Positive Things to Do to Raise Self-esteem: Three Ideas to Lift One's Spirits

Originally published Yahoo.voices~Sep 16, 2007~Non-Exclusive

http://voices.yahoo.com/positive-things-raise-self-esteem-539994.html?cat=5

I think there are so many times in our lives when things just aren't going right in our lives. Maybe those dreams and goals we had set for ourselves when we were younger aren't materializing the way we thought they would. Negative events may be occurring one after another, after another, like a snowball effect. We might be experiencing financial, relationship and health problems seemingly all at once. We might be experiencing one setback after another, and it feels as though our life is in some kind of detour mode and on hold from those original goals. Then those nagging questions start coming into our minds, and we may begin to question our worth in life, and in the overall scheme of things. Worse yet, our self-esteem becomes low and we may even begin to feel depressed and disgusted with life; we feel lost, and we begin to doubt if we can ever feel good about ourselves again. When we're feeling this way, this is the precisely right and perfect time to do something that will raise our self-esteem, and there are several ways to do this. Now granted, at first, the mere idea of doing anything to help ourselves feel more positive and better about our lives may seem completely foreign to us, but I can't emphasize enough just what powerful tools these are to get that self-esteem up and to feel good once more.

When I myself found myself at my lowest ebb and my self-esteem was sagging, I came across several self-help books that made a profound difference and turned by attitudes about myself around into a more positive outlook. To my mind one of the most influential authors around is Julia Cameron, author of dozens of books, but is better known for her book The Artist's Way and The Sound of Paper. Ms. Cameron is by no means the only author to suggest what is in her books, and that is to make a list of accomplishments one has already done in one's life, from the simplest to the grandiose. I have come to call such a list, "The Pat Yourself On The Back List".

The idea and concept behind this list, is to look back on one's life, reflect upon it, and start making a list of anything and everything one can think about that one has accomplished in life or aspects of your personality that makes you uniquely "you" and that you're proud of. In the beginning, you may only come up with ten things, and there's nothing wrong with that, however, the idea is to keep expanding it, and as time goes by you just may be surprised and come up with a hundred things to be proud of. To start, get one of those spiral notebooks and think of this book as the one you will write in all the positives you can think of that have occurred in your life.

As an example, I have listed here a few of mine:

1}. I was an honors student throughout all my years in school.


2}. I won numerous science awards in elementary school.


3}. I was the only member of my family to go to college.


4}. I graduated Magma Cum Laude with a BA from college. 


5}. I'm proud of my creativity--it's my bliss 


6}. I'm proud that I have a diverse taste in music~~~~from Vivaldi to Coldplay 


7}. I'm proud I taught myself computers a few years ago---it opened up a whole new world for me 


8}. I love that I have an insatiable thirst for learning


9}. I love that I can take pleasure in simple things: a beautiful sunset; a new day to begin 
again; that I can see, hear and speak; a flower, a tree............ 


10}. I'm proud of myself in that I have a creative imagination to inspire me to write stories.


11}. I'm proud of that my many of my short stories have been published.


12}. I love that I'm an accomplished cook--especially French cuisine


13}. I'm proud that I'm getting more sociable 
14}. I'm proud that I can still maintain a child-like sense of awe about the world around me 


15}. I'm proud of myself that I have had my photos published. 


16}. One of my photos, appeared on the cover of a magazine and was later cited as best magazine cover of the year.

You see, it's really not that hard to do, as I've already said, you might only be able to list only a few things at first, but you just might be amazed, that if you keep adding to the list all the things you're proud of with yourself and the things you have accomplished in the past.

Now another great thing to do, to raise your self esteem is to list the things you are grateful for, and while this isn't exactly a new concept either, it was one of the highlights brought forth in both the book and the DVD of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. In that same spiral notebook, start listing all the things you are grateful for, again from the seemingly simplistic to the more profound for as Joe Vitale suggests, that what you're grateful for at the present time, will not only raise your level of self-esteem and conscious awareness of what you already have, but will pave the way for more good in your life. As Mr. Vitale says in The Secret:

..."As soon as you start to feel different about what you already have, you will start to attract more of the good things. More of the good things you can be grateful for. You could look around and say, "Well, I don't have the car I want. I don't have the house I want. I don't have the spouse I want. I don't have the health I want." Whoah! Back up, back up! Those are all the things you don't want. Focus on what you already have that you're grateful for. And it might be that you have the eyes to read this." {page 77}

So again, every day, make it a point to list the things you are grateful for, here is an example of mine:

1}. I'm grateful for having a home to live in.

2}. I'm grateful that I can see, that I can read books, watch TV, see a beautiful sunset, see the trees and flowers


3}. I'm grateful for my hearing; that I can hear the birds, a child's laughter, a friend's voice.


4}. I'm grateful for the clothes I have. 


5}. I'm grateful for finally having my own computer.


6}. I'm grateful that I have food to eat. 


7}. I'm grateful for my health. 


8}. I'm grateful that I can walk.


9}. I'm grateful that I can talk.


10}. Most of all, I'm grateful for each day of new life.

