CAT HEALTH & MEDICINE

Luckily, your 10-year-old cat Jenny has never had a sick day in her life. Nevertheless, youve dutifully made a point of taking her to the veterinarian for a routine physical exam once a year to make sure shes up to date on her vaccinations and is not harboring some systemic disorder that could eventually prove difficult to manage.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a very common cause of illness in cats, especially older cats. Previous studies estimated that one in three cats are likely to develop kidney disease during their lifetime.

Thanks to advances in veterinary medicine - including an improved understanding of feline nutrition - cats are living longer these days. Due to their extended life spans, however, many cats are also more likely to develop arthritis. This painful and potentially crippling joint disease is a predominantly age-related condition.

Thanks to a clinical trial partly funded by the Morris Animal Foundation, there is an important veterinary breakthrough: Cats with FIP went into remission following treatment with a specific antiviral drug.

My husband and I have a very sweet kitty named Daisy. We have had her since she was roughly a year old (she is now about 16 years old). Unfortunately, she has developed diabetes, and she now also has a terrible skin allergy that we cannot get under control.

Constipation is one of the more common health problems that can affect your cats digestive system. This frustrating condition not only causes the cat varying degrees of discomfort, but it can also adversely affect his appetite and can even cause vomiting (more on that later).

Fortunately, the vast majority of newborn kittens come into the world with all of their body parts intact and all of their vital systems functioning properly. Sadly, however, there are notable exceptions - kittens afflicted with a congenital disorder like cerebellar hypoplasia (CH for short), a relatively rare neurologic condition that is alarmingly evident when it does occur.

Officially, theres no such thing as a veterinary nurse. The people who act in that capacity are termed veterinary technicians. But its confusing. Why arent veterinary technicians just called veterinary nurses in the first place?

This months Short Takes makes me particularly happy, and I really hope it sparks a trend in the animal welfare community. Researchers at the University of Georgia are matching senior citizens who live alone with shelter cats - to see if the relationship is helpful at making the person feel less lonely and with more purpose.

I have an eight-year-old cat who I rescued from a shelter as a kitten. I take Daisy to our local veterinarian once a year for a health examination. During our last visit, the veterinarian recommended that we run blood work every year. Is this really necessary for my cat, who is overall healthy? If so, can you explain the advantages of looking at blood work every year?

I have a cat that has a problem with a weeping eye (at the nose), a condition she has had for several years.

Compared with its human counterpart, the feline heart is quite tiny - only two inches or so in diameter, about the size of a golf ball. This hollow, muscular organ, however, is structured almost exactly like the human heart and plays the same powerful life-sustaining role.