Lifestyle

The liver is one of the busiest organs in your cats body and is a real multitasker. While it does have amazing regenerative powers, once 75 percent of the healthy tissue is gone, clinical signs of illness usually will start to appear. By then it can be too late for treatment to help beyond palliative measures, so be alert for early signs.

We cant watch our cats all the time nor can we predict with any degree of certainty what trouble they may seek out. Sometimes, you may not even realize that your cat ate something bad for him. You just have to be on the alert for signs of poisoning:

Compounded drugs are medications where bulk ingredients are mixed together by a pharmacist, as opposed to a commercial drug that is approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and manufactured under the FDAs monitoring. When an FDA-approved drug becomes available, the FDA forbids the same medication to be compounded. This is the case with Mirataz (mirtazapine transdermal ointment), which is applied to the inner surface of a cats ear to manage undesired weight loss.

A study from the Nationwide Childrens Hospital analyzed environmental exposures, like pets and secondhand smoke, to determine if they have a role in asthma control among children whose asthma is managed per National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines. Researchers found that, once asthma guidelines are followed, environmental exposures were not significant factors in overall asthma improvement over time.

Steroids can be lifesaving drugs, but they can also have deleterious side effects. So, what do you do when the veterinarian suggests using a steroid? Well, first, you need to understand that these compounds occur naturally in your cat and are essential for health.

Medical News Today reported that a new study found that an infection with the cat-borne parasite Toxoplasma gondii makes people more risk-prone and likely to start a business. T. gondii, a protozoan parasite that infects 2 billion people a year, is found in domestic and wild cats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 11 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 6 may be infected.

Centragard (eprinomectin and praziquantel transdermal solution) was approved by the FDA in April and is now on the market. This drug is used to prevent heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis, which is spread through the bite of mosquitoes. It is applied monthly. Centragard is also approved for the treatment and control of roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms in cats and kittens 7 weeks of age and older and weighing at least 1.8 lb.

Questions still surround testing for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). FIV, or feline AIDS, is caused by a retrovirus like feline leukemia virus. Its found in 1.5 to 5 percent of apparently healthy cats.

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A new law signed into legislation in New York state requires law-enforcement officials to check for pets who may have been abandoned by the renters and left behind when enforcing an eviction notice to renters.

Newsweek, The New York Times and other news outlets are reporting that someone is mutilating and killing cats across Washington state.

We recently adopted a 6-year-old male domestic shorthaired cat that was receiving steroid shots every six months when we got him, but our veterinarian opted not to give him this shot when we first brought him in, and now he is scratching all the time and has licked all of the hair off of his belly. Can you give us some advice about how we can help this boy?