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Family cat in Oregon dies after getting swine flu

November 19th, 2009, 1:29 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

swine-flu-virusA cat in Lebanon, Ore., is likely the first cat in the United States to have died as a result of the H1N1 virus, Oregon state veterinary officials said.

Raina Dey of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association and state public health veterinarian Emilio DeBess said the 10-year-old cat likely contracted the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, from a human, The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard reported Thursday.

Read The Cat Doc’s column: “Can the family cat catch our colds” for advice on combating illness in your pet.

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Posted in: Cats • Elaine Wexler-Mitchell • Pet health • Pets • swine flu • vet • • • • • | 2 Comments »

The Cat Doc: Can the family cat catch our colds?

November 12th, 2009, 7:00 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sigWe humans are at the start of our cold and flu season, and owners are asking me whether or not their cats can catch their colds.

The answer is probably not — at least not if you are dealing with a viral infection.

The common cold that we contract is a virus, and most viruses are species specific, which means humans get human viruses and cats get cat viruses. Unfortunately, cures for human upper respiratory viruses do not exist, so treatment involves relieving symptoms and trying to prevent secondary bacterial infections. The same holds true for “kitty colds”.

Just like with our human colds, kitty colds are contagious to other cats, and it is common for multiple cats to be affected in a household.

Kitty colds caused by viruses usually cause sneezing and a clear discharge from the nose and/or eyes. A more serious upper respiratory infection (a combination of a virus and a bacterial infection) in a cat would be characterized by fever, enlarged lymph nodes, yellow to green discharge from the eyes and nose, and loss of appetite. Antibiotics would be needed if these additional symptoms were present, and they would fight the bacterial component of the infection.

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The Cat Doc: Helping the medicine go down

October 27th, 2009, 4:30 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sigMrs. Matthews looked at me and raised her eyebrows.  “You want me to get Mittens to take that?”  she asked.

We were ending Mittens’ examination and I was showing her the antibiotic tablets he needed for an infected leg wound.  I smiled and said that we could dispense a liquid medication instead, but I really thought the tablets would be easier since Mittens was such a gentle cat.

“Okay, show me how,” she replied. To her surprise, Mittens cooperated and she gave me a big smile.

One of the challenges of being a cat owner is getting medications into our pets.  As most cat owners know, their loving kitty can turn into a man-eating tiger when it comes to taking medicine.  Here are some hints for making medicating your cat less traumatic for each of you!

Click over to see The Cat Doc’s tips …

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Posted in: Cats • Elaine Wexler-Mitchell • Pet health • Pets • medication • vet • • | Post a Comment »

The Cat Doc: Grooming essentials for every cat clan

October 15th, 2009, 2:23 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sigLick, lick. Rub, rub. Switch to the next leg. This pattern is very familiar to owners watching their cat groom. Each cat has his own grooming routine, and if time allows, he may also groom other cats in the home. Some cats even like to groom their owners. My cat, Shaka, loves to jump on my desk and lick my hair.

How much grooming is normal? Normal grooming ranges between “not much” to complete obsession. Cats that are poor groomers have dull, dry, matted coats. Those that groom excessively will mow down their hair and even create bald spots. A cat’s general health and his environment both can impact grooming behavior.

Why do some cats groom excessively? Itchiness is one reason. Cats may itch due to allergies, inflammatory conditions, fleas or other skin parasites, bacterial or fungal infections, and dry skin. Some cats groom as a response to stress – the equivalent of people who bite their fingernails. If your cat grooms excessively or has any other abnormalities with his hair or skin, have him checked out by your veterinarian.

Treatment for behavioral or psychogenic alopecia (hair loss) can involve an Elizabethan collar to prevent grooming, unpleasant tasting sprays or creams, herbal calming remedies, or even prescription anti-anxiety drugs. Whatever treatment your vet recommends, it should not be discontinued until the behavior has stopped and the skin has adequately recovered.

