From the July 2014 Issue
Shelters’ New Challenge: Dentistry
If you visit an animal shelter to adopt a cat, you may be surprised to learn that some animals have received dental treatment. In a new and growing movement among shelters, veterinarians and supervised technicians are cleaning teeth, extracting fractured ones and treating inflammation of the gums to boost cats’ chances of winning permanent homes.
Current Issue
Best Advice for Safe Travel: Buckle Up!
If you’re taking your cat or cats on vacation this summer, you’ll be in pet-loving company. Six percent of owners take their cat with them when they travel two nights or more, according to the American Pet Products Association.
The One-Eighth-Inch-Long Menace
Summer brings blooming flowers, singing birds and — biting fleas. Warm weather awakens the fleas, if indeed they were ever asleep. Rising temperatures attributed to global warming are shortening the fleas’ long winter naps and in some areas, eliminating them entirely, making flea bites a year-round risk for cats.
Short Takes: July 2014
Spending on pets will reach $59 billion this year, up 4.9 percent over 2013, according to the American Pet Products Association. The surprising category with the greatest proportion of growth last year: pet services such as boarding, training, pet sitting and grooming. It grew by 6 percent to $4.4 billion.
Ask Dr. Richards: July 2014
Q My husband and I breed Abyssinians, and we were told by another breeder that we should be checking our cats for immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), as she owns a relative that tested positive. We don’t know anything about IMHA. Could you enlighten us?