Medicine

Owing to several unique features developed over centuries in the wild, the modern cat typically possesses powerful visual acuity that enables it to function effectively both indoors and beyond the confines of its home. Unfortunately, the feline ocular apparatus is vulnerable to injuries and a wide variety of diseases that can dramatically impair a cats eyesight or, worst case, render it partially or totally blind. "We see cats that are either blind or going blind several times a week," says Thomas Kern, DVM, associate professor of ophthalmology at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine. "Most of these animals have eye disease as a primary disorder - they have no other health problems. And most of them are middle-aged or elderly cats whose vision loss has been progressing for years." As is true for virtually all threats to feline health, the earlier a cats vision problem is diagnosed, the more effectively it can be treated - unless, of course, the animals blindness has progressed irreversibly by the time it is noticed. Therefore, Dr. Kern urges owners to keep an eye out for any behavioral or physical indications that a cat is having a vision problem and to report any such signs to a veterinarian without delay.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of a responsible cat owner is the ability to distinguish the signs of minor feline illnesses from those calling for an immediate trip to the nearest animal emergency care facility. Cat owners should be equipped ahead of time to deal promptly with such a crisis. They should know precisely where the clinic is located, the speediest route to get there, how to transport the afflicted animal, what documents they should take to the facility - and what to expect to happen upon arrival. Feline emergency cases are by no means rare, says Gretchen Schoeffler, DVM, chief of emergency and critical care services at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals (CUHA). She and her colleagues typically treat as many as 10 or 15 severely ill cats each week in the hospitals emergency unit, which, like most such facilities in the U.S., is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Isnt it remarkable that most cats are well-behaved when they visit their veterinarians? First, they are captured and put into an automobile. They remain in their containers, sheltered but helpless, in a room filled with the scent of unfamiliar cats, humans and even dogs. Finally, every bit of security is lost when the cat is removed from its newfound shelter and the veterinary team places the cat on the examination table. Why do cats behave so nicely? Fear can sometimes render a cat motionless and therefore cooperative. Fearful cats - whether immobile or aggressive - can benefit from a behavior modification specifically designed to address high arousal. But what about the average cat, dare I say the "normal" cat? There may be no indication for intensive therapy or anxiety-reducing medication. But clearly, the veterinary experience is not entirely stress-free. Rather than take a cats good behavior for granted, why not reduce some of the stressors that can occur during a visit to the veterinary hospital? Lets examine some components of the visit that could trigger anxiety.

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, youd be wise to have him examined by your veterinarian right away. Its 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.

Nothing gives you more pleasure on a warm and sunny afternoon than to sit peacefully beside your garden and thrill at the sight of the blossoming lilies, chrysanthemums and foxglove. You especially like the graceful yew shrubs bordering this little patch of earth - a touch you added only recently. And the philodendron thats finally coming into its own, way back there near the fence, is beautiful beyond words. Your cat sits quietly in your lap, apparently enjoying the view as much as you are. But heaven forbid that she would decide to investigate the garden at close range and show her horticultural appreciation by nibbling at one of the plants. Tulips, lilies, foxglove, yew shrubs and philodendron are among hundreds of plants that are known to be poisonous to cats. Ingesting just a small leaf of some common ornamental plants could make your little companion quite ill. And without appropriate first aid and prompt veterinary treatment, swallowing a sizable amount could be fatal to her.

Cats eyes, like those of humans and many other animals, are complex arrangements of delicate structural components that operate harmoniously in a normal, healthy animal to enable keen vision. Unfortunately, things sometimes go wrong with one or more of these components as a result of disease, aging, traumatic injury or genetically acquired defects. Cataracts can seriously impair a cats vision and even cause blindness. Compared to the frequency of its occurrence in humans and dogs, this ocular disorder is rarely seen in cats, says Thomas Kern, DVM, associate professor of ophthalmology at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine. Nevertheless, all cat owners should know the physical and behavioral signs of this disorder and the special needs of a visually impaired feline.

Veterinary science is finally taking a serious look at arthritis in cats, as reported in "Evaluation of Client-Specific Outcome Measures and Activity Monitoring to Measure Pain Relief in Cats with Osteoarthritis" (Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Vol. 21, No. 3). Between 25 and 30 percent of older dogs suffer the pain and immobility of osteoarthritis. But veterinary medicine has neither an estimate of the occurrence in cats nor an approved means of pain relief. So researchers at the University of North Carolinas veterinary school asked 13 owners of older cats (between 10 and 19 years) to participate in an experiment. The cats were given complete exams, including X-rays of their legs, hips, paws and spines. To the owners surprise, virtually every cat in the study had several joints where osteoarthritis could be causing pain or restricting movement.

Three or four decades ago, few cat owners or veterinary practitioners in the U.S. knew anything whatsoever about acupuncture, the centuries-old Chinese system of health care that aims to treat physical disorders and their accompanying pain by inserting needles into specific points on a patients body. Today, thousands of veterinarians throughout the nation routinely practice acupuncture in their clinics, and countless cats are benefiting from it. "Im certainly an acupuncture advocate," says Andrea Looney, DVM, a lecturer in anesthesiology at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. "I use it in treating between 10 percent and 20 percent of the patients that I see - not only cats, but dogs, horses and other animals as well." Dr. Looney stresses that she relies on acupuncture as a complementary technique, always using it in conjunction with the standard practices of Western veterinary medicine. "The fact that more veterinarians are skeptical and refuse to practice it," she says, "is a sad situation."

Although animals were used in the early 20th century to test the diagnostic potency of X-rays, the first-generation radiologists involved in those experiments could hardly have imagined a time when most veterinary clinics would be equipped with X-ray machinery and radiology would be a mainstay in the diagnosis of many feline physical disorders. It is difficult to pinpoint the time when X-rays came into widespread use among veterinarians, says Peter Scrivani, DVM. However, he points out, the American College of Veterinary Radiology was founded in 1961. "And thats about the time that the use of the technology by veterinarians really started to take off," says Dr. Scrivani, an assistant professor and director of veterinary diagnostic imaging at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine.

Cats are living longer these days, thanks largely to advances in feline nutrition and veterinary medicine in general. Thats good news. The bad news, however, is that these longer life spans give cats a greater chance of developing arthritis - a painful, debilitating and potentially crippling joint disease that is predominantly age-related. In a study conducted a few years ago, researchers carefully analyzed X-rays of the spines and limbs of 100 middle-aged or elderly cats (10 years of age or older). The X-rays revealed that 90 percent of cats over age 12 showed clearly discernible radiographic signs of arthritis.

Any surgical procedure that will be painful to your cat - whether its a matter of stitching up a wound, pulling a tooth, repairing a fractured limb or removing a diseased organ - will require that the animals pain perception be dulled, if not totally blocked, by an anesthetic of some sort. Some cat owners find the notion that a pet will be placed under anesthesia a frightening prospect. What are the chances, an owner might wonder, that the animal, while surviving the operation itself, will fail to fully regain its senses? Or worse: What if it fails to awaken from its drug-induced sleep?

Your 17-year-old cat, once a fastidious creature, has been ignoring her litter box for the past several months, defecating and sometimes urinating wherever she pleases throughout the house. She spends most of the day either fast asleep or, if awake, staring blankly at a wall. And at night she wanders about the house in the dark, wailing pathetically. Considering that she seems to be in good physical health, youre apt to wonder whether the cat, at the age of 17 (the equivalent of 85 years or so in a human) might be losing her mind.