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Posted in: Cats • Elaine Wexler-Mitchell • Grooming • Pet health • Pets • fleas • vet | Post a Comment »

The Cat Doc: Fur, fur and more fur makes for hairballs

September 29th, 2009, 2:59 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sig“Doctor, I found this on the floor in my home and I am not sure which end of my cat it came out of!”

Mrs. Carlin began to open up a little bag she had brought along with her and her cat, Smokey.  Smokey was Mrs. Carlin’s first cat and he had beautiful, medium-length gray hair.  I knew what we were dealing with before I saw the contents of the bag–Smokey’s first hairball.

One of the inevitable and un-enviable duties of being a cat owner is cleaning up vomit! Hairballs are the most common cause of vomiting in cats.  For some cats vomiting is normal because they have a hairball or have eaten too quickly.  For other cats, vomiting is a sign of serious disease.

Finding your first hairball is a scary experience.  They can be large, tubular structures, or they can be small and mixed with food or fluid.  Hairballs are a normal physiologic occurrence in cats, but there is no veterinary consensus on how they should be managed.

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Posted in: Animals • Cats • Elaine Wexler-Mitchell • Grooming • Hairballs • Pet health • Pets • The Cat Doc • • • • | Comments Off

The Cat Doc: Is cat scratch fever driving you nutty?

September 16th, 2009, 5:25 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sigCats have claws and scratching is a normal behavior.  Cats scratch to sharpen and clean their claws and to stretch, but they also scratch to leave their scent on things.

If you go to the zoo or watch lions and tigers on nature shows, you will see the big cats engage in scratching behavior similar to that of our pet cats.  Instinct tells a cat to scratch, but training allows you to control where the scratching occurs in your home.

Yes, people, you can train your cat.

Many owners tell me their cat scratches the sofa, and when I ask if they have a scratching post somewhere in the house they sometimes say, “No.”

Other owners tell me they have a scratching post, but when I ask if they trained their cat to use it, they often say, again, “No.”  Cats are smart, but they are not smart enough to know the difference between the arm of your sofa and a scratching post, unless you help them.

Getting a kitten to scratch in an appropriate spot is easy.  You need to make it part of the daily routine of play and interaction.  It is a good idea when you first get up in the morning to take your kitten to the scratching post, put his feet up on it, and help him scratch.  You can also dangle toys on strings close to the post to stimulate the kitten to jump up and grab the post and toy.  This play can occur several times during the day.

There are three main materials that scratching posts are made from: carpet, cardboard, and rope (sisal).  Some cats have preferences for different materials, so if your cat is not interested in the post type that you have, try another kind.

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Posted in: Animals • Cats • Elaine Wexler-Mitchell • Pet health • Pets • training • vet • • • • • • | Post a Comment »

The Cat Doc: Feeding your cat, Part Two

September 4th, 2009, 1:01 am by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sig

Cats in the wild spend a large part of their day hunting and catching food, so it is rare for a wild or feral cat to be overweight.  Our housecats have easy lives and usually just need to meow or look at us to be fed.

Feeding a cat, or giving treats, is one of the few things we can do that elicits pleasant feedback from our cat.  You know your housecat really needs you to provide food, and it creates a bond.

In my last column I suggested appropriate feeding portions for cats, but my clients often tell me their cat is driving them crazy by demanding more food than what I tell them to feed. Do you break your bond, or do you give in and make your cat fat and happy?

I urge you to be strong and restrain your cat’s eating habits.  Just like overweight humans, overweight cats are at risk for arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, fatty liver disease, urinary tract infections, and skin problems.  They also cannot keep themselves clean and can be messy around the house.

If your cat overeats, you need to feed two to three small portions throughout the day that add up to a proper caloric intake.  One way to achieve this and to remove “you” from the feeding process is by installing an automatic feeder.

Believe it or not, if a machine starts feeding your cat, your cat will stop bothering you for more food.  There are many types of automatic feeders, and some are designed to feed canned food.

