215 at g mail dot com
April 16, 2016 @ 5:17 pm
We don’t have any any furpurrsons at the moment, but I will keep that in mind for future reference. Don’t apologize for your giveaway contribution, that is very generous of you and thank you for the opportunity! elewkf1 at yahoo dot com
April 16, 2016 @ 10:28 pm
Thanks for sharing. I have 5 kitty’s and I will definitely use this tip. amybowens34(at)yahoo(dot)com
April 17, 2016 @ 1:58 am
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth(at)bookattict(dot)com (subscribed)