EVERYDAY CAT CARE

Is your cat one of those whose tongue protrudes when he’s just sitting around? Ever wonder why he does it?

You buy your cat the finely grained litter she prefers—it’s like the sand her ancestors once buried their waste in. You also purchase only the unscented kind because you’re aware that the flowery or perfumed scents people tend to like, cats find uninteresting, or even disgusting. And you make sure the litter you add is two to four inches in depth—just the way cats like it—and that it’s easily scoopable because you know your pet will be happier if you remove waste once a day.

When we think of dietary changes to treat an illness, we tend to think of them as a kind of Band-Aid approach. The attitude among many people is that eating differently may help at the margins but is nothing compared to the power of pharmaceuticals or surgical procedures. Not true, either for us or our cats. In a number of cases, a change in diet can extend life for years, and also the quality of life.

Cat urine tends to be significantly more concentrated than dog urine—or human urine. It’s a survival-of-the-species thing. Since cats started out in the desert, their bodies had to evolve in a way that allowed them to get rid of the waste urine carries while holding onto as much water as possible.

People walk plantigrade, meaning that when we take a step the entire sole of the foot reaches the ground, from the toes to the heel. Not so, cats. Their locomotion is digitigrade, which is to say that their heels do not touch the ground. That provides them with both agility and speed, say, when they want to escape a predator or catch their next meal. It’s a more stealth way of ambulating as it’s a relatively quiet movement.

Liver disease, pancreatitis, diabetes, chronic kidney failure. These are among the main illnesses that can keep a cat from drinking enough water by mouth. Sometimes it’s because the condition causes excess urination, and sometimes it’s because the disease zaps the cat of the energy required to drink the fluid her body needs. It’s a more common problem than you might assume. Chronic kidney disease by itself affects more than half of all cats over the age of 10 and close to 70 percent of cats over age 15, according to at least one estimate.

A number of years ago, researchers reported the case of a New Mexico boy who ended up with bubonic plague after he let his cat share his bed. It turned out the cat was infested with fleas who carried the disease, and the boy ended up with flea bites. Another woman who let her cat lick her awake every morning ended up with a serious sinus infection. Yet someone else developed lesions and itchiness on her trunk and arms after her cat, infested with mites, slept in her bed; she was diagnosed with a parasitic infection known as Cheyletiella blakei.

It’s not just the booms of the fireworks that cats hate. It’s the comings and goings of people attending your barbecue, the overall differentness of the day. Cats derive so much comfort from things being predictable. When the flow of daily events is thrown off, your pet is thrown off, too. Here’s how to make the holiday more bearable for your feline family member.

It’s often said that the best life for a pet cat is entirely indoors because that will keep her safest. But the new 2024 Position Statement on indoor/outdoor lifestyle from the American Academy of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) makes it clear that the truth is more nuanced.

The COVID pandemic led to more Zooming and FaceTiming, including for veterinary care. And it may be easy to assume that most people have come to prefer such virtual vet visits because it’s more convenient and less stressful than taking your cat to the doctor. But they don’t.