Health

Cats are living longer these days, thanks largely to advances in feline nutrition and veterinary medicine in general. Thats good news. The bad news, however, is that these longer life spans give cats a greater chance of developing arthritis - a painful, debilitating and potentially crippling joint disease that is predominantly age-related. In a study conducted a few years ago, researchers carefully analyzed X-rays of the spines and limbs of 100 middle-aged or elderly cats (10 years of age or older). The X-rays revealed that 90 percent of cats over age 12 showed clearly discernible radiographic signs of arthritis.

Dear Elizabeth, I read the column about your weight problem a few months ago; how is your diet going? Ive tried to follow your advice when feeding my own chubby cat, Ernie, but am having a tough time. I calculated his daily calorie requirement as you suggested and split that amount between breakfast and dinner. But since I work all day I leave him a little extra dry food in a bowl for lunch. Its always gone when I get home so he must get really hungry during the day. Then, after he gobbles up his dinner hes okay until much later when he really needs a small bedtime snack. I know that his total calorie intake each day is more than the formula says he needs, but hes so hungry! How have you managed your appetite?

If you have your female cat spayed at an early age, you will, of course, be preventing her from experiencing motherhood. Nevertheless, youd be wise to have her undergo the procedure, since youll also be dramatically lessening the chances that she will be afflicted with mammary cancer later in her life (not to mention helping to curb feline overpopulation). Indeed, says Margaret McEntee, DVM, an associate professor of oncology at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine, having your cat spayed at six months of age will reduce her chances of getting mammary cancer by about 90 percent.

Red and swollen gums, bad breath, declining appetite and weight loss are among the conspicuous indications that your cat is suffering from a disorder centered in its mouth, most likely in its teeth and gums. The animal may not appear to be in pain, but thats because cats are very good at concealing illness, possibly because they dont want to signal a potential predator that they are weakened and are thus vulnerable to attack.

Any surgical procedure that will be painful to your cat - whether its a matter of stitching up a wound, pulling a tooth, repairing a fractured limb or removing a diseased organ - will require that the animals pain perception be dulled, if not totally blocked, by an anesthetic of some sort. Some cat owners find the notion that a pet will be placed under anesthesia a frightening prospect. What are the chances, an owner might wonder, that the animal, while surviving the operation itself, will fail to fully regain its senses? Or worse: What if it fails to awaken from its drug-induced sleep?

If you think snoring partners are bad, consider this: Iris Hunter, 53, from Durham, North Carolina has five cats. The youngest is three and the oldest of the crew is 17. All are domestic short-hairs, with three tabbies among them. And, unfortunately, all of them snore. "At first I thought it was my husband," says Iris, but the snoring actually came from her cats. Snoring pets may bring just as many laughs as snoring spouses, but neither is all that funny. As with humans, snoring in cats can cause sleep deprivation for those who hear it - and is sometimes a sign of serious illness for the snorer.

But of course, cats cant, which is what makes pain management so difficult for cat owners and veterinarians. Fortunately, some help is offered in "Pain Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats" (Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, Vol. 45, September/October 2007) from the hospital association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners. The new guidelines highlight the critical role of us cat owners, who can tell veterinarians that we need help "to recognize the subtle signs of pain" and to understand that "methods for the alleviation of pain are available, effective and generally safe. As the guidelines go on to say, "Even subtle changes in behavior are reasons to contact the veterinary clinic because these are the first signs of illness and pain."

Among all causes of severe feline disease, none is more prevalent than feline leukemia virus (FeLV), a submicroscopic organism associated with the illness and death of more cats worldwide than any other infectious agent. This virus - which is spread through the urine, saliva, nasal secretions or milk of infected animals - is currently recognized as the chief causative agent of fatal infectious disease among U.S. domestic cats.

Your 17-year-old cat, once a fastidious creature, has been ignoring her litter box for the past several months, defecating and sometimes urinating wherever she pleases throughout the house. She spends most of the day either fast asleep or, if awake, staring blankly at a wall. And at night she wanders about the house in the dark, wailing pathetically. Considering that she seems to be in good physical health, youre apt to wonder whether the cat, at the age of 17 (the equivalent of 85 years or so in a human) might be losing her mind.

Just about all cats, at one point or another in their lives, will be bothered by fleeting bouts of runny nose and teary eyes. In most cats, these episodes are infrequent; they arise from time to time, disappear within a day or two, and are nothing for an owner to be deeply concerned about. In other cats, the unpleasant signs become chronic and may come and go with annoying frequency.

If you need refills of prescription medications for your cat - and youre tempted to buy the drugs at discount prices from a website - you might wonder whether that bothers your veterinarian. Indeed it does, according to an article in the trade journal Veterinary Economics (Vol. 48, Issue 8). And vets have some persuasive reasons why you should continue to buy cat drugs from them. But first, some reasons to think twice about your cat-care budget: The typical mark-up (beyond the cost to veterinarians) for dispensed medications is 150 percent. Heartworm, flea and tick-control products tend to be marked up 100 percent. And therapeutic food, which some cats eat throughout their lives, is sold by veterinarians at about 45 percent above cost.

Each year, many thousands of cats are brought to veterinary clinics throughout the U.S. showing the telltale signs of respiratory distress: labored breathing, chest constriction, wheezing and coughing. In the vast majority of cases, the animal will be diagnosed with asthma, a mechanical constriction of the airways, or bronchi, the narrow network of tubes that lead directly from the trachea to the lungs. The narrowing of the airways occurs when a cats immune system overreacts to the presence of an allergy-producing substance, such as cigarette smoke, dusty kitty litter or pollen and responds to the presence of the allergen by releasing stimulants that cause a swelling of the tissue (mucous membrane) lining the bronchi.