Disease

If you ever try to move around your home very, very quietly — to avoid waking a slumbering child, for example — you may be in the habit of walking on your tiptoes. Normally, however, you will employ what’s termed a “plantigrade” stance. That is to say, you’ll stand and walk with the entire sole of your foot touching the floor. Cats are different from you and your fellow humans in this respect. Unless they’ve suffered an injury or are afflicted with a physical condition that makes it painful or physically impossible for them to do otherwise, they will, by nature, walk on the front part of their feet. Notable among the feline disorders whose presence is signaled by a cat’s inability or unwillingness to walk on its toes is a condition called diabetic neuropathy.

To the average cat owner, cardiomyopathy may sound like a scary mouthful of a word — but all it essentially means is disease of the heart muscle. And cardiomyopathy is not one single disorder, but instead a family of heart conditions that can be classified into three types: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM); dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). The causes, signs and treatments are different for each of the conditions, and rate of progression and prognosis also vary between individual cats and between breeds.

You’re nestled comfortably in your favorite chair with your cat dozing peacefully in your lap. You’re petting her gently, stroking her back. You’re happy, she’s happy — but suddenly she lets out a horrific howl and springs violently into the air with her claws out, furiously throwing her head about and trying to bite her own backside as if it had attacked her. Then the episode stops as suddenly as it began — she abruptly flops to the floor and, with a few convulsive jerks, passes out.

Kids and pets are like peanut butter and jelly — it’s hard to imagine one without the other. They can quickly become the best of friends, playing for hours on end. A child’s best animal friends seem to know to be extra gentle with him, and they are often endlessly patient — calmly swallowing their pride and allowing themselves to be dressed in doll’s clothes, take a bubble bath or just be hauled around on the child’s whim. As such, the attachments between children and their pets can be very real and very strong, making it especially difficult when the pet dies

Chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS) is a significant disease of cats causing ulcerative, painful lesions in the mouth. Unfortunately, the cause of this condition is not always clear, but feline calicivirus has been speculated to play a part in some cases. Medical treatment of this condition has largely remained unsuccessful. Interferon is a protein produced by animals to fight virus infections, and investigators examined the potential of this substance — which can be produced artificially and given orally — to treat FCGS.

Like their human counterparts, feline lungs are bag-shaped, elastic organs, two in number, located on either side of the heart and occupying most of the space in the chest cavity. They are virtually identical in structure to human lungs as well, functioning in the same manner and fulfilling the same fundamental purposes — removing carbon dioxide from the bloodstream and keeping the blood constantly supplied with life-sustaining oxygen. The lungs perform their vital functions by means of two processes — properventilation and perfusion — explains Richard Goldstein, DVM, an associate professor of small animal medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

At first, the owner worried that her cat Misket had worms. Her 11-year-old pet had a ravenous appetite, yet she appeared to be losing weight and her coat looked dull and unkempt. The veterinarian took a blood test and came up with a surprising diagnosis to her owner: hyperthyroidism, or overproduction of thyroid hormones. Feline hyperthyroidism tends to occur in elderly cats; 95 percent of the cats that develop this disease are older than eight and the mean age of the victims is about 12 years, according to John F. Randolph, DVM, professor of medicine in the section of small animal medicine at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) has long been a difficult diagnosis with little hope. But a new medication shows promise — and a cutting-edge genetic breakthrough may also be within reach. This progress was announced to 200 veterinarians, cat breeders and cat lovers at the 33rd annual Winn Foundation Symposium in Reston, VA.

Diabetes mellitus in cats is similar to the human disease. The cat cannot efficiently use the sugar (glucose) she takes in with her diet. This is because either she is not producing sufficient amounts of insulin — which regulates the body’s use of sugar — or the cat’s body cannot respond to insulin. One key to treating a diabetic cat is to stabilize her diet and feeding times to control her weight and the amount of glucose in her blood.

Humane considerations overwhelmingly support the practice of spaying — the surgical removal of a female cat’s ovaries and uterus — when an animal is about six months of age. Perhaps the most compelling argument in favor of this procedure (also known as ovariohysterectomy) is the reduction of feline overpopulation. One study has found that 85 percent of cats that are dropped off at shelters are eventually destroyed. It is estimated that as many as three to four million unwanted cats and kittens are put to sleep annually in the U.S.

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.