CAT HEALTH & MEDICINE

Do you have a cat with chronic conjunctivitis (pink eye)? Washington State Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine - a couple hundred miles from both Seattle and Boise - wants to see if a new vaccine will work to improve her response to the condition.

Feline injection site sarcoma (FISS) is an aggressive form of cancer in cats associated with the administration of vaccines and injectable medications, affecting about one in 1,000 vaccinated cats. This cancer was once thought to be a rare side-effect of rabies vaccines, but experts now believe it can occur following any kind of injection -even microchipping.

I trapped two stray kittens last year and had them treated for ringworm. They were neutered and given two rounds of kitten vaccinations. They also had bad breath so my veterinarian cleaned their teeth and needed to extract some teeth. She informed me that one cats dental problems had migrated into the root.

My cat, Buddy, is obese. He is very long, and weighs close to 29 pounds. Our veterinarian says we should try to get him down to 20 pounds. He has been tested for a thyroid problem, and it appears that this is not the issue.

Consider this frightening occurrence: A cat darts into the street near his home and is struck by a car. One or more of the bones in one leg are severely broken, and a quick trip to the nearest veterinary clinic yields some very upsetting news. The fractured limb is beyond surgical repair, and the cats owners are faced with a limited set of options as explained by the veterinarian: Either the injured cat should be euthanized, or the fractured limb should be amputated.

Invariably, any friend or family member with a cat question comes straight to me. And while I always try to help with some form of answer, on occasion, its truly impossible to offer a ten-minute solution to a complex problem involving a litter box issue, aggression in a multicat home or a sickly stray in the neighborhood.

Recently, I noticed that my seven-year-old male cat, Bisco, was excessively grooming his hindquarters. When I investigated the site, I discovered a raw, red spot where he had licked the fur and skin off. The vet explained that Bisco had developed a hot spot and that these were fairly common in cats, particularly during the summer.

Obviously, its very distressing to a cat owner if she witnesses the plight of an otherwise healthy animal having difficulty moving her bowels. The cat will crouch over her litter box and stare fixedly ahead - her abdomen contracting and her legs and hind quarters quivering as she strains to pass an impacted stool. If her efforts pay off at all, she may eventually pass a small, hard, dark-colored fecal mass into her litter box. If not, she is apt to give up the task for the time being, disappear from sight, and then return to the litter box and try again a little while later.

Car sickness affects a high percentage - perhaps as many as half - of all household cats in the U.S. In some cases, the disorder and its manifestations may be caused by a fleeting disturbance of a cats vestibular system - the complex array of nerves and other components, centered in an animals inner ear and lower brain, that governs his sense of balance and coordinates the movement of his head and eyes.

Most cats are likely to contract an upper respiratory disease at some point during their lives. Although a wide range of viral and bacterial agents may be responsible for these common disorders, perhaps the most frequently diagnosed is infection with the feline herpesvirus (FHV).

Diabetes mellitus is a frequently diagnosed disease of the feline pancreas, a relatively small, thin organ nestled in the front portion of a cats abdomen.

I have worked for local spay/neuter non-profit organization for the past 16 years, and we deal primarily with stray and feral cats. Over the past two years, we have been seeing a condition that is commonly referred to as puffy pad disease.