Ask Dr K

Dear Elizabeth, I cant believe Im writing this, but we have bed bugs in our home. We recently vacationed in Europe, and evidently brought home some unwanted hitchhikers. I thought only low rent motels were a source of bed bugs, but we stayed at beautiful, exclusive hotels, and now I find myself wondering what went wrong.Weve hired a licensed exterminator and will move out of our home when the exterminator is using pesticides in the house, but Im concerned for our cats. Should we move them out too and, if so, is there any risk of the bed bugs hitching a ride on the cats?

My main concern is that Buster, a fierce hunter of mice, will bring about an early demise to any small pets we bring home. Do you have any tips on keeping Guinea pigs (or other small creatures, since Im sure that, once we bring home one, others will follow) safe from cats in the home? And will these precious little beings be stressed, living in the home of a proud hunter? I wouldnt want them to live an unhappy life!

Im very confused about feeding my cat. Feather is a healthy 14-year-old Siamese companion. Over the years Ive offered Feather a variety of products from different pet food manufacturers - everything from Tender Vittles to dry grocery store brands to fancy little pop-top cans. Whatever I scoop into her bowl, Feather will eat it.

We cats are special in many ways, of course, but our eyes have always been particularly fascinating to people. Pearls pupil shape is unique to the family Felidae and is meant to maximize vision in low light. Did you know that cats can see at eight times dimmer illumination than humans? This gift is part of our heritage as nocturnal, carnivorous mammals. Our ancestors success in the wild depended on being able to hunt at dusk and dawn, times of day when many potential dinner species are most active. Adaptations to the eye improved our wild relatives night vision

We recently adopted a nine-week-old kitten. Shes only a tiny ball of fluff, but already shes using her teeny nails to scratch the brand-new couch that we just bought to replace a couch our recently deceased cat had ruined. I am opposed to declawing cats, but my husband is adamant that we will not be buying any new furniture in the near future. We both love our sweet Fiona, but need some advice. Do you have any tips to help protect our furniture?

Kudos to you for adopting a special needs little fella. Bob most likely was exposed to feline panleukopenia virus, sometimes called feline distemper or feline parvo virus, either shortly before or shortly after birth. This exposure caused a condition called cerebellar hypoplasia, or underdevelopment of the cerebellum. The cerebellum is located at the base of the brain, is responsible for coordination of movement and plays a role in balance. Kittens that are exposed to panleukopenia virus during development of the cerebellum (generally the last two weeks of gestation up until about four weeks of age) wind up with a cerebellum that is too small and doesnt function properly. Cerebellar hypoplasia can result from exposure to panleukopenia virus itself or from modified live panleukopenia vaccines given to cats during pregnancy or to kittens prior to four weeks of age.

Is it really possible that my cat has acne? Crumbcake is a handsome, slightly chubby, brown tabby cat who we adopted from the SPCA five years ago. He has always been quite healthy; we take him to our veterinarian every year for his check-up, and we havent had any worries about him. Imagine our shock when at this years examination, our veterinarian diagnosed "chin acne" on our cat! Crumbcakes chin is a little swollen, a little red, and he has a number of what look like blackheads along the edge of his lower lips.

Is it really possible that my cat has acne? Crumbcake is a handsome, slightly chubby, brown tabby cat who we adopted from the SPCA five years ago. He has always been quite healthy; we take him to our veterinarian every year for his check-up, and we haven’t had any worries about him. Imagine our shock when at this year’s examination, our veterinarian diagnosed "chin acne" on our cat! Crumbcake’s chin is a little swollen, a little red, and he has a number of what look like blackheads along the edge of his lower lips.

Sometimes, I find things which appear to be grains of rice stuck to the fur around my cats hind end. Figaro does go outside, but I cant figure out how he could get rice stuck back there. Do you think hes been rooting around in garbage cans looking for food?

Dear Elizabeth, I have four cats in my household, and one of them, Tabitha, has a tendency to chew and eat plastic. Ive caught her chewing on plastic bags that Ive carried in from the store, as well as items in the basement that are wrapped in plastic. I worry that she could choke to death or hurt herself somehow. Why does she do this? One of my other cats is aggressive and chases her. Tabitha is afraid and will not fight back; could her plastic obsession be stress-related?

Rabies is in the family of RNA viruses (Rhabdoviridae) and the genus, Lyssavirus. Rabies exists nearly everywhere although some areas (including New Zealand; parts of the Caribbean, Scandinavia, and British Isles; Japan; and Hawaii) are thought to be free of the virus.

Dear Elizabeth, My cat, Abby, recently had a litter of kittens and the kittens are so different from each other in terms of size, color and personality, that I think they must have come from different fathers. One kitten is fine-boned, white with grey patches and long haired, while two of the others are short-haired, stocky and black. Abby showed up at my door, pregnant, so I have no idea if she actually mated with more than one male. Is it possible that the kittens have different dads? And what is an average size litter for a cat? Abby had three kittens, which I think of as average, but the cat down the road recently had nine kittens!