March 2012 - News from Dr. Kim

INTERNATIONAL CATS BIRTHDAY HAS ROLLED AROUND AGAIN

Help us Celebrate March 1st as the Day of The Cat!

Not everyone knows their cat’s birthday, so this day is for all those felines who maintain a mystery about their origins. Modern day will never come close to the ecstasies of celebrations made by the ancient Egyptian inhabitants of Bubastis who celebrated the return of Spring with festivals and dancing in the streets. They worshipped and sought the blessing of fertility from their gods, especially Bastet the Cat God.  On behalf of Bastet, the cats’ servants are offering the annual mewmento for the International Cats’ birthday to the first 100 owners who can collect the token of esteem from 131 Victoria Ave, CHATSWOOD before the end of March 2012! 
Have a worshipful March 1st!

WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT?

Have you seen the Feline Fabulous Grooming Video in Dr Kim’s website?
Check out www.catclinic.com.au/grooming.html or the YouTube series Dr Kim CatVet www.youtube.com/user/drkimcatvet All kinds of makes and models of cats groomed on SATURDAYS and MONDAYS!  Easy! 1800 CAT VET or ph/sms 0400 756 331 to book. Whether short or long haired or in between, your feline friend will come home plush fluffy and COMFORTABLE - all that yuk out of her coat!

NEW FELINE COMPANION ARRIVING AT YOUR HOUSE OR A FRIENDS?

‘Kitten Season’ - with the warm weather comes the furry bundles of barely-contained energy and entertainment that we call kittens. 

Lots of fun. Better in pairs. Dr Kim is one of the most experienced Kitten Wranglers in the world. Having been in charge of over 4,000 cats and kittens adopted out over the last 18 years, plus the countless other fur bundles brought to her clinic by owners, there are not many variations on the theme she has not encountered! As an expert in the ‘human-feline dyad’, Dr Kim is passionate about setting new arrivals up for success. Often, an understanding of the (enormous!) differences between the social requirements of dogs and humans versus cats is all it takes to create a more feline-friendly bond and greater enjoyment of the things cats do, rather than be disappointed by the things they don’t.

WHAT DOES A SICK CAT LOOK LIKE?

Felis catus is in an interesting niche.
Highly evolved as hypercarnivores and hunters of small prey, the original cat lived alone - you only share your mouse with your kitten after all. 

However, they are also small enough to be prey themselves, so there is every chance that a cat slowed by sickness is going to be consumed by something further up the food chain. Cats are prey for owls, hawks, foxes and dogs (in general of course!). So, as soon as they feel vulnerable, cats either hide, or hide their signs of illness,  even from their owners. Zoo keepers are much more useful at detecting illness in their charges than the zoo vet could ever be with tests and interventions, and that is one of the reasons zoo keepers tend to stay for a long time in their positions - they need to know every individual and its habits. And a cat “is still only a whisker away from the wilds” (Poet Jean Burden) so the same applies for your tiger-on-the-hearth.

The key to identifying illness is to notice CHANGE. A variation from what your feline friend does normally. More of one thing, less of another. Cats don’t lie (except lie down!) but they will conceal a problem. Drinking more, eating less. Using the tray - more, or less. Playing less, grumpy or sore somewhere. Clingy or more distant. Visible signs - vomiting (why is it ALWAYS on the carpet? Traction perhaps?). Diarrhoea. Blood from anywhere. Licking more (especially their back end - cats won’t usually do their private toilette in view). Hair falling out in patches. Scratching (ears usually) or ‘rippling skin. CHANGE is the key.

Your feline friend mirrors you in many ways. The range of illnesses - from alopecia to arthritis, colds to cancer, diarrhoea to diabetes and more - occur in them too.  The most common sign or symptom in a cat though, is lethargy - doing less, concealing more, conserving energy for recovery and repair. Owners frequently bring their cat to Dr Kim because something is ‘not quite right’. You know your pet best - if you are worried, there is probably something awry. And a vet visit in time, saves nine - lives!  For extra reading see The American Association of Feline Practitioner (Dr Kim is a contributing member). It has an article called 10 Subtle Signs of Sickness in Cats reprinted with permission on the website.

AND WHAT DOES A STRESSED CAT DO?, SEND PEE-MAIL!

Unwelcome as it seems to us, cats use their urine to send messages - to themselves, other cats, and us. Except we are not always very good at ‘reading’ the message and are more likely to get cross with the cat when we find the pee-mail message left on the bench or beside the door. 

Cats who ‘internalise’ their emotions often end up with cystitis - an extreme bladder irritation that causes them to try to urinate every few minutes, and also often ends up with them peeing blood. VERY unhappy bladder and cat. Younger cats are usually responding to a social frustration while older cats (especially females over 8 years old) usually have a bacterial component and even bladder polyps.

Remember - peeing on your clothes or furniture is not a moral statement by your cat - it is not revenge (BUT it is sometimes disappointment!). Cats are, of course, amoral. However, they have very specific social and emotional constructs - and they use their urine as an ‘aide memoire’ or a message to ‘other’ - you, your family or another cat. We are breeding cats who want to bond with people - burmese and ragdolls in particular - and then we expect them to just hang around till we have time to give them attention. In one study, the GREATEST STRESS for confined cats was to randomise their interactions with humans. Changing the person who cleaned, the time they were fed, the order they were fed in resulted in so much stress, that the study had to be stopped after two weeks on welfare grounds. The corollary is that cats with severe, chronic cystitis, once put into a regulated and enriched environment had no more symptoms of cystitis. Save yourself vet fees and drugs costs - consistency is better than medication.  

So if your cat is pee-mailing you, call Dr Kim and get the message interpreted! For the basics though, this is a reprint of an article Dr Kim did in 2002 ! Cats haven’t changed much!

MORE INFORMATION HERE >>

THE BEST CAT TRICK EVER, PURRRING!

What do cats do that dogs don’t? Oh, you mean aside from climb trees, scratch furniture and resolutely ignore you except at mealtimes? Yes, we’re talking about PURRING.

The modern facts of the purr are now reasonably well-documented. The sound is due to air vibrating at about 25 Hz (= 25 pulses per second) with different decibels (loudness) depending on the individual. The resonance is felt as vibrations all over the cat’s body. Cats can purr even when their diaphragm (the muscle which divides the chest from the abdomen and whose movement provides some of the ‘pull’ to bring air into the lungs) doesn’t work, but the diaphragm gives the air more pressure and movement so the purr is more distinct.

Researcher Elizabeth von Muggenthaler of the Fauna Communications Research Institute in North Carolina (FCRI), a specialist in the field of bioacoustics, recorded and then measured the purr of forty-four felids (members of the cat family) including cheetahs, ocelots, pumas, domestic cats, and servals.

Cats, from your house pet to lions and tigers in the wild, generally purr in the range of 20 to 140 Hertz (Hz). Some are as high as 150 Hz but the average house cat comes in at about 25 and 50 Hz.

So doesn’t that just make all cats PUURRFECT!