CAT HEALTH & MEDICINE

Does your cat lick or devour non-food items while displaying passionate interest in those objects? Is he eating nylon stockings or chomping down on paper towels?

You love your cat and let him get up close even though having him around makes your eyes water, your nose run, or your throat scratchy. Youre not alone. About 10 percent of the U.S. population has a pet allergy, with twice as many people allergic to cats as to dogs, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. With an estimated 47 million cat-owning households in the U.S., thats a lot of discomfort endured in the name of feline love.

The year 1979 marked the first time a cat was diagnosed with a hyperactive thyroid. Since then cases have been on the rise. Up to one in six older cats is affected by this illness, which throws their metabolism into overdrive, making it overshoot the mark.

Two animal behaviorists and a veterinarian reporting in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery have shown that feeding cats using food puzzles - either little balls with holes in them or gadgets that need to be manipulated by the cat to release food - can reverse a variety of psychosocial and physical problems.

Even the most caring cat owner probably wouldnt list mouth-to-snout as the preferred way of expressing affection. But what if it could save the life of a companion animal who has stopped breathing?

Ask someone with a cat what happens if the pet wants breakfast at 4 A.M. and you dont feel like getting up and feeding her. Theyll keep annoying you until you do, says Alicia Karas, DVM, a pain specialist at the Tufts Cummings School. But when theyre not feeling well, they act more like prey species rather than the predators they are, Dr. Karas comments. They lie low. We dont really know why. Unless youre very astute about reading your pet, youll very likely miss the cues.

Only 5 percent of cats are covered by health insurance, according to a survey of more than 450 cat owners conducted by the American Pet Products Association. But 100 percent of cats get sick at one point or another, just like people. Thats why we firmly believe that cat owners should seriously consider buying a health insurance policy for their pets.

After a second cat tested positive for rabies in North Miami Beach this past fall, Floridas Department of Health issued a rabies alert. The disease had been found in an unvaccinated stray, and at least one person in the area received rabies treatment; a second person was scratched by the cat and was being examined.

Cats dont get cavities. Their teeth dont touch each other in a way that lets cavity-causing bacteria collect between them, and they dont have little pits and fissures in their teeth, like people do, to serve as natural places for cavities to form. The pH of their saliva also stops cavity formation.

Cancer. The word alone evokes high emotions, whether its impacting a family member, friend or beloved pet. Our thoughts tend to run from astonishment to guilt and fear as we grapple to come to terms with the new reality and what to do next. Like humans, our pets are also living longer these days - and that fact alone contributes to the likelihood of our cats one day developing cancer.

According to research, feline tumors arent used nearly as often as those in dogs to study cancer. While cats tend to have a type of skin cancer in their heads and mouths that some researchers use as a model for human head and neck cancers, dogs are diagnosed more frequently with tumors that overlap with human cancer.

Upper respiratory infections are very common in cats, especially kittens. Most of these infections are caused by viruses. In fact, roughly 90 percent of all upper airway infections in cats are caused by two common viruses: feline herpesvirus and feline calicivirus. Some affected cats develop secondary bacterial infections, which can make treatment and recovery longer and more difficult.