EVERYDAY CAT CARE

Just as your own skin might require moisturizer during the cold months, so might your cat’s. It’s the dry heat in people’s homes that does it. Inside environments tend to have much less moisture (lower humidity) to keep skin well hydrated when the heat is cranked up.

You see an ad for Siberian forest kittens that promises they are hypoallergenic. You then make a mental note to yourself about your next cat, since the one you have makes your eyes water and your throat scratchy. But that breed can bring out your allergy, too. What gives?

We not infrequently hear from our clients that they chose their cat’s food based on the recommendation of someone who works at the pet shop. Not to diminish the good work of store staff in any way, but would you build a nutritious diet for yourself based on the advice of someone who works at the supermarket?

You may hear some people refer to cat cavities. But cats don’t get cavities. Their teeth don’t touch each other in a way that lets cavity-causing bacteria collect between them, and they don’t have little pits and fissures in their teeth, like people do, where cavities form. The pH of their saliva also stops cavity formation.

Is your cat happy? Bored? Something else? Here are a few ways to tell.

If your cat occasionally gets into your dog’s food, it’s no big deal. But cats have unique nutrition requirements that dog food simply cannot cover. In fact, it would be much easier for a dog to get by on cat food than vice-versa.

• The more games someone plays with their cat, the better the feline’s quality of life and the better the relationship between the cat and their guardian. Furthermore, cats show signs of distress when their people haven’t played with them for a while. They become more destructive, more aggressive, or more reclusive, depending perhaps on their inherent nature.

  These are just some of the findings made by researchers who designed detailed surveys that were answered by almost 1,600 people in 55 countries. The researchers, hailing from Australia’s University of Adelaide, reported their results in a study entitled “Cats Just Want to Have Fun,” which appeared in the journal Animal Welfare.

Boxes, paper grocery bags, a shelf in a linen closet…if it’s a tight fit, your cat will like squeezing herself into it. The sense of security derived by felines in a close space is so strong that cats who are given a box when they arrive at a shelter calm down by day 2, according to a study conducted by researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. It takes a full week to calm down for newly arrived cats who are not given boxes.
The boxes don’t just provide a sense of security. They also help a cat keep warm; felines like indoor temperatures higher than we do, as we said on page 1. And they like having their abdominal organs covered by curling up into a ball. It makes them feel safer from injury.

Q: Sometimes a mouse ends up in our basement, and the chase is on! When our cat finally catches up with it, she kills it. But instead of trying to eat it, she brings it upstairs and lays it right in front of me. What’s her point? Is she trying to show me what a skilled hunter she is? Or is she simply sharing her excitement about getting to exercise her predatory drive?
Bridgette Manes
Essex, Connecticut

If your cat has been trying to urinate more frequently and straining in the process yet does not test positive for any disease that could lead to such symptoms, she may have what some veterinarians have historically referred to as feline idiopathic cystitis. It’s an illness diagnosed by veterinarians when they can find no other cause for the problem, which may also include leaving streams or puddles of urine outside the litter box and perhaps even urine tainted by blood.

You’re petting your cat and notice that he’s drooling along with fluttering his eyelids. Or he starts drooling while kneading you. Is something wrong?

If you’re a cat in a windowless shelter, watching prey like birds or rodents scramble across a screen might be a good distraction. Research has indicated that cats in such situations enjoy having their boredom broken up with videos of varmints, fish, and the like. Older cats who can’t move around nimbly or who have failing eyesight might also benefit from apps or videos that showcase other animals.