See? It's really not so hard to do, and the list can be endless as far as I'm concerned. Along with making a list of things to be grateful for, I now started carrying around with me, what I call a "Gratitude Rock" an idea also expressed in The Secret by Lee Brower. The idea is to find a rock, any kind that has some meaning for you, maybe due to it's coloration, and it should be small enough that you can carry with you at all times. Before you go out on your daily errands or to work, place that rock in one of your pockets, and then, throughout the day, every time you touch that rock, mentally say something you are grateful for as a little reminder that there is something good and positive in your life. It might even be the fact, that you are touching this Gratitude Rock while at work, and maybe it's not exactly the kind of work you want to do or are exactly happy with, but at least you can be grateful, for the time being you do have a job while so many are out of work. The third thing to raise one's self-esteem, is the concept of nurturing oneself and this too was a concept initiated in Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way. Now of course, she is presenting this concept mainly toward artists, yet one doesn't have to be an artist to appreciate this self-love gesture to oneself.

..."The essential element in nurturing our creativity lies in nurturing ourselves.." (Julia Cameron, page 43-The Artist's Way) The idea behind this is to give oneself permission to nurture ourselves. So many times we're so busy nurturing others that we forget to do so ourselves, to be kind to ourselves. The idea of nurturing oneself may actually be foreign to many, for we are so busy trying to do for others and rarely do we do anything nice for ourselves--we usually wind up taking a back seat to our own needs---By nurturing I mean that at least once a week, one should become a little selfish. For instance, go out and buy some little "do-dah" that makes you feel good and lifts your spirits, and it doesn't have to be extravagant or expensive. It could be as something as simple as getting a packet of that favorite incense you love, buying that little teddy bear figurine you saw in the dollar store or treating yourself to a children's Happy Meal and get that cute promotional toy for the latest children's movie that is out--hey, I do that all the time! You don't even have to buy anything either...it could be a well deserved time out by spending the day doing something you love doing---this could be anything from putting those headphones on and listening to music and doing nothing else, to snuggling up in your favorite chair and reading that book you've always wanted to read.

By doing even just one of these self-esteem boosters, one can rise up from the "woe-is-me" type attitude and realize, hey, life isn't so bad, is it? Also, by continuing to do any of one of these three ideas, but better yet, all of them at the same time and on a regular basis, one's life will make a turn around, and pave the way not only a better sense of self esteem and value in one's life, but will also pave the way for more good to enter in it, since your mind frame is on a more positive level.

A small listing of books that have the "Pat Yourself on the Back" and gratitude concepts:

1}. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron


2}. The Sound Of Paper by Julia Cameron 


3}. The Success Principles by Jack Caufield


4}. Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want by Barbara Sher 


5}. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

The Attraction of the Law of Attraction: Attracting What You Want in Your Life

(Originally Published August 14, 2007~Yahoo.voices`Non-Exclusive)

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-attraction-law-attraction-489861.html?cat=7

I'm by no means a stranger to the whole Law Of Attraction concept, that is, whatever one desires in life, whether it be more wealth, better health, or great relationships, one can attain them all as a reality by the means of programing one's mind. I was first introduced to the Law Of Attraction principles through my great-grandmother, who as far as I'm concerned was years ahead of her time. While she had been raised as a Catholic, she didn't particularly stick to a strict discipline of her religion, and ventured out into other viewpoints of life. She became familiar with the teachings and ideologies set forth in the non-denominational religions such as Unity, School of Christianity and Science of Mind. Therefore, it was due to her, that the rest of us in the family, that being my grandmother, mother and myself, were familiar with not only these schools of what would be called as New Thought principles, but we were also familiar with the names of such authors as Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich), Robert Collier (The Secret Of The Ages), Catherine Ponder (Pray and Grow Rich), and of course any one of the numerous books by the "positive thinking" person himself, Norman Vincent Peale. My great-grandmother was by no means a millionaire due to her knowledge of using the Law Of Attraction principles, but neither was she ever poor. To a certain extent, she did live an "abundant" life as there was never any lack throughout her life, and she lived to be a young ninety-eight years of age.

I had been baptized Catholic, and confirmed Protestant, but like many people who as soon as they grow older, say in their mid-teen years,around fifteen or sixteen years of age, I in effect started my own journey to understand the meaning of life, and began delving into the world my great-grandmother had already known about. I began reading up just about anything I could about in the New Thought concepts, and the whole Law Of Attraction ideologies, and continued to do so well beyond my college years. I have to admit, while I was "attracted" to these ideologies and did to a certain degree applied many of the principles involved , yet I have to admit, I never went full speed ahead with it. That is, I really didn't make it a daily part of my life which is what is needed if one is to fully gain the benefits of the whole Law Of Attraction lifestyle...that is until now, after all these years.

As you can probably guess, my "new" interest in re-learning the Law Of Attraction concepts was triggered by non other than the recent phenomenal success of Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. Several months ago, I had bought the book, but I was also longing to get the DVD as well, but I have to admit, with the fairly tight budget I was facing, it was kind of an extravagance for me, but then who knows? Maybe the Law Of Attraction was already starting to work for me while I was reading The Secret book. I was browsing one night on the e-Bay website, and lo and behold, several copies of the DVD were up for auction, and the extended version to boot. I took a chance, bid on one copy, and yes, won it for a fraction of the original cost. Now I was thoroughly hooked, and was getting my hands on anything and everything that had to do with the Law Of Attraction. I bought copies of The Success Principles (Jack Canfield), and The Attractor Factor (Joe Vitale), two principle participants who were involved with The Secret DVD. Then hunting around on the internet, I found the websites of just about all the others who played key roles in the DVD. Mainly of the websites belonging to Joe Vitale, James Ray, Bob Doyle,John Assaraf, Bob Proctor, and so forth, that while yes, they do have extensive CD-programs that are quite expensive, many offer little "freebie" courses that one can subscribe to and get as e-mail lessons or newsletters. The most fun website belongs to Mike Dooley who even has a discussion forum one can join and be connected with others of like mind.

