Cat Health

It seems like just a short time ago that your best (feline) friend had a veterinary check-up, but today, once again, you’ve spotted that familiar reminder card in the mail. Another veterinary exam already? Here is a checklist of some of the ways you can help ensure your cat’s good health throughout the year:

Having conquered cat flu, triumphed over tapeworm and braved behavioral quirks, it is time to focus attention on some oft-observed, but little-documented, afflictions of cats.

Both adult cats and kittens need to be vaccinated, and conscientious annual vaccinating is the only way to protect your pets from sometimes distressing illnesses. Indeed, there might not be a cure for every virus that your cat might contract, so prevention is the only responsible measure to take.

The loss of a limb sounds catastrophic but 3 legged cats adapt well and are usually as agile and active as 4 legged cats. The loss of a limb would be catastrophic to humans, but our limbs are more specialized (2 for walking, 2 for manipulating things) while a cat’s limbs are all used for walking.

Cats that keep bumping into things either can’t co-ordinate their limbs or can’t see. A blind eye is often cloudy or the pupil remains dilated even in bright light. Some cats are born without eyes (anopthalmia) or with very small eyes (micropthalmia) which may not function. Others lose their sight either permanently or temporarily as a result of illness, physical injury, brain damage or poisoning (including extreme reaction to anesthesia) and conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts or scarring caused by untreated entropion (in turned eyelashes).

Some cats, e.g. some blue-eyed whites, are born deaf. Many other cats are thought to be ‘grumpy’ by owners who don’t realize that their cat can’t hear. Deafness can be congenital or related to age, illness or physical injury. Many cats lose their hearing gradually as they age (as do many humans), sudden loss of hearing is normally the result of illness or injury and may be temporary or permanent.

Despite a dark silent existence, deaf-blind cats can enjoy life since they rely on their keen sense of smell and their sense of touch through whiskers on the face and also on the lower leg. Cats which have been blind throughout much of their lives may eventually suffer the additional problem of age-related deafness. Most of the considerations noted for blind cats and for deaf cats apply.

The term ‘spastic’ may be considered politically incorrect, however cats have no concept of political correctness and this colloquial term (defined in my dictionary as "suffering from spasms") covers several conditions with similar symptoms. I apologize to anyone who objects to the term, but I would point out that the term is used in the UK to describe cats with disabilities of co-ordination, muscular spasms and muscular tremor. To avoid confusion among American readers, the term "spastic" is not used in the sense of a cat whose muscles lock rigid e.g. during a fit.

Some people who see a cat with Radial Hypoplasia (RH) for the first time either think it has both front legs broken or notice that it sits up like a rabbit. They walk in a shuffling or scrabbling motion. There are varying degrees of the condition, these tips take a worst case scenario. Mildly affected cats may get along just fine, but have a peculiar bobbing gait.