Care and Maintenance

Don’t panic. I don’t get paid for any of this, these are just the things I’ve tried, liked, or found made life smoother. Why gatekeep? If I find something that saves me from wrestling with poop bags or chasing tumbleweeds of fur, I’m going to tell you.

Breathing

Some flat-faced cats drink water like they’re trying to water their brain. Wally is one of them. He snorts half the bowl, which cues instant congestion. When water shoots into the nasal passages it irritates everything inside. That irritation triggers swelling and mucus. The congestion then snowballs into watery eyes because swollen nasal passages make tear drainage harder, so the tears escape onto the face instead. David drinks like a precious angel baby and is never wet, always bone dry. Meanwhile Bojangles does the opposite of Wally and rests her entire bottom jaw in the water. They can’t all be winners but we are here to try to help them.

So now I’m testing new waterers to see if we can end the snorkling era.

Option one which we are trying now is Vida Mansa. It is a sturdy setup that comes in different size options up to 3 liters. The height and flow style should help keep his face dry and stop him from plunging in like he is bobbing for apples. I will report back once Wally decides if it meets his royal standards. Vida Mansa’s USA website just launched Dec 2025 and have about 1 week delivery time for us in OR shipping from FL. The downfall is the 3L doesnt come in aluminum only plastic and alumium dispensers do not have a locking lid. Their site also doesnt list the size of the opening so we are keeping our fingers crossed. 

Option two is the  elephant. It is the adorable version of a no snorkle zone. It holds around 10 ounces. The spout opening is about 1.7 inches. That opening forces a tidy drinking angle so even the most dramatic flat facer cannot shove their whole face inside. Downfall is long shipping times ~month, $60 on Amazon but is it ceramic and glass.

Breathing, again…

Flat-faced cats don’t exactly win gold medals for breathing. Being only 8 inches above the floor doesn’t help either—it’s basically ground zero for dust, dander, and pollen. Wally, for example, was a full-on sneeze machine when we first brought him home. It doesn’t help that where we live is nicknamed “The Valley of Death” because it is the grass seed capitol of the world. Cue allergies.

Enter Allersearch ADMS Anti-Allergen Spray. I was desperate to help my poor snowman. I found this stuff and ordered it and sprayed it on the carpet, and now, months later and there is no nonstop sneezing soundtrack. This stuff neutralizes allergens from dust mites, pollen, and pet dander—without leaving sticky residue or weird smells. Spray it every 30 days, and boom: calmer noses, clearer eyes, happier cats.

Food for Thought

A balanced diet rich in essential nutrients significantly impacts hair, skin and overall health. Like all cats, Persians and Exotics thrive on a high-protein, low-carb diet. The first five ingredients listed on a pet food bag constitute the bulk of the food, making it essential to carefully read the labels and understand what each ingredient signifies.

The Good 

Deboned – Fresh meat containing the most nutrients and easiest to digest.

Meal – cleaned flesh, skin and bones. 

Animal Fats – provides essential fatty acids and is a concentrated source of energy.

Fruits/Vegetables – a natural source of fiber.

Oats, barley, brown rice, quinoa – Nutrient rich sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. 

The Bad

By-Product Meal – Rendered parts of an animal after the meat is removed. Intestines, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood.

By-product – non-rendered parts including feet, heads, and entrails.

Brewers Rice – a by-product of rice milling. This is considered to be low quality fiber. 

Corn, Wheat and Soy – Fillers that may cause allergies or digestive issues in some pets.

Open Farm – Homestead Turkey

This food walks the walk. At around $5.65 a pound, you’re getting a muscular 37% protein and just 19% carbs. It is the move comparable in nutrients to Royal Canin that I have found but just better ingredients. 

Open Farm is oven-baked from ethically raised turkey and chicken, so it stays crunchy enough for dental health but still friendly to smoosh faces that prefer their meals bite-sized, not brick-textured.

Bonus: higher omega-3s (1.3%) and omega-6s (4.0%) give better coat gloss.

