Most of us are aware that our rambunctious doggies just love to interact, with other dogs, with us, with other animals, with puddles… and cats, on the other hand, are a bit more reserved with their social lives.

Well, behaviour scientists say that the solitary cat, at least as far as our domestic felines go, is not quite their natural state. Cats will organise in groups called colonies quite often as long as food conditions allow them to, in fact, the only way for cats to choose to live solitary lives is if their environment has food so dispersed it cannot sustain more than one cat in a given location.

So! Cats are awesome colony buddies and of course, we want to know how those are organised. Colonies are generally centred around female cats and their kittens because we have found that, turns out, cats prefer contact with relatives over non-relatives and do recognise non-colony cats. Of course, unrelated cats without colonies may integrate a new colony but this is a very gradual process because colony cats may react with aggression if non-members approach their resources.

All of this proves that cats, even among relatives, have other cats they prefer to interact with and cats they may have a harder time cooperating (A bit like a family holiday gathering). This means that social structure in colonies is a complex issue and savvy cat owners know that its sometimes a bit hard to introduce a new cat to a household with other cats.

To make sure everything purrs along smoothly, make sure that you don’t just abruptly shove everyone in together. Let them realise there are new colony mates through smell and sight before letting them contact each other. A top tip as well is adopting more than one related cat at time for owners who wish to have multi-cat households. This ensures a greater chance for positive behaviours and cohesiveness of the group.

Our purring partners are pretty fascinating creatures with very well developed social behaviours and organisation, much more than what we give them credit for!

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Environmental enrichment has a very important role in the lives of indoor cats.

These cats are often under stress for many different reasons and this is not always obvious to their owners. Many cats are unable to express their normal behaviour: playing, hunting, scratching, climbing to high spots and even simply hiding when they don’t want to be bothered. Some cats struggle to deal with their social environment by not getting along with other cats or humans in the household. The reasons are many and over time, all this causes damage.

Through the cooperation of vets, cat behaviourists and scientists it has been proven that indoor cats living in underenriched environments can suffer from chronic stress and anxiety, obesity, and feline idiopathic cystitis among other potentially serious medical conditions. It can also trigger behavioural changes such as urine marking, house soiling and even some types of aggression.

In order to improve your cat’s quality of life be sure to provide different types of resting areas and hiding spots to avoid unwanted interaction. Cats cope with unpleasant situations by retreating and hiding. You can use cat trees, shelves (so they have access to high places) and cardboard boxes in their favourite rooms of the house.

There should be at least one litterbox per cat but the ideal formula is to have one more litterbox than the number of cats in the household. Resting areas, feeding and drinking spots should increase in number depending on how many cats live in the same household.

Scratching vertical or horizontal surfaces (depending on your cat’s preference) are also recommended, and a wide variety of toys such as toys with the owner’s scent, toys on wands, egg cartons with treats hidden inside, and balled up pieces of paper.  It is also a good idea to rotate them so they always have “new” toys.

Cats enjoy the different stages of hunting so they will have a lot of fun if you divide your cat’s daily ration and put it on multiple places in your home, under furniture, rugs or even using food toys. This means cats can search for food/snacks around the house and get them from the toys which simulates hunting behaviour.

Environmental enrichment for cats is about finding and implementing ways to make their environment more interesting, complex, and engaging in a way that allows and even promotes their normal, natural behaviour.

These changes have a low cost, are easy to implement and will improve dramatically your cat’s health and welfare, reducing and even preventing the previously mentioned health disorders.

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A malignant tumour is a type of mass that is composed of abnormally fast and uncontrolled multiplying cells that may or may not travel from the starting site to other organs. This type of malignant cell migration is called metastizing and they usually travel by the bloodstream or lymphatic vessels.

Malignant tumours cause local destruction and invasion of tissues and metastasis cause far away destruction of other organs. If left untreated or if it can’t be treated, they are most likely fatal.

Mammary tumours in cats, unlike in dogs, are overwhelmingly malignant. For dogs, about 50% of the tumours found won’t be malignant whereas cats have only about 5% to 15% chance of mammary tumours being benign.

It is a highly metastizing type of cancer, with over 90% of cats having metastasis found in necropsy. The most common sites for metastasis are lung and the regional lymph nodes near the primary site, but any other organ can be affected by cancer proliferation.

The causes for these are largely unknown but Siamese cats have been found to have twice the risk of developing mammary tumours, which points out that at least where that breed is concerned it may be of genetic origin.

There is a predominance for middle aged cats around 10 to 12 years of age and overwhelmingly more in female cats. Male cats present with about 1% to 5% of mammary tumours so if you see an odd lump on your male cat’s abdomen or chest, don’t rule out mammary cancer.

