Medicine

One common reason for veterinary visits among cats is otitis externa, or inflammation of the external ear canal. Most people believe that that the term otitis externa means an ear infection, but that isnt true. Something has to breech the normal defense mechanism of the ear to trigger the infection, says veterinary dermatologist William H. Miller, Jr., VMD, Medical Director of the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. Once the surface of the ear canal is damaged, bacteria or yeast inside and around the canal can cause an infection. The underlying causes can include tumors, allergies, ticks or fleas, and excessive grooming and ear wax. But by far the most frequent cause in cats, especially kittens, is ear mites.

The cornea, the clear coating of the eye that admits light, has layers of specialized skin cells, including:

These are among the treatments that veterinarians increasingly use to improve cats well-being:

If your cat needs to have anesthesia, you can rest easier about the procedure because it poses fewer risks today, thanks to newer drugs, precise monitoring and an increased number of board-specialized veterinarians.Our discipline has evolved, says Luis Campoy, LV CertVA, MRCVS, Section Chief of Anesthesiology at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Advances in veterinary medicine and an increase in animal blood banks have improved the diagnosis and treatment of hemophilia to the extent that some cats who once would have died from the life-threatening disorder can now live full lives.

Hemophilia occurs as a result of genetic mutation, and once it develops, it can be transmitted to a cats offspring. Because female carriers are asymptomatic (meaning they dont show any symptoms), it can be challenging to identify them to avoid passing the hemophilia mutation onto the next generation.

A touch of green around the house during a long, cold winter provides a reminder of spring and creates a festive mood for the holidays. Although plants like lilies are lovely, the effects on a cat who ingests them are decidedly not. In the case of lilies of the Lilium species, cats can suffer potentially fatal kidney failure.

Estimates are that osteoarthritis affects 90 percent of cats over the age of 12 years. Confirmation of the disease, however, can sometimes prove elusive. In the search for an accurate diagnosis, the Winn Feline Foundation has awarded a grant, funded by the animal health company Zoetis, to researchers at the University of Melbourne. Their goal is to develop a blood test biomarker - a molecule indicating an abnormal process - so the disease can be identified earlier.

Steffi Loomis awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of painful meows from Dave, her normally mellow 16-year-old female cat with a male name. When Loomis turned on the light, she discovered bloody diarrhea and vomiting and her orange tabby getting weaker and sicker by the minute. Loomis, who lives in New Canaan, Conn., contacted the veterinarian, who advised her to take Dave immediately to Cornell University Veterinary Specialists in nearby Stamford, Conn. CUVS, the largest university-affiliated veterinary referral service in the country, has been referred to as the Mayo Clinic of veterinary medicine. Loomis rushed Dave there, and a team of specialists quickly worked to save her life.

When behavior problems seem insurmountable, many owners surrender their pets to shelters. The Nevada Humane Society in Reno lowered admissions by 8 eight percent with one simple change: It created the Animal Help Desk, a free phone service. “We see it as part of our mission to encourage and enable people to do right by their animals by helping them keep their pets in their homes whenever possible,” Executive Director Bonney Brown says in the e-newsletter No-Kill Nation from Maddie’s Fund.

Advances in veterinary medicine are keeping our cats alive longer, giving us precious extra years to spend with them. Sadly, extended life-spans also bring geriatric disorders such as feline cognitive dysfunction (FCD), similar to human Alzheimer’s in its symptoms. Like Alzheimer’s, FCD has no cure. And far fewer studies have been done on the feline version of the disease than have been done on the canine variety, so there are no approved medical treatments. But antioxidant supplements, along with mental and physical exercise, often improve the quality of life for both owners and cats.

Students honing their emergency skills at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine owe gratitude to a special feline named Fluffy, who doesn’t meow and never needs a litter box. Fluffy is a robotic cat equipped with a mechanical pulse and heart, artificial lungs and electronic hardware and software capable of simulating cardiac arrest, lung diseases, shock and other medical conditions. She and a canine version named Jerry are believed to be the first of their kind used in veterinary schools. Think of Fluffy as a high-tech pet version of the popular battery-operated board game Operation, which tests players’ hand-eye coordination and motor skills.