Not only have I taken an interest in reading books by the "newer" philosophers, I started digging around my extensive collection of books in my own library, and discovered I still had my old, battered copies of The Secret of Ages, and Think and Grow Rich, the former book which was one of the main inspirations that led Ms. Byrne's herself on her own journey and path to the Law Of Attraction concepts . I also discovered many websites where one can actually download either free or relatively inexpensive e-books of such as the 1921 classic Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend. With all this reading material I now possess in my hands, let's put it this way, I have a fairly nice-sized stack of material to read about the Law Of Attraction principles that will keep me busy for a very, very long time.

Now, maybe up until now, while you may have heard of all this hoopla of the Law Of Attraction you may still be unfamiliar of what is involved here, so let me just briefly tell you what all this brouhaha is all about, and maybe it just might spark an interest in your life to begin your own journey of understanding of what this is all about.

Basically, what you think about, you get about. One of the famous three word sentences Mike Dooley says in The Secret DVD is "Thoughts Become Things". That's it in a nutshell and I could leave it at that, but you might not understand just what I mean by that. Just exactly does that mean? Well, it's like this. Whatever you are thinking about, whatever you are concentrating on, whether good or bad, you will attract more like it. The whole idea is to concentrate on what you do want in life, so you have to virtually re-program your mind on the positive, and no, one isn't supposed to walk around in a state of perpetual Pollyanna-ism or simple wishful thinking, for it does go down into a deeper level than that. If that were the case, if all one had to do was bombard the mind with a daydreaming frame of wishful thinking then we'd all be millionaires, we'd all be one-hundred percent healthy, we'd all have the ideal relationships and so forth. But what it does involve is turning your conscious awareness in a more positive level of awareness, and to think of those aspects of your life that you want to attract more of.

Now the problem with most of us, we get wrapped up in what we don't want, and wonder why were still attracting the bad debt, the bad relationships, the bad health. Let me give an example. Almost like clockwork, at a certain time of year, we're told it's cold and flu season...so maybe we're saying to ourselves, I hope I don't get sick this year, I don't want to get a cold or the flu. We're so concentrating on the fact that we don't want to get sick that guess what? You get that nasty cold or a bout of the flu and wonder why, despite eating healthy and/or exercising. You were so focused on what you didn't want to get, because you were concentrating on it and therefore attracting it to you.

The subject of money and debt is another great example of how Law Of Attraction can work. In both the book and the DVD of The Secret, Bob Proctor makes a wonderful statement. He says: ".....Most people have a goal of getting out of debt. That will keep you in debt forever. Whatever you're thinking 
about, you will attract. You say, 'But it's get out of debt.' I don't care if it's get out or get in, if you're thinking 
debt, you're attracting debt...." (page 102, The Secret)

Therefore, instead of concentrating so hard on getting out of debt, perhaps one valuable idea to begin having would be to completely eliminated that word from our vocabulary, and replace it with the idea of getting into "abundance" Live, think and breathe abundance. Instead of going to your mailbox always expecting a bill think of and concentrate on expecting a check. Now you might be saying, yeah, sure, right. Believe me, ever since I started embarking on this journey of mine, I have received unexpected sources of income coming into my life, and no, I'm not a millionaire yet...but I'm working on it.

Another valuable tool to use when using the Law Of Attraction principles, and which is mentioned in both the book and the DVD is the idea of what John Assaraf calls a vision board. I'm no stranger to this idea, though I never before called it a vision board, but had known it as a "treasure map" due to my studying New Thought concepts such as given through Unity and Science of Mind. Basically, what the vision board or treasure map is, is a visual tool to attract whatever it is you want in your life, and this is actually a lot of fun to do. Take a fairly nice stack of magazines, and they should be a variety of types from home decor, travel, fashion, cars, electronics and so forth, then have fun, cutting out images of the things your attracted to, the things you like...see a nice home in that home decor magazine? Cut it out. See the kind of car you'd like to drive? Cut it out. See a nice new home theater or stereo system you want? Cut it out. Do you wish to have better health, then cut out an image of a healthy, smiling person. Want to travel, then cut out images of places you'd like to travel to. Then have either a large poster or cork board and tack up all those images you have just cut from those magazines. If it's more money you want in your life, add some images of money on those boards, even if it means getting some "play" money or what I did, find a website like the one I have listed which shows images of large denomination bills and print them up from your printer. I have these bills printed up and taped up all over the place, especially near my bed, so the first thing I see when I wake up is a thousand dollar bill--kind of nice, no?

Actually if you really want to go gung-ho with this, make several of these vision boards...have one in the bedroom, have one in the living room, and so forth, so you can literally look at all those images just about everywhere you are in your home, and will allow you to see these images on a daily basis. The whole idea of this is to saturate ones mind with what you want really want in life, some targeted goal or goals you're aiming for. Ah, but you do have to work at it too. One can't just expect all these goals to fall in one's lap without a little effort on your part, but the amazing thing that will happen quite often, is that one will suddenly get "ideas" that literally come out of blue and will often lead you in attaining your goals. By being in this more positive frame of mind, you are opening the channels to attract the steps that will lead to better successes in life. It will almost be a snowball effect and one thing will lead into another into another. If you're curious to see some of those websites of those who participated in The Secret DVD please click to these links:

The Secret Website

http://www.thesecret.tv

John Assaraf's Website

http://johnassaraf.com

Michael Beckwith's Website

http://agapelive.com

Jack Canfield's Website

http://jackcanfield.com

Bob Proctor's Website

http://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com

James Ray's Website

http://www.jamesray.com

Joe Vitale's Website

http://www.mrfire.comom

Mike Dooley's Website

http://www.tut.com

And here is that website that shows images of large denomination bills that you can print up, and place all over your home to get that mindset of wealth and abundance. Click on anyone of the images of the bills and it will open to a page of a larger image of it, from a $1,000 dollar bill, to my all time favorite an image of the gold certificate $100,000 bill. Hey, it's a lot of fun!

