Understanding the Elderly Cat Safeguard Your Pets Against Ticks
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... Expert information on medicine, behaviorandhealth from a world leader in veterinary medicine INSIDE Understanding the Elderly Cat Short Takes 2 Dietary help for constipation; protein Happily, our pets are living longer, But that means we and kidney function; facial dermatitis and feline herpesvirus. need to be prepared for some behavioral changes, too. Cats and Separation Anxiety 3 Felines can experience stress when hanks to ad tooth loss may alter there's achange in the household. Tvances in all its eating habits; and fields of veterinary progressive hearing Is Your Cat's Hearing Failing? 4 medicine, it is not problems may make lhe cause {ould be arampant over uncommon these a cat decreasingly growth of yeast in the ear {anals. days for a cat to live responsive to its en to the very ripe old vironment. Movies to Entertain Our Cats 5 age of20 roughly In some cases, lhey can be agreat daytime babysitter the physiologic however, an elderly for the bored feline in your home. equivalent of age 93 eat's behavioral pe Ask Elizabeth: 8 in a human. That's culiarities will Can aromatherapy be potentially the good news. - despite thorough harmful to our cats? The bad news is veterinaryexamina that cats, like humans, become increasingly tion and laboratory testing remain unat IN THE NEWS '" susceptible to age-related disease conditions tributable to any underlying disease condi as they grow old, and most of these disorders tion. In such a case, the animal is apt to be Grants to Study FIP are bound to have an effect on an animal's diagnosed as "senile," a vague term used to and Other Diseases behavior. Arthritis, for example, is likely to describe an animal that exhibits phYSiologi Investi gations into potential cause a formerly rambunctious cat to slow cally inexplicable cognitive dysfunction, the treatments for feline infectious down dramatically as it transitions through outward signs of which somewhat resemble peritonitis (FIP), hypertrophic its so-called golden years; kidney and urinary those associated with age-related dementia cardiomyopathy and chronic tract disease may severely affect its litter box and Alzheimer's disease in humans. kidney disease were among behavior; progressive periodontal disease and (continlled on page 7) ten projects selected by the Winn Feline Foundation from 44 proposals to receive Safeguard Your Pets Against Ticks $174,018 in funding. Th~ investigation by They're dangerous and disgusting: H-ere'-s-whatyon (;arrdlrt Belgium researchers to evaluate the efficacy of a protect your cat and how to recognize the warning signs. treatment for feline infectious peritonitis recei ved the icks are tenacious. They creep up tall ehrlichiosis (similar to Rocky Mountain Spot most funding at $24,962. Tgrass, weeds and fences waiting until a ted Fever) and tularemia (Rabbit Fever) to A study led by Kathryn passing shadow, a vibration, an odor or even cats. Contact your veterinarian immediately Meurs, DVM, PhD, of the North a whiff of exhaled carbon dioxide tells them a ifyou see any of the warning signs that your Carolina State Uni versity possible host might be passing by. Then they pet has contracted a tick-transmitted disease, College of Veterinary let go of their perch and fall, or reach out with such as fever, lameness, swelling in the joints Medicine received $24,674 their front legs to snag hold of a furry coat (or or glands, listlessness, loss of appetite, loss to focus on identifyi ng the a pant leg). Once on board, they insert their of coordination, or difficulty with breathing, gene responsible for feline mouths into their prey and begin their meal. cheWing or swallowing. hypertrophic cardiomyopathy During this feeding, tick saliva mixes with the Carolyn McDaniel, DVM, a Clinical Sci in the Sphynx cat. Identificat ion host's blood. ences lecturer at Cornell University's Col of the gene could lead to a lege of Veterinary Medicine says that "tick reduction in the prevalence of Disease Carriers. As a result of this trans control is a very important part of preventive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy fer of fluids, ticks rival mosquitoes as car medicine for dogs and cats in areas with in the Sphynx cat and provide riers of disease to both human and animal. ticks." Because a vast number of tick control information on the disease Although ticks are most often associated products are available, with some of them in other breeds, as well. .:. with Lyme Disease, they can also transmit (continued on page 6) CatWatch 5HORTTAKE5 Constipation and Dietary Help cats ("Effects of dietary protein content EDITOR IN CHIEF Elizabeth Vecsi Owners often bring their cats on renal parameters in normal cats," to the veterinarian due to a bout Journal ofFeline Medicine and Surgery, CONSULTANTS Paul Maza, DVM, Lecturer in of constipation, which can have a 2011). The objective was to determine Anatomy, Co-Director variety of causes. Veterinary treatment if cats eating diets high in protein of Feline Health Center includes determining and eliminating would have higher serum urea