Behavior

You may notice your cat becoming hesitant about moving around the house. Or, you rearranged the furniture and your cat is bumping into things. Whats happening? Your cat may be going or have become blind.

You love your cat, but you also love a good nights sleep, and her midnight acapella is not exactly the perfect lullaby. She may be meowing for attention, but it could also be because she needs or wants something, or an indication of a developing health problem.

News 5 in Cleveland, Ohio, reports that police received multiple calls about multiple cats in a mans home.

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.

Punishment doesnt stop cats from scratching things. Its like yelling at a cat for doing something as natural as grooming, says Dr. Bruce Kornreich, CatWatch Editor-in-Chief and associate director of the Feline Health Center. Instead, be smarter than the cat. Give her an appropriate, comfortable, sturdy scratching surface, such as flat horizontal scratchers, and toys covered with sisal rope, fabric, or cardboard. Sprinkle some catnip on the surface to attract her attention. Once shes interested, its time to place possible deterrents where you dont want scratching. Here are five tricks that can work:

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

The challenge with senior cats is that their digestive systems often dont function as efficiently as when they were young. On top of that, just like older humans, geriatric cats may not digest or absorb nutrients as well as when they were in their prime. Keeping your older cat well-nourished just takes some attention to ensure that she is eating and that the food youve chosen addresses the nutritional issues an aging cat faces.

While some feline behavior problems can be resolved at least partially with environmental management strategies, sometimes medication becomes necessary. This is often due to behaviors that pose a risk to the cat, owner, or other pets in the household, or may be to simply break the cycle of a very stressed cat. Before you ask for an anti-anxiety medication, you should understand what the drug does and how to use it.

Its a feline social thing: Rubbing against your leg or on other objects. Head rubbing (also referred to as butting or bunting) is a normal social behavior, says Dr. Leni Kaplan, DVM, MS, Lecturer in the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Community Practice Service. Head rubbing is one way cats can deposit their scent on objects which signifies comfort and familiarity and is a way to communicate with other cats.

You may have seen pheromones advertised to calm anxious cats. Feline facial pheromone is precisely what your cat releases from the scent glands on his face.

Your sweet, peace loving feline companion sneaks out between your legs as you take the trash out. Despite searching, there is no sign of her, so you are thrilled to hear her meowing at the door the next morning. She fusses a bit when you pick her up, but you figure she is just upset at being out all night.

Lymphoma is the most common feline cancer. Over the years, however, with increased testing and vaccination for retroviruses like feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), the exact type of lymphoma seen in cats has changed.