Pet feeders can be found in pet stores and on the Internet.  One local business, Smart Home (16542 Millikan Avenue Irvine, CA 92606), has a large variety of feeders.
Reducing a cat’s food portion should occur over several weeks, so that the stomach can shrink slowly.

Most overweight cats are not playful, so increasing exercise to help with weight loss is tough.  Try to find toys that will motivate your cat to move.  Another strategy is using part of your cat’s food portion for exercise.  Many cats will chase around after individual kibbles of food.  Throw pieces of food around the floor and make your cat go after it.

Consider putting small amounts of your cat’s food portion in different places around the house, so the cat actually has to get up and exercise to find food.  If you also have a young or thin cat you want to supplement with food, try feeding this cat at a high location the overweight one cannot reach or in a separate area.

Feeding time for multiple cats

Controlling food portions in a multi-cat household is even more important.  In most households with more than one cat, one cat is thin and another one is heavy.

There is no doubt that certain cats have faster metabolisms than others and can eat more, but eating and dominating the food bowl are ways that certain cats express their territoriality.  I assure you that if you control portions for the total number of cats, your trim cats will maintain, and your heavy cats will lose weight.

There are different feeding strategies for weight loss.  The most common ones are:

  • Feeding all canned food,
  • Feeding high protein/low carbohydrate foods (The CATkins Diet), and
  • Feeding lower calorie/high fiber foods.

I will tell you that I have had success with each of these as long as the owner has been willing to control portions.  The idea behind feeding all canned food is that most canned food is high in protein and water, and these nutrients provide more satiation for a cat.

When a cat eats a high protein/low carbohydrate diet, the theory is that it takes more time and energy to digest protein than carbs, so the cat is not getting the quick sugar fix.

Lastly, if the cat eats a lower calorie/high fiber diet, he can eat a larger portion and get filled up better.  Consider discussing which diet strategy would work best with your cat with your veterinarian.

I urge owners of young cats to start out with good feeding practices.  Feed good foods in controlled portions.  Free feeding unlimited dry food doesn’t work for most cats, and definitely doesn’t work in a multi-cat household.  Dieting a cat is hard work and can be frustrating, but trim cats are more active and healthier, so it is worth it!

Did you miss it? Click here to read Part One: “Is there a best way to feed a cat?”

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Read more of The Cat Doc’s columns at her Pet Tales page.

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The Cat Doc: Is there a best way to feed a cat?

August 26th, 2009, 10:38 am by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

newwexler-sigEach time I walk into a pet store or walk down the pet food aisle in a grocery store, I am amazed at the variety and number of brands of pet foods on the market.

Additionally, there are many therapeutic diet products that are sold only at veterinary clinics and raw and organic diets sold through specialty markets and on the Internet.  The choices are overwhelming.

Many owners think all they need to do is fill up a bowl with dry food and all will be well, but this is seldom the case.

If you speak to breeders, veterinarians, and pet food manufacturers, no one will agree on the best diet to feed a pet.  Everyone who deals with pet nutrition has opinions on diets based on research, experience feeding the product, and reading promotional materials from the manufacturers.

While I am not going to recommend any specific products in this column, I do want to share some of my opinions on feeding cats.

Kittens should be fed a combination of canned and dry food.  If a kitten does not have a delicate digestive tract, I think it is a good idea to also vary brands.  Kittens are like human children, if they are exposed to various textures, tastes, and sizes of food, they will be less picky as adults.

Once a kitten has been sterilized, their metabolic rate drops dramatically and their caloric needs decline significantly.   Sterilized kittens 6 months and older can be switched to adult maintenance diets.  Healthy adult cats also do well on a combination of dry and canned food.

The time between 6 and 18 months is critical for a kitten to reach full size, and full size often becomes oversized even at these young ages.  I think that only about 25% of cats eat appropriate amounts of food if given unlimited access to dry food.  This means that 75% of cats will overeat if too much food is available to them.

