Lifestyle

Dear Elizabeth: Help! My cat Decker’s yowling is keeping me awake at night. I have become truly desperate for a good night’s sleep! - I can certainly sympathize with your need for sleep. Decker may be keeping you awake at night due to medical or behavioral reasons. Without more background information, I don’t know which is likely to be responsible in your case, so I’ll discuss several possibilities in the hopes that I hit upon the cause behind Decker’s insomnia. In the meantime, you should schedule an appointment with your veterinarian.

In shelter and rescue situations, it is extremely important for personnel to identify the most adoptable animals whose adoptions are unlikely to be delayed for medical reasons. This study (“Risk factors for delays between intake and veterinary approval for adoption on medical grounds in shelter puppies and kittens,” in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2011) was designed to identify risk factors for health-related delays from intake to approval for adoption in shelter puppies and kittens.

You have a wonderful vacation planned, a two-week escapade to a sunny island after a long year of hard work and stress. You’ve been looking forward to it for months, but a nagging problem remains: Who should take care of Tiger while you’re away? How to Decide. What you do with your cat when you take a vacation should depend on your cat’s personality, health condition, age and the resources available where you live. Hiring a pet sitter, kenneling your cat or boarding him with a veterinarian are all reasonable options for care when you aren’t home.

You have a wonderful vacation planned, a two-week escapade to a sunny island after a long year of hard work and stress. You’ve been looking forward to it for months, but a nagging problem remains: Who should take care of Tiger while you’re away? How to Decide. What you do with your cat when you take a vacation should depend on your cat’s personality, health condition, age and the resources available where you live. Hiring a pet sitter, kenneling your cat or boarding him with a veterinarian are all reasonable options for care when you aren’t home.

We adopted a new kitten from a local rescue group last month, and she is just perfect. Although she had been tested for the feline leukemia virus and FIV by the terrific group that saved her from the street, we took her to our veterinarian right away so that she could be examined before we introduced her to our two older cats. After a clean bill of health, we brought Bunny home, and she has become a well-integrated part of the family. The problem is that before we scheduled her spay surgery, she came into heat. What a scene!

It’s human nature to postpone preparing for a disaster, but it’s vitally important that you take time now to put a plan in place before a fire occurs. Start by installing smoke detectors throughout your home and make sure the batteries are functioning properly. Change the batteries twice a year or more frequently if the smoke detector “beeps” to warn you that battery power is low. Many people put in new batteries when they change their clocks for daylight savings time.

Dear Elizabeth: I have a five-year-old indoor cat, Baby, with whom I’ve shared my home ever since she was born. I’ve never had any other companion animals, so it’s been just Baby and me for all that time. Here’s my problem: I recently became engaged and at some point in the near future will be moving into my fiance’s home. He has two cats — both females. One is just about Baby’s age and the other is probably about seven years old. Neither one of them is very friendly. Naturally, I’m concerned about moving Baby into this new environment. I’m afraid that the animals will fight and hurt each other. I’ll appreciate any advice on how I can best address this dilemma.

Several years ago, Susan Westerly took her cat, Delia, and moved in with her elderly grandmother — relieving some financial stress for Susan and allowing her grandmother to remain somewhat independent as her health declined. The old house was filled with beautiful antique furniture, and because Susan didn’t think she had any other options, she had Delia declawed. The cat eventually adjusted to life without her claws, but Susan felt very guilty.

The holiday season is fast approaching, and your cat’s safety is probably the last thing on your mind — well behind preparing Thanksgiving dinner for your new in-laws and buying presents for Christmas or Chanukah. But it shouldn’t be. Probably the most important “gift” you can give your feline friend during these holidays is the pledge to remain alert about her whereabouts and well-being when your home is filled with guests, enticing foods, gift-wrapped goodies and new plants.

Dear Elizabeth: Our seven-year-old female cat Queenie is a spayed, well-behaved Siamese who is never allowed outside. However, there are several free-roaming outdoor cats in the neighborhood, and they have become a real nuisance. About six months ago, my husband and I started smelling evidence that the front of our house and our doors were being scent-marked. The odor of urine is quite noticeable and unpleasant for us and also seems to agitate Queenie. We’ve thought about putting some sort of repellent outside, but we don’t want to use anything that could harm these neighborhood cats or wildlife. Do you have any recommendations? What can we do to stop — or at least discourage — these cats from scent-marking our house?

Cytauxzoonosis — often a fatal infection in domestic cats — is a disease caused by the parasite Cytauxzoon felis, which is transmitted by the bite of a tick. Most affected cats are young adults with exposure to the outdoors and vague clinical signs of lethargy and anorexia. Treatment for cytauxzoonosis is usually imidocarb diproprionate, but a combination of atovaquone and azithromycin (A&A) has also been utilized as a treatment. (neither form of therapy has been prospectively evaluated for efficacy, however). Eighty acutely ill cats with Cytauxzoon felis infection were treated at various veterinary clinics. Of 53 cats treated with A&A, 32 (60 percent) survived to discharge.

While most cats will go through life without experiencing a serious problem with their ears, owners should know that a variety of conditions — including congenital defects, infections, trauma, and age-related changes — can be extremely painful and may compromise an animal’s hearing. Most feline ear disorders are readily treatable and will not result in permanent hearing loss, notes James Flanders, DVM, an associate professor of surgery at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. However, some conditions may render a cat partially or totally deaf, especially if they remain unrecognized and untreated.