Recently in Cat Health Category

The European Cave Lion was the largest cat that ever lived...

Aug

7 Reasons to keep your cat indoors

5:07 PM posted by Melanie | Comments (0) | Subscribe to this blog's feed

I blogged about keeping your cats indoors while you celebrate, and about cats being terrorized by a coyote in Orlando, and also about how outdoor cats die young, but I just wanted to bring it up one more time in light of the fact that several outdoor cats have been shot in Pittsburgh lately.

Even if shooting cats isn't an issue in your neighborhood, you might want to consider keeping your cat indoors. I let Neo out on a harness and long leash whenever I go outside or if I can't go out with him I stay beside an open window so I can see and hear him while he plays outside. He has been on the leash since I brought him home as a kitten and he is used to it. Of course he doesn't like it so when I am outside and he is just lounging in the grass, I take it off of him and let him roll around, but he never roams freely.

There is a lot of construction going on and the last thing I want is for him to fall into a water filled pit that will become someone's basement and drown or not be able to get out so he starves to death while he hears my calls. I shudder to think about it. So besides construction and shooting here are 7 more reasons to keep your cat indoors:

1. Car accidents - I do not want Neo becoming road kill. Cars are big, fast and usually driven by people who are in a rush or not paying attention. They may be upset if they hit your cat, but they aren't going to care about your cat the way you do.

2. Cats are prey for larger animals like Coyotes and wolves and foxes. Most urban cats don't have to worry about these larger animals, or do they? In Orlando, that's what they used to think until a coyote cleaned out the cat population in their urban community.

3. Cats get lost or carried away. My childhood cat, Jungle cat, fell asleep in the neighbor's car while they were packing it up for a road trip, when they got to their destination they heard him meowing. They were kind enough to drive him all the way back and then start their road trip again. But not everyone will do that. Trust me, these are particularly nice people. Most people will let the cat go to find his way home. The best you can hope for is they take care of the cat and bring him home with them. But you can't depend on that. Or your cat could wander off, get chased into unfamiliar territory, picked up by animal control and destroyed, all before you are even aware he was gone!

4. Cats kill millions of birds every year and the sad part is, they don't always kill the birds they just maim them and they certainly don't eat them. So the bird is left to die a slow painful death. If the bird happens to have a nest full of eggs, they die too.

5. Toxins - antifreeze, fertilizers, pesticides and even some plants are poisonous to cats. The allure is that all things things taste good to cats, so they eat or drink it and then come home. You don't know what they've been eating so you go to bed or go to work thinking everything is fine, but suddenly, your cat is lethargic, vomiting, or dead. Not exactly what cat owners want.

6. Infectious diseases such as panleukopenia and rabies. Both diseases cause irreparable damage to your cat, vaccines help, but still it is always best to limit your cat's exposure to such dangerous diseases.

7. Fleas and Ticks. People are surprised when I tell them that fleas can kill so avoiding a flea infestation is the best way to keep your cat safe. Kitten+Fight.jpg

Bonus reason: Injury. There are other cats they can get into a fight with and get seriously hurt. A cat I knew had to have her tail amputated because of a bite that got infected.

Just think about it, your cat may not like it, but he'll certainly be safer indoors with only brief stints outside.

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The European Cave Lion was the largest cat that ever lived...

Jul

Why does my cat throw up?

9:22 PM posted by wendell | Comments (0) | Subscribe to this blog's feed

Well if you're reading this page, you're probably a cat owner and you've probably had to deal with cat vomit. In most cases there isn't much to worry about. The reality is most cats throw up at some point in their lives; some more than others. Here are the most popular reasons why:

nervousness

excitement

stress

hair balls

if your cat is an outdoor cat, they may have eaten too much grass. Cats eat grass to help them deal with hair balls

may have an eaten an object that they shouldn't have eaten

cat may have ingested chocolate (chocolate is like poison to cats)

Generally speaking none of these issues are major issues. Call your vet if you notice the following:

blood in the vomit

your cat is vomiting and experiencing diarrhea

your cat is generally not him/herself and is very lethargic

Again, if you have concerns or issues, get a hold of your vet right away. That's the best course of action.

Now for lighter entertainment, check out the funny video below:

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Jul

So what ingredients should be in my cat's food?

8:57 PM posted by wendell | Comments (0) | Subscribe to this blog's feed

I did a post the other day advising cat owners what ingredients you should stay away from when selecting cat food. Incidentally, if your cat consistently rips off smelly farts, that's a concern possibly related to poor diet. I've taken the next logical step here to help you understand what the most desirable attributes and ingredients are for your cat's diet.

Let's look at the most obvious point. Your cat is a natural meat eater, any attempt to try and change their natural diet usually has negative effects. Domestic cats usually live better lives when they eat predominately wet food. Why you ask? The main reason is that many dry foods do not list meat as the most common ingredient in their ingredients. If meat isn't the main ingredient, you can bet that the ingredients could be grain or some sort of meat by product. Not good.

As we've blogged about in the past, it's fairly clear that wet food diets help to maintain your cat's health much better than dry food. Wet food is a great way to maintain your cat's hydration levels and this is a function that dry foods simply can't do as well. If you notice that your cat rarely drinks water or is reluctant to, you might want to consider giving them wet food.

Here are some other issues to consider:

Minerals in your cat's diet like iron, copper, potassium and zinc are all helpful to a cat's diet in small amounts.

Ash in small amounts (similar to scrapings on a BBQ grill) helps your cat process his food properly.

The first ingredient in your cat's food should be meat. Meat is a good source of protein, vitamin A, taurine and fatty acids.

Taurine in a nutrient that from a meat diet, it's an amino acid and it's essential to your cat's heart, eye functions and other essential functions.

Arginine is anohter amino acid that helps your cat manage their protein to maintain their health.

Like huamns, cat's require their fatty acids. If you see ingredients like linoleic and arachidonic, this is a good thing.

Generally speaking, cheaper is not better when referring to cat food. Cheaper foods can cause your cat to eat more in an effort to try and get as much nutrients out of it. The worse part is that you're basically guaranteeing that you will have some hefty vet bills down the road. Or worse yet, a cat with a shorter life expectancy. The most important issue is that your cat will live a healthy better life on higher quality food.

The best person you can talk to with regards to your cat's food is your vet. If you're concerned about the health of your cat, (I'm assuming you are because you're reading this) take the time to inquire with your vet about the best foods to feed your cat.

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