If I had to choose one thing that has made PurrfectPost.com such a success, I'd have to say it's our customers.

Certainly, we have used my knowledge and experience as a veterinarian to create quality scratching posts that are sturdy, tall, and covered in sisal fabric, which cats really love to scratch. We use the best quality materials we can find, and individual craftsmen build our posts. We make sure we provide top notch customer service, and we work hard to keep our customers happy.

But our customers are some of the best there are. You love our products, support us, share us with your friends, and help make us successful.

That's why I've decided to reward you all with our newly implemented, free loyalty program! You'll get money off purchases for doing things you're already doing on our website.

All you have to do is click the gold reward program button at the bottom right of the home screen at PurrfectPost.com. Create a store account or log in if you already have one, and you'll start earning right away.

Here's what you can do to earn points:

• Earn 200 points for creating an account.
• Earn 1 point for every dollar you spend (this increases as you advance to our Silver and Gold VIP tiers).
• Like and share our page on Facebook and Twitter for 50 points each.
• Get 200 points on your birthday.

Earning points can get these you rewards:

• Once you get to 500 points, you'll receive a $5 coupon to use on your next purchase of $10 or more.
• Earn 1000 points, and you'll get a $10 off coupon to use on your next purchase of $20 or more.
• Earn 2500 points, and you'll get a $25 off coupon to use on your next purchase of $35 or more.

Not only that, but when you sign up, you will also get your own link to PurrfectPost.com to share with your family and friends. Tell them how much you like our products and why, and when they place an order using your link, you'll both get some money off your next purchase.

Don't worry, you don't have to remember all of this. Every time you log on to PurrfectPost.com, just click the gold rewards program button and it will tell you how many points you have, how many more you need to hit reward levels, and what you can do to earn more points.

It's easy and fun.

Thanks again for being such great customers, and please enjoy the loyalty program.

Dr. Christianne Schelling

I have cats in my home, and here's why: they provide unconditional love and acceptance. That's it!

Of course, they also provide fur, hairballs, messes, and litter boxes to deal with, but none of that overrides the love they give me.

Over the years, I've started to see scientific studies verifying what cat-owners already know about living with cats. Things like this:

• Cats can use different types of vocalizations for different people.
• Cats may prefer human company over food, toys, or good smells (A.R.Udella, 2017).
• Cat purrs fall into the same frequency of sound that has been shown to aid in bone and wound healing and joint and tendon repair.
• Cats have personality traits that are similar to the ones that humans have (Carla A. Litchfield, 2017).

I'm a veterinarian, so I enjoy reading research, but I'm also a cat owner (or should I say cat caregiver because no one can really owns a cat), so I know all about the bond that can only be touched on by science and is more felt by the heart.

I've used both to create my Purrfect Post products. I've combined my knowledge of the science of what cats want to scratch with my love for cats and desire to help in the fight against declawing to design and build my scratching posts.

And my clients and their cats love it. We recently implemented a new way for people to leave reviews for us. They can send us pictures or videos of their cats using our products, and they've responded in a big way.

Take a look at some of the ones we've gotten:

• Pebbles and Polly enjoy the Posts
• Kitties play on the Big Bed Everest View
• Dobby and Minerva love their Command Center

You can leave your review for us, too, and you'll get a coupon code for $10 off your next purchase once we accept it: Submit a Review.

At Purrfect Post, we blend the science and spirit of sharing our lives with cats and building products for them. We end up with the best of both worlds.

Works Cited

A.R.Udella, K. R. (2017, August). Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences. Retrieved from ScienceDirect.com: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635716303424

Carla A. Litchfield, G. Q. (2017, Aug. 23). The 'Feline Five': An exploration of personality in pet cats (Felis catus). Retrieved from Plos One: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0183455

My goodness; I've been busy lately! Blogging has taken a back seat to what I've been working on, and I couldn't be happier to see it roll out.

On PurrfectPost.com, we now have the capability to accept photo AND video reviews on our products from our customers. And, boy, have you all responded with some awesome stuff. You've submitted adorable documentation of cats lounging in Purrfect Post beds, scratching our posts, and generally enjoying our products.

I have always loved interacting with our customers; answering emails, taking phone calls, and chatting about peoples' cats and their needs. Seeing pictures and videos of pets and their people enjoying our products absolutely makes my day. It feels like Christmas every time I open up a new submission.

Nothing is as fun as cat pictures, so take a look at what our customers have sent in so far: Click here for the gallery.

I'd love to hear from you and see pictures and videos of your pet enjoying our products, too. And accepted submissions get a $10 gift card to PurrfectPost.com and an entry into a drawing for a $100 Visa gift card.

Click here to submit your testimonials.

As always, thank you for all of your support and for loving our products as much as we do.

I love parties. I find every excuse I can to celebrate with my friends and family.