An average adult cat needs between 200-250 calories daily, and this would include dry food, canned food, and any treats or snacks. 

You might be surprised to know:

  • Iams Indoor Cat Hairball Care diet: 365 calories per cup;
  • Science Diet Nature’s Best Chicken diet: 420 calories per cup;
  • Purina ONE Chicken and Rice: 452 calories per cup;
  • Wellness CORE: 536 calories per cup;
  • One 3-ounce can of Fancy Feast: about 95 calories;
  • One 5.5-ounce can of Friskies: about 140 calories.

Forget about reading the feeding guides on cat food bags.  All of them suggest feeding much larger portions than a house cat needs.  If you look at the above examples, you’ll see that feeding your cat ½ measured cup of dry food daily (if all he or she eats is dry food) is too much for the highly caloric foods.

Fess up: Are you overfeeding the cat?
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If you feed 3-ounce canned, then you can only feed ¼ measured cup of dry food daily if you want to keep your cat fit.  If you have an overweight cat or extremely sedentary cat, portioning food and using lower calorie products is more critical.

Stay tuned, cat owners. I’ll have more suggestions for feeding your cat, controlling portions, and weight loss in my next column.

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Read more of the Cat Doc’s columns at her Pet Tales page.

Posted in: Cats • Elaine Wexler-Mitchell • Pet health • Pets • food • vet • • | Post a Comment »

The Cat Doc: How often are you cleaning the cat box?

August 11th, 2009, 1:48 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

Every week I deal with frantic owners who are upset about their cat not wanting to newwexler-siguse his or her litter box.  Good litter box habits are something every owner expects from their cat, but in turn, a proper litter box environment is expected by every cat.

What does your cat want with his or her litter box?  This may sound like a silly question, but owners don’t always keep their cat’s box up to an acceptable standard of cleanliness.  We humans don’t like using crowded, smelly or unclean toilets, and the same holds true for our cats.

The following is taken from The American Association of Feline Practitioners, Feline Behavior Guidelines, a resource for owners and veterinarians. I was a member of the veterinary panel that produced the guidelines, and we worked with other experts and studied research to create these recommendations:

  • Most cats prefer a fine-grained, unscented litter substrate, like clumping litter.
  • Boxes should be scooped at least one to two times daily.
  • Clumping litter should be completely changed at least weekly and more often if more than one cat uses it.
  • Clay litter should be changed a minimum of every other day (more frequently if multiple cats are using it).  Wash litter box with warm, soapy water and dry well before adding new litter.
  • The ideal number of litter boxes is one per cat, plus one. Litter boxes should be placed in at least 2 different locations, and preferably more if a multiple cat household.  Locations should be private and have easy access.  Boxes should not be placed next to noisy appliances.
  • Prevent blocking litter box exit or entry of one cat by another. Have at least two ways for cats to enter and exit the box.
  • Never trap or corner a cat in its box to give it medication or perform other procedures that the cat may dislike.
  • Many cats prefer a litter depth or 1.5 inches; however, preferences vary.
  • Cats prefer litter boxes that are at least 1.5 times the length of their bodies. Many commercial litter boxes are too small for larger cats. Sweater storage boxes, cement mixing tubes, and small dog litter pans (for dogs up to 35 pounds) all make excellent cat litter boxes.

Many cats are very adaptive and don’t demand that all of the above be followed, but if you have a cat that stops using or doesn’t always use his or her box, you need to think about every one of these items.

How many times do you clean the litter box?
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One other item that is not listed above is the height of the sides of the box.  Arthritic or overweight cats often need more shallow-sided boxes to comfortably get in and out.

There are dozens of types of litters and litter boxes, and sometimes you need to experiment with different things to see what your own cat prefers.   I have trained my own cats to use the Cat Genie, a self washing litter box, but this is not for everyone.  It is much easier to train a young cat to an alternative type of litter box than an older cat who is more set in his ways.

