Holistic Cat Care at Birch & Blue

We believe that keeping things natural and holistic isn’t just about food. It’s the little everyday things too, like what our cats eat and drink out of, and what fills their litter box. Here’s a look at what we use in our own home, and why.

Our “bowls” are actually plates This one always surprises people. We don’t use bowls at all, or “cat” ware for that matter, we use regular glass dinner plates! We pick them up from Walmart, in the dinnerware section where you can buy plates individually, and grab a stack of the large, flat dinner plates.

The reason comes down to something called whisker fatigue. Cats have incredibly sensitive whiskers, and when those whiskers brush up against the sides of a deep or narrow bowl over and over while they eat, it becomes very overstimulating and stressful for them. You might notice a cat pacing around their food, only eating from the center of the bowl, or seeming hesitant at mealtime altogether. Since our plates are flat and wide open with no sides to bump into, this just isn’t something our cats deal with.

Material also matters here too. We only recommend using glass, stainless steel, or ceramic, and steer clear of plastic completely. Plastic is porous, so no matter how well you wash it, tiny scratches on the surface hold onto bacteria over time. That buildup is part of what causes something commonly known as cat chin acne, those little blackheads and irritated bumps some cats get along their chin. Glass, steel, and ceramic don’t have that same issue.

Our litter setup For litter boxes, we currently use the Breeze sifting litter box system, and we go with their XL size for our big Ragdoll cats. If we were starting over and building our setup though, we’d love to switch to a stainless steel sifting box instead. It works the same way, but steel is so much easier to clean, and it doesn’t hold onto odor or stains the way plastic does.

As for the litter itself, we use pine pellets, the kind sold as horse bedding, from Tractor Supply’s brand. Out of everything we’ve tried, this has worked the best for us by far. There’s virtually no tracking through the house like you get with other litters, it hides odor extremely well, and the pellets themselves smell like fresh pine, which is cat-safe and actually pretty pleasant. The only downside to this litter is that some cats might not like the texture of the litter when standing on it.

We’d recommend steering away from clay, crystal, and silica litters altogether, and here’s the reasoning behind each one.

Traditional clumping clay litter is typically made with sodium bentonite, a natural clay that swells significantly when it gets wet, which is exactly what makes it clump. That same swelling property is a concern if a cat ever ingests any while grooming their paws, since it can expand inside the digestive tract. Clumping litter is especially known to be unsafe for kittens, and most breeders do not (and should not) use this litter. Clay litters also tend to be dusty, and that dust often contains crystalline silica, a substance the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has linked to respiratory irritation and long-term lung issues with repeated exposure. Every time your cat digs or covers their business, that fine dust gets kicked up into the air, and it’s not just your cat breathing it in, it’s you too.

Silica gel and crystal litters are made from processed silica gel beads, the same material found in those little “do not eat” packets that come in shoeboxes and vitamin bottles. While the beads themselves are meant to absorb moisture rather than clump, they can still create dust as they’re crushed underfoot, and there have been reports of cats developing dry, irritated, or cracked paw pads from walking on the sharper edges of the crystals over time.

At the end of the day, we just want litter that feels safe for our cats to dig in, breathe around, and even accidentally ingest a little of, without any of us worrying about what’s really in it.

If pine pellets aren’t the right fit for your cat, there are other natural options worth trying too, like walnut shell, wheat, corn, or paper pellet litters. They’re all lower-dust, more natural alternatives to traditional clay.

If your cat wears a collar for any reason, whether it’s for an ID tag, a bell, or just because you like the look of it, the single most important thing is that it’s a breakaway collar. A breakaway collar has a buckle built to pop open the moment enough pressure is put on it, like when a collar gets snagged on a fence, a tree branch, furniture, or even another cat’s teeth or claws during play. A standard fixed collar has no way to release, so if it gets caught on something, the cat is stuck there until a person finds them.

Cats are climbers, jumpers, and explorers by nature, and a collar that can’t release is a real strangulation and entrapment risk. Vets have reported cases of cats getting a leg caught up in a non-breakaway collar and left that way for days or even weeks before being found, resulting in torn tendons, deep wounds, and injuries requiring surgery. There are also documented cases of a collar catching in a cat’s mouth around the jaw or teeth, and even a case of a cat that died after its collar caught on a tree branch while climbing. The common thread in nearly all of these stories is the same: a collar that had no way to release under pressure.

The good news is that serious collar injuries are uncommon overall, but the numbers shift a lot depending on the type of collar. A well-known study out of Ohio State University tracked cats over six months and found collar-related injuries in only a small percentage of cats, and every single one of those injuries happened with a non-breakaway design, not a single one occurred with a proper breakaway collar. Other researchers who surveyed veterinarians found that vets see a collar-related injury roughly once every couple of years in their practice on average, and when they could identify the collar type involved, non-breakaway and elasticized collars showed up far more often than true breakaway designs. Multiple veterinary and animal welfare organizations, including the AVMA and ASPCA, recommend breakaway collars as the standard for any cat that wears one.