I've even been known to throw parties to celebrate National Pig Day.

But in June, I don't have to invent reasons to party because there are graduation open houses and Father's Day celebrations to attend and throw. It's a fun month, and I try to make sure my cats enjoy it, too.

They don't always love having visitors, so when I have a party, I make them a cozy spot in my extra bedroom where they can relax with their food, water, litter boxes, scratching posts, and toys.

This is a great thing to do during summer parties, fireworks, and other noisy or scary times. Create a safe room for your cat with everything he needs to rest comfortably. You can even play some soothing music to help drown out the party sounds.

After the party, I open the safe room door, and my cats like to wander out and sniff around, checking out who was over and what we did.

Except for Rickey; he loves parties. He likes to rub on everyone's legs, jump into any available laps, try to nab some spinach dip, and pose for pictures with all the guests. He's kind of a ham.

I think National Pig Day is Rickey's favorite holiday, but there's no way to be sure about that.

So, happy June, everyone! I hope you enjoy time with friends, family, and the special kitties in your life.

Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I'm a gardener, so I get super excited about seeing the new plants start to pop up and watching everything get greener.

My cats seem to love spring, too. They spend more time sitting in their Big Bed View: Everest Edition near the sliding glass door, watching the goings-on outside. My favorite is when they see a bird and make that cat noise that's something between a bark and a chirp. Aw!!!!

Spring is always a time when I think ahead to summer and starting new projects. I think I make more resolutions in this "new beginnings" time of year than I do in January! This year, I'm adding a new flower bed to my landscaping and planning to do more yoga.

For my cats, I'm pledging to add more playtime to their day. One of my cats has been scratching at a piece of carpeting near my office door. I'm taking it as a sign that he thinks I should work less and play with him more.

Cats will develop inappropriate behaviors like scratching belongings when they're bored or stressed, and interactive play relieves both.

I'm going to add some extra wand-play time with my big boy, cover the carpet he's scratching with foil, and bring a new Purrfect Post near my office door, so he can scratch that to tell me when I've worked enough for the day.

What new beginnings are you and your kitty going to have fun with this spring?

It's almost a new year, and I can hardly believe it! I'm sorry I haven't gotten a blog post written in the past couple of months, but my goodness: I was so busy!

I developed some new products in the last few months of 2016, and I acquired, tested, and offered several new items as well. Everything was very popular, and I was running around like crazy trying to keep it all in stock and organized for you.

I'm proud of the 2016 we had at Purrfect Post, and I'm excited about 2017. As you know, my goal is to save as many cats from painful declaw surgeries as possible, and I feel that one great way to do that is to offer alternatives for cat scratching that actually work and that people love having in their homes. It's also important to provide cats with lots of great interactive toys to help reduce stress scratching.

I have lots of ideas for 2017, and I hope you're all going to like them as much as you did our 2016 offerings. It's my goal to keep providing you with innovative new products while staying true to my roots: producing my posts in the USA with the finest quality materials.

I wish all of you, my readers and Purrfect Post supporters, a healthy and happy New Year. Thank you for your input, enthusiasm, and for sharing our products with your friends and family. I look forward to hearing more from all of you in 2017!

Happy New Year - Dr. Schelling

I spend a lot of time evaluating different cat products to determine how they will work for humans and be accepted by cats. I want to provide the best possible information for my readers, so I use the products myself on my cats before I recommend them to you.

Here, I've listed some of my absolute favorite cat products all in one spot. Some are great because they make cat care tasks easier for feline and human family members. Some are wonderful because they provide necessary stress relief and fun. Others are just downright cool. I hope you enjoy them!

Nail Clippers

Trimming your cat's claws can be a bit intimidating if you haven't done much of it before. You can find step-by-step instructions for making it easier for both of you here: "How to Trim Your Cat's Claws."

Having the right kind of nail trimmers can make this job even easier. My favorites are these: " Nail Clippers for Cats." They're easy to hold, and they maneuver and cut well.

Bonus Tip: Keep a scratching post nearby when you trim your cat's claws. Cats love to scratch after a trim, and it helps wear down any jagged edges that may be left on the claws from the clipping.

Cat Brushes

I brush my cats at least once a day because it's a nice bonding time for us. It also tremendously decreases the hairballs that my cats bring up because I get the loose fur out of their coats before they groom it out themselves and ingest it.

The type of brush you need really depends on your cat's fur type, but I love this brush for getting around my cats' faces: Paw Brothers Triangle Soft Pin Slicker Brush.

I also really like this brush: Paw Brothers Double Sided Flex Slicker Brush because it's flexibility keeps my wrist from getting sore, and the double-sided head means I don't have to stop and empty the fur out as often.