Large Denomination Bills Website

http://www.highdenomination.com/index2.asp

The Magical Attraction of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

(Originally Published on Yahoo.voices~July 27, 2007~Non-Exclusive)

The Magical Attraction of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

Precisely at 9:00 a.m., my downstairs doorbell rang, and upon looking out the window, I saw it was the mail truck, but funny, I couldn't imagine what was being delivered to me as I wasn't expecting anything, at least not on that day, Saturday, July 21st. After ringing the bell to let the mailman inside my apartment building, the mailman presented me with a package. Ah, but it turned out not to be just any package, but the book I had pre-ordered from Amazon. com. It had arrived, and much sooner than I had expected! The package I was holding in my hands had arrived to me the very day of the book's worldwide release.

Like a giddy child at Christmas, I ripped opened the package and slid out the book...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling's last and final book of the magical world she had created and for the past ten years, has entranced millions of readers young and old. While some people have already finished the 759-page book, I'm still reading it, very slowly, as I want to savor every moment of this final entry of Harry Potter's life that many of us have shared all these many years.

I'm by no means a child, but I do love reading children's books, and J.K. Rowling's books have been on the top of my list of books to get absorbed in, more so than mainstream adult books. So I think many of us who have been involved with the Harry Potter books will feel a bit of sadness, now that this is to be the last and final book.

I think it can be safely said, that thanks to Ms. Rowling, a new burst of interest, especially in children, has been created in the art of reading again as nothing like before. There is a wonderful article, dated July 8, 2007, from The Galveston County Daily News, entitled "Harry Potter inspires new readers" by Rhiannon Meyers. In the article she relates of how one boy, Xan Stanley, the same age of eleven as when we are first introduced to Harry Potter, who, while coming from a family of readers, and in which his own mother was a librarian, never took much to reading. Diagnosed with dyslexia, Xan often became discouraged about reading, that is until his mother brought home a copy of the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Then, his whole world opened up for him, and like many children he became entranced by this magical world of wizards and witches, Hogwarts School, muggles, Diagon Alley. As stated in the article, "...Stanley found a kindred spirit - a boy who faced struggles too..."

However, it's not only children like Xan Stanley who have learning disabilities who can relate to Harry Potter's struggles, or perhaps identify with the other main characters. So many children nowadays come from, what could be considered "dysfunctional" family backgrounds. Like Harry Potter, many children may not have been raised in a two parent family background, products of divorce, or raised by other family members, and may never have gotten to know one of their biological parent or both parents. Today's children may have known ridicule while growing up, such as how Harry was ostracized and neglected by the only family his knew, his aunt Petunia, uncle Vern and forever being tormented by his cousin, Dudley. Up until age eleven, Harry was ignored that is, until one glorious night, precisely at the stroke of his eleventh birthday, his whole world changed, and he found out he was special...he was a wizard with magical gifts. Grown-ups too, reading Harry Potter may also relate to J.K. Rowling's books, identifying with Harry their own childhoods...I know I did, as my parents were divorced when I was only a year and a half old, and I never got to know my father, and with this was viewed by my peers at school as being a bit "odd" for at that time, when I was a child, divorce wasn't as commonplace as it is now.

It's not only Harry Potter's character that young and old alike can identify with. Some of us may see just a little of Hermione Granger in ourselves...a character also ridiculed, especially by the "purebloods" like the Malfoy family for not coming from a wizard family but instead from a lowly "mugbloods"--again the theme of being "different". Also, there is Hermione Granger's personality of being an "insufferable" know it all, the child in the class that when a question is asked by a professor, always has her hand up, as she knows the answer...I relate to that, having always been the bookworm with my nose in a book, the epitome of the studious student, so oh, yes, I was the insufferable know it all myself as a child, just as Hermione's character was and therefore, I was often ridiculed and taunted by my peers. Then of course, is Ron Weasley, another character many of us may be able to identify with as he came from a family background that while from a wizarding family, were outcasts due to their poor financial status. How many of us have been taunted by the fact, that maybe our own family background wasn't exactly in the money so to say and had to do with less than our childhood friends around us who came from financial backgrounds that were better than ours. All in all, it could be said that each one of the main characters, has some personality characteristics that we can all relate to.

There is one area I would like to briefly touch on however, in relation to the Harry Potter phenomenon, since there are two sides of the issues here in connection with these books. While on the one side, are many people, children and adults alike who have embraced these books with open arms, while the other side, especially fundamentalistic Christian groups have practically have had an outright war against the Harry Potter series of books ever since they came out. Various sectors have literally banned these books from libraries and schools and have prevented their children from reading Harry Potter, claiming that these books are encouraging children to want to take up "witchcraft" and cast spells. It is true that witchcraft does in fact exist, especially for those who follow the Wicca and more pagan paths of religion. However, people such as this only show their ignorance of what true witchcraft means, and instead view all forms of witchcraft as being "evil", this no doubt from erroneous viewpoints not only perpetuated by Christianity itself, but by media hype that still show those who follow the Wiccan/pagan path as being in league with the Devil and Satan, so far from the actual truth.

