Health

The yowls of a cat in heat are unmistakable. When a female cat needs to mate, you should expect incessant crying, strange posturing and constant attempts to escape outdoors to waiting males. The best thing you can do about your cat in heat is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Its a smart idea to have her neutered before her first heat cycle. However, sometimes thats not possible. So if youve never witnessed a cat in heat, heres what you should expect.

Your cat’s kidneys play a central role in almost all of its bodily processes. They help to control the blood pressure and regulate the amount and chemical consistency of fluid in the bloodstream. They produce a variety of vitally needed hormones and enzymes, and they contribute to the production of red blood cells. They also remove metabolic waste, such as urea, mineral salts and poisonous substances, from its blood. This is accomplished by kidney (renal) tissue containing hundreds of thousands of tiny filtration units called nephrons. When waste-laden blood enters the kidneys through the renal artery, it moves through progressively smaller vessels until it reaches these nephrons, where it is filtered through microscopically minute structures called glomeruli. The cleansed blood — about 95 percent of the total fluid volume that originally entered the kidneys — then circulates back to the heart for yet another voyage through the body. Meanwhile, the remaining fluid, containing the waste products, is passed along as urine from the kidneys to the bladder and eventually excreted.

As springtime arrives throughout the U.S., the steamy days and nights of summer cannot be far behind. This means, of course, a proliferation of mosquitoes. For you, this is an annoyance. For your cat, these bothersome little creatures can pose a major health problem. Among all of the various disorders that can endanger a cats physical well-being and perhaps threaten its life, few are more insidious than feline heartworm disease, a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when a parasitic worm called Dirofilaria immitis gets into an animals system. And the only way in which this worm can enter your cats body is through a mosquito bite.

Toxoplasmosis is a fairly common zoonosis (a disease that can be shared between humans and animals); 30 to 40 percent of adult humans, and roughly the same percentage of cats, have antibodies that indicate prior exposure to the organism that causes the disease. Prevention is Best. Nevertheless, its particulars are still unfamiliar to many people. The disease poses a threat primarily to fetuses and to immunosuppressed patients, but an understanding of the organisms life cycle, how transmission occurs and can be avoided, and the signs of infection can greatly reduce the risk of serious disease.

Primary septic peritonitis is an abdominal infection without a primary focus, such as a perforated bowel. The most common cause in cats is feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). Unfortunately, little is known about primary bacterial septic peritonitis in cats. The investigators (" Primary bacterial septic peritonitis in cats" in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, Nov-Dec 2009) examined the medical records of twelve cats diagnosed with primary bacterial septic peritonitis and identified significant characteristics associated with this condition.

During your cats routine physical exam, youre likely to observe the veterinarian carefully studying the animals face, gently stroking its nose, and fondling its ears. This is not merely a show of affection. Rather, the veterinarian may be searching for tiny, scabby sores on the cats skin that could indicate the presence of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) - a skin cancer that, if caught in its early stage, will most likely be harmless and easily treated. If the skin eruptions go unnoticed, however, the cancer can progress, spread to other parts of the body and ultimately prove fatal.

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?

The feline lymphatic system — an exquisitely structured arrangement of internal organs and tissues — directly or indirectly influences every aspect of a cat’s physical existence. For this reason, owners should be equipped to recognize the signs that suggest the presence of feline lymphoma, a potentially deadly cancer of the lymphatic system that can assault many areas of a cat’s body, including its liver, gastrointestinal system, spleen and skin.

Many cats, at some point in their lives, will contract an upper respiratory disease characterized by persistent sneezing, nasal discharge, conjunctivitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the inner surface of the eyelid), and in some cases keratitis (inflammation of the transparent outer covering of the front of the eyeball). Although a wide range of viral and bacterial agents may be responsible for this disorder, one of the most common - perhaps the most common - cause is infection with feline herpesvirus (FHV).

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.

Cats whose breed developed in frigid areas of the world are likely to tolerate cold weather better than cats whose origins can be traced to more temperate regions. But even the fattest, furriest Maine coon will have only a slight edge over a trim, thin-coated Siamese when it comes to prolonged exposure to the biting winds, ice, snow and sleet that come with winter. Indeed, any cat that is left outside for extended periods of time when the temperature is below freezing - not to mention any poor creature that happens to tumble into an ice-cold pond - will be at risk for a potentially deadly drop in body temperature. The chances that this condition - called hypothermia - will prove fatal depends largely upon the animals age, overall physical condition and ability to regulate its body temperature, says Dr. Gretchen Schoeffler, chief of emergency and critical care services at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals.

A common disease in cats, upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) can spread quickly among cats residing in animal shelters. These infections cause discomfort in the animals, consume vital personnel and financial resources and limit adoptions. In a large urban shelter in the northeast United States, 531 kittens, 701 litters and 2,203 adult cats were observed during their stays on a daily basis over a period of 50 weeks for signs of URTD ("Descriptive epidemiology of feline upper respiratory tract disease in an animal shelter" in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 2009).