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As cats get older, they become more suseptable to kidney failure – something to which they are already quite prone! Symtoms include a dull coat, weight loss, pain in the back, fever, vomiting and diarrhea; it’s quite obvious when something is wrong! Read the rest of this entry »

When I got home yesterday, my niece flung herself at me in tears saying, “Aristotle hates Plato! He hates him!” At first I had to stifle a laugh at how unintentionally poignant the expression was, in philosophical terms, but it was only seconds before I realised what she was talking about. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the behaviours most associated with cats is that of arching their back and hissing. Although this looks very aggressive, it’s actually more of a defensive stance than an aggressive one; although the cat may be willing to fight, there are very obvious differences between an offensive stance and a defensive one. When your cat is arching his back in defence, you’ll also notice he will face his opponent side-on if possible, with his mouth open, tail held either low or over his back and his ears flattened against his head. If it comes to a fight, your cat will likely roll onto his back to defend himself – these are behaviours associated with defense.

By contract, if you cat is feeling aggressive towards you or any other animal or person, his body will tense-up, with his hindquarters lowered and ready to pounce. His tail will be down and he will likely stare straight at his opponent you, snarling with his whiskeys facing forward and the hair on his shoulders and tail standing straight up.

Although both behaviours are aggressive, it is wise to be familiar with the differences between offensive and defensive behaviours.

As much as we communicate by the way we stand, sit and gesticulate, animals’ moods are possibly even more well emphasised by the way they act and hold themselves. Today I’ll explain how your cat’s mood may be reflected in his body language.

When your cat is in a relaxed, friendly mood, his coat will lie smooth and his tail will point straight up; his ears will also point ever-so-slightly forwards and his whiskers out to the sides. When close to you, he’ll be happy to come right into your face and will likely purr or give some vocal indication of happiness.

If, on the other hand, you cat is nervous or scared, you may notice his whiskers will be pulled back and his coat may be raised. The most obvious thing you’ll notice will be that his tail will either lash around anxiously or be tucked in close to his body, where it was previously straight up in the air, casually. His ears may flatten to his head and he might face you side-on, while hissing. This doesn’t necessary mean he is feeling aggressive – I’ll cover aggression next time.

Just like humans, cat can suffer from shock. Caused by trauma like injury, illness and severe dehydeation, shock can be fatal if left untreated – yet it is hard to recongise unless you understand the symtoms and procedure for dealing with it.

Shock occurs when blood pressure falls, causing an insufficient oxygen supply to the tissues and organs around the cat’s body – including the heart. To compensate for the drop in blood pressure, the heart rate will then actually increase, causing extra stress on the heart, which is already suffering from a lack of oxygen.

As you may be able to guess fromt the above description, symtoms of shock include shivering, a weak pulse, fast and shallow breathing and, of course, reduced body temperature. Emergency veterinary care is essential, but take care not to further stress your cat at any point. If possible, position your pet so his head is lower than his body, keep him warm and, above all, keep him calm. Shock is easy to treat, but will get worse if you further panic your pet.

With the Year of the Tiger just around the corner, this week China announced that it will be launching a multi-million dollar effort to save the world’s biggest cat, the Amur Tiger.

Image MJCdetroit

The Amur Tiger is also known as the Siberian Tiger, can be known to be up to 500 pounds in weight. With two of nine subspecies of tigers extinct in this world, this is definitely a welcome move. The Guardian reported that

Since the last tiger year, in 1998, the wild population of the animal worldwide has almost halved to about 3,200 due to habitat loss, economic development and poaching for hides and traditional medicine.

China will be working with various NGOs and the World Bank to ensure that not another tiger subspecies will be lost forever. We hope that the Amur Tiger will indeed survive several more generations and continue to enjoy the privilege of being the world’s largest cat.

Worse than the myth of Bonsai Kittens, the Daily Mail paper has reported that Holly Crawford, a dog groomer from Pennsylvania have been selling pierced kittens for a few hundred dollars online.

PETA was alerted of this cruel act by an anonymous caller. According to Melinda Merck, an animal cruelty investigator and veterinarian, the ear piercings altered the cat’s hearing and neck and tail piercings hampered balance and jumping.

‘They were maimed and disfigured,’ she said, adding that if infections had become severe, the three-month-old kittens could have died.

In her defense, Crawford has said that she was not ‘acting maliciously’, yet the harm done to these young kittens means that it would cost over $1000 to rehabilitate. And yet if she had pet insuance, will she be reimbursed for this?

The trial continues.

Fear not, I’m not making a bold philosphical claim in this post; I’m refering to the fat cat called Socrates, whose story we told you about all the way back in November!

You may remember Socrates was over twice his ideal body weight last year, weighing over 10.1kg! For this reason, he was chosen by PDSA (the vet charity) to take part in a 100-day diet and fitness prgramme to help him slim down and lose him dangerous levels of fat. Well, now his diet is over and he’s lost a huge 1.5kg – 15% of his body weight!

However, despite Socrates’ great achievement, Amber – a fat cat from Edinburgh – also took part in the challenge and managed to lose 17% of her body weight over the 100 days! This put Socrates in a still highly-respectable second place and has inspired his owner, Bill Duncan; “Before Pet Fit Club, Socs struggled just to groom himself properly, he had no interest in his toys or exercising and spent most of his time cat-napping. “Now, he’s like a different cat. He can groom himself and reach places he couldn’t before. “As a result his coat is in superb condition, he has loads of energy and loves playing with his cat-toys.”

Bill is determine to continue Socrate’ diet until he reaches his ‘ideal weight’ of 4.5kg. He hopes his cat will have achieved this by the summer of 2011. From everybody here at the Cat Health Blog – good luck Bill and Socrates! Keep up the good work!

Alright so, despite thinking we were onto a winner with the Cat Jump video, we’ve been sent this offering as an entry for Funniest Cat Video in our collection of Best Cat Videos.  It is somewhat unbelievable in its hilarity, but hilarious nonetheless!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI7mHVHlEc&feature=related[/youtube]

Of course, we are all cat lovers here at the Cat Health Blog, so we must point out that this is not good for your cat’s health at all.  Although it does remind everybody of the need for cat insurance, instances like this can also end very badly…  Luckily this moggy was just fine

So what do you think – funnier than the jumping video?  It’s a tough one…

Oh, by the way, we aren’t sponsored by Nokia – that’s just part of the video!

I’m sure most of you have seen a cat chasing a laser pen spot but, for those who haven’t, this is what happens!  Also, for those who have seen it, this video will almost certainly be one of the funniest laser-chasings you’ve ever seen!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8BKSTWn4zY[/youtube]

Now, it must be pointed out that laser pens can damage a cat’s eyes so, if you are going to play this game with your cat, be ultra-careful not to get it anywhere near the animal itself.  Also, cats don’t realise it’s a game, so they can get very invovled indeed – be careful where you lead them.  In fact, the Cat Health Blog can’t honestly advise playing this game with your cat…but it doesn’t make for a funny video!