Lifestyle

If you asked Mother Nature, "What is the most athletic animal in the world?" She would most likely answer "the cat." If in doubt, watch your feline in perfect, graceful flight up the kitchen table to the inside of a cupboard - without touching a thing. Your cats agility and sense of balance is one of her most outstanding features. Heres how it works - and how it can go awry. Biologists say that cats havent changed for the past ten million years. "The big cats, such as lions, tigers and jaguars, and the small cats are almost identical in their agility and flexibility," explains Mark Lotz, panther biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. "If you watch cats hunt - large or small - they all possess the same skills of pouncing, stalking low to the ground and launching off at top speed to chase their prey."

Thinking about going on a leisurely week-long auto trip? Good for you! Thinking about taking your cat along for the ride? Youd better think twice about that, advises Julia Albright, MA, DVM, a resident of animal behavior at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine. Theres a good chance, she maintains, that your pet would just as soon stay at home while you and the rest of your family pull out of the driveway. "You might really want to take your cat along," says Dr. Albright, "and thats totally understandable. But I would recommend that you leave the animal at home unless it has already shown that it likes to travel and wont get stressed out by the experience -and I havent met very many of those cats. In general, cats dont do very well with change, and traveling for hours on end in the back seat of a car would certainly come under the heading of change." For owners who cant bear the idea of putting their cats in a kennel for a week or so or leaving them at home in the care of a neighbor or professional pet sitter, Dr. Albright has some words of advice.

Without even seeing your cat, Joan Miller, vice-president of the Cat Fanciers Association, knows your cat is a tabby. Impossible, you say. My cat is a Persian. Or my cat is a plain black alley cat. How does Miller decide that your cat is a tabby? "Because all cats are tabbies, genetically speaking," explains Miller. "All cats have a pattern of stripes, blotches, spots or whorls. If they have the dominant gene, theyre called Agouti - and they show the tabby pattern. If they receive the recessive gene, theyre known as non-Agouti, and they will be a solid color with no pattern." However, you can often still see the tabby markings underneath as a ghost pattern. The next time you get the chance, look at a black cat in the sun. You should be able to see the hint of a tabby pattern. "This is a lot easier to see in kittens," says Miller.

Mary Jones has been living in New York City with her housemate Alice for the past ten years. Mary and Alice are actually about the same age. Both want to stay together for as long as they can take care of each other. But Mary is an 80-year-old widow and Alice is an 11-year-old domestic shorthair. Marys eyes arent as good as they used to be, and her arthritis bothers her when she bends over. So she worries how she will keep on cleaning Alices litter box and carrying the heavy bag of cat food up the stairs. And she wonders what will happen to Alice if her beloved companion outlives her. Weve heard a lot over the past several years about how older people benefit both emotionally and physically from living with pets. The problem is this: As people get older, they often experience disabilities which may prevent them for fully caring for the pets they love. What can older people do?

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 the wake-up hour. Thats a pretty nice way to wake up, actually - unless it happens to be Saturday morning and you were planning on sleeping in. But weekday or weekend, your old-faithful feline is there just the same, licking your fingers and purring on your chest just before 6:00 a.m. 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 (hers, not his).

Several years ago, my cat and I moved in with my grandmother, relieving some financial stress for me and allowing my grandmother to remain independent as her health declined. Her house was filled with beautiful antique furniture, and because I didnt think I had any other option, I had my cat declawed. She has adjusted to life without all ten of her third phalanges, but I wish that I had been better informed about other techniques available to discourage destructive scratching behavior. Not only are there easily implemented techniques that can help redirect the scratching instinct, but there are also fabrics and furniture designs that have little "cat appeal." "Regularly trimming nails is very helpful for limiting damage to furniture, " says ELise Christensen, DVM, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist at NYC Veterinary Specialists in Manhattan. In addition to keeping your cats nails trimmed, it is important to establish approved scratching areas within your home. Dr. Christensen suggests initially using catnip and/or treats to attract your cat to approved scratching areas, and to be sure to reward desired behavior: "If you see the cat using the scratching post, reward with verbal praise, scratching or treats." (And remember that rewards are in the eye of the cat - not the human!)

If you think its just a matter of introducing two cats, letting nature take its course and then playing with their cute kittens, cat breeding isnt for you. So says Alice Ferris, a 15-year veteran breeder of Persian and Himalayan cats and owner of Lilac Farms Custom Cattery in Hartford, Connecticut. "Being a responsible breeder has many facets," says Ferris. "It takes a lot of dedication, research, time and money to raise healthy kittens. A breeder must desire to learn the medical side of felines, because 80 percent of breeding cats involves feline health care."

I have had whiskers all my life, but I really took them for granted until recently, when I heard a lecture by first-year veterinary student Tradel Harris on this very subject! You see, I was a special guest at Feline Follies, a show organized and run by Cornells veterinary students to raise money for a local shelter and to celebrate….cats! I didnt think it would be fair to our guest felines who were brought in by community members and students if I competed in the judging, so I spent my time enjoying the fun and informative booths set up by the students and listening to a few presentations.

Dear Elizabeth, What is MRSA? My doctor says that a wound on my hand has an MRSA infection. Could my cat, Streets, have given it to me? He is an indoor cat and seems healthy, but could he be a carrier Wow! This calico had to ask for help with your questions! Although I have picked up quite a lot in my role as Official Spokes-cat for the Cornell Feline Health Center, MRSA was new to me. Before giving you all the information I got, Ill give you the short answer to your questions: MRSA colonization and infection can occur in cats, and transmission across species is possible. Therefore, it is POSSIBLE that your MRSA came from your cat. However, chances are MUCH greater that you were exposed to the bacteria somewhere in the community. In fact, most experts would worry that you could be a source of infection for Streets! Heres the whole story.

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 cats. 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. "Historically, the problem has been lack of awareness, but thats all changed in the last decade," Congalton says. "Most states now allow pet trusts, and the attitude towards protecting animals has completely changed in courts and legal circles."

You gaze at your adorable feline and wonder: How could you ever live without her? But you know, as a rule, that cats dont live as long as humans. On average, cats live about 14 years. But the good news is that thanks to improved veterinary medicine and owner involvement, cats are living longer and longer, often exceeding the average lifespan by many years. There are many stories of cats living to their mid or late 20s. There seems to be valid documentation for an unneutered female cat named Spike from the United Kingdom who lived to be 31. Spike's case was extremely rare, but more stories come out each year about cats living to very ripe old ages. Could your cat be blessed with an extra long life? While genetics and luck have some influence over a cats lifespan, there are a number of things you can do to increase your cats longevity.

Perhaps one of the scariest thoughts for the owner of an indoor-only cat is that of your cat having to fend for himself in the great outdoors. Julia Albright, DVM, a resident in animal behavior at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals, says, "Keeping your cat indoors is the best way to provide a safe environment for him. Outside your home the cat may be exposed to other cats, cars and predators." However, accidents do happen, no matter how careful we are. A window screen may pop out unexpectedly, or a repairman may leave the door open "just for a second" while he grabs a tool from the truck. But apart from regularly checking window and door screens and making sure that all visitors know that your cat is strictly an indoor cat, the only thing you can do is prepare yourself for the occasion when he does get out.