Health

Living with a diabetic cat isn’t as difficult as owners initially expect, thanks to some pleasant surprises like this: About a third of cats will come to a point where they won’t need insulin any longer. They’re transient diabetics, says Megan Morgan, VMD, a specialist in internal medicine at Cornell University Veterinary Specialists in Stamford, Conn.

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.

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.

Kitten season — an increase in litters and adoptable pets — seems to span three seasons, starting in spring and extending into fall. If you’re the proud owner of a new kitty — congratulations!

New research at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has bolstered advice to keep cats indoors, allowing them outside only when they can be supervised to protect them from parasitic infection.

Owners, take note: At some point in time, your cat might tear a nail. It’s one of the top 10 pet accidents requiring veterinary care, according to a review of thousands of claims by Veterinary Pet Insurance. And it can happen in a flash.

Human medicine has made strides in identifying clinical risk factors in heart disease. Now veterinary research hopes to do the same for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats. It’s the most common feline heart disease and cause of cardiovascular death.

Root canal treatment for cats might sound far-fetched, but they’re performed at university hospitals and specialty practices around the country to save damaged and diseased teeth that might otherwise be extracted. In fact, newly available techniques and equipment in veterinary medicine have advanced the field of endodontics — the study and treatment of dental pulp — to the point where root canal treatment success rates in pets equal those in humans.

A reverse sneeze looks alarming. The cat may stand still with his elbows out and eyes open wide while rapidly snorting inward and extending his neck. An owner might panic, thinking the cat is suffocating.

Cats can harbor a variety of zoonotic diseases — those that can be transmitted to people. Some of the diseases are rare, while others are quite common. Although we are aware of many of these diseases, more continue to be discovered, thanks to improvements in technology and to the dedicated work of researchers in both the human medical and veterinary fields.

Cats and people suffer many of the same illnesses, a common one being urinary tract infections (UTIs). In women, they may account for more than 6 million visits to doctors in the United States each year. Similarly, Veterinary Pet Insurance reports that urinary bladder infections — the urinary bladder is part of the urinary tract — were the most common medical condition affecting cats in claims it processed in 2012.

A reverse sneeze looks alarming. The cat may stand still with his elbows out and eyes open wide while rapidly snorting inward and extending his neck. An owner might panic, thinking the cat is suffocating.