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Many people are aware of the usual creepy-crawlies that infest our furry friends - fleas, worms, ticks and lice. But there is another common visitor who rarely gets a mention.
Ear mites! These are invisible to the human eye, but cause huge discomfort to the poor cat who has been invaded by them.
Take black and white Buster and tabby George (photos above). When George came into our care recently, we noticed almost straight away that he was scratching at his ears with his back feet. He'd even caused a little bit of bleeding around the edges of one ear. Closer examination showed crusty black deposits around the top of his ear canals, a typical symptom. Buster on the other hand, did not display any scratching symptoms, but every time his head was stroked or touched he shook his head violently, and often fell over or lost his balance as a consequence. Closer examination of his ears showed no signs of the crusty black deposits.
Both cats were taken to our vets at the first opportunity. Examination is quick and diagnosis can take place immediately. Our vet looked into each cat's ears with an auroscope and immediately saw a hive of activity as tens of little tiny mites scurried round the ear canals. The vet checked to make sure there was no infection and to make sure that the ear drum was not perforated, and then dispensed a bottle of drops for each lad.
The drops are to be administered daily for a week which kills off all the adult mites. Then there is the option of a week's break, and then the drops are administered for a second time, again for a week. This second dose kills off all the mites that were still in eggs during the first dosage. In most cases this three week course (a week on, a week off, another week on) will be enough to eradicate the pests, but of course once their courses of treatment are finished, we will keep an eye on George and Buster to make sure that none of the original symptoms recommence. If they do, we will once again ask the vet to check their ears.
Ear mites are easily passed from one cat to another and are a lot more common than people think, but they are easy and relatively cheap to treat. Left unattended the cat will scratch and shake his head in increasing amounts of pain. Years ago whilst collecting some cats from the vets we noticed a gorgeous ginger lad recovering from an operation. The vets told us that he had all but scratched his ears off due to the mites, and had had to have them re-stitched back on. The poor lad. All for a bottle of drops!
Just before Christmas we were asked to take four cats who had belonged to someone who had died. Penny, aged 8, her daughter Tuppence and sons Lucky and Joey all aged 6, came into our shelter care of a friend of their deceased owner.
All four cats were rather on the large size, with Penny being the fattest by far.
The person who brought them in apologised for their size, and made the comment that someone had thrown something sticky at Penny as she had "things" on her back that were stuck to her fur.
Upon closer examination of Penny, the "things" turned out to be matted fur which had clumped and tufted causing tangles. There were two or three larger clumps and a few smaller ones, all located in the region of her spine.
We were able to cut them off quite easily, although it did leave her with a couple of patches of thin fur.
The tangles weren't caused by something being thrown at Penny. They were caused because she is so fat she cannot turn herself properly to groom her back, and as the loose fur fell away when she moulted, it remained entwined with growing fur and gradually became knotted.
We see probably half a dozen cats each year with this this problem. The majority we can cut off, some have to be "razored" off by our vets and a minority have to undergo a general anaesthetic so that the vet can completely shave the cat.
It is so unnecessary. The cat shouldn't have been allowed to get so fat in the first place but at the first sign of a knot it should have been groomed.
Obesity in cats can cause other problems. The excess weight can put strain on their joints leading to less mobility and that in turn can result in them becoming fatter. In addition to mobility problems, excess weight can cause problems with the cat's organs, including of course the heart.
If a cat does become overweight, it is important to take proper advice with regard to reducing the cat's weight. Just cutting down the amount of food you give may not be the best step forward, as it may result in liver failure as the cat's metabolic rate changes due to fasting or eating a lower amount of food. Please take veterinary advice if your cat is overweight. You can read more about obesity in cats here.
Treat your cat from time to time if you must, but make it a treat that is designed for cats, or which suits the cat, rather than something that is designed for humans. And if you treat the cat to a luxury catfood meal, give it in lieu of his or her regular meal, not in addition!
We're sure Penny's owner wanted her to have treats and gave her far too much food out of kindness, but poor Penny will have to watch what she eats for a long time now, until she reduces to an acceptable size.
Don't kill your cat with kindness.
Hello to all our friends.
Just a quick line to wish our readers the all best for 2008. Our hopes that this will be a great year for you and yours and for all the furry purries out there.
We also wanted to share one of our Christmas cards with you. It said "Minerva has settled in well with my mum. They love each other; it has made so much difference to mum's life, she has a focus - Minerva - and Minerva loves her. Two elderly ladies together." You can read about Minerva here
Happy New Year to you all.
