Spotted Cat Designs » cat remedies

Fleas, Fleas — What can I do?

Susan Fiedler — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:40:00 +0000

Go to BeyondFleas.com!

They cover everything you could possible want to know including:

Identifying if your cat or dog actually has fleas
How to use each of the over the counter or prescription medications
How to control and exterminate fleas inside and outside your home — using professionals or as a DIYer
Life cycle of the flea
How to treat flea bites
Natural remedies for controlling fleas
“Bombing” (fumigating) your home for insects and spiders

So stop scratching — and visit BeyondFleas.com!

UK Pet Web Sites to Visit

Susan Fiedler — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:10:00 +0000

Pet Care Trust U.K.

Pet Health Council U.K.

Feline Veterinary Practioners

Susan Fiedler — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:46:00 +0000

The web site of the American Association of Feline Practitioners is primarily for veterinarians. If you use their “find a practitioner” it will only show you member veterinarians, not all veterinarians that care for cats.

If you go to their Practice Guidelines page, you will find a few really large .pdf files detailing their suggestions to all veterinarians on many subjects including feline pain management, zoonoses and assisting aging cats. This group and the European Society of Feline Medicine which is linked with the Feline Advisory Bureau(UK), publish the bimonthly Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. While a large part of the site focuses on technical matters, the Feline Advisory Bureau web site also has practical information about catteries, boarding facilities, and useful information for those who are owned by their cats.

Free Cat Health Brochures and Information

Susan Fiedler — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:06:00 +0000

I can cruise the net with the best of them Anecdotal stories are often interesting. However, when it comes to caring for our precious family members — that includes my sons as well as our cats I prefer to get my medical advice and information from those whose jobs involve staying at the forefront of medical knowledge.

Cornell University Veterinary School’s Feline Health Center has quite a few free online brochures related to various health and behavioral concerns. You can read them as an article or download as a .pdf file. Where appropriate they cross reference their own videos. From the link above, you can also access a glossary of feline medical terms, articles from their newsletter CatWatch.

At this writing there are 8 articles about general health issues ranging from what to do if your cat is “going outside the box” to dealing with aggression. There are four brochures about feline infectious diseases including zoonotic (transferable to humans) disease. And there are six about specific feline health diseases.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has lots of feline health brochures in English and Spanish; printable .pdf files and online readable files. Veterinary clinics can order mix and match packages of 50 brochures to give to clients. They also have a huge number of .pdf files concerned with disaster preparedness, mostly for veterinary practices and state organizations, however there are a few that are of use to pet owners such as Saving the Family (including pets!).

Go and see for yourself!

Help fund veterinary clinical studies — NOT using experimental animals)

Susan Fiedler — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:45:00 +0000

Petsavers is a charity that funds vital veterinary studies into the diagnosis and treatment of sick pets. It is a division of The British Small Animal Veterinary Assoc.

“Petsavers is dedicated to improving the health of the nation’s pets. We do this by funding clinical studies and clinical training programmes. * Petsavers clinical studies give us a better understanding of pets’ illnesses. This leads to improved diagnosis and treatment so that pets can have longer and healthier lives. * Petsavers training programmes develop the skills of vets so that they can apply the results of the clinical studies and their expertise to pets as soon as possible. These vets are referred to as Petsavers Scholars. No experimental animals are used in Petsavers studies. In the last 30 years Petsavers has given over £1.7 million towards these goals. Over this time the need for this funding has become even greater as other sources have dried up. We rely on the support of veterinarians, nurses and pet owners.“

Please help research groups such as this. It may save your cat’s life one day. Thank you.

Great News From Our Vet!!

Susan Fiedler — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:59:00 +0000

You may remember that Panther was diagnosed with diabetes last month. He just came back from his monthly glucose curve checkup. His numbers were so good we can halve his Lantus insulin doses! And he has gained about 8 ounces back since his last visit. I also learned that I must only give insulin if I have seen him eat, otherwise his blood sugar level can plummet into hypoglycemia.

The only minuscule downside: I have to draw out 1/2 to 3/4 of one Unit of insulin for each dosage. Which is about 1/16th of an inch. No worries!!

Some Medical Reference Sites for Feline Conditions

Susan Fiedler — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:17:00 +0000

Not in any particular order, these are some of the web sites that have helped us recognize, understand, and cope with a variety of medical situations and conditions. See also my blog entry on feline asthma, and my older article on cats with allergies. I also wrote a more exhaustive article covering online feline medical and health resources.

