Health

But the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, widely held to be the cause of the Black Death of antiquity is alive and well, causing roughly 1,000 to 2,000 human cases of plague every year, primarily in rural areas of developing countries. Requisites for the diseases persistence are the availability of rodent (or sometimes rabbit) "reservoirs" with the ability to reproduce to high numbers, the year-round feeding of appropriate flea "vectors" and the proper environmental conditions. In the United States, the majority of cases in reservoir rodents - usually rock squirrels, ground squirrels and prairie dogs - occurs in the Southwest, but infected animals may be seen anywhere west of the Rockies. During heavy outbreaks in these animals, cases have been detected as far east as Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. Most human cases of plague in the U.S. arise from two areas: one in the region encompassing southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and Arizona, and the other encompassing western Nevada, California and southern Oregon.

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.

Watery eyes, itching, sneezing, coughing. Do indoor allergies cause you problems? Even if you dont suffer from indoor allergies, your cat may not be so fortunate. Though outdoor allergens (substances that can cause the immune system to respond with an allergic reaction), such as pollen, are considered to be the main culprits in causing allergies, indoor allergens, such as the common house dust mite, actually have the potential to be much more reactive.

Feline dermatophytosis, commonly referred to as ringworm, is a fungal infection that is frequently observed in cats. The condition occurs worldwide, most commonly in warm, humid climates that are hospitable to the peculiar type of fungus that causes it. In the U.S., the disorder is especially problematic year-round in the deep South, says William Miller, VMD, a professor of dermatology at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine, and its prevalence can rise markedly in cooler areas of the nation with the arrival of hot and muggy summer weather.

Your seven-year-old cat is a generally healthy animal. Except for a fleeting bout of gastrointestinal upset a few years ago, shes never had a really serious sick-day in her life. But your neighbors cat always seems to be ill. Indeed, every three or four months she shows up on your doorstep wheezing, sneezing and coughing. Her eyes are red and watery, and she acts lethargic. These disturbing signs persist for a week or 10 days, but then she seems to be all right again - for a while.

Perhaps the only thing sadder than the sight of a tiny kitten suffering from a bout of gut-wrenching diarrhea is the sight of three or four of them, piled on top of each other in a cramped cage, all in the throes of debilitating, possibly life-threatening intestinal damage. That, unfortunately, is what may occur in an unkempt animal shelter contaminated with a bacterium called Campylobacter jejuni.

Cats come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and the range of their behavioral characteristics is similarly broad. The same can be said about the array of tumors (neoplasms) that can develop within the feline body. Some are small, others are large; some naturally tend to pass the time quietly ensconced in one spot, while others are destined to roam; some are benign by nature, while others behave very badly indeed, causing no end of damage.

You should be pleased to see your cat, at the age of seven, looking terrifically fit and behaving with the same mischievous vitality that she did when she was a kitten. Bear in mind, however, that the feline age of seven is equivalent to the age of 41 or so in a human, and your cat as trim and spirited as she is at present is bound to start showing the normal signs of aging before you know it.

If anyone ever told you that you had "cat breath," you might have a real reason to be insulted. Thats because cat breath can be rather unpleasant, which is something you already know if youve ever smelled bad breath on your own cat.

Thanks to medical science in general and veterinary health research in particular, a vast array of medicines are available today to treat virtually any acute or chronic feline physical disorder. Many of these medications can be administered only by veterinarians or qualified technicians in animal clinics or hospitals. Others, however, can be administered at home by a cats owner.

When you call your cat, it often seems like he doesnt hear you at all, but a cats sense of hearing is quite astute. A cat can hear sounds with frequencies from 45 to 60,000 vibrations per second (one vibration per second is called a hertz; 1,000 vibrations per second is called a kilohertz) as opposed to a human who can hear from 20 to 20,000 hertz. Even the canine who may be sleeping at your feet doesnt hear the upper ranges as well as your cat.

If you often 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 whats termed a "plantigrade" stance. That is to say, youll stand and walk with the entire sole of your foot touching the floor.