Certain litter manufacturers claim that other litter types, such as clumping litters, are unsafe because they cause intestinal blockages and other problems, but in more than two decades of practice, I have never found this to be true.

Some litters are more environmentally friendly, smell better, stick less to a cat’s feet, or are less dusty, but just because we like them doesn’t mean our cats will feel the same way.

You can read more of The Cat Doc’s columns at her Pet Tales page. Enjoy!

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The Cat Doc: War on fleas gets easier with new weapons

July 22nd, 2009, 11:59 pm by Samantha Gowen, Pet Tales editor

wexler-sigIt’s the middle of the summer and those pesky fleas are out in full force.  Even indoor only cats get fleas.  Fleas can hitchhike on humans and come in through screens or open windows.

Fleas can only live off of the blood of your cat or dog, so if you are getting flea bites, you have a big infestation with desperately hungry fleas in your home.

Fortunately there have been great advances in products that effectively kill fleas and are safe for our furry feline friends.  You no longer have to use collars, sprays, powders or dips to protect your cat from fleas.

My opinion is that those products are obsolete and much more toxic to you and your cat than newer options.  If you have an exterminator come into your home, always be sure they are using products that are safe around cats.

Cats are very sensitive to drugs and insecticides, and younger kittens are even more sensitive, so it is crucial to read labels and never use products labeled for dogs on cats.  Many dog products are potentially lethal to cats.

All natural flea repelling products have not proved to be very effective either. In fact, some natural remedies are also toxic to cats.  Please be wary and research any of these products if you choose to give them a try.

As a veterinarian, I feel comfortable recommending the products that have been researched and have either FDA or EPA approval for use on cats.  The manufacturers have spent the time and money needed to be sure their products are safe for cats.

flea-combThe newer products for flea control are not cheap, but I think they are worth the money.  Buying them from online or non-veterinary sources are not usually good deals, because veterinarians have promotions where they can add in free tubes.  You also have the risk that you are not receiving original product, since some of the current products are being produced or copied illegally overseas.

One of my favorite flea control products is a flea comb. You can use one to monitor your cat for fleas.  A wire-toothed flea comb with a handle is the easiest type to use.

Unless you comb your cat several times daily, or have an indoor cat that never gets fleas, a flea comb alone will not be adequate for complete flea control. Here are some suggestions:

  • spot-on-treatmentsSpot-on treatments: Monthly veterinary-supplied, spot-on products offer excellent flea control. They include: Advantage®, Frontline®, Revolution®, ProMeris®, and Vectra®.  Each contain a different chemical that will kill fleas within several hours, however none of these products repel fleas. A flea will physically have to jump on the cat to be killed.
  • Be patient: Some owners are disappointed to see fleas on a cat that has been treated with spot-on products, but patience is needed since the flea kill is not immediate.  These chemicals work by damaging the flea’s nervous system.  Some of these products are similar to those used in agriculture to protect the fruits and vegetables that we eat.
  • Oral products: Capstar® will kill fleas in the shortest amount of time, but it only lasts for capstarcomfortis24 hours.  It is safe enough to give frequently and is sometimes used by owners whose cats have reactions to topical products.  Some veterinarians are using another oral product called Comfortis® with cats, and this product keeps killing fleas for a month, but it is not currently licensed for use in cats, so you must be willing to assume an off label risk.
  • Sterilization: Program® comes as tablets, oral gel, and injection.  programProgram® does not kill adult fleas but it will sterilize any fleas that are exposed so they will not reproduce and keep up an infestation, and it will keep immature stages of fleas from developing into adults.

There are so many good, effective, and safe products available, that there is no excuse for your cat to have fleas.  Fleas are a nuisance and are uncomfortable for your cat, and overwhelming infestations can cause life threatening anemia. Fleas also transmit other diseases and tapeworms to cats.  Discuss a flea control plan with your veterinarian and keep your cat healthy.

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Read the Cat Doc’s articles at her Pet Tales page.

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