nitrogen ADVISORY BOARD the cause, if possible, along with (UN) and creatinine values without a James A. Flanders, DVM, Dipl medical and sometimes surgical detectable change in kidney function. ACVS, Associate Professor, Clinical Sciences management. Medical therapy often The cats were fed in two phases: in includes the use of laxatives, enemas the first phase, they were randomly Richard R. Goldstein, DVM, DACVI M, DECVIM -CA, Associate and prokinetic agents (like cisapride). assigned either a (HP) or low protein Professor of Clinical Sciences Psyllium is a soluble fiber that produces diet. For the second phase, the cats were Marc S_ Kraus, DVM, Dipl ACVIM, a mUCilaginous gel that helps to increase fed whichever diet they were not fed in Lecture r, Clinical Sciences fecal bulk, It also adds to stool bulk the first phase. Blood and urine samples Margaret C. McEntee, DVM, by other water-holding properties. were collected every two weeks during Dipl ACVIM, DACVR, Psyllium has been found to increase the lO-week study period. The study Professo r of Oncology stool frequency and consistency in results noted that dietary intake could William H. Miller, Jr., DVM, ABVP, humans with idiopathic constipation. result in statistically significant changes Professo r, Clininical Sciences This study involved asseSSing the in UN and several other biochemical Ilona Rodan, DVM, Dipl ABVP use of a highly digestible dry food analytes, although all analytes stayed Wisconsin Cat Care Clinic, formula, with added psyllium, in within normal reference intervals. This Madison, WI two field trials involving 66 cats with information illustrates a need to obtain constipation ("Uncontrolled study an accurate dietary history in cat patients assessing the impact of a psyllium in order to account for dietary influences Cornell University enriched dry diet on fecal consistency on renal parameters, especially UN. _ College of in cats with constipation," Journal of (I. Veterinary Medicine Feline Medicine and Surgery, 2011). Fadal Dermatitis and Herpesvirus For information on your cat 's health, Th e authors concluded from both Ulcerative dermatitis secondary to visit the Cornell University Col lege of trials that the test diet was palatable feline herpesvirus (FHV) infection is an Veterinary Medicine, Cornell Feline and well-accepted, clinical remission uncommon disease that can sometimes Health Center, website at was noted in the majority of the resemble other cutaneous diseases, such www.vet.comell.edu/fhc/ patients, and that other sym ptomatic as eosinophilic granuloma and mosquito therapy was either not needed in bite hypersensitivity. The researchers clinica l management or could often compared two methods for diagnosis of be discontinued or reduced without FHV-associated dermatitis - polymerase recurrence of clinical signs. chain reaction (peR) for amplification The authors also noted that and detection of viral genetic material both surgical management and and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for euthanasia were being considered detection of viral protein ("Detection of in a smal l number of cats, but were feline herpes virus 1 via polymerase cha in Cat Watch' (ISSN: 1095-9092) is publ is hed mont Iy for 539 subsequently not required due to rea ction and immunohistochemistry per year by Belvoir Media the success of dietary therapy. in cats with ulcerative facial dermatitis, Group, LLC 800 Connec ti cut Ave , Norwalk,CT 06854-1631 . eosinophilic granuloma complex Hl.l \ 0 II Robert Englander. Chairman Protein and Kidney Function reaction patterns and mosquito bite and CEO; TImothy H. Cole, Executive Vice President, Editorial Director; High dietary protein levels are very sensitivity," Veterinary Dermatology, 2011). Philip L. Penny, Chief Operating Officer; important for kittens during the Skin biopsy specimens from 62 Greg King, Exec utive Vice President, Marketing Director; Ron Goldberg, Chief growth phase, and are also considered cats with ulcerative skin lesions FinanCIal Officer; Tom Canfield, Vice beneficial for cats throughout all life were tested by both methods. President, Circulation. (:)201 2BelVOir Media Group, LLC stages. With more attention being Immunohistochemistry for viral paid to obesity and diabetes in cats in protein is considered the best form of ~os tmaster: Send address corrections to latWatch, p.o. Box8535, Big Sa ndy,TX re cent decades, there has also been diagnosis. peR detected the presence 75755-8535. a growing awareness of high protein of FHV genetic material in 12 samples, For Customer Service (HP) diets in the management of both while IHe was positive in on ly two. or Subscription information, vi Sit diseases. Meat is the major source of Because of its high sensitivity and www.catwatchnewsletter.com/cs or call toll free: 800-829-8893 protein in HP diets and this contributes ability to detect latent or vaccinal Express written permission is to increased intake of creatine and virus, the authors concluded that peR required to reproduce, in any creatinine, which can result in increased alone could result in misdiagnosis manner, the contents of this is sue, serum creatinine concentrations.