Short Takes

Obesity among pets in the U.S. continued to climb in 2012, with the number of overweight cats reaching an all-time high. Veterinarians reported that 58.3 percent of their feline patients — up from 55 percent over the previous year — were overweight or obese in the sixth annual survey by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP). Given the cat population of 74.1 million in this country, that equals about 43.2 million cats, the association says. Surprisingly, the survey also revealed a “fat gap,” according to APOP founder Ernie Ward, DVM. When veterinarians asked owners to describe their fat cats’ body condition as too thin, normal, overweight or obese, 45.3 percent said normal.

A study published earlier this year that estimated free-ranging domestic cats annually kill up to 3.7 billion birds and 20.7 billion mammals has stirred controversy and brought renewed calls for action.The study’s three authors from migratory bird centers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a “systematic review and quantitative estimate of mortality.” They say “unowned cats,” as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of the deaths.

A survey of more than 50,000 U.S. households has uncovered a puzzling disconnect between cat owners’ beliefs and actions. Owners in 2011 said they increasingly consider their cats family members — 56 percent, up from 49.4 percent in 2006. Yet just 27.1 percent of owners say they took their cats to the veterinarian only when they were sick. Given that the feline population in the U.S. is approximately 74.1 million, about 20 million pet cats went without regular checkups and care in 2011.

It’s common knowledge that pregnant women should avoid litter boxes to avoid contact with toxoplasma. The parasite found in cat feces can cause toxoplasmosis, a disease that may cause a number of developmental abnormalities in developing fetuses and neurologic, ocular and other potentially severe problems in people with compromised immune systems. Research in recent years has shown an association between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia, depression and anxiety. Studies also suggest that the disease can influence levels of human aggression, extroversion and risk-taking. Now a study by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden suggests a mechanism by which toxoplasma may influence the behavior of its hosts.

Researchers gathered DNA and tissue samples from feral cats in Northern California. They also studied skin biopsies and blood samples from captive and wild South African and Namibian cheetahs, and in a study believed to the first to identify a molecular basis of coat pattering in mammals, they made this discovery: Tabby cats and rare king cheetahs share a gene responsible for the cats’ stripes and the cheetahs’ spots. However, when a mutation occurs, the tabby will develop patches of color rather than stripes, and the cheetah’s spots and blotches turn into wide stripes down its back.

A Husky found the kitten lying in the street and gently carried him in his mouth home to his owner. Scooter had a broken spine and his back legs were paralyzed. Euthanasia would have been the likely fate for a kitten in similar shape. But Betsy Kennon, VMD, at Harts Run Veterinary Hospital in Fox Chapel, Pa., was determined to save his life — and she did. Hospital clients chipped in to buy Scooter a custom-made wheeled cart to get around.

The American Humane Association has set an ambitious agenda. To reduce the number of healthy cats and dogs euthanized annually in the U.S., estimated at 3 million to 4 million, the association’s Animal Welfare Institute has launched a three-part study to better understand pet ownership and retention.

Ocean-going farewells A sea burial service, begun in Marshfield, Mass., with one boat, now has 48 vessels operating from Maine to Miami and from San Francisco to San Diego. Since he expanded the company in 2007 to include cremated pets, founder Capt. Brad White says his New England Burials at Sea has provided memorials for hundreds of animals. The company, one of a handful in the United States offering the service on both coasts, is…

Two specialists in veterinary emergency and critical care have teamed up to help produce the first evidence-based guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in cats and dogs. When a preliminary survey showed little consistency in the rate of chest compressions administered by veterinarians during CPR, Daniel J. Fletcher, DVM, Ph.D., at Cornell and Manuel Boller, DVM, MTR, at Penn initiated a plan to develop evidence-based guidelines for CPR for veterinary patients. Although more than 20 percent of human patients who suffer cardiac arrest in the hospital survive to go home, perhaps partially as a result of the variability in compression rate, only 6 percent of dogs and cats do, according to recent veterinary CPR research.

Biologists at the Royal Veterinary College in London may have discovered the reason for the cheetah’s record as the fastest living land mammal. Researchers at the college’s Structure and Motion Laboratory compared the cheetah’s gait to that of racing Greyhounds, whose speed tops out at 37 miles per hour. The big cats have been clocked at 64 miles per hour. “Cheetahs and Greyhounds are known to use a rotary gallop [in which the limbs fall in circular sequence around the body] and physically they are remarkably similar, yet there is this bewitching difference in maximum speed,” says researcher Alan Wilson, Bsc., Ph.d.

Lymphoma is the most common cancer diagnosed in cats, and while several prognostic factors have been documented, another factor recently considered to be important is weight loss. Body weight over time may be a simple, objective and useful marker of patient status.

Owners often bring their cats to the veterinarian due to a bout of constipation, which can have a variety of causes. Veterinary treatment includes determining and eliminating the cause, if possible, along with medical and sometimes surgical management. Medical therapy often includes the use of laxatives, enemas and prokinetic agents (like cisapride). Psyllium is a soluble fiber that produces a mucilaginous gel that helps to increase fecal bulk. It also adds to stool bulk by other water-holding properties. Psyllium has been found to increase stool frequency and consistency in humans with idiopathic constipation.