QUESTION: My husband started the car this morning and shredded a poor cat who was hiding under the hood. I am heart-broken. What can I do to avoid future accidents such as this?
Winter can be hazardous to outdoor cats. Seeking shelter and warmth, they often hide under the hood near and auto's warm engine; when the cat is started, the fan belt makes mincemeat of the cat. Make a habit of checking under the hood or honking the horn before starting the engine of a car parked outside. The manufacturer of "The Safe Cat" says that his device is designed to stop domestic or stray cats from getting too close to automotive engine fans or the front of engine compartments. The device, touted as a moth-ball system, emits an odor, foul to the cat, when it is placed under the hood of the car. For more information about "The Safe Cat", call (800) 447-2201.
QUESTION: My cats stay indoors; I worry that lack of sunshine and fresh air is detrimental to their health. I worry, also, about outdoor dangers such as dogs, cars, and neighborhood kids. Which is more harmful--letting them out or keeping them indoors?
Quit worrying. Inside cats live 1.6 times longer than outdoor cats. This statistic means that an outside kitty who dies at age ten, perhaps from the dangers you mentioned or from exposure to infectious agents, would have had the probability of living to age sixteen had he been confined to the house. Although sunshine is a necessary component for health in people, who have enzymes in the skin which convert vitmin D precursors to Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight or sources of ultraviolet light, it is not necessary for cats. Cats, lacking these skin enzymes, are unable to make their own Vitamin D; it must come from the diet. You can improve indoor air quality for booth you and your cats, however, with air purifiers, and humidifiers or dehumidifers, depending on climate. Add stimulation to the inside environment with perches, toys, etc. In other words, keeping those kitties inside is less harmful than letting them out.
QUESTION: How do you administer CPR to a cat?
First, assess whether or not the cat is breathing. Observe his chest rising or falling and feel for air going into or out of his mostrils or mouth. If the cat is not breathing, lay him on his right side and extend his head. Use your hands to seal his mouth and to form a tube through which to blow air into his nose. Move your mouth away from your hands when allowing the animal to exhale. Give the cat a quick breath every five seconds. After four or five ventilations, check to see if the cat is breathing on his own. If his is not breathing, check to see if his heart is beating. Feed and listen over the lower third of his rib cage just behind his elbow. If there is no heartbeat, you or a partner should be gin external heart compressions while continuing artificial respiration. You may need to move the animal onto a firm surface and to stabilize his back to keep him from sliding away from you. Place the heel of your right hand (if you are right-handed) over the lower third of the left chest at the level of the fourth to sixth rib. Exert moderate and smooth pressure compressions at a rate of one to two per second. After five to ten compressions, give a breath. Continue at the rate fo twelve breaths and 60 to 120 heart compressions per minute. Stop periodically to see if the cat's natural heartbeat and breathing have resumed.
QUESTION: My old cat suddenly went blind. When I took him to the veterinarian, he said that the cat had high blood pressure and that this was the reason the cat lost his sight. I had never heard of high blood pressure in cats, and I can't remember a veterinarian taking any of my cat's blood pressure.
Blood pressure in cats can be difficult to determine. Blood pressure-measuing equipment used in veterinary mnedicine is adapted from that used for determining blood pressure in human infants and is very expensive. Not every veterinary practice owns such a machine. There are clinical clues to elevated blood pressure--the patient's blood pulsates into the syringe when taking a blood sample and the patient's heart rate is rapid and pounding. The most common causes of elevated blood pressure or hypertension in cats are kidney disease, enlarged heart, and an over-productive thyroid gland, all conditions seen more commonly in older cats. Elevated blood pressure, regardless of cause, damages the eye's retina and can result in blindness. Cats suffering from feline hypertension are treated with hypotensive drugs and treated for the underlying condition such as kidney disease. In some cases, cats presenting with blindness will recover at least some of their sight.
Question: I have been caring for our 19-year-old Siamese who is suffering from kidney and liver disease. I know she is terminal, but I am trying to make her last days at home as comfortable and pain-free as possible. I have found that the yellow coloration from her skin seems to rub off on me when I am handling her. What is this coloration and what can I do to keep it off of me?
I suspect that the key to the yellow coloration is the liver damage which you mention. There is a pigment, called bilirubin, which spills into the patient's bloodstream and colors the skin, causing jaundice. Wear gloves when you handle your kitty.
We live in an area populated with bob cats. My neighbor has a kitty who looks much like a wild cat. Do bob cats ever become domesticated cats?
All types of cats--wild and domesticated--fall in the family Felidae. All breeds of deomestic cats are gentically and behaviorally different from wild species of cats; the bobcat does not become a domestic cat. The experts believe that our deomestic pussy cats are drived from the African Wild Cat, whose scientific namd is Felis sylvestris lybica
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