I think today's children have a better sense of understanding and sophistication of what is real and what is not. J.K. Rowling's books are pure entertainment, nothing more. They are not books that will convert the masses to suddenly take up witchcraft. Also, if any of these groups which are so antagonistic to the Harry Potter books did just a little bit of reading themselves, they would realize that many of the concepts brought forth in her books, are steeped heavily with Celtic folklore and legend, just as J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings are also based on not only Celtic, but Nordic mythologies and legends. As an example, in Harry Potter, we have that famous "Grim", that black dog that strikes terror even in the wizard world, for it is bearer and bringer of death. This is right out of Celtic folklore, for it is even considered an ill omen today, in Britain to see a black dog, as opposed to say American culture that views a black cat as evil or unlucky. The point I'm making here, is that, with just a little reading those who condemn Rowling's books would see that her basis for many of her ideas are based on old time legends themselves. It is therefore, ludicrous to think that these groups would actually view her books as promoting an interest in children to become witches. You might as well say, that if a child read a simple book like Peter Pan would suddenly take it in their heads to want to fly.

Many of us, whether young or old who have been following the Harry Potter books, are probably wondering what is next in line for Ms. Rowling, as I don't think any of us can imagine that her writing days are over--no author who has been writing for any length of time can just suddenly give up on the craft of writing, as it is too ingrained in a writer's personality. Who knows? Perhaps, Ms. Rowling just might come up with another "magical" series of books that will enchant us just as these books have. I for one hope so.

A Guide on How to Take Care of Young Kittens: The Taking Care of a Newborn or Very Young Kitten

Also appears at Yahoo.voices

A Guide on How to Take Care of Young Kittens

Ideally, when a person is interested and thinking about adopting a kitten, it should be at least six weeks to eight weeks old, as this is when the kitten will have been weaned from it's mother, however, kittens may actually still like to nurse as old as ten weeks of age.

All shelters and pet rescuers refuse to adopt out kittens younger than six weeks of age, due to the obvious reasons that the kitten is just to young to be adopted and taken away from it's mother. There are numerous occasions, when unfortunately it's commonplace for a person, who has a female cat, and hasn't had it spayed will find themselves with an unwanted litter, and thus bring the litter to a shelter, placing the responsibility and care of these kittens with the shelter until they are old enough to be adopted. This is an ideal scenario of what happens to an unwanted litter of kittens, but that isn't always the case. All too often thoughtless people will simply dump or dispose of the young, and innocent kittens, either by simply trashing them like garbage or even drowning them; or they just might be lucky to be taken in by someone, other than a shelter situation who has some knowledge of how to take care of very young kittens, as was the case with me many years ago.

I've had pets, mainly cats since I was five years old. It was actually my mother's idea to get a cat and she adopted one through a shelter. Having been around cats nearly all my life, I have to admit I developed a natural instinct in taking care of them throughout all the stages of their lives, but it wasn't until 1987 that I was able to add another ability of mine, and that was taking care of recent newborns.

At the time, back in 1987 we now had five cats, and many of our neighbors knew we had cats, while most of the other tenants had dogs, including one family who had lived in the building almost as long as we had. Out of the blue, one day, the young son of this tenant rang our bell and he was accompanied by five of his friends, plus a "surprise". He held a cardboard box which contained a litter of six kittens. Not only were these kittens younger than six weeks of age, but recent newborns. They still had the characteristic ears flattened against their heads, a sign that they couldn't hear yet, their eyes were closed tight and all still had their umbilical cords, an indication that these kittens were only a day or two old. The son explained he and his friends had been playing and suddenly heard the soft mewings of kittens. They made a search and were horrified that when they opened up one of the garbage bins of a nearby apartment building, they found the box of kittens in it. Knowing that I had cats, they right away thought of me, assuming I knew how to take care of such young kittens.

I have to admit that, yes, in some ways, yes I did, for only a few years prior, some of my friends had found a very, very young abandoned kitten less than four weeks old in a nearby park and as you can guess, brought the kitten to my care. While this kitten was older I quickly discovered that I did indeed have to bottle feed this, thus giving me the opportunity and know how in taking care of such a young kitten. However, as the son presented me with this box of newborns, this was a challenge. The son and his young little friends were adamantly interested in taking care of the kittens themselves and asked question after question of how to take care of them. Now if I had had the foresight I would have refused to have them have any of the kittens until they were properly weaned, but since their interest was genuine, I started giving them instructions on how and what to feed them, and even told them that they also had to also rub the bottom of the kitten to make it "go"...a function that the mother cat will do by licking a kitten's bottom for the same purpose. Each of the children then picked out a kitten each, and I took one as well. Sadly, I found out later that none of the other kittens survived, despite my careful instructions of how to take care of them, and it really wasn't their fault being that these were young children, as even adults may not even know how to properly take care of such newborn kittens. The good news, however, was that the one newborn kitten of whom I had named Sachiko, not only survived but thrived and lived to be sixteen years old.

