Cat vaccination recommendations

Vaccination recommendations are in a state of flux at the moment. However, kittens must have their first check up and vaccination at 8 weeks of age. Boosters at 12 and 16 weeks protect against enteritis and cat flu for 12 months.
Feline Enteritis causes vomiting and diarrhoea and is usually fatal.
Cat flu caused by Feline Rhinotracheitis Virus and/or Feline Calicivirus is not often fatal. Early signs of cat flu are sneezing and watery eyes. Later, affected cats go off their food, lose weight and may develop chronic snuffles. Flu is contagious to other cats and cats with signs of flu cannot enter boarding catteries. Flu vaccination minimises signs of disease but does not guarantee full protection against infection.
Cats beginning the vaccination schedule after 12 weeks of age receive one booster a month later.
Your cat will need a booster vaccination 12 months after the initial course.
After that your vet will decide at your cat's annual checkup what vaccinations are necessary.
Vaccines work best in healthy cats, so a full examination is mandatory before each vaccination.

Simon's cat in Santa Claws

how do cats lap??

Some interesting research has just revealed what we already know - that cats are very mysterious and unique creatures!  The mechanism they use to lap water into their mouths is quite different from that of dogs or other animals.  This story comes from Scientific American online.

One morning scientist Roman Stocker was watching his cat Cutta Cutta drink, and began to wonder about the mechanism by which cats lap fluid into their mouths. He thought that there was an interesting biomechanical problem. The cat has a curious method of lapping, which involves bending the tip of its tongue downward toward its chin to pull liquid into its mouth


Stocker took high-speed movies of Cutta Cutta and found that she did not dip her tongue into the water and scoop it like dogs do. She touched her tongue, with tip bent downward, against the surface of the liquid before drawing it rapidly back into its mouth. Liquid at the surface rose with the retreating tongue, which pulled it up into a column of fluid. Cutta Cutta then trapped that liquid in her mouth, swallowing only after several laps had accumulated a significant volume of fluid in her mouth.

Fluid inertia is the prime mover in forming the column of liquid that rises with the tongue into the mouth. When the tongue leaves the liquid, adhesion pulls fluid with it from the surface, and inertia causes more liquid to follow. Gravity acts against the upward motion of the column, eventually pinching it off at a certain height. To trap the most liquid in its mouth, the researchers found, a cat should close its mouth around the column just before gravity pinches it off—a strategy that house cats, at least, seem to have internalized.

Amazing but simple research!
How do cats lap?

Buddha's cat

I haven't posted for a while because I have been away in Cambodia.  In the grounds of a Phnom Penn wat I spotted this puss curled up at Buddha's feet.  Both at peace...

Christmas holidays

Going away this Christmas?  Make sure your cat's vaccinations are up to date now.  Most good boarding catteries insist that cats are immunised against herpesvirus, calicivirus and enteritis, also known as panleukopenia.
We get very busy in December and vaccination slots are difficult to find so book in for November instead.

Snake season

The snakes are up and about.  A few days of warm weather and they shake off their winter blues and start prowling the Bush Capital again.
Binka met one on her rounds on Monday and lost the fight.  She is paralysed and in hospital on a drip and regular purrrrrrrrrr therapy until she can eat and walk again.

Binka meows a greeting and rests again

Binka on a drip and a well padded bed

Cool Cat

Coco the Cool cat in my saxophone case...