EVERYDAY CAT CARE

As the weather warms, ticks flourish. And any cat who has access to the outdoors, perhaps because he uses a catio or because you walk him, can be bitten by one. It needs to be removed, as ticks can transmit disease to your pet. Even cats who get tick preventatives should have any ticks removed.

Q: You always hear that white cats are likely to be deaf, but I have an all white cat who has no hearing problems whatsoever. How can that be?

Forget the old saw that the way to calculate a cat’s age in human ears is to multiply each year by seven. That simply won’t give you an accurate assessment of where your cat is at in life, say the American Animal Hospital Association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP).

Laminate and tiled floors and even wood flooring can prove very slippery for an old cat who’s not as steady as she once was. And that, in turn, can make her less likely to be active. If your cat is avoiding a particular room or space in the house that she used to frequent, consider putting a runner there. You might be happily surprised to find her confidently making her way across. 

You notice some gunk in one or both of your cat’s ears and are tempted to clean out the dirt. Don’t, especially not if the debris keeps accumulating, your pet’s ears smell bad, she’s scratching or swatting at them, or she keeps shaking or tilting her head. It means her ears are not just dirty. Something’s wrong that requires a veterinarian’s attention.

Q: I’m worried my cat is not drinking enough water. I never see her at the water bowl. She is on dry food. Should I try to switch her to canned food or other moist cat food that contains more water than dry?

Your cat starts urinating more frequently and often does so outside the litter box, straining while he relieves himself.  He also has started over-grooming “down there” and may even have blood in his urine. Is it a urinary tract infection? Nope. The vet checked for that. A bladder stone? No, not that, either. In fact, the doctor has screened for a number of conditions that fall under the umbrella of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD), and all the tests came back negative. So what is it? Is your cat just being difficult?

If you believe cats can see in the dark, you’re not alone. More than four in 10 people with pets think that, according to a survey of 2,000 people conducted by a company called OnePoll. But it’s not true.

Diabetes, orthopedic complications, urinary tract disease, liver problems. These are just some of the illnesses associated with excess weight in a cat.

Your cat’s veterinarian advises you to change your pet’s diet. Perhaps she is overweight and should be eating food that is lower in calories. Or she has developed heart or kidney disease and requires a prescribed meal plan that has more or less of particular nutrients. Or maybe she needs more fiber or more water to restore her health.

January 22 is National Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day. (Nope, we didn’t make this up.) Here are the answers to five of the most pressing questions on felines.