Short Takes

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."

When Too Many Is Not EnoughThe stories are heartbreakingly familiar: An elderly recluse passes away and the house is found to be filled with...

A study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 234, No. 2) found that some dietary supplements dont dissolve fast enough to be absorbed by cats and dogs. The report was titled "Composition, disintegrative properties, and labeling compliance of commercially available taurine and carnitine dietary products" and said that two out of three (labeling and composition) were adequate. Researchers concluded: "Taurine and carnitine products evaluated in this study closely adhered to manufacturer claims and labeling guidelines. However, disintegration testing suggested high variability in some products, possibly limiting uptake and use by animals that receive them."

More toxic objects in your home; vegetarian cats; catowners and strays

When to Evacuate Your Pets? Cat owners ordered to evacuate in advance of a potential disaster face some tough decisions: Where will the cat and I stay? (Red Cross shelters generally dont allow pets.) Do I care enough to stay behind with my cat? (An American Kennel Club survey, in the wake of 2005s Hurricane Katrina, found most pet owners planning to defy evacuation orders if they could not take their pets. Nearly two-thirds…

Why Cats Are Fat, and What to DoWhen a normally thin publication like Waltham Focus, an international journal for companion-animal veterinarians, stuffs an issue...