CatWatch, the newsletter for cat people.

Volume 12
Number 8
August 2008

August 2008

Caring for the Constipated Cat
Your cat has always been a creature of habit when it comes to moving his bowels. Twice a day — once in the morning and once in the evening — he shuffles to his litter box and gracefully relieves himself. If Plato should ever break that pattern and not move his bowels for a day or two, you’d be wise to have him examined by your veterinarian right away. It’s possible that he is constipated, a condition that will probably be easily relieved if spotted early. Without diagnosis and proper treatment, however, his constipation could progress rapidly to a serious threat to his health, perhaps his life.

The Reasons for Grooming
When you have the time, sit down and watch your cat go through her grooming ritual. First the paws, then the sides of the face, behind the ears, the chest. It’s a fascinating process because almost all cats do it the same way. By the time you cat reaches adulthood, she will spend about 30 to 50 percent of her waking time grooming herself, explains Cynthia L. McManis, DVM, board-certified by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. Time will vary among species and individual cats. Longhaired cats will or should spend more time. Overweight cats may spend less time grooming themselves because it’s too difficult to reach some places. If your mischievous male gets himself into something messy, he will devote a significant amount of time to cleaning off a particular area.

Keeping Elderly and Their Cats Together
Mary Jones has been living in New York City with her housemate Alice for the past ten years. Mary and Alice are actually about the same age. Both want to stay together for as long as they can take care of each other. But Mary is an 80-year-old widow and Alice is an 11-year-old domestic shorthair. Mary’s eyes aren’t as good as they used to be, and her arthritis bothers her when she bends over. So she worries how she will keep on cleaning Alice’s litter box and carrying the heavy bag of cat food up the stairs. And she wonders what will happen to Alice if her beloved companion outlives her. We’ve heard a lot over the past several years about how older people benefit both emotionally and physically from living with pets. The problem is this: As people get older, they often experience disabilities which may prevent them for fully caring for the pets they love. What can older people do?

Understand Skin Disorders
The function of your cat’s skin extends well beyond its role as the matrix for the animal’s lustrous haircoat. In a healthy feline, the skin also works, for example, as a barrier against invasion by harmful microorganisms. It serves as a watertight seal, retaining an animal’s body fluids and preventing dehydration. And it insulates an animal’s internal organs against the outside world’s extremes of heat and cold. Despite its normally durable structure, however, every cat’s skin is subject to a wide array of disorders, most of which are minor and readily treatable. But some untreated skin conditions can rapidly progress to a serious, even lethal, stage, with systemic implications. Considering the dangerous potential of virtually any untreated skin condition, William H. Miller Jr., VMD, a professor of dermatology at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, strongly urges cat owners to practice what he terms "preventive maintenance." Keep an eye out, he advises, for any suspicious scratching or hair loss that might suggest the presence of a parasitic, bacterial or fungal infection. Take note of any skin wounds, growths or swollen areas on the skin, no matter how inconsequential they may seem. And seek the counsel of a veterinary dermatologist if any such suspicious signs appear.

Abscesses: Signs of Trouble
For several days, your good old cat has been acting oddly, lolling about the house, uncharacteristically lethargic, off his food and seemingly depressed. Then one evening, while stroking his back to comfort the mysteriously dispirited animal, you notice a smallish but alarming lump just to the side of his tail. Although you touch the lump ever so gently, he reacts with a howl, hisses, leaps from your lap and scurries to a dark corner. The lump you discovered is quite possibly an abscess, and although your touching it caused the poor animal intolerable discomfort, it’s a good thing that you spotted it. The sensitive swelling may indicate that the cat has an infection of some sort, which would explain his sluggish behavior of late, and prompt veterinary care is in order.

Feeding the Stressed Cat
Fires in California last fall caused more than 300,000 residents and their pets to flee their homes. This spring, an estimated 1,000 dogs and cats in Iowa, Indiana and Missouri were temporarily relocated or found stranded as a result of recent flooding in these areas. And don’t forget Hurricane Katrina, which displaced an estimated 50,000 animals in 2005. A house pet that suddenly finds itself in a noisy, unfamiliar shelter, or worse yet, barely clinging to life from the peak of a rooftop, suffers from a high level of stress. Though your feline hopefully will never experience this level of stress, the physical responses to stress — whatever the cause — are similar. So, whether the cause of a cat’s stress is a catastrophic disaster or the addition of a new kitten into the home, much can be learned from those who routinely work with stressed felines and applied to our house cats — particularly when it comes to feeding and nutrition.