We were recently approached by a case worker and asked to help with a situation which had grown out of control. A family had two adult female cats and a tom cat, all unneutered. A recipe for disaster!
We agreed to take the two mum cats and their combined litters, totalling nine kittens! The family loved the cats, and had handled them well, but had not been able to afford to feed so many mouths, and as a result the mother cats were starting to become hungry.
The two little mum-cats, who we have named Clementine and Sorrell, had resorted to hunting for rats to feed their babies. Judging by the fur loss on Clementine's nose they had also resorted to licking in empty tins - the fur on the top of the nose can be caught against the rough edge of the tin, and leave it bald or patchy.
The two little mum cats are taking it in turn to feed all the kittens, and it is impossible to tell which kittens belong to which mother, although some kittens are much bigger than others. They are probably aged 6 weeks and 8 weeks.
By that age they need a lot of food. The mother cats are still feeding and so all their energy is diverted towards the kittens, and the kittens themselves are starting to wean and are beginning to eat hungrily.
Neutering may be seen by some as an expensive option, but feeding 12 cats is probably more expensive in the long run, and don't forget that once the current litter is ready for homes, the mums would be coming into season ready for another batch. Added up, neutering might seem to be the cheaper option!
We will neuter the kittens at 10 weeks of age, and we will neuter the two mums when the last of the kittens are neutered. As for the lad, we have requested assistance from another charity with neutering, so that his owners can enjoy keeping him, and they will be able to afford to feed him.
It's rare that we can take a cat at short notice, as we usually have a long waiting list of cats to come in. Everyone who needs to ask us to rehome a cat has a valid reason and each situation feels like a priority to the person asking for help.
Apart from pregnant cats or mother cats and kittens, we therefore usually have to put cats on our waiting list, and because we have a no-kill policy and sometimes have difficult cats in our care, rehoming can be slow and our waiting list can therefore stretch back for several weeks.
Last weekend we offered a place to the cat at the top of the list and arranged for it to come in on the Sunday afternoon. At lunchtime on Sunday, we received a call to say that the cat was going to stay where it was and the person bringing it was going to give it another chance. Great news!
The next job would have been to contact the person on the top of our waiting list, but before we could do that we received a call from one of our regular supporters begging us to help. She had been told about two cats who were due to be put to sleep the next day as their owner had died and no one could take them. Normally we would have had to say no, but because of the earlier cancellation we were able to accept them.
It was a bit complicated because our supporter had heard of their plight via a number of associates and the message had to be relayed back. No one could get hold of the person who was bringing them to the vets, and in the end, the vets had to be asked to pass the message on when the cats went for their appointment. Fortunately they were co-operative and delighted to be able to save the cats' lives.
When the sister of the owner took the cats in to be put to sleep, she was given the good news and the cats were collected from the vets and brought to us later that day. The sister was delighted as the cats had been their owner's pride and joy and she had loved them to bits.
Because of the circumstances, we weren't told the names of the cats, but luckily one of them was microchipped and we were able to obtain details from that. For the other we had to make up a name, although we knew both were the same age.
So Saffron and Gilbert are now settling in, and hoping for a new home soon. We are saddened though, that their owner hadn't made provision for them. They had been well cared for and obviously much loved, but it would have been wonderful if she had asked around her friends and relatives and found someone willing to take them in the event of her death. We are all going to die one day, and if we choose to own cats (or other pets) all our lives then it is likely that one day we will die leaving a pet behind. Responsible owners would ask amongst their associates until they found someone willing to adopt them, and then would leave details of the cats's names, ages, medical history etc with other papers along with a note in a prominent place advising where the cats are to go.
It is the final act of love for our furry friends.
Apologies for not updating our blog recently. The problem with being busy is that there is little time to write the blog; the problem with being quiet is that there isn't much to tell!
Mandu, short for Kat-Mandu (and known as Doo-Dee) is a lovely ginger cat, who at first glance seems to be all there. Some people don't even notice that he's only half a cat! When he runs he looks completely normal but when he walks or lays on his back the difference becomes obvious. Doo-Dee only has one back leg! He lost his other leg a couple of years ago when he was hit by a car. Doo-Dee doesn't know he's different and acts like a normal boisterous lad. So much so that he has left a couple of our volunteers rather nervous to go into his pen, as he dives for their legs. He is a lively, playful lad, chases balls and other toys and regularly challenges his scratching post to a duel (he always wins).
