Ignore the “best by” date?
Q: I know that if a cat food has passed its expiration date it’s best to throw it out, but what about a “best...
Can a child with asthma live with a cat?
Q: My sister wants to get a cat, but her young daughter has asthma. Won’t that just make it harder for my niece to...
Dear Doctor: Broken “wrist”
Q: My cat was walking funny — kind of flatfootedly— and the vet took some x-rays and said she has something called carpal hyperextension...
Sedation for dental work rather than anesthesia?
Q: Is it possible to do dental work on a cat’s teeth without full anesthesia, using a sedative gas mask or other means of...
Fence on top of a fence to keep the cat in the yard
I would like to be able to let my cat go into the backyard, but no further. I have seen on the Internet that...
Toy safety
Q: My cat, Penny, has a wand toy with a small bell and some feathers at the end of a barely visible string. I...
Are male cats friendlier?
Q: I’ve sometimes heard that male cats are friendlier than females. Is that true?
Amos Butterfield
Weaver, Alabama
Dear Mr. Butterfield,
A: The notion that male cats are...
Need money for surgery
Q: My cat needs major surgery on her mouth to the tune of $4,000. No point in berating me for not having pet health...
Photographing a black cat
Q: A lot of times, photos of my black cat come out looking like two eyes and nothing else. Is there any way to...
Litterbox woes
Q: I put a plastic liner under the litterbox. It spread beyond the box’s edges a few inches in each direction in order to...
How does she know I’m pregnant?
Q: I am just entering my second trimester of pregnancy and not showing yet, but I’m sure my cat knows. How can that be?
Tamsin...
Dear Doctor November 2022
My cats cry while carrying their toys
Q: We’ve had our two cats for five years. After a couple of years, the older one, a...