The point of this article is to give some pointers to anyone who also may find themselves in the same situation as I've been for the success of taking care of very, very young kittens, particularly when one may not having the advantage of having the mother cat around. First of all, this is a very time consuming proposition and one must be dedicated to this job as the very survival of the animal is at stake here. Ideally this is the kind of task to undertake if one isn't at the present time working, for such young kittens, especially newborns need round the clock care and feeding. Remember you are dealing with young animal infants who need every bit of care as one who is taking care of a newborn human baby.

First, is the food issue, and one might wonder what is the best thing to feed newborn kittens...or puppies for that fact. There is a product available called KMR Milk Replacer (for puppies, its Esbilac Milk Replacer) which comes in either powder or liquid form, and most closely resembles the nutrition needs found in the milk of a mother cat (or dog). This product can be found in just about any quality pet store, or of course, you can order on-line. Then of course, you need the means to feed the infant, young kitten (or puppy) and one can also find this at a pet store as well. This can range from small feeding bottles to even syringe type feeders, although most people find the bottles more convenient; in a pinch however, when I at first wasn't able to find any or weren't available to me right away, I made do with a baby doll's type bottle and worked just as effectively.

As with human babies, one has to heat up this formula, usually by placing the bottle with an adequate amount of the formula in the bottle and placing it in a bowl or saucer of very hot water and allowing the formula to heat up. One can then do the same "test" for the proper temperature that one does in testing the formula's heat for a human baby, and that is to do the "wrist" test, that is, sprinkling a few drops of the formula on one's wrist.

Next, and this is what I did, I would gently wrap the newborn or young kitten in a soft towel, setting the kitten on my lap and gently place the nipple into the kitten's mouth. If it is hungry, you'll sure know it as it will suckle on the bottle as if it was it's own mother's teat. The kitten will usually not drink more than it needs at anyone time and will let you know by stopping its feeding automatically. One generally has to feed a newborn or young kitten every few hours, and round the clock, so yes, one has to do feedings in the middle of the night, just as one would with a human baby. And needless to say, one must be conscientious and remember to routinely clean and sterilize the bottles just as you would with a human's baby bottle to prevent contamination.

One also has to remember, you have to do all the tasks a mother cat (or dog) does, and this includes making sure the infant animal voids. Normally the mother animal will lick the baby's bottom to make it go, but without the parent animal you have to do this, and the best way to do this, is to gently rub the infant animal's bottom with a soft paper towel or even a tissue until it urinates or defecates. And admittedly not exactly the most pleasant task to do, but it does have to be done for the proper functioning of the young animal. And don't forget to "burp" the kitten. Yes, you have to do this with infant animals as well, and one can gently rub the back or even the tummy of the infant animal.

Now the KMR Milk Replacer is naturally considered the best alternative to the mother's milk, and normally one shouldn't have a problem. I wasn't so lucky when it came to feeding Sachiko. I remember vividly racing out to get this formula only to find that it just didn't go well with her, in fact she had a continuing bout of diarrhea and at first I was at a complete loss as to what to feed her, as I had read in one veterinary type book that regular cow's milk could cause the exact same problem. However, I decided to give it a go, and I not only started feeding Sachiko regular, whole cow' milk, but for extra protein, added an egg yolk to the milk. I was fortunate that I discovered that she had a better tolerance for this "formula" of mine, rather than the KMR Milk Replacer. I add this information, just in case anyone runs into the same problem...it just might work better as it did for me in my case.

It's also important to keep a newborn or young kitten as warm as possible to avoid the possibility of the kitten coming down with a respiratory illness. What I did with Sachiko was to keep and place her inside one of my extra traveling pet cases, creating an incubator type environment by lining it with a blanket, then placed a small sized cardboard box inside it lined with a small, soft towel, and to avoid any drafts from possibly coming in, I placed the entire traveling case on top of the spare bed in my bedroom, in other words, I kept the case off the floor. If it's winter time, however you can place such a traveling case near a heat source, like a radiator, just as long as you make sure there are no drafts. I also even placed a clock inside the case. Yes, a clock. The idea behind this is that even though such a young kitten can neither see or hear yet, it can still feel and sense things. Young kittens when raised by their natural mothers are used to feeling the beating of their mother's heart. Thus, in lieu of this, a clock is a good substitute for the beating of a heart.

Once the kitten is about three weeks old, one can start adding to the formula a little bit of strained meat human baby food and blending well to get the kitten used to eating/nursing on something more solid, then by four weeks of age, one can try to also give the baby food at full strength, however, don't neglect the bottle feedings either, one must still continue to do this until the kitten is at least six weeks old, and even older, for technically speaking, nursing kittens when they have their own mothers to nurse on will continue sometimes even months after they are of the weaned age. By six weeks of age, a young kitten can start eating moistened kitten type dry food and even start eating regular cat food, for by then the kitten is now considered properly weaned.

Is all this a lot of work? Does one have to have dedication? Is it time consuming? The answer is yes to all three questions,, but the effort will be well worth it for successfully taking care of such a young little life. While I never had the opportunity ever again to take care of such a young newborn kitten again, I found it a wonderful experience I'll never forget. As previously mentioned, Sachiko grew up strong and healthy and had in every way attached herself to me as her mother and lived for sixteen years.