Roxie, is another half cat. Although we were lucky enough to find her a home at the weekend, we thought we would share her story. Roxie only has one eye, and no tail but we don't know how this happened.
Because she has only one eye, Roxie's co-ordination is slightly unbalanced - this means that if she jumps from say the floor to a chair, she may incorrectly judge the distance and either jump to far or jump short of her target. She has learnt to work around this by climbing where possible, or by using other means to get onto furniture etc.
Because she has no tail, her running balance is slightly compromised - if she runs fast she may find her back legs swaying out of synchronisation and this may cause her to stumble. Roxie has learnt to trot quickly and has an unusual swinging trot which compensates for this.
Most animals are able to adapt well to the loss of a limb, an eye or their tail, and it rarely affects their lives in a detrimental way.
One of our earliest blogs was about Vivian, a totally blind cat who is the alpha-cat in the group of cats that she lives with.
We're pleased to add that Marmalade, the little sick kitten we mentioned a few weeks ago has moved back to live with the people who found her and has assumed her rightful position as head of the household.
Rosie who had a major operation is now spayed and withstood that operation well. The vets are delighted with her progress and she has been cleared for adoption. Hopefully the right home will come along soon!
Firstly, a brief update on our little Marmalade as so many people have emailed to see how she is. Well, the good news is that she continues to make steady progress, has put on weight and has learnt to pounce. Her latest trick is running up people's backs and sitting on their shoulders. She still has the snuffles, but we think it will be some time before those clear up fully. The best news of all is that the people who originally found her have offered her a home and will hopefully be collecting her this weekend.
Another cat for whom the future looks bright is Rosie. She was one of three cats brought in as strays in mid-October. The other two, Katie and Dexter were rampant extroverts, but Rosie was much more nervous and hid behind her bed for most of the time.
As is our custom with stray cats, we took no action to find them new homes at first, but advertised them in case any owners were looking for them. As is often the case, there was no response to our adverts. After a few days, the time came to have them neutered, and Katie & Dexter were loaded into the basket for their trip to the vets with no problems. When we came to pick Rosie up though, she ran from us but to our horror even a short run of about 3 yards left her struggling for breath. Full of foreboding we managed to get her into the carrier and off to the vets for a check up.
Sure enough, our worst suspicions were confirmed. Rosie was suffering from a ruptured diaphragm, or a diaphragmatic hernia. The diaphragm is the membrane which sits at the bottom of the rib cage, below the lungs, and acts as barrier to prevent the abdominal organs from moving into the ribcage/lung area.
In Rosie's case, this membrane was ruptured and an X-ray revealed that her liver, small intestine and half her bowels were residing in her lung cavity. No wonder she was struggling for breath. Our wonderful vets cancelled all their operations for the following day and brought in specialist equipment from their main surgery, as during the operation to repair her diaphragm, Rosie would be unable to breathe and a machine would have to take over the role of her lungs.
We were warned before the operation that Rosie may not survive as if the diaphragm was badly damaged it would be difficult if not impossible to repair it. However, Rosie was lucky. Most of the diaphragm could be repaired, and during the 90 minutes operation, the vet was able to patch it well enough to hold.
The next few hours were crucial. If it ruptured again there would be very little chance of effecting further repairs, and Rosie had to lay still and quiet for many hours. Fortunately Rosie is not a boisterous cat, and was quite content to lie still and be spoilt by the nurses at the surgery.
Thirty-six hours after her op, we brought Rosie home, and again she had cage rest for another couple of days. We monitored her breathing carefully, as any signs of distress or laboured breathing could have been an indication that the diaphragm had ruptured again, but no, Rosie's breathing remained steady.
We were over the moon. After three days we put her back in her pen, where she had room to stretch her legs and could watch what was going on outside.
The main thing we noticed was that Rosie stopped hiding. She started coming out to meet volunteers going into her pen and welcomed and looked for head rubs and strokes. The poor girl must have been in so much discomfort when we first got her that her instinct to hide came to the fore.
We asked our vets how she might have caused this damage, and they felt that it was likely to be a road traffic accident or a kick. They also felt that it could have happened several weeks earlier.
It isn't the most common injury but we have seen a couple of cases over the years, and it is worth knowing what to look for. The laboured breathing after minimum exercise is the biggest clue - and something we wish we'd spotted a couple of days earlier when she first came in.
Our heartfelt thanks must go to the wonderful team at Westmount vets who undoubtably saved her life. Rosie herself is gaining strength on a daily basis, and will be going back to the vets for a check up in about another fortnight.
