Health

In little more than a decade, changes have taken place in veterinary medicine to help prevent cats developing malignant tumors at the site of certain vaccinations. However, 22,000 cats in the U.S. still develop injection site-associated sarcomas (ISAS) every year, and the tumors are often more aggressive and prone to recurrence than spontaneous ones.

These pet loss support hotlines are among those available:

Of all the animals in shelters, young kittens are usually the most at risk. Theyre fragile, prone to infectious illnesses and have special care needs. While some are placed in foster homes to be hand-raised until they are old enough for adoption, many shelters euthanize them as soon as they are brought in because they dont have the infrastructure or staff to care for them.

Demystifying the ingredients in commercial food is only one step in providing a healthy diet for our cats. The ongoing challenge is preventing the spread of food-borne illness to animals and people in the household. At last count, manufacturers had recalled five of six dog and cat foods this year because of possible contamination with the bacteria salmonella. The sixth recalled food was suspected of containing the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes that can also cause serious infection in humans and animals.

In our quest to eat healthy food, we often extend that enthusiasm to our cats. We evaluate their diets with the same scrupulous care we give our own, but commercial cat food can still remain somewhat of a mystery. We question if preservatives are safe. Should we avoid genetically modified ingredients? What about artificial coloring?

Q. Our year-old male cat, found at a county animal shelter seven months ago, has been diagnosed with eosinophilic granuloma complex (EGC). His symptoms are incessant scratching, puffy gums, blistering mouth, swollen front paw, lameness, limping. Our veterinarian has prescribed steroids for him, and these have been somewhat helpful, but can you explain this disease so that we can better understand what is going on? …

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.

If your cat has become unresponsive to everyday sounds, squeaky toys or his name, if he doesnt know youre in the room unless you touch him, or if a loud noise fails to awaken him, a veterinary visit should be scheduled to determine if hes losing his hearing. Hearing is a vital sense for cats and greatly contributes to their self-preservation and comfort with us. Deafness in cats can be caused by a wide variety of conditions.

If there were an AARP for pets, your cat would get his membership card when he turns 8. Thats about 50 years old in human years, according to Feline Life Stage Guidelines from the American Association of Feline Practitioners and American Animal Hospital Association.

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.

It may come as a surprise to learn that nearly one-third of cats experience signs of an active infection of flu-like feline calicivirus (FCV). Most of us would think that vaccinations prevent the disease in cats, and we’d be mistaken.

If you have a short-nosed cat who has put on some pounds and suffers breathing problems due to a condition called brachycephalic airway syndrome, one simple change could go a long way in easing his discomfort: help him slim down.