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Abdominal surgeries are among the most common operations for cats (often performed to remove foreign bodies that your cat has swallowed and can’t pass, but also for spays and other reasons). When you take your pet home after a procedure in which her abdomen has been opened, you may see some bruising around the incision along with a little swelling, and perhaps some redness. That’s fine. But if after a couple of days the sutures “disappear” because the swelling has increased or there’s oozing, take her back to the vet’s office. Something’s wrong that needs to be tended to.

There’s no cure for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). And there’s no vaccine to protect against it. No drug can treat it, either. And it sounds a lot like “HIV,” which can progress to AIDS. So of course people are nervous about this feline disease, which strikes an estimated 2 to 5 percent of cats. The concern is so pervasive that a lot of people won’t even consider adopting an FIV-positive cat from a shelter, leaving animals who have tested positive for the condition to languish. Some people have even euthanized a cat found to be FIV-positive.

Almost 40 countries have now banned the declawing of cats except in situations where a claw is irreparably diseased or beyond repair. The United States is not among them, although we are starting to make inroads state by state. Virginia just passed a declawing ban earlier this summer, joining New York and Maryland. If cats could applaud, they would. They use their claws to scratch for myriad reasons.

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.

Q: You mentioned in a recent issue that the American Association of Feline Practitioners had some ideas for getting a cat to take her medicine when she normally refuses it. Can you say what those strategies are?

• Fat Cats Die Sooner
• Morsels
• When Two Cats Who Got Along, Don’t
• The Truth(s) About Cats and Water
• Why Cats Get Stuck in Trees—And How to Get Yours Down
• If Your Cat Requires Water by Needle
• The Zoomies: Anything to Be Concerned About?
• Dear Doctor

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.

You’re a two-cat or multi-cat household, and all of your felines do fine together. They don’t mind looking out the same window at the same time and even do some hanging out and playing together. Then one of them goes to the vet. Or both go, or they all spend a couple of days at a boarding facility. When the one cat or the group of cats arrives back home, you might assume there’d be relief at the routine going back to normal, but instead, things turn aggressive between the pets. There’s swatting, maybe biting and scratching. It’s as if the cats never knew each other—even if they were taken for their appointment in the same carrier! 

It’s untrue that cats are universal water haters. Sure, no cat wants to be unceremoniously dumped in the sink and have water and suds poured all over him willy nilly, but felines’ reputation for being aquaphobic is belied by the facts. Consider that many people think cats can’t swim. But cats in general can swim just fine, and some breeds actually enjoy it. Among them: the Turkish Angora and the Turkish Van.

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.