Lifestyle

The first study to document interactions between feral cats and a wild rat colony finds that, contrary to popular opinion, cats are not good predators of rats.

Few things tug more at our heart strings than a mother cat trying to care for her kittens in the wild. Whether or not you should intervene, though, depends on the relationship between the person and the stray queen, says Dr. Leni Kaplan, Lecturer in the Community Practice Service at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Do not handle a cat that you are not familiar with. As rabies vaccination status for stray cats is unknown, the person must first and foremost protect themselves from scratches or bites from these cats.

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A cat in Great Britain brought home a bag of illegal drugs, which the owner turned in to the police.

Effective January 1, in a divorce, the judge has specific criteria to use when deciding who gets the cat (or dog).

My 10-year-old female domestic short-haired cat has always been very nervous when I bring her to the veterinarian, to the point that her stress makes me hesitant to bring her for her regular check-ups. A friend of mine recently told me about veterinary practices that specialize in being cat-friendly, and I am hopeful that going to such a practice may make things easier on my girl. Can you tell me a bit about these practices, and where I can find one?

It requires just a little blood, but the CBC, or complete blood count, can reveal important information about your cats health. Its usually part of a senior wellness panel, diagnostic bloodwork for an ill cat, and as part of a pre-operative workup. It may also be used to evaluate your cats response to a medication or its possible side effects.

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.

We cant watch our cats all the time nor can we predict with any degree of certainty what trouble they may seek out. Sometimes, you may not even realize that your cat ate something bad for him. You just have to be on the alert for signs of poisoning:

Compounded drugs are medications where bulk ingredients are mixed together by a pharmacist, as opposed to a commercial drug that is approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and manufactured under the FDAs monitoring. When an FDA-approved drug becomes available, the FDA forbids the same medication to be compounded. This is the case with Mirataz (mirtazapine transdermal ointment), which is applied to the inner surface of a cats ear to manage undesired weight loss.

A study from the Nationwide Childrens Hospital analyzed environmental exposures, like pets and secondhand smoke, to determine if they have a role in asthma control among children whose asthma is managed per National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines. Researchers found that, once asthma guidelines are followed, environmental exposures were not significant factors in overall asthma improvement over time.

Steroids can be lifesaving drugs, but they can also have deleterious side effects. So, what do you do when the veterinarian suggests using a steroid? Well, first, you need to understand that these compounds occur naturally in your cat and are essential for health.