In today’s society of designer pets, chickpea-based diets and rights for inanimate objects, it should come as no surprise to readers when I write than many pet owners are moving their pets onto vegetarian diets. Instead of tackling the issue of rights and the subject of ‘what people should do’, it is my job to give you the facts so you can make your own informed choices.

Cats are carnivores. From their bones, teeth and claws to their senses, stomach and bowels, cats are ‘designed’ to hunt, kill, eat and excrete meat. In the wild, almost 100% their nutrition comes from meat. However, let us bear in mind that, in the wild, meat is the only source of the nutrients that cats require to be healthy. This is no longer the case for a felis catus…

Although domesticated cats cannot get all their essential nutrients from a vegetarian diet alone, we humans have developed clever supplements which, when combined with a vegetarian diet, ensure cats get everything they need without having to eat meat. The same goes for our human diet as well – nobody ‘needs’ to eat meat. When combined with the fact that lots of companies conduct tests on animals, as well as the massive environmental damage that keeping livestock to slaughter for food does to the environment, it may be hard for cat owners to justify their pet’s meaty diet.

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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.

Dehydration is caused by a variety of things, including symptoms of other health problems. General sickness, fever or ill health, for example, can reduce a cat’s appetite, meaning it doesn’t take in enough water. Conversely, kidney problems and diabetes can cause an increase in urination, meaning the cat loses more water than it should. Heatstroke, shock or blood loss from injury can also all cause dehyradtion, as can diarrhoea and vomiting – for more obvious reasons.

The following are all indications: loss of energy and lethargy, dry mouth, constipation and a dry mouth. However, the easiest way to test for dehydration is with a simple skin-elasticity test. This involves gently grasping the scruff of your cat – the skin at the base of the neck – and pulling it upwards; in normal circumstances, the skin should spring back. If the skin is slow to retract, this is a good indication of dehyradation – the slower the retraction, the more severe the dehyration.

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!

Despite all these symptoms, the biggest problem with kidney failure is that, by the time you notice any of the aforementioned signs, your cat may have already lost up to 75% of his kidney function! For this reason, we highly recommend you take your cat for regular screening at the vets, as blood and urine tests can will pick up kidney probelms far eariler than your observations. Standard screening tests involve general examinations, weight tests, blood pressure testing and urine tests, so even regular tests won’t be taxing for your pet. If they do indiciate that there might be a kidney problem, your vet will likely want to conduct some blood tests, which will further reveal any problems.

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.

You see, Plato and Aristotle are my two cats, who had had been ‘fighting’ whilst I was at work – much to the horror of my brother’s 7-year daughter. Although I managed to comfort her at the time, by telling her they were “only playing”, it wasn’t long before they were at it again. Luckily, it turned out I was right – they were only playing! So today I thought, in case this happens to you, here is how to tell whether your cats and fighting for real or just playing.

1) Noise. When cats fight, you know about it – hence the term ‘catfight’ I suppose. They yowl, screech and hiss enough to literally wake the neighbourhood! If there’s not much noise and only the occassional hiss, they’re probably just playing around.

2) Behaviour. When playing, cats tend to take turns attacking and defending; when they’re done, it’ll be like nothing ever happened. If it seems one-sided or they avoid each other afterwards, they’re probably fighting and you should think about keeping them apart for a bit.

3) Results. When playing, cats shouldn’t get hurt, unless it’s by accident.

It’s quite obvious, but it’s best to be certain!

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!