Short Takes

Rushed to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Kansas State University, the year-old cat had been coughing, vomiting and suffering abdominal pain. When all was said and done (yes, she survived, thanks to surgery) the cat was the subject of a report, "Diagnostic imaging for linear foreign bodies in cats," in the journal, Veterinary Medicine (Vol. 102, Issue 8). The cats owners got lots of pictures - from imaging techniques that included survey radiography, compression radiography, ultrasonography and positive contrast upper GI radiography. And veterinary science learned which techniques work best: compression radiography (something like a mammogram of the abdomen) and ultrasound.

But of course, cats cant, which is what makes pain management so difficult for cat owners and veterinarians. Fortunately, some help is offered in "Pain Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats" (Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, Vol. 45, September/October 2007) from the hospital association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners. The new guidelines highlight the critical role of us cat owners, who can tell veterinarians that we need help "to recognize the subtle signs of pain" and to understand that "methods for the alleviation of pain are available, effective and generally safe. As the guidelines go on to say, "Even subtle changes in behavior are reasons to contact the veterinary clinic because these are the first signs of illness and pain."

If you need refills of prescription medications for your cat - and youre tempted to buy the drugs at discount prices from a website - you might wonder whether that bothers your veterinarian. Indeed it does, according to an article in the trade journal Veterinary Economics (Vol. 48, Issue 8). And vets have some persuasive reasons why you should continue to buy cat drugs from them. But first, some reasons to think twice about your cat-care budget: The typical mark-up (beyond the cost to veterinarians) for dispensed medications is 150 percent. Heartworm, flea and tick-control products tend to be marked up 100 percent. And therapeutic food, which some cats eat throughout their lives, is sold by veterinarians at about 45 percent above cost.

Previous studies examined behavioral changes in cats long after their spay/neuter operations. But this one looked for changes in the first day or two: "Behavioral alterations and severity of pain in cats recovering at home following elective ovariohysterectomy or castration." Reported in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 231, No. 2) the study asked owners about things like their cats time spent sleeping, playfulness, aggression, appetite and vocalization. Most behavior changes were attributed to after-effects of the anesthesia, which wore off the first day, but there was one "interesting" development, the researchers said. On day two, when cats might be expected to complain loudly about losing their reproductive rights, most were quieter than usual.

For some reason, this scientific report made us think of the "whoosh!" sound when a can of coffee is opened: "Use of vacuum-assisted closure for management of a large skin wound in a cat" (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association Vol. 230, No. 11). The relatively new technique - pioneered in human surgery cases and tested recently by veterinary surgeons on a nine-month-old cat that was struck by a car - calls for wrapping the wounded area in sterile plastic foam. Then a vacuum pump sucks out the air between the skin and the foam blanket so that the animal, essentially, was shrink-wrapped. The treatment pulls skin together until it heals (the cat needed skin grafts for its serious injury), helps keep out infection and stabilizes the body temperature.

Honestly, veterinary researchers werent trying to make liars out of cat owners when they published "Urinary biomarkers to assess exposure of cats to environmental tobacco smoke" in the American Journal of Veterinary Research (Vol. 68, No. 4). They were trying to advance the science of gas-chromatography analysis to search for toxins that might cause disease in pets. Out of 61 healthy cats in the urinalysis study, 19 came from households where the owners said cigarettes were smoked. And 42 came from homes where owners swore no one ever smoked.

It hardly seems possible. But time flies, and what was once a rare procedure - kidney transplants for cats with renal failure - is now performed often enough that researchers can look at a relatively unusual complication of a once-rare operation. And they can give it a name: PTDM, or post-transplantation diabetes mellitus, as veterinary scientists from the University of California-Davis and the University of Pennsylvania did in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 230, No. 6).

We can almost see the ads now: "Tests at a major university prove our product eliminates cats inappropriate elimination problems."And indeed, thats more or less what a study at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine (as published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Vol. 9, No. 1) proved: ". . . use of Zero Odor litter box spray appears to decrease litter box odor and increases the attractiveness of litter box(es) to cats."

Ever since Gertie, the late great Short Takes muse, developed urinary tract disease - then went on a special renal diet and subsequently developed hypertension (high blood pressure) and went blind because her retinas detached - weve wondered: Which was worse, the disease or the effects of the treatments?

"Helping Owners Handle Aggressive Cats" is animal-behavior consultant Wayne Hunthausens advice for veterinarians who counsel concerned cat people who, like us, never knew there were so many reasons for cats to attack. He lists 11 possible types of feline aggression: "Fear-induced, play, redirected, petting-induced, territorial, inter-male, maternal, pain-induced, learned, pathophysiological and idiopathic."

A genetics study reported in the latest Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery addresses the widespread belief that chocolate (brown) Persians are more likely to lose eyesight due to progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) and also to develop polycystic kidney disease.

Veterinarians are following a study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 229, No. 6) as "Clinical evaluation of dietary modification for treatment of spontaneous chronic kidney disease in cats."