Archive for the ‘News’ Category

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!

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!

Cat-lovers all over the world will be delighted to hear that Chinese legal experts are proposing to ban the eating of cats, “because it is causing many social problems”. Recent thefts and even murders over the animal meat trade support the claim that eating cat meat is causing more harm than good to humans, as well as animals. Although the movement will end thousands of years of tradition, the proposal will be submitted in April, as part as a movement to tackle animal abuse in China.

The internet is, without a doubt, partly responsible for the massive support these legal experts are receiving from people all across the country. Online videos showing the maltreatment of animals have sparked protests at meat markets and online petitions against eating cats have tens of thousands of signatures already!

Animal welfare activists, pet insurance companies and care shelters have joined in the support for this movenment. Founder of Beijing’s Lucky Cats shelter, Zeng Li, summarised their position well; “Whether you judge this as a question of food security or emotions, there is absolutely no necessity in China for people to eat dogs and cats…Beijing’s dog restaurants get their meat mainly from vagrant and stolen dogs. In the suburbs, dogs are hung and slaughtered in front of buyers.”

Whether the proposal is accepted or not, this is a landmark step in changing public opinion about animal cruelty.

More pets than ever have been abandoned over the Christmas period, as the recession continues to take its toll on animal welfare in the UK. 60 cats were abandoned in Warwickshire over December whilst, in the south-west, 11 cats were handed over to the RPSCA on Christmas day alone! As fewer and fewer animals are being adopted, many homes are struggling to accommodate all their new arrivals.

Animal charities across the country blame the recession, in particular people’s irresponsible approach to pets when regarding their financial situation. Many people buy cats over Christmas without properly considering the financial implications of owning a pet; cat food, cat insurance and vets bills to name but a few.

In my opinion, this disposable-pet philosophy is yet another indication of a deeper problem with our society – recession or not. Failure to consider the well-being of an animal before personal gimmick-based happiness is simply a side effect of modern culture; even if we could afford to keep the animals, thousands of people would still buy them without putting any thought into it. What we need is change of heart, not a new economy.

After the popularity of our story about Socrates, the dieting cat, I thought I’d bring you another Fat Cat tale; this time, however, you might be able to help…

Higgins, a cat at a Cambridgeshire-based rescue centre, weighed 11kg when he arrived in March; making him bigger than a small dog! Now he has managed to lose almost a third of his body weight, the RPSCA are looking to find an owner who can handle a food-obsessed cat and help keep Higgins on a healthy diet; “This cat will need a very special new home as he is obsessed with food and will need someone who can commit to helping him towards a healthy lifestyle”, said a representative of the RSPCA.

Rita Austin, the cattery supervisor, said of Higgins that “He has a long way to go to reach his target weight, but we think Higgins will make the perfect companion, especially to anyone who can identify with the trials and tribulations of weight watching.” The RSPCA are looking for somebody who can identify with a cat that is “competitive over food” and capable of investing both time and money into the necessary cat insurance and special diet to help Higgins keep losing weight. If this sounds like you, why not get in touch with the RSPCA or with us here at the Cat Health blog – maybe you’re the perfect companion for this competitive cat.

Although a balanced diet is the most important thing to bear in mind when it comes to cat food is, it is also beneficial to know which type of cat food is best for your cat – dry or canned. Although there is no hard and fast rule regarding types of cat food, here are the latest findings:

Up until recently, it was thought that cats were best off eating dry food for the sake of their teeth (the kibble pieces were thought to help combat tartar and plaque). Moreover, the 80-85% water content of canned food means dry food has a lot more high-quality nutrition by weight. However, recent research funded by pet insurance companies and the RSPCA suggests the nutritional content of canned food is actually far more similar to the typical diet of a cat in the wild than dry food!

It is thought that the typical diet of a cat in the wild contains very little carbohydrate at all, being around 45% fat and 45% protein. Where dry food needs carbohydrates to hold the kibble pieces together, canned food has much lower levels of carbohydrate (around 10%) and is hence much more representative of their natural diet. When it comes to keeping weight down, many findings indicate that a more ‘natural’ diet helps keep cats trim and healthy.

A shocking attach on a Tabby cat in Norfolk left the animals in such a bad state that vets had to remove an eye and a leg, after what Ben Kirby of the RSPCA called a “Sickening incident”.

The five-year-old cat was shot by an air gun multiple times at close range, leaving it blind in one eye and with a fractured shoulder.  More pellets peppered the cat’s face and mouth, meaning the attack was probably a prolonged assault.  Police and the RSPCA are not alone in being shocked, sickened and thoroughly confused by the attack; it’s thoroughly baffling how anybody could bring themselves to do such a thing to a helpless animal.  Since the owner of the cat is unknown, the price of the surgery cannot be claimed on pet insurance; instead, the people who found the cat have launched a fund to raise money to pay for the treatment – the RSPCA have contributed £200.

Cats falling from trees, getting into fights and even being hit by cars is part and parcel of what we accept as the risks of modern life.  However, nobody could plan for their pet to be the victim of such a cruel attack – this event will serve to remind everybody to keep a close eye on their pet to make sure it is properly protected.

Socrates, a cat from Newcastle, was 124% overweight when he was put on a 100-day fitness and diet programme by vet charity PDSA. At 10.1kg, Socrates was over double the weight he should ideally be, which is never healthy for any living thing!

He is now halfway through the 100-day challenge and has lost a massive 0.65kg! Bill Duncan, his owner, is thrilled and hopes his pet will be down to 8.8kg by the New Year; “His coat has brightened up and he is much silkier to the touch. He has also started to groom himself more and has loads more energy” the proud owner declared. There won’t be a New Year blowout for Socrates though, as Bill plans for his cat to trim down to an impressive 4.5kg over the next year and a half; “at the end of it, I will have a healthier and happier cat”. Bill might be pleased to know that his pet insurance premium will probably also drop radically when his cat reaches a sensible size!

The diet and fitness programme for Socrates has been tailored by Newcastle PDSA PetAid hospital, who report that he “the change in him, even at this halfway stage, is fantastic”. Hopefully this story will serve as a reminder of our responsibly to keep our cats trim and healthy over this season of gluttony!

An incredible Tom cat who survived an epic voyage to the UK from Egypt is now said to be recovering his strength in Colchester. The River Colne might not quite be the Nile, but after a voyage like that I expect the newly-named Pharaoh has had quite enough of water to last him a lifetime!

Having been checked for rabies, Pharaoh is now staying in quarantine before being re-homed. I would like to think, however, that finding a home for a cat with such a life story, especially in the Christmas season, won’t be too hard! What’s more, Jean Parish from Pan Air Services quarantine cattery said of Pharaoh that, “he must have had a very loving home because of the way he is with people… When you get cats out of containers quite often they’re wild, feral cats that lived on the docks”. Perhaps this very story will move somebody to give a home to this brave cat this Christmas. Of course, if you are interested do remember that a cat is for life; think about it before you take one on and make sure you can afford the time, food and pet insurance to give any cat the best possible life.