Archive for the ‘Health Problems’ Category

After her husband died from a heart attack before Christmas, Margaret Baker wanted some company – so she applied to adopt Lilly, a Bengal cat in a Feline Care animal shelter. However, when the charity discovered that Mrs. Baker lived on Abbey Estate in Thetford, Norfolk, they denied her application, on the grounds that she lived in too rough an area! Mrs. Baker explained, “They phoned and said due to my postcode I couldn’t have Lilly…I put the phone down and just burst into tears”.

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55-year old David Tilley from Ashill, near Watton, has been charged with 21 offenses under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, after 23 cats were found living in “disgraceful and squalid environment” in his bungalow. An inspector on the case said
it would have been “totally avoidable if Tilley had asked for help. As it was, the cats undeniably suffered significantly throughout in the almost indescribable squalor.”

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As of late, we have been receiving a large number of queries about – and there’s no other way of putting this really – cat pee. Anybody with a cat knows exactly what I’m talking about here and, since almost all our readers own at least one cat, I think no further explanation is required.
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As we discovered last time, dehydration can be very dangerous if it gets too severe. Today we’ll look at how to help your cat avoid dehydration. Read the rest of this entry »

Dehydration is the excessive loss of water and the electrolytes cotained therein. Although we animals are 60% water, a loss of just 5% can start causing all kinds of problems and 10% dehyration can be fatal. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

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.

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!

As winter drags on and both ends of the day remain dark, I’m sure many of you are starting to feel a little down in the dumps. This is commonly referred to as the SAD (seasonal affective disorder) or the ‘winter blues’ and is a huge cause of depression across the world.

What is interesting about SAD, however, is that a recent report has suggested owning a cat can actually help alleviate the depression caused by the lack of daylight in winter! A five-year study carried out by Dr. June Nicholas in Haywards Heath found that, during SAD times of the year, cats have a soothing impact on both physical and mental health! Dr. Nicholas discovered that we cat-owners are less likely to get depressed than non-cat-owners, to the expect that we suffered 60% less headaches and 21% less colds and flues, as well as less tension, impatience and insomnia! Now if that’s not an impressive list of benefits to owning a cat, I can’t imagine what is!

I must admit it’s hard to stay gloomy with a furry friends rubbing against your leg, or purring in your lap. What’s more, the added company of an animal is far preferable to being home alone – making cat owners far less likely to get lonely. Good news all round for us!

Last time we mentioned what to look out for if your cat starts to vomit. Although it could be a simple explanation, like they’ve eaten something that doesn’t agree with them, it could also be something more severe that will require medical attention and the use of your cat insurance. Today I discuss a few ways to tell what might be causing your cat to vomit.

Strong odours, blood, bile or mucus in the vomit are all indications that something more serious could be wrong with your cat. Intestinal problems can be indicated by a range of symptoms; strong odours suggested intestinal obstructions, excess mucus could be caused by an intestinal inflammation and dark blood in the vomit can also be an indication of further intestinal problems. As a general rule, darker blood comes from deeper inside the body; bright blood in the vomit, for example, could well be in an indication of problems in the stomach – often this can be caused by stomach ulcers. If your cat’s vomit has bile in it, this may suggest pancreatitis or some form of inflammatory bowel disease.

Undigested food is not uncommon in vomit, but can also be an indication of over-eating, stress or food poisoning. Although all the aforementioned piece of advice are accurate ways of assessing what might be wrong with your cat, always take it to the vet as soon as you can and make certain you invest in some cat insurance to help you handle any unexpected expenses. Bring a sample of the vomit and stool with you to the vet as well if possible.