Litter Scoopers

I have several cats, so I'm scooping out litter boxes a few times a day. It seems as though I tried every litter scooper out there and they either left quite a bit of "stuff" behind, or they broke after a few weeks. But I found the DuraScoop, and I've never looked back.

This is truly the best litter scooper I've ever used. It has nice straight edges that scrape the sides of the litter box thoroughly and get into the corners well. The handle is ergonomically designed, so I don't get wrist strain, and it's strong and rust-proof.

Litter Mats

Speaking of litter box duty, I have a Purrfect Paws Litter Mat at the opening of each of my litter boxes. These things are so amazing! They're covered in little ridges and divots so that when the cat steps out of the box onto one of them, any litter that's on her paws gets caught in the mat.

I just pick the mat up and dump the litter back into the box when I'm scooping. Since I started using these mats, the amount of stray litter I feel underfoot on my carpets and tile floors has drastically decreased, and I don't find it in my bed anymore, either.

Toys

It is so important to play with our cats. Regular interactive playtime can help cats remain physically and mentally fit. It can reduce unwanted behaviors that are the result of stress, and it's good for humans' stress levels, too!

The best way to play with a cat is to trigger her hunter instincts and let her act out her predatory urges. That means using toys that mimic the behavior of cats' natural prey: birds and rodents.

I love this wand toy: Purrfect Feather Toy by Vee Enterprises. It's so well-made, and my cats go crazy for the feathers. I try to think like a bird when I move it around. I also like to make it perch on top of my cats' scratching posts, so they chase it up to the top. It's great exercise for them and lots of fun.

Da Bird is another one of my favorite, well-made wand toys.

Catnip toys are lots of fun for many cats. You just need to keep in mind that most kittens under six months old won't respond to it. They may or may not respond to honeysuckle toys, and some older cats that don't react to catnip do get crazy on honeysuckle.

Bonus Tip: Keep your catnip toys put away where your cat can't get to them in between play sessions. This will keep your cat from becoming desensitized to their effects. You can also use catnip spray to freshen up an old catnip toy and spritz old honeysuckle toys with water or honeysuckle spray to revive them.

Fountains

I recently got a Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain, and I really love it. So many cats love to drink flowing water, and this encourages them to drink more, which can decrease the incidence of medical problems like urinary tract infections and kidney disease. Plus, the Pagoda is really beautiful, and the lovely waterfall sound it makes is soothing to me, too. I put one on my desk because I love the way it looks and sounds. It also keeps one of my cats, Lily, from drinking out of my water glass, the little stinker!

It is important to have a second water dish available for your cat as well as the fountain, so she has a still-water option if she doesn't feel like having running water every time she drinks.

Cat Cozies

I'm really excited about this new product that I created myself, designed around cats' love of staying cozy. I call it a Muffin Blanket™ because it's perfect for cats to knead with their front paws, making sweet kitty muffins. My Muffin Blankets are each individually handmade locally out of the softest, most cuddly material I could find.

The small blanket is 15" in diameter and can fit right in the bottom of the Purrfect Bed, and the large blanket is 22" and fits in the bottom of the Purrfect Bed with some overlap up the sides. I've also just thrown some of these around my home in spots that I know my cats like to nap. It helps keep cat hair off of my bed, the sofa, and the carpet in front of the fireplace.

The picture of the cat cuddled up in the Muffin Blanket™ on the product page is my cat, Lily.

Purrfect Posts

Of course, any list of my favorite cat products would be incomplete without Purrfect Post scratching posts. Both my own cats and those of countless others have let me know that these posts are the best cat scratching posts available.

Cats need to scratch to stay healthy and to relieve stress, and they like to scratch Purrfect Posts because of how they're built (stable and tall) and what they're covered with (sisal fabric is the preferred scratching substrate of cats).

You can find a Purrfect Post for any space in your home, any number of cats, and any situation. Just take a look at the product pages to learn more.

Recap

Those are my favorite cat products for everyday life with felines. Here they are again, in a convenient list:

• Nail Clippers for Cats
• Paw Brothers Triangle Soft Pin Slicker Brush
• Paw Brothers Double Sided Flex Slicker Brush, Soft
• DuraScoop
• Purr-fect Paws Litter Mat
• Purrfect Feather Toy by Vee Enterprises
• Da Bird Wand Toy
• Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain
• Muffin Blanket™
• Purrfect Posts

I love autumn! It gets a little cooler in the evenings, and I enjoy putting on some cozy sweatpants, getting some hot chocolate, and curling up with a good book in the evenings.

I always have at least two cats who decide to "read" with me when I do this. I was thinking, wouldn't it be great if cats COULD read? Ooh, and write?

I'd love to leave little notes around the house for them and see what they wrote for me.

