Short Takes

A study in the May 15, 2019, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association looked at the nutritional adequacy of recipes provided by various sources for homemade diets for cats. The recipes evaluated were all for maintenance only, and no therapeutic diets were included.

The Durham County (N.C.) News reports that veterinarian Sabrina Grinstead donated a dozen $125 pet oxygen masks to the Durham Fire Department. “I’ve been looking for a way to contribute . . . and I came across the need for the masks,” Dr. Grinstead says.

Lucky Stowaway - The Prince George Citizen in Prince George, B.C., reports that the SPCA North Cariboo District Branch is caring for a severely emaciated stowaway cat who arrived in April from China.

A University of Guelph online survey of 3,673 pet owners found that 35 percent of the responders whose pets ate conventional diets were interested in switching to a vegan diet.

While cat hair takes the blame for causing cat allergies, it is the proteins in cat saliva that stimulate most human allergic reactions.

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery published a study (Strong, SJ, et al 2019), shared on journals.sagepub.com, that looked at treatment options for orphaned kittens with diarrhea.

His Home Became a Cat House - The GoodNewsNetwork.org reports that a man in Santa Barbara, Calif., turned his home into the House of Nekko (translation from Japanese: House of Cats).

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) reports that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is monitoring a fungal infection (Sporothrix brasiliensis) in Brazil and nearby countries that is being spread by cats to people. The infections in cats are known as clown nose because of the swollen, infected nasal mucosa seen in affected cats. Its usually fatal in cats.

The American Association of Feline Practitioners makes recommendations on vaccine choices for cats that you can use in vaccination discussions with your veterinarian.

If your cat has been diagnosed with a complex or serious illness or needs specialty surgery, your regular veterinarian may recommend a referral to a board-certified specialist, a veterinarian who has put in extra training in a certain field, much like a human oncologist or cardiologist.

Modern domestic cats are at least 16 percent bigger than their Viking-Age ancestors (793-1066 AD), according to a Danish study shared by The Winn Foundation. Researchers excavated the remains of adult domestic cats at archaeological sites in Denmark as well as modern skeletal remains.

A recent study out of Italy looked at survival and prognostic factors for cats with restrictive cardiomyopathy. The researchers looked at 90 cats who had been diagnosed with this cardiac condition via echocardiography between 1997 and 2015. There were 53 more males than females in the study.