CAT HEALTH & MEDICINE

Many veterinarians, in a nod to making cats as comfortable as possible during wellness exams, do not routinely check feline blood pressure. But high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can signal an increased risk for serious medical conditions. These include kidney disease, heart disease, eye problems, and stress on the brain, as well.

Research has revealed that cat caregivers emphasize the need for empathy when it comes to their pets more so than caregivers of dogs. This is so much the case that those with cats tend to use the pronoun “we” when talking to the veterinarian about their pet’s health. Those who have dogs, on the other hand, use the pronoun “I.”

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.”

Some nurseries advertise that pollen-free lilies are safe for cats. They’re not. In fact, all parts of the lily plant are poisonous for felines. A cat can suffer fatal kidney failure just from nibbling on a lily leaf or even drinking water from a vase with cut lilies in it. It doesn’t have to be the pollen that’s released from little pods atop the thin filaments in the middle of the flower.

Nearly one in two people with pets have gotten into a disagreement or heated interaction with their veterinarian or others on their animal’s veterinary staff. So says a survey of 1,000 people conducted by Banfield Hospital, which offers veterinary services in 42 states.

The statistics are not comforting. A tumor found either on or in a cat is three to four times as likely to be malignant as a tumor discovered on a dog. Such cancerous tumors can spread to other tissues and wreak havoc on the body. And they occur all too frequently. One in five cats ends up diagnosed with cancer — frequently, but not always, in their later years.

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:

A healthy cat scratches himself for a total of about one minute per day, and he spends about one hour altogether grooming himself by licking his coat. Much more than that, and there’s a good chance something is wrong.

Q: Is it possible for cats to have mental illness, or is it always just a matter of behavioral issues?