Category Archives: Caring for your Cat

Caring for your Cat, Cats, Diseases of cats, Internal Diseases of Cats, Today's News

Paracetomol poison to cats

Don’t be tempted to medicate your off-colour cat with paracetamol this holiday season. Paracetamol at any dose is deadly to cats.

Soon after ingesting it cats’ red blood cells lose the ability to carry oxygen. The cats’ gums turn brown, they drool and they become weak and wobbly.

If they survive the first 12-24 hours the liver starts to close down, too. They go off their food, their face, lips and paws swell, their gums and eyes go yellow and their belly swells.

Most cats who ingest paracetamol die unless treated within the first couple of hours.

Aspirin is equally dangerous but more subtle in its effects. Aspirin damages cats’ kidneys and irritates their stomachs.

Very few pain medications are safe for cats. Only give medications prescribed by your vet for your particular puss.

Caring for your Cat, Caring for your Dog, Cats, Dogs, Poisoning

Ticks worst in years

Already this spring we have seen dogs and cats back from the beach with tick paralysis.

Reports from the coast say that the ticks are the worst seen in many years.

Treat your pet for ticks before you leave for the coast. Advantix must be applied 2 days before traveling down and reapplied every 2 weeks while at the coast.

Alternatively rinse dogs with permethrin before leaving and then weekly while down there.

Frontline spray is the only safe tickicide for cats. Apply 2 days before leaving for the coast and then fortnightly while down there.

Please note that Advantix and Permethrin are extremely toxic to cats. A cat brushing up against or grooming a treated dog can die of permethrin poisoning.

Supplement the tickicide application with close daily inspection of your pet. Feel inside the ears, under the arms, around the tail and in all the crevices and skin folds. Ticks love to hide in long hair. Remove any ticks you find immediately.

If your pet is weak in the legs or drooling contact a vet immediately.

Cancer in Cats, Cancer in Dogs, Caring for your Cat, Caring for your Dog, Cats, Dogs, Today's News

Another reason to give up smoking

Cats and dogs who live with smokers have a higher risk of developing cancer.

The risk of lymphoma, the most common cancer in cats, is tripled in cats from smoking households. Squamous cell carcinomas of the mouth are also more prevalent in cats exposed to tobacco smoke.

Dogs living in a household with a smoker are more likely to have a chronic cough to match their owner’s. Most sobering of all, they have a higher risk of developing nasal and lung cancer.

Scientists from all over the world have detected nicotine metabolites in the family pets of smokers. The more smokers and smoking in the household, the higher the levels of nicotine metabolites found.

Carbon material, a byproduct of smoking, has also been found in these pets’ lungs.

As if we needed more reasons to give up smoking!

Caring for your Cat, Cats, Diseases of cats, Internal Diseases of Cats, Skin Diseases of Cats, Today's News

Cat fights

Cats typically have a hate-hate relationship with any strange cat in their presence, yard, or environment. When new cats meet, they fluff up, spit, hiss – more like scream! – and the fur soon goes flying. While the brawl may only last a few seconds, that’s enough time for a few diseases to jump bodies.

Feline leukemia (FeLV), feline immunodeficiency virus or cat AIDS (FIV), infectious peritonitis (FIP), or nasty bacterial infections are transmitted from cat to cat in saliva.

Outside cats, particularly unneutered males, love to fight. Most times they will end up with a nasty abscess.

What exactly is an abscess? It’s basically a pocket of pus under the skin. It makes a cat very ill because of the bacteria and toxins it releases into the bloodstream. He is feverish, goes off his food, hides and sleeps a lot.

Treatment for abscesses involves a general anaesthesia, clipping and cleaning the skin, lancing the abscess and flushing all the pus out, placing a drain to allow any new pus to empty, antibiotics and pain relief. Some cats are so sick they need hospitalisation and intravenous fluids for a night or two.

How do we avoid all this??

Desex your cat if he is still entire. Keep him indoors, particularly in the evenings and at night when the brawling usually happens.

Keep other cats off your property. A dog on patrol will soon despatch an intruder. Otherwise keep an eye out for a few evenings and frighten strays off with a loud noise.

Catch the infection as soon as possible. If your cat has been in a fight bring him immediately for an antibiotic shot to discourage the abscess from forming.

Vaccinate your cat against FIV, Feline AIDS. There are three shots in the initial course. A booster at the annual checkup and vaccine review prevents the virus gaining a toe hold.

 

Caring for your Cat, Cats, Diseases of cats, Today's News

Snake season

Jonah reports that snakes are out and about again. He found one on Saturday night. His carers thought he wasn’t himself on Sunday but when they came home on Monday and found him not able to stand they were sure he wasn’t well.  His breathing was a bit laboured and his eyes were huge.
When we saw him he complained of his plight in a rather plaintive voice. His legs were very weak and he could hardly hold his head up.
This “floppy doll” weakness in a young cat at this time of year rang alarm bells for us.
Adventurous cats and snakes rousing from their winter snooze on a hot weekend are a recipe for disaster! Snakes are especially full of venom at the beginning of the season.
Jonah had some brown snake antivenom and has been on a drip to keep him hydrated. Cats paralysed by snake venom soon become dehydrated because they cannot eat or drink. Jonah has responded well and hopes to go home today!

Caring for your Cat, Caring for your Dog, Cats, Dogs, Today's News

Festive season for pets?

Spare a thought over the festive season for our pets.  Christmas is a fun time of year for humans but it disrupts our animals’ lives, causing stress and untoward changes in their behaviour.