These masses may have several different presentations, they can be soft or firm, the skin can be intact or it may have ulcers and the glands closer to the pelvic area seem to be slightly more affected.

It is important to investigate all odd masses that you may find in your cat. If you feel a mass contact your practice as soon as possible. There is a chance it might not be cancer at all! There are other problems like abscesses or overgrowth due to oestrus that create palpable masses but just in case it is cancer, the sooner it is found the better!

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Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a well-known yet relatively rare disease in cats caused by a massive immune-mediated response to an infection by the feline coronavirus.

There is a high rate of infection with coronavirus in cats, but only a small percentage of these cats will develop a serious clinical disease. This is due to the fact that there are virulent and non-virulent strains of the coronavirus. However, when this happens nearly all cats will die from this pathology.

This disease has several forms that can be broken down into effusive and non-effusive forms. The effusive form is better known among cat owners and it causes, among many other things, an increase in abdominal width due to fluid build-up while the non-effusive form will target organs like liver, central nervous system, kidney or eye and damage them severely.

With so many systems that might be affected, the clinical signs of a cat with FIP are myriad. Cats may present with diarrhoea, vomiting, weight loss, cloudy eyes or eyes that change colour, transient fever, distended abdomen, depression, among others.

It is more prevalent in young kittens, aged 3 months to 2 years of age and the incidence decreases sharply after 2 years of age. Cats on catteries or multicat places are at more risk than single cat households and FIP is a major problem in breeding catteries. It does not cause infertility or abortions but it does cause stunting in cats. Having kittens of observably different size of the same age and litter is cause for suspicion of coronavirus infections.

Important things to know is to always make sure to bring in coronavirus free cats into catteries and breeding centres, isolate infected cats from other cats and keep an eye on clinical signs in kittens.

It’s a disease that cannot be cured but always bring in your cat to the vets, there are plenty of things that can be done to give them better quality of life.

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Permethrin is a molecule that is part of the pyrethroid class of drugs and it’s commonly found on formulations for flea and other external parasite control.

It’s a synthetic molecule derived from natural compounds found in the flowers of the Chrysanthemum genus. These flowers and their parts are used to repel insects but the natural compounds, called pyrethrins, are easily broken down by light, heat and air.

We contact with permethrin when we buy the spot on and pour ons for our dogs and this drug is safe to be applied on them when used in the correct way either by veterinary indication or per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Cats, however, should never be given these sorts of flea treatments! Permethrin and other pyrethroids are highly toxic to cats and even small quantities can induce lethal toxicity.

So why do we put something so toxic to cats on our puppers? Why isn’t it toxic for them too?

It’s easy to think that cats are simply small sized dogs but the truth is they are radically different species with very different physiologies. This means that the enzymes and detoxification pathways that make permethrin safe to be applied on our dogs are not present in our cats.

Permethrin will affect tissues with a lot of lips like nervous system, liver and kidneys. An intoxicated cat will present with signs as soon as half an hour to several hours after contact. If you see tremors, hyperexcitability, seizures, difficulty breathing, hypersensitive skin or hypersalivation bring your cat to the vet immediately!

Putting dog flea treatment on cats can have severe toxic effects and is very likely to be deadly!

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This virus causes a common respiratory disease in cats, usually with upper respiratory tract signs. The agent that causes this pathology is a single-strand RNA virus with several serotypes that usually cause similar clinical signs.

Of the cats that are infected, some will remain persistent carriers and these will go on to infect other cats by shedding the virus in variable quantities. It’s particularly troublesome in multi cat facilities like pounds, catteries, colonies or houses with multiple cats.

It affects chiefly kittens older than 6 weeks but cats of any age may show signs of illness. It might cause ocular and nasal discharge with little to no sneezing, with characteristic crusts around eyes and nose. Kittens might be reluctant or stop eating altogether due to painful ulcers in the palate, tongue or lips. Generally, patients will be alert and in good body condition.

Uncomplicated infections are relatively simple to resolve, usually resolving within 3 to 5 days. Complications may arise from opportunistic infections that will use the fact that the virus has damaged the normal integrity of the airways and settle in with much less impediment. Complicated cases might evolve into severe pneumonia that requires a much heavier medical intervention than an uncomplicated infection and they tend to present with fever.

Vaccination is an important cornerstone in the management of this pathology. The vaccine for the Feline Calicivirus is considered a core vaccine and should be given to all cats, as early as 6 weeks. In colonies with severe issues with this infection, kittens may be vaccinated a little early. If you feel your colony or cattery are at a higher risk, ask your vet about the best protocol for your particular situation.

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Many owners will be