Weight Loss

Cino (and Cino's mother) are worried that he is losing weight despite a hearty appetite. Burmese are more likely than other breeds to develop diabetes so we checked his blood glucose first. It was normal and so were his kidney and liver tests.
Hyperthyroidism is more common in older cats like Cino who turns 12 shortly. However the blood test showed that his thyroid is functioning normally.
Cino occasionally vomits. Because everything else seems normal we will zero in on his intestinal tract. First we will try a diet that will minimise inflammation in his stomach and intestines. If we don't get any response to that we will scan him from top to bottom for abnormalities.
Some cats suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, which may escalate into mild or, less frequently, severe lymphoma. Many of these bowel conditions are treatable and well-managed cats do well.

Cat Friendly Clinic

We were thrilled to hear that we have been awarded the Cat Friendly Clinic gold standard!
This is awarded by the International Society of Feline Medicine to veterinary practices that meet very strict criteria. We planned Canberra Cat Vet to conform to their standards but still had to do a lot of work to document our efforts.
We had to demonstrate that Canberra Cat Vet:

• understands the unique needs of cats and has made veterinary visits more cat-friendly
• understands how to approach and handle cats in a gentle, empathetic and caring manner
• has good standards of equipement for investigating and treating feline diseases
• has a high standard of facilities and care for hospitalised cats.

Cat body language

It's easy to misinterpret our cats' body language. Watch this great video to find out some of the common signals our cats are giving us.

Whitie's big night out

Whitie ready for his surgery

Whitie came home with a sore paw a few days ago and has got lamer and quieter since.
When he came in to see us we saw a cut on the side of his paw but once we had him under anesthetic and could clip the hair away we found a big abscess.
With the pus drained and pain relief on board Whitie is feeling heaps better.

Feed the cat more meat!

Cats are carnivores and have quite complex dietary needs. Vets are now strongly advising that cats are fed a primarily wet diet. This means good quality canned or pouch foods coupled with meats like chicken, rabbit, roo, beef or lamb. I like to feed the meat as stir fry strips or chunks so that my cats chew on them and clean their teeth.
To protect their kidney and bladder health cats must consume water in their food as well as drinking it. Cats on wet foods have a much higher intake of fluids than cats on dry foods.
A good quality commercial food is high in protein and low in carbohydrates. In the wild cats consume very little carbohydrate ie wheat, maize and a lot of animal, not plant, protein.
In our busy lives we are forced to feed our cats some dry food for convenience sake but wet foods should provide the bulk of their intake.

Flea allergy

Kaiser has been out enjoying the warmer weather - and so have the fleas! 

Poor Kaiser has been grooming more than usual and has lost some of his beautiful coat  especially over the rump. Normally cats are only mildly irritated by fleas but Kaiser is allergic to flea saliva. Just one flea bite causes intense and long lasting itchiness.

To make Kaiser more comfortable we must try to eliminate all fleas from him and his environment.

Capstar or Comfortis kill the fleas and paralyse flea mouthparts preventing deposition of saliva.

Every month his owners will give him Advantage, Revolution, or Comfortis  to keep flea numbers as low as possible.

Because fleas spend most of their life cycle off the cat as larvae and pupae in bedding, carpet, dirt and leaves they will have to wash his bedding in hot water and dry it in the sun.  They should also vacuum carpets and furniture often. they may decide to call a professional to fumigate the house.

Kaiser has had an injection of cortisone to block the allergic reaction and give relief from the intense itching.

Niles has his spring clip

Niles came in for his annual check-up, clip and dental examination today. Because his coat gets so matted in spring his carer opts to have him clipped all over every year. Eleven year old Niles passed his physical exam and blood tests with flying colours. 

He had a general anaesthetic so that we could scale and polish his teeth and take out one decayed canine tooth. 

Niles does not like the clippers and the matts were perilously close to his skin so Nurse Eliza clipped him while he was still asleep.  

He was very frisky when he woke up, demanding a late breakfast asap! 

Niles before his clip

Nurse Eliza does a thorough, stress-free clip

Niles in his smart blue coat ready to go home