Potential sources of stress include:

  • Car travel
  • Boarding
  • Visitors to their home
  • Parties and increased noise in the neighbourhood
  • Fireworks
  • Changes in routine
  • Visits to unfamiliar environments such as a holiday house or extended family

Many pets become anxious under these stresses. Their behaviour changes to cope with the stresses. These behavioural changes are usually temporary but occasionally turn into long-term, serious problems.

How can we reduce our pets’ anxiety this Christmas?

Reassure your pets in unfamiliar circumstances by allowing them to stay close to you and spending as much time with them as possible. If you have to leave them, give them something familiar like bedding or your shirt.

Provide a comfortable safe hidey hole with lots of fun things to do if visitors are expected or you are planning a party. Long lasting treats like stuffed Kongs and chew toys keep dogs engrossed and happy.

Avoid confronting a dog with anyone they fear. Children or big men frighten some dogs.

Don’t punish a frightened dog or make it face up to its fear. This usually makes an already tense dog more anxious.

Try not to initiate any more fears in your pet. A house suddenly full of noisy party-goers and no secure place to hide will make a timid dog frightened of more people.

Pheromones, naturally produced communicators, reduce anxiety significantly in many pets.   ADAPTIL® (containing Dog Appeasing Pheromone) and Feliway® (containing a calming cat pheromone) are synthetic copies of the animals’ own natural pheromones. They reduce behaviour changes resulting from stress or anxiety.

Feliway replicates the feline facial pheromone that cats rub around their environment so they feel relaxed and at home.

ADAPTIL (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) replicates the pheromone the dam releases when suckling her puppies. It reassures dogs of any age, reducing anxiety and preventing fear and stress related behaviours.

If behaviour resulting from fear and anxiety is out of proportion to what is happening or causes long lasting problems then schedule an appointment with one of our vets. They will work through a programme of retraining or behaviour modification in conjunction with a prescription drug, appropriate for your pet.

 

Caring for your Cat, Cats, Diseases of cats, Today's News

Kitty Dementia

Dementia, also known as feline cognitive dysfunction, is an age-related disorder of brain function causing multiple behaviour changes.

In cats the behaviour changes include:

  • Yowling excessively and inappropriately
  • Urinating or defecating outside the litter box and around the house
  • Disorientation and aimless wandering
  • Restlessness
  • Changes in interaction with people or other pets such as aggression, irritability and clinginess
  • Erratic sleeping behaviour: waking, pacing or yowling at night, sleeping less at night and more during the day
  • Decreased grooming

Some diseases mimic cognitive dysfunction. These include hyperthyroidism, brain tumours, viral diseases, high blood pressure, chronic pain, arthritis, diabetes, and urinary tract infections. Many of these diseases exacerbate the behaviour changes of cognitive dysfunction, too, so we must check for and/or treat them before we confirm a diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction.

Some commonly used drugs such as prednisolone and valium also reduce brain function. Alternatives that reduce decline are often available.

Therapies

1. Diet: Anti-oxidants delay and treat dementia. Antioxidants include Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Alpha-lipoic acid, L-carnitine and beta-carotene. Fruits and vegetables contain many of these.

Omega 3 fatty acids as found in fish oil or food supplements such as Nutricoat also help.

2. Physical therapy and environmental enrichment: Stimulate brain function and delay the onset of dementia with environmental enrichment and games. Try scattering or hiding food or catnip around the house, provide toys that require batting or rolling to release food, give opportunities for climbing, perching and exploring, trail ribbon or feathers along. Petting, brushing and massage stimulate the nerves and brains of old cats, too.

3. Your vet may prescribe medications to reduce inflammation, enhance memory or improve brain function.

Caring for your Cat, Cats, Today's News

Matted cats

Nurse Tegan helped Mischief out of his winter coat and into his summer splendour this morning. Over winter he can’t keep up with his long hair and it was matted on his sides and belly and up behind his ears.
Mischief is usually pretty laid back and purry but he asked for a sedative so we could clean up those matts behind his ears without hurting him.
He says it takes him a few days to get used to losing his winter coat each year but he soon appreciates the lighter easier style.

Caring for your Cat, Cats, Diseases of cats, Internal Diseases of Cats

Worms in cats

Tapeworms and roundworms are the most common intestinal parasites of cats.

Tapeworms are long flat worms composed of many individual segments which look like wriggling grains of rice in cat faeces.

Round worms are much shorter and rounder and produce microscopic eggs. Hookworm and whipworm are rarer but cause anæmia, loss of protein and gastrointestinal upsets.

Cats are infested with the flea tapeworm Dipylidium caninum by eating fleas carrying the tapeworm during grooming.  The tapeworm mature in cats and pass segments in the faeces which flea larvae ingest.

Cats are infested with the tapeworm Taenia taeniaformis when they eat infected rodents. Infestation with this worm is more common in hunting cats.

Roundworms, Toxocara cati and Toxascaris leonine, are common in young cats and kittens. Cats are infested with roundworm by ingesting worm eggs passed in cat faeces or by eating animals such as mice, which are infested with roundworm.

Most kittens are infested with Toxocara cati through their mother’s milk.

Toxocara cati can infest children if they ingest eggs attached to kitten hair or dirty litter trains.  The eggs hatch to larvae which migrate through the body and may cause damage. To prevent ingestion deworm kittens and cats as advised below, and dispose of litter and disinfect the tray with boiling water at least weekly.

Good quality broad spectrum wormers like Milbemax, Profender spot on and Drontal for cats are effective against all gastrointestinal worms.

Our recommended deworming protocol:

  • Kittens from 4 to 12 weeks of age
    • Treat every two weeks with Milbemax, Profender or Drontal for cats
  • Young cats 3-6 months
    • Treat monthly with Milbemax, Profender or Drontal for cats
  • Cats 6 months of age and older
    • Treat every three months with Milbemax, Profender or Drontal for cats