Lifestyle

You have to get up at 6:00 a.m. during the week. But you dont even have to set your alarm, because your cat comes in and licks your fingers or jumps up and purrs on your chest just before you wake up. How do cats do it? Do they really sense what hour it is, or is it something else? Alas, this is one of the many enduring mysteries about cats, says Larry Myers, DVM, PhD, of the Auburn University School of Veterinary Medicine in Alabama. "Some of what appears to be cats telling time is entrainment. Its routine reinforced. Cats very quickly become aware of when human family members wake up, eat, go out and come home," says Dr. Myers, whose 18-year-old female cat wakes him at 6:00 a.m. daily for breakfast.

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. Nevertheless, theres still a lot of misinformation regarding toxoplasmosis. 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.

Luckily, your six-year-old cat, Dottie, has never been sick. Nevertheless, youve made a point of taking her to her veterinarian for a routine physical exam twice a year. Youre doing the right thing, says William Miller, VMD, medical director at Cornell Universitys Companion Animal Hospital, and all cat owners would do well to follow suit. "Its a very good idea to have every cat undergo a twice-yearly exam," he says. "This is especially true for geriatric cats - those that are age 10 and older - and for animals that spend time outdoors and are exposed to a host of feline diseases." A thorough checkup should also be obligatory for any new cat that is brought into a household and for kittens when they reach one year of age.

The good news is that cats are living longer these days, thanks largely to advances in feline nutrition and veterinary medicine in general. 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. All Too Common. 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).

Recently, a woman asked for advice in a chat room for pet enthusiasts. She explained that her outdoor cat would go off for days, sometimes a week at a time. Naturally, she would worry about him. Then, just as mysteriously as he had left, he would show up again at her door and make himself at home as he always did. One day during one of her cats absences, the woman went to visit a neighbor down the street. As the neighbor asked her in for a cup of coffee, the woman shouted, "Theres my cat!" Indeed, there was her cat lounging on her neighbors couch.

We cats are special in many ways, of course, but our eyes have always been particularly fascinating to people. Pearls pupil shape is unique to the family Felidae and is meant to maximize vision in low light. Did you know that cats can see at eight times dimmer illumination than humans? This gift is part of our heritage as nocturnal, carnivorous mammals. Our ancestors success in the wild depended on being able to hunt at dusk and dawn, times of day when many potential dinner species are most active. Adaptations to the eye improved our wild relatives night vision

We recently adopted a nine-week-old kitten. Shes only a tiny ball of fluff, but already shes using her teeny nails to scratch the brand-new couch that we just bought to replace a couch our recently deceased cat had ruined. I am opposed to declawing cats, but my husband is adamant that we will not be buying any new furniture in the near future. We both love our sweet Fiona, but need some advice. Do you have any tips to help protect our furniture?

People sometimes adopt animals without thinking about the commitment, not only in time and effort, but also in costs. Obviously, this is compounded based on the number of pets in the household. To help prospective adopters get a handle on the financial resources needed to care for a pet, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals created a chart for adopters to visualize the breakdown of costs for several types of animals, including cats.

At the riding stable where your teenage daughter takes lessons, a young barn cat had a litter of playful, adorable kittens. A few months after the kittens were adopted, however, the mother cat remained - and as the cool Autumn weather settled in, you worried about her welfare. The barn owner made it clear that he didnt care if she hung around or not - she wasnt much of a mouser - so you decided to scoop her up, put her in the backseat of your car and take her home. The above fantasy exists in the life of every cat lover, but the reality is that when bringing home an outdoor cat (such as a neighborhood stray or a barn cat), you need to take precautions for everyones health and safety. Luckily, if a new owner anticipates the adoption and potential problems - and addresses them accordingly - they can be greatly minimized.

Many of us have spent considerable time planning for the care of our family members in the event that we die or become incapacitated. Unfortunately, though, we often fail to consider the needs of our smallest family members: our pets. In the past, most pet owners didnt think about making formal arrangements for their cats in their wills. But all thats changing, according to David Congalton, co-author of When Your Pet Outlives You: Protecting Animal Companions After You Die.

Your sister is moving to Japan for her job and she can’t take her cat with her. She’s devastated and turns to you for help. But you already have three cats and can’t take on another. You can’t imagine ever having to give up one of your own cats, but dealing with your sister’s situation is almost as bad. What do you do? Someday, you may need to find a home for your own cat. But there are a number of things to try before deciding that a cat cannot stay where she is. And if it becomes absolutely necessary, here’s some help in finding her a new home.

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.