So while a collar-related injury isn’t something that happens every day, the research keeps pointing to the same thing: when something does go wrong, it’s almost always with a collar that was never built to let go in the first place. That’s the part that gets us, because it’s so easy to avoid.

As breeders, we send every kitten home already fixed and microchipped, and if you ever put a collar on your cat, we really can’t stress enough how much a breakaway buckle matters. It’s such a small, cheap thing that can spare your cat from a scary situation. If you do go the collar route, just make sure it’s a true breakaway style, check that you can comfortably slide one to two fingers underneath it, and give it a look every so often for fraying or wear as your cat grows or the material ages. A little bit of care here goes a long way.

There’s a common myth that cats are solitary animals who don’t want other cats around. In reality, cats can absolutely live happily with other cats, but how you introduce them matters more than almost anything else. Rush it, and you risk two cats who tolerate each other at best, or actively avoid one another for years. Take it slow, and you give them a real shot at becoming bonded friends for life.

There’s a well-known video in the cat community that a lot of people swear by, from cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy: Cat to Cat Introductions. His method is slow, but slow introductions are always best for cats. Below, we’ve summarized his approach in our own words and added in a few extra tips from other trusted sources, so you have one easy guide to come back to whenever you need it.

Get your resident cat onto a set meal schedule, a few times a day, instead of completely free-feeding for this time period. Having predictable mealtimes will matter a lot once you start the actual introduction process. This is also a good time to make sure your existing cat has an enriched environment with places to climb and perch, since vertical space gives cats room to feel safe around each other later on.

Choose one room in your home to be your new cat’s own private space for the first several days, sometimes up to a week or more depending on the cat. This room should have its own food, water, litter box, bedding, and toys. The goal is for your new cat to feel safe and to soak the space in their scent. Keep the resident cat completely out of this room, no eye contact and no physical contact at all, until your new cat seems curious about what’s on the other side of the door.

While your new cat is settling into base camp, swap scents between the two cats. Take a blanket or bed your new cat has slept on and place it near your resident cat, and do the same in reverse. This lets both cats get familiar with each other’s smell before they ever meet face to face.

Once your new cat is comfortable in base camp, start feeding both cats at the same time on opposite sides of the door separating them. Place the food bowls a few feet back from the door at first, then gradually move them closer over several days as both cats stay calm. The idea is simple: every time they smell each other, they’re also eating a meal they enjoy, so their brains start connecting the other cat’s scent with something positive instead of something threatening.

Watch for calm behavior, walking up, eating, and walking away without hissing, growling, or hiding. If either cat seems stressed, move the bowls back a bit and slow down. There’s no set timeline here. Some cats are ready to move on in a few days, others need a few weeks.

Once your cats are relaxed eating close to the door, it’s time to let them see each other for the first time. A screen door, a pet gate, or a door propped open just an inch or two all work well. If you want more control, hang a blanket or towel over the gate and gradually lift it a little more each session, so the visual introduction happens in small, manageable steps rather than all at once.

Keep doing the same meal-time ritual during this phase, just now with each cat able to see the other. Keep sessions short at first, around 10 to 15 minutes, a few times a day. If you notice hissing, growling, or a tense, fixated stare, distract them with a toy or their name and separate them if needed, then try again later at a slightly earlier stage.

When both cats are consistently calm with full visual access, it’s time for them to be in the same room without anything between them. Give each cat something to focus on the moment they enter, a toy, a treat, a laser pointer, anything that keeps their attention on something other than each other. An idle cat with nothing to do is far more likely to start a stare-down, and stare-downs are what lead to fights.

Keep these first few sessions very short, sometimes just a couple of minutes, and end things on a good note before any tension has a chance to build. If a session goes well, great, stop there and try again tomorrow. If it goes badly, don’t get discouraged, simply take a step back to the previous stage and try again the next day. Consistency matters far more than speed.

Always have more litter boxes than cats, so a general rule is one per cat plus one extra. Keep litter boxes and food bowls out in the open rather than tucked into corners, since cats need an easy way to escape if they feel cornered by the other cat. A pheromone diffuser, like Feliway, can also help take the edge off during the introduction period for some cats.

Try not to picture your cats curling up together like littermates right away. For most cats, the real milestone in the beginning is simply tolerating each other calmly in the same space. Genuine friendship, if it happens, usually comes later, once both cats have had enough time to realize the other one isn’t a threat.

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