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• “Fat” and “Obese” are Not Four-Letter Words
• When Your Cat Won’t Eat, Don’t Do This; A Movie to Skip; On Politics and Pet Care.
• Concerns that Catnip Will Make Your Cat High; Concerns that It Won’t
• Your Cat Is Dying. How Does She Feel About It?
• Do You Know Your Cat’s Blood Pressure? You Should.
• Cat Talk, and What it Means
• Cat Too Clingy
• Dear Doctor

Q: In a recent issue you talked about why cats love tuna but left out the most important thing, which is that tuna generally has high concentrations of mercury and that mercury is poison. Why would anyone who loves their cat knowingly feed them poison? You should print a follow-up article that makes people aware of the danger in feeding tuna to their pets.

• Is It the Vet’s Fault or Yours?
• Morsels
• Your Role in Your Cat’s Orthopedic Exam
• Raw Meat Diets for Cats?
• Easter Comes and Goes, but Lilies’ Threat to Cats is Forever
• Critical Cat Cancer Warning Signs
• Dear Doctor

Michael H. Jaffe, DVM, service chief of small animal surgery at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, relates the story of the cat owner who told him that their cat “finally learned” not to jump on the kitchen table after 10 years. Dr. Jaffe wasn’t convinced. “If the cat could get up on the table, she would,” he says. “I thought the change in the cat’s behavior was a possible sign of arthritis pain.”

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?

Q: I noticed that some of the nutrients listed in the Guaranteed Analysis panel on the label of my cat’s food have an asterisk that leads to the following statement: “Not Recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles.” If it’s not recognized as an essential nutrient, why would the manufacturer add it? The nutrients are not named in big letters on the front of the package as a marketing point.

Q: I have a 14-year-old cat who needs surgery. But at that age, will she be able to tolerate the anesthesia?

Q: My wife and I have noticed that when we put on soft classical numbers, our cat seems to settle in and become calmer. Are we imagining this, or might she actually be responding to the music?

People often assume increased thirst and drinking — medically termed polydipsia — results from diabetes, but it can have a number of other causes:

• If Your Cat Were a Person, How Old Would She Be?
• The Meaning of “Veterinarian Recommended” on Cat Food 
• New Guidelines for Helping an Itchy Cat
• Older Cat Less Active? Maybe Your Floors are Too Slippery
• If Your Cat’s Ears Look Dirty, Don’t Clean Them!
• Can Cats Use Facial Expressions to Signal Friendliness to Other Cats?
• Dear Doctor: Worried about dehydration; Cat’s got rhythm; Mental illness in cats.

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).

Sometimes, to treat a medical condition, it’s necessary to change a cat’s diet. Diet changes can be a challenge with cats, however. They develop their food preferences very early on in life and may be reticent to adjust them. That’s why, until a kitten is about four months old, it’s a good idea to feed him a variety of foods — different flavors, shapes, and textures of both dry and wet. That way, if he develops an illness in adulthood that requires he eat food that’s different from what he’s used to, he will be less likely to resist the switch.