Health

You should be pleased to see your cat, at the age of seven, looking terrifically fit and behaving with the same mischievous vitality that she did when she was a kitten. Bear in mind, however, that the feline age of seven is equivalent to the age of 41 or so in a human, and your cat as trim and spirited as she is at present is bound to start showing the normal signs of aging before you know it.

If anyone ever told you that you had "cat breath," you might have a real reason to be insulted. Thats because cat breath can be rather unpleasant, which is something you already know if youve ever smelled bad breath on your own cat.

Thanks to medical science in general and veterinary health research in particular, a vast array of medicines are available today to treat virtually any acute or chronic feline physical disorder. Many of these medications can be administered only by veterinarians or qualified technicians in animal clinics or hospitals. Others, however, can be administered at home by a cats owner.

When you call your cat, it often seems like he doesnt hear you at all, but a cats sense of hearing is quite astute. A cat can hear sounds with frequencies from 45 to 60,000 vibrations per second (one vibration per second is called a hertz; 1,000 vibrations per second is called a kilohertz) as opposed to a human who can hear from 20 to 20,000 hertz. Even the canine who may be sleeping at your feet doesnt hear the upper ranges as well as your cat.

If you often try to move around your home very, very quietly to avoid waking a slumbering child, for example you may be in the habit of walking on your tiptoes. Normally, however, you will employ whats termed a "plantigrade" stance. That is to say, youll stand and walk with the entire sole of your foot touching the floor.

Few things in the life of a cat owner are sweeter than the sight of a newborn kitten, weighing just a few ounces, its eyes tightly shut, nursing contentedly at its mother’s nipple. A healthy kitten will nurse every 20 minutes or so, typically for about eight weeks, during which time its mother’s milk will fulfill all of the little animal’s nutritional needs

The feline pancreas is a slender, pale pink, V-shaped strip of tissue that is tucked snugly within the right-hand side of a cats abdomen, at a junction between its kidney and its duodenum (the beginning portion of the intestine as it leaves the stomach).

For the first several years of her life, your cat Tina was slim, agile and remarkably athletic. In the past year or so, however, Tina, formerly light on her feet, has become heavy in her body. You can no longer see or feel her ribs. She seems to have accumulated a pad of fat over her spine, and it even appears that she’s developing quite a potbelly.

For many animal lovers, losing a beloved pet is one of the most heartbreaking experiences they will ever face. Feelings of denial, loneliness, depression and anger are common occurrences. Friends and family may try to be supportive, but after a while they cease to understand why the bereaved pet owner doesnt just get over it and move on.

The feline lymphatic system - an exquisitely structured arrangement of internal organs and tissues - directly or indirectly influences every aspect of a cats physical existence. For this reason, owners should be equipped to recognize the signs that suggest the presence of feline lymphoma, a potentially deadly cancer of the lymphatic system that can assault many areas of a cats body, including its liver, gastrointestinal system, spleen and skin.

If your normally playful, energetic cat mysteriously starts moping around the house, acting sullen, reclusive, nervous and depressed, chances are that it is trying to cope with some sort of physical discomfort or nagging pain.

All cats, no matter how pampered and vigilantly cared for they may be, are prone to serious injury or the sudden onset of life-threatening clinical signs of deeply rooted and perhaps previously unrecognized illness.