EVERYDAY CAT CARE

Cardboard? Jute? Hemp? What’s the best material for your cat’s scratching post? Cats will vary in their preferences, but research suggests it’s hard to go wrong with either sisal rope for a cat who’s young or middle aged or carpet for a cat who’s older than 10.

Q: There is a difference in vaccine recommendations for people and those for cats that I find confusing. With people, the interval between vaccinations varies depending on the shot. For instance, people get a shot against tetanus every 10 years and a shingles shot just once. But cats are supposed to get all their core vaccines once a year. Why is that? Does the immunity from the diseases the shots protect against always wane so quickly?

Have you ever seen the word “new” or “improved” on a cat food label? If so, it shouldn’t be there for more than the first six months of production. “It’s not new forever,” says the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), whose guidelines are generally written into law by each state legislature.

When your cat goes for his physical, the vet should check his eyes for injury, infections, and disease. But cats don’t much like people poking around their faces, especially their doctors. That’s why you might want to adjust your cat to the idea of hands near his eyes at home.

Is your cat white, or mostly white? And does he like to lounge by the window for hours in warm weather, soaking up the sun’s rays? Then apply sunscreen that has been formulated for cats, focusing on his nose, the tips of his ears, his belly and groin areas, and anywhere else on his body with thin to no fur to protect his skin. Even through a closed window, the sun’s harmful rays can cause painful sunburn and set the stage for squamous cell carcinoma, a common skin cancer in cats.

Feline skin is second only to the feline lymphatic system as the site of lumps and bumps—various tumors, cysts, and other abnormal growths, known medically as neoplasms. Sometimes these growths grow alarmingly large. But even when they’re small, they concern people with cats—for good reason. No one wants to see or feel swellings on their pet’s coat that shouldn’t be there. “I am asked to evaluate them daily,” says Tufts veterinary internist Michael Stone, DVM.

Q: You always hear that white cats are likely to be deaf, but I have an all white cat who has no hearing problems whatsoever. How can that be?

Forget the old saw that the way to calculate a cat’s age in human ears is to multiply each year by seven. That simply won’t give you an accurate assessment of where your cat is at in life, say the American Animal Hospital Association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP).