Hairballs

Vomiting hairballs or fur balls is not normal - especially if they are coming up more than twice a month. New research reveals that chronic feline vomiters nearly always have an underlying gut problem.
Speaker at the Cat Medicine conference I attended in February, Texan cat vet Gary Norsworthy, finds changes in the intestine of chronically vomiting cats whenever he ultrasounds their stomachs and intestines.
He said that hairballs are a sign of a gut problem, not the problem itself. The vomiting is what we notice.
Most chronic vomiting is due to chronic inflammation, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). IBD must be controlled because it often morphs into lymphoma, a type of bowel cancer.
If the ultrasound shows that a chronic vomiter has changes in its intestine then a sample of the intestine is taken to see whether the change is due to IBD, lymphoma or other less common disease.
IBD is controlled with diet and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Feline Fashions

My niece put me onto this neat site. Love the costumes but my felines think their coats are fashion statements already!
CatAtelier

AMRRIC Trivia night blockbuster success

Thank you for all the wonderful people who supported the trivia night on Saturday night!

Our veterinary team  has covered the cost of March's expedition to the Aboriginal communities at Utopia in Central Australia and part of the cost of the planned trip in September.

We will provide health services to the animals of the communities and set up a desexing surgery on March's visit. 

The human health workers, who know the local people, help coordinate our service because they have seen a dramatic improvement in the health of the people, especially the children, after previous veterinary visits.

The national organisation AMRRIC (Animal Management in Rural and Remote Communities) trains veterinarians in cultural awareness, coordinates volunteers and provides resources on animal care to community schools.

Some of Saturday night's crowd

Quiz host Kate

More supporters

Tilly visits

We've had lots of kitten hugs in the last few months. Tilly, a British Shorthair, came in today for her flu and enteritis vaccination. The nurses all wanted a cuddle but Dr Lesa kept her close!

Holiday plans

If you are planning a big  holiday this year don't forget to think about pet care well ahead of time. Cats would prefer to stay in their own home and yard, of course. If you can arrange for a friend, relative or house-sitter to call in regularly or stay in the house they will be most grateful.

However many cats have to go on their own holiday to a boarding cattery. Outgoing cats spend happy holidays at boarding facilities and even look forward to their own break from home routines. Nervous kitties though need a little extra tender loving care. Ask the staff to spray some Feliway around the bed and room if they haven't already got a Feliway diffuser plugged in. 

Visit the cattery or kennels beforehand, inspect the accommodation and meet the staff. If you feel comfortable with their cat handling skills and can see they are cat lovers, then your cat will probably settle in after the first day or so.

All commercial boarding establishments are licensed by the local authority but standards vary. Seek out recommendations from friends, neighbours or your veterinary surgeon. Some people like to trial board their pets for a weekend or a few days to see how they settle if they are going away later for an extended period.

Check that your pets’ vaccination status is up-to-date well before the holiday. Cats must have enteritis (also known as parvovirus or panleukopenia), calicivirus and herpesvirus vaccinations within the previous 12 months.

Home ground

The cat next door

My cats have come to a truce with Tiddles, the cat next door. When we moved in Tiddles and my crew had a few close encounters of the hissy kind but they soon worked out some compromises. Most cats prefer to avoid fights if they possibly can and use one or more olfactory signals to mark their territories.
Tiddles and my three skirt around each other in shared zones - the front gardens of both houses, the paddock across the road - and avoid each others' inner territories.
My cats still regularly mark their territory by scratching the fence post between the houses and Tiddles marks one of the trees with urine occasionally. Cleo used to defecate on that side of our house as a signal to Tiddles, but thankfully has stopped that now.
We rarely hear any warning hisses from the cats now that they've worked out their territorial limits.

Bonding time

Caught my two old beauties together today. This type of grooming and spending time together reinforces the social bonds in a group of cats.
My third cat would not be caught dead in either of these roles! She disdains the other two and prefers to groom me. I guess I'm her substitute feline friend.
Amazingly cats spend about 8% of their awake time grooming themselves and ingest two thirds of the hair that they lose. That's an awful lot of hair if the amount they leave on my bedspread is any guide!

Cleo tidies Cinta up

Resting time