For sources and more information on how to raise a newborn, or younger kitten, and to find places that sell the Milk replacers please check these websites:

http://cats.about.com/cs/kittencare/ht/bottlefeed.htm

(websites to order the KMR and Esbilac Milk Replacer and feeding bottles):

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

http://www.vetdepot.com/

Image Source: ©Melanie Neer~~My own photo of Sachiko at 17 days old

The Shocking Truth of the Ingredients in Commercial Pet Foods: Why Your Pet Might Not Be Living as Long or as Healthy

Originally published on Yahoo.voices February 21, 2010

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-shocking-truth-ingredients-5517811.html?cat=53

It's been three years since the largest recall of pet foods occurred during March of 2007 in which 67 brands of cat food and 64 brands of dog food where recalled. These pet foods had one thing in common, they were all processed and manufactured by the Canadian company of Menu Foods. These brands included not only the lower priced store label brands such as White Rose, America's Choice, Foodtown that that are found in supermarkets, but also included the higher priced brands such as IAMS, Mighty Dog, Nutro Max Gourmet Classics and so forth. The culprit turned out to be an additive known as melamine and contaminated wheat gluten imported from China; thousands of cats and dogs were horribly sickened and many even died as a result. Then, in September of 2008, not only Pedigree, but 13 other brands of pet foods were recalled of more than 50 dry food kibble type pet foods due to salmonella contamination.(1) One has to wonder what is going on with the pet food industry. Not only are we hearing of more and more recalls of food for human consumption due to some kind of contamination, such as salmonella, e. coli and Listeria, but there also seems to more and more pet foods affected as well. After all these recalls, pet owners are naturally very concerned about the food they give their pets since so many pet owners, myself included, view our pets as part of the family, even as "furry" children, and the reason why many of us call our beloved pet companions "furbabies". We want to be ensured that the food we give our pets is not only of optimum quality, but healthy for them. However, with all the recent pet food recalls due to contamination issues, this isn't the only thing pet owners should be concerned about, but what exactly goes into pet foods to begin with. Have you ever wondered, for instance, just what is meant by "meat by products", an ingredient found in all commercially processed pet foods? Do you really want to know? What I found out was enough to make my stomach turn and get queasy, and it's no wonder our pets often beg us for a scrap of the food that we eat.

The true meaning of meat by products:

If you're a pet owner, get up right now and grab a can of the pet food you have and start reading the ingredients. I have a can of Fancy Feast Chicken Feast flavor cat food in front of me at the moment. I'm not going to rattle off all the ingredients but basically here is what it says: Chicken, Chicken Broth, Liver, Meat-By-Products, Fish (yes it says fish for some reason), Poultry-By-Products, Artificial and Natural Flavors and on and on, where it then continues to list all the vitamin and chemical additives including Sodium Nitrate.

Now it doesn't matter whether the flavor of commercially manufactured canned pet food is chicken or beef, the pet owner is assuming that prime cuts of chicken, such as chicken breasts or legs are used in chicken flavored pet foods, just as one might be expecting that prime cuts of beef, on par in what we eat are used for beef flavored pet foods. Not so. Instead, what commercially processed chicken flavored pet foods use are the parts of the chicken we would normally never think of eating, and these are the "Poultry-By-Products", such as chicken heads, backs, feet, intestines, beaks, entrails, lungs, spleens, kidneys, brains, and so forth. Beef flavored pet foods, aren't much better, since instead of USDA prime high quality cuts of beef, what is used are cow brains, tongues, esophagi, viscera and even fetal tissue, so in effect "Beef-By-Products".(2)

Dry kibble type pet food doesn't fair much better either, since the vast make up of dry foods for pets consist of grains. To give an example, I happen to have a 3 lb. bag of Whiskas Purrfectly With Chicken & Salmon dry food. Among the ingredients listed are: ground whole corn, ground whole wheat, gluten meal, and soybean meal. Now just why any kind of grains are added are a mystery since cats and dogs are carnivores and grain products aren't a natural food source for them. What's worse is that the more frequent recalls we've been hearing about with dry foods comes not only as a result of possible contamination from salmonella, but due to the fact that the grains used for dry pet foods are those not used for human consumption due to mold, inferior quality and poor handling practices. (3) There is another concern one should have when it comes to feeding dry kibble type pet food, and that is one should never moisten dry type pet foods as mentioned in the Born Free USA Website. Supposedly any bacteria that may have existed in the processing of dry pet food is killed off, yet can be re-released, and multiply if moistened with water, milk or even adding to canned pet foods. I've know many a pet owner who will mix the dry with wet pet foods thinking that they are giving a more nutritious meal to their pet. (4)

We humans who are getting more and more health conscious would never, ever think of eating such low quality food as this as it would probably be the equivalent of eating nothing but junk foods all the time, and yet, that is exactly what we are doing when we feed our pets commercially processed pet foods, whether canned or dry foods. The bottom line is that there isn't any true nutritional value to commercially processed foods, which is one of the reasons for all those added vitamins in pet foods. We have here the same equivalent of all those added vitamins to the lesser quality, junk type cereals for humans to make people think they are getting a daily recommended dosage of vitamins. The real alarming fact according to the Food Not Fit For A Pet book by Dr. Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M in which excerpts are quoted at the Shirleys Wellness Cafe website is that that our pets aren't living as long as they should, nor as healthy and more and more pets are developing cancers, arthritis and heart disease more than previously(5)

Now here is where one may get a queasy stomach and you may not even want to read the rest of this article, but I urge you to do so if you want your pet to live a long healthy life. One needs to know what is in your beloved pet(s) food. Among the other ingredients that are used that I've cited are also diseased animals, not only the downed cows at farm factories, but also diseased chickens, ducks, fish, and so forth, however, roadkill is also used, yes roadkill. Also, one has to consider too, the idea that farm animals raised for human consumption are often pumped up with antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones, thus, your pet is getting doses of antibiotics and other chemicals as well in their food. While the ingredients I've cited so far for pet foods, as disgusting as they may sound to you, is nothing compared to the other ingredients that are used and here is the true meaning of "meat-by-products" and it's the pet foods dirty shocking secret. I watched with disgust a YouTube Video that was filmed and taken by an undercover investigator called "What's REALLY In Your Pet's FOOD?

