Advanced Imaging Benefits
Most people are familiar with standard diagnostic imaging. You expect an x-ray—technically called a radiograph—for a broken leg and an ultrasound for a bladder...
Managing Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats
Q: I am writing to you about my 6-year-old cat Ellie, who was presumptively diagnosed with IBD about 6 months ago after an ultrasound...
Pain, Stress, and Gabapentin
Pain management is an integral aspect of health care. Uncontrolled chronic pain is more than just physical pain, as it often causes significant emotional...
Shots: Choosing Is Confusing
Vaccines have played a huge role in the prevention of infectious diseases, both in humans and in animals, for hundreds of years. They’ve no...
At-Home Glucose Testing
Just as in humans, feline diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body cannot properly produce or respond to the hormone insulin. This...
Transdermal Opioid Pain Reliever Approved
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the medication Zorbium (buprenorphine transdermal solution), the first transdermal buprenorphine animal drug intended to control...
The Role of Anti-Anxiety Meds
Everybody knows that stress and cats is not a good mix. Stressed, anxious cats are no fun. They often urinate and defecate around the...
Extra-Label Law
In 1994, Congress passed a law making it legal for veterinarians to prescribe extra-label medications. As such, many of the extra-label medications commonly used...
Surgery for Megacolon
Feline megacolon and advanced constipation can be life-threatening. Caught early on, constipation and megacolon may respond favorably to medical treatment and dietary management, but,...
Can I Give My Cat CBD Oil?
Q. I have been reading about the use of CBD oil for problems in people, and I have a 12-year-old cat that doesn’t eat...
Good-Bye Severe Sinus Problems
Despite the disturbing definition that will first appear if you do an internet search for rhinotomy (mutilation or amputation of the nose), this procedure can be beneficial to cats experiencing chronic nasal problems. There are two primary surgical techniques: dorsal rhinotomy and ventral rhinotomy. In both cases, the surgeon removes part of the bone surrounding the cats sinuses in order to gain access to the sinus and remove the source of the problem, be it a foreign body, a tumor, or infected tissues.
Tilting Heads and Drunken Walks
Normally your cat is an amazing athlete. She can do flips and land right side up, even after a tumble from a tree or window, and can leap from floor to countertop in just one bound. But when vestibular problems strike, that same cat walks like the proverbial drunken sailor.