First Five Ingredients:
Humanely Raised Turkey, Ocean Whitefish Meal, Chicken Meal, Garbanzo Beans, Field Peas.

Daves Tukey Formula

Dave’s actually smells like food and not regret. It’s thick enough to feel like a meal, but still juicy enough to swirl over kibble like a five-star gravy. Hydration? Covered. Flavor? Approved by every feline snob in the house.

It runs around $1.30–$1.50 per 5.5 oz can, so you can spoil them without needing a loan. I use it as a topper for show conditioning — extra moisture, extra calories, and zero mystery “meat by-product loaf” vibes.

First five ingredients:
Turkey, Turkey Broth, Chicken Liver, Chicken, Natural Flavor.

Food Toppers

Cause who doesnt love sprinkles on top of their ice cream! Freeze-dried egg yolks and Miracle Vet are basically kitty superfoods—protein, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, the works. Add freeze-dried salmon to the mix and now we’re talking omega-3s for shiny coats, happy joints, and brains that (hopefully) keep them from sprinting into walls at 3am.

Pro tip: skip the overpriced whole egg yolk treats and grab powdered egg yolk. It’s literally half the price per ounce and way easier to sprinkle over food like gourmet cat parmesan. I toss it on kibble, mix it into wet food, or pretend I’m a Michelin chef plating for royalty.

Some cats treat freeze-dried food like crack. Others look at it like, “You expect me to eat astronaut rations? Cute.” If you’ve got one of the picky ones, just blitz the treats into powder and boom—instant kibble topper. They don’t even know they’re being tricked into nutrition.

Brush that Hairy Beauty

Spending just a few minutes a day grooming your exotic little feline fluffball is basically the secret to keeping that show-stopping coat looking fabulous. Think of it as their daily spa moment—with fewer cucumbers and more fur. Regular baths help tone down the shedding chaos and make their coat look extra majestic (cue hair commercial slow-mo).

By the time your kitten arrives, they’ll already be a bit of a pro at this whole grooming and bathing thing—so no dramatic Oscar-worthy bathtub performances (hopefully).

Now, when it comes to coat length, here’s the scoop: short-haired cats can shed like they’re trying to knit you a sweater, while long-haired beauties are more likely to get tangled up like tiny walking loofahs. Also, not to be dramatic, but long-haired kitties can suffer from what we lovingly call “dooty booty.” Yep. But don’t worry—a quick little sanitation trim will take care of that rear-end drama.

I’ve tried about three different greyhound combs, (because I refuse to pay $50 for a freaking comb) but the only one that I have tried that actually has hair in it at the end of brushing is the GranNaturals Boar Bristle Slick Back Hair Brush with Comb. It’s a mouthfull I know. I don’t know what kind of sorcery they packed into this brush, but it penetrates the thick, fluffy jungle that is our cats fur and gently removes all the dead and loose hair.

And it’s only $10 on Amazon, which feels illegal for something that actually works.

Okay, I have to rave about this brush because it’s earned a permanent spot in my grooming kit. The EXTRA-long bristles dive straight through that thick coat like butter—no snagging, no half-hearted surface fluffing. It actually reaches the undercoat, which is where all the real chaos hides.

Poop 💩

We’ve tested it all: dusty clay litter, the CatGenie AI that thinks it’s smarter than me, pellet boxes with pee pads underneath—yeah, been there, scooped that. Verdict? Overcomplicated trash piles.

Enter the hero: tofu flushable litter. No more bags of poop fermenting in the garbage, no clogged-up overpriced robot toilet that you have to clean the poop soup out of (happened! twice!), no $300 litter box that breaks down the second you leave town. Just scoop, flush, done.

Does it track? Yep, ALL litter tracks. But this is made out of larger chunks so it tracks much less than clay, and any dust is corn-based and way friendlier than breathing in clay dust clouds. It’s the closest thing to a litterbox miracle—and my trash can finally forgives me. And it’s just over $10 a bag on amazon. If my cats didn’t act like dogs and drink out of the toilet I would toilet train them. But here there are sharing a braincell so I will continue to scoop.