Did you ever wonder what happens to your beloved pet when you take it to the vet to be put down or when it has died of old age? Unless you have arranged to have the pet buried or cremated there are "collectors" who make the rounds to veterinary clinics and hospitals who collect the dead pets that are in body bags that are labeled "regular disposal" and have been kept in freezers. These collectors not only collect the dead pets from veterinary clinics and hospitals, but also the euthanized animals, whether euthanized by injection or from kill shelters that still put animals down by gas chamber as well.

In the video, it cites the West Coast Rendering Plant of Los Angeles, California, but there are rendering plants in every state of America and in every country in the world. I watched as all the bodies of the dead pets are then dumped in large barrels at the "rendering" plant and there must have been over 40 of these barrels filled to the top with the dead bodies of dogs and cats. The workers then remove the body bags and the dead pets are stacked on top of each other at the "pit" as it's called. The undercover investigator filming this video is seen taking off collars of some of the dogs that still have them on. The dead cats and dogs are then placed in "The Grinder"--and it sounds exactly like what it implies, a large grinder similar to a gigantic meat grinder, and yes, its the dogs and cats being ground up.

What is even more sickening is the fact our own US Food and Drug Administration's Center For Veterinary Medicine, while not sanctioning its practice, they are none the less aware of what is going on and of the usage of rendered animals including dogs and cats as part of the pet food industry, yet they don't take steps to stop the practice.(6) Here's a direct quote from the FDA Website itself about pet food products:

"There is no requirement that pet food products have pre-market approval by the FDA. However, FDA ensures that the ingredients used in pet food are safe and have an appropriate function in the pet food. Many ingredients such as meat, poultry and grains are considered safe and do not require pre-market approval. Other substances such as sources of minerals, vitamins or other nutrients, flavorings and preservatives, or processing aids may be generally recognized as safe."(7)

In other words, while to a certain extent, pet foods are regulated by the FDA (as well as other similar government agencies worldwide), the ingredients don't have to have full approval, in other words anything goes and this should infuriate and disgust the pet owner who may have had no idea what was going into their beloved pet's food. Now supposedly, according to an up-date on the Cat Food Uncovered article it states that "many pet food manufacturers in the USA are no longer using sources of meat that had previously given cause for concern." (8) However, note, it says many, not all, so one still doesn't know exactly what is in pet food nor does the pet owner know for sure which commercially processed pet foods still use these horrific ingredients.

So what is the answer? Should one turn to the more organic types of pet foods? This should be up to the pet owner to make such a decision and it would be wise for the pet owner to investigate what organic types of pet foods are available. There is a very good listing of organic types of pet foods here. The main question however, are they safer? Sadly, perhaps not, and even a pet rescuer friend of mine said they aren't much better either. Just recently, on February 10th of this year, the more organic type of pet food made by Nature's Variety began a recall of their Chicken Formula Raw Frozen Diet pet foods for cats and dogs and the culprit was due to possible Salmonella contamination.(9) and this isn't an isolated incident as there have been recalls of other organic pet foods as well over the years.

If you have read this article in its entirety and watched the video I hope it gets you outraged and disgusted. I know I was as I had no idea about what went into commercially prepared pet foods. It was bad enough to find out that animal parts not fit for human consumption are used in pet foods, but the idea that I might be feeding my two cats someone's former pet is a horrifying thought. Hopefully this article will inspire and encourage you to take action in the form of contacting not only the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, but also your politicians and voice your opinions for better regulation of the pet food industry. Would you feed your infants or children inferior food? So why should we be feeding our pets such foods?

Maybe as pet owners we should seriously consider going back to cooking food for our pets and giving those scraps from the dinner table. Years and years ago, I used to make my own version of strained meat baby type food. I would cook up chicken (or turkey or beef), then once done, take the meat off the bone of the chicken or turkey, or cut up the beef into smaller pieces and place the meat into a blender then add some of the broth and blend everything. All I can say, is that my cats couldn't get enough of it. I'm beginning to think it's high time I did that again.

Articles About Pet Food Recalls/Contamination:

Pet Food Recall (1)

Pet Food Recall

Salmonella in Pet Food(9)

Salmonella in Pet Food

Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Articles About What Is In Pet Foods:

Shirley's Wellness Cafe(5) (6)

Shirley's Wellness Cafe

Precious Pets(2) (3)

Precious Pets

Born Free USA(4)

Born Free USA

Pet Foods

Pet Foods

Pet Care/Foods

Pet Care/Foods

Commercial Pet Foods

Commercial Pet Foods

Pet Food Ingredients

Pet Food Ingredients

Natural News

Natural News

Cat Food Industry(8)

Cat Food Industry

Rendered Meats

Rendered Meats

Ingredients in Pet Foods

Ingredients in Pet Foods

List of Organic Pet Foods

List of Organic Pet Foods

The FDA Regulations

FDA regulations in Pet Foods(7)

FDA regulations in Pet Foods

Videos

Undercover Video of Rendering Plant

Undercover Video of Rendering Plant

Video About What's in Pet Foods

Video About What's in Pet Foods