I'd write things like this:

• "Please keep the litter IN your box. I know digging and tossing it out and about everywhere is fun for you. But it hurts when I step on it with bare feet. Love, Mom."
• "No, this isn't your water. It's mine; please don't stick your paw in it. xoxoxo."
• "Today is claw trimming day. Please do some yoga, find your Zen, and prepare your patience before 2 o'clock and meet me on the couch. Hugs and kisses, Mom."
• "I've cleaned your litter box and used a little rake to smooth it out just the way you like it. If you could refrain from digging in my plants today in return, I'd appreciate it."
• "I'm sorry the store was out of salmon flavored cat food. Yes, I checked the other store, too. Yes, I even checked that third grocery store that's 30 minutes away. I understand that this is still my fault, and I'll accept your irritated glances this evening."

I can't prove it, of course, but I think my cats would leave notes like these:

• "I see that you've left some food out for me. The bowl isn't completely full, though; there's an inch of space at the top. So I've decided to go on a hunger strike and meow loudly until you fill it appropriately. Love, Fluff."
• "The dog licked me again today. I thought we discussed this already. Please do something about him before I take matters into my own paws. Signed, The Cat."
• "I know you've spent $3500 on cat beds for me, but I prefer to sleep in the cardboard box your package came in yesterday. Don't take the beds back, though. That would make me mad. Signed, Your Furry Best Friend."
• "Mom, thanks for putting the scratching post by the window. I hope you don't mind that the birds that used to come to your feeder are all afraid of our house now. Signed, Scary Hunter."
• "OK, but did you check at that one really big grocery store in the next town for the salmon flavored food? No? Well, I guess I'll just walk all over you all night long, so you'll remember to check there tomorrow. Love you!"

Well, that was entertaining! Anyway, one thing's for sure. If my cats could read, I'd write the same thing that I say to them every day:

I love you.

It's early September already, and I can't really believe it. It seems like each year goes by faster than the last one, doesn't it?

This morning while I was having my coffee and thinking about how close we are to fall, one of my cats climbed up on my lap. Already musing about the passage of time, I realized that this cat was born in September, and he'll be 8 years old this year. How could it already be eight years since I brought this fur-ball home? I felt a pang in my heart, knowing that cats are with us for such a relatively short time.

That's one of the reasons I oppose declaw surgeries. I want my cats to have the best possible lives for as long or as short of a time as I have with them. Declawing is an amputation: it removes each of the toes up to the first joint. Poor kitties! They have to walk on those amputation sites as soon as they recover from surgery. Can you imagine?

That's not all, either. Cats can have pain from declaws for the rest of their lives. Infections, arthritis, and balance problems are just a few of the common complications that cats can suffer from when they are declawed. If you want to learn more about declawing, I wrote this article for people to read and share: "Declawing Cats: Alternatives to a Painful Procedure."

We only have a certain amount of time with our cats. Truly, I hope my 8-year-old buddy lives to be 30, but 14-18 is more average. I will fill that time with as much love, play, and snuggle time as I can.

As you know, I operate PurrfectPost.com because I want people to have viable alternatives to declawing cats. I hope you'll join me and take up my motto for living with cats:

No painful paws in my home: only playful paws here.

I'm Christianne Schelling, and I'm so excited to be writing my first blog post! I thought I'd use this post to introduce myself and tell you a bit about Purrfect Post.

I'm the inventor of Purrfect Post products. I made the first ones for friends who couldn't find good scratching posts that their cats wanted to use. I'm a veterinarian, so I knew why cats didn't like the other posts: they weren't really made for cats! They were mostly short, wobbly, fluffy, and soft, but cats want tall, sturdy, tough, and shreddable.

So I built a post for cats but made it as beautiful as I could for people.

Pretty soon, I was getting more and more requests for my special posts because cats love them. So I started Purrfect Post, and I have absolutely loved the stories I've heard over the years of people whose cats love the posts and the humans who love them, too.

Today, so you can get to know me better, I want to share with you four things that I'm passionate about:

1. Ending cat declawing. It's an inhumane surgery, and I work tirelessly to provide people with alternatives that will allow them to live peacefully with their clawed cats.
2. Making quality products in the USA. Purrfect Post products are individually handmade by craftsmen in the United States. Our posts may be a bit more expensive than some others, but that's because they are built to last, with quality materials.
3. Sharing accurate information about pets. I'm a veterinarian, and I'm committed to disseminating as much good information about pet care and well-being to as many people as possible. In fact, not only do I provide lots of great, accurate information on this site, but I also do so on CatHealth.com and DogHealth.com.
4. I only recommend and sell products that I use personally. I love pets, and I live with pets. It's important to me that, if I'm offering a product to you, I use it myself and know that it's great and pets love it.

So, that's me in a nutshell: veterinarian, inventor, and pet-lover. Oh, and now: blog writer.

Have a purr-ific day!