Eyes are very important sensory organs to a cat. Being sure that your cat’s eyes are healthy should be a part of an annual comprehensive physical examination by your veterinarian. I have diagnosed different diseases of the eyes and even blindness when cats have been brought in for routine visits, because owners often don’t realize a problem exists. An examination of the eyes starts with inspection of the eyelids and [...]

Rudy is a typical young neutered male Abyssinian ‍cat. He is very active, curious, and social. His owner became concerned one evening because Rudy was repeatedly vomiting and having projectile vomiting. My clinic was closed, so Rudy went to one of the local emergency clinics. Rudy had a fever and was very depressed. X-rays did not conclusively show anything, but as with any young ‍cat, the emergency vet was concerned [...]

Kidney disease may be the most common ailment of cats over the age of nine years.  Kidneys are the organs in the body that are responsible for filtering out metabolic waste products from the blood, conserving water in the body, and producing urine.  A cat’s body is a wonderful machine, and even though it works best with two kidneys, it can perform well with just one kidney or 50% function. [...]

Eyes are  very important sensory organs to a cat.  Being sure that your cat’s eyes are healthy should be a part of an annual comprehensive physical examination by your veterinarian.  I have diagnosed different diseases of the eyes and even blindness when cats have been brought in for routine visits, because owners often just don’t realize a problem exists. An examination of the eyes starts with inspection of the eyelids [...]

Do you think that your cat sees you the way in which you see yourself? Why is a cat able to find and hunt insects and spiders in dim light? Do cats see colors? These are all questions that pertain to vision and the eyes of the cat. The sense of eyesight is very important to a cat. Kittens are born blind with sealed eyelids. This level of development is [...]

Cats don’t smoke, don’t consume excessive amounts of salt, and generally have stress free lives; so why do we need to worry about their blood pressure?  For a long time, most veterinarians didn’t know that feline high blood pressure, or hypertension, existed because they didn’t think about it and didn’t know how to check for it.   Subtle signs of high blood pressure in cats are increased vocalization throughout the day [...]

Newborn kittens are totally dependent upon their mother for survival.  She provides them with food, warmth, cleanliness, and helps them eliminate.  Humans can also provide these necessities, but not as well as a mother cat.  Newborn kittens can neither see nor hear, but they can smell, and they have sensory receptors on their faces that enable them to zero in on their mother’s body heat. If you find a newborn, [...]

Mrs. Taylor was feeling very sorry for her cat, Jessica, because the cat seemed to be in discomfort when she tried to urinate.  As I examined Jessica and continued to speak to Mrs. Taylor, she revealed that Jessica had been urinating in a bathroom sink and the urine was bloody.  This was actually the second time that Jessica had been presented at my office for hematuria, blood in the urine.  [...]

You have a pregnant queen and it is getting close to the time when the kittens will arrive.  What do you do?  It is best if you can arrange a quiet, comfortable spot for her to deliver and then start acclimating her to this site a week or so before the kittens are due.  Cats prefer to give birth in an area away from noise and human activity.  A large [...]

Cats are very efficient at reproducing and are able to have several litters a year with multiple kittens in each.  Most cats go through puberty at an early age—somewhere between five and nine months.  This is why it is so important to sterilize your cat at the time recommended by your veterinarian (typically 4-6 months of age).  Female cats can be fertile for about seven years, while males may be [...]