These are some of the first places we turn to:

The Pet Web Library by the Mar Vista Medical Center of Los Angeles offers a free alphabetical listing of many diseases and disorders with information to help you understand the condition and what can be done about it. It was one of the first places we found when our beloved Glory was diagnosed with pancreatitus.

American Veterinary Medical Assoc. and their Animal Health section for pet owners

NetVet and the Electronic Zoo Created by Dr. Ken Boschert DVM. While not recently updated, still a great place to browse for information

The British Small Animal Veterinary Assoc.

Canadian Veterinary Medical Assoc has Animal Health Care Information and Advice

Video of a Cat Having an Asthma attack

Susan Fiedler — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:21:00 +0000

Whenever I see or hear one of our cats having hairball coughing, I immediately get the Laxatone or Petromalt and give them about 1 inch (2.5 cm) every other day for a week and then weekly. Then I get my family to increase brushing and combing our cats. For more on this subject see Hairball Express or the Fur is Flying.

The problem is that not all coughing means a hairball. Sometimes it can be far more serious. Asthma attacks are an emergency. Asthma can kill. I recommend you watch these videos (links below) so you can recognize the symptoms, and can take appropriate emergency measures. Know where the nearest emergency vet clinic is located. If you think you have seen these symptoms in you cat, talk to your vet ASAP.

As someone who has asthma, I know how scary a sudden onset attack can be. Seeing it in a cat was heartrending. There are medications such as albuterol inhalers, Flovent and steroids to cut inflammation — how familiar I have used them, too… They even have the aerokat pet inhaler designed as a feline friendly device for using MDI’s (metered dose inhalers). This video shows it being used.

Each of the people who took these videos did so in order to educate others.

I found Dave’s Feline Asthma attack video while browsing. That is what got me started on this blog entry. The coughing is not like hairball coughs I have heard. Much more labored and tiring for the poor kitty.

This video gives a medical explanation of symptoms associated with feline asthma.

Another video of a cat with labored breathing. As the person who posted this wrote: “The purpose of this video is to give an example of what labored or abdominal breathing looks like. This video was made in order to show our vet what we were seeing. Needless to say, Stinky [their cat] was brought in to the emergency room after capturing this footage. Note: Normal respiration should be between 20-30 [per minute].“

Cats can also have food or environmental allergies, as we found out when Glory repeatedly started scratching the side of her neck until she was bloody. For a more detailed discussion of what we learned, see my article “When Cats Have Allergie s“.

I had an earlier post on some Online Feline Medical and Health Resources to find reliable medical information regarding feline health issues. Looking it over, I think I will add others in a future blog entry when I can.

Good To Know — Free Pet Emergency Information

Susan Fiedler — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:31:00 +0000

While browsing the Internet I came across some useful freebies and important safety and emergency information. While some focus on dogs, the basic information is applicable to all pets.

There is no substitute for being prepared for an emergency. A basic first aid kit for humans and pets seems a sensible thing to have. So does making sure that everyone old enough for the responsibility of caring for a pet, knows the basic signs of a medical problem, what to do and who to call. Talk with your vet, your family so you know what to do before something goes terribly wrong.

We have our veterinarian’s phone number in the kitchen and on all our cell phones.

Cornell University’s Feline Health Center “Max’s House” covers detailed instructions on what to do in a given medical emergency, including recommended components for a first aid kit, normal respiration counts, how to restrain a frightened cat, and immediate first aid for breathing difficulties, bleeding, bone or soft tissue injuries and shock.

The same site offers the most detailed list of cat-toxic plants that I have found (by Common Plant Name), including the ASPCA toxic plant list. Cornell also lists the plants by the Latin Genus/Species. This second listing provides poisoning symptoms and treatment.

The ASPCA has a number of useful articles:

Non-Toxic plants

What to do if your pet ate or drank something that may be poisonous

The phone number for Animal Poison Control Center of the for ASPCA is (888) 426-4435. FYI they state “There is a $55 consultation fee for this service“.

Be ready with the following information:
- the species, breed, age, sex, weight and number of animals involved
- the animal’s symptoms
- information regarding the exposure, including the agent (if known), the amount of the agent involved and the time elapsed since the time of exposure.

Have the product container/packaging available for reference.”

Pedigree has a free first aid guide for pet owners. Go to the page and click on “downloadable” by the upper right icon. Their disaster preparedness brochure has very useful tips for evacuting your pets — in part based on lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina devastation.
Other canine related safety information can be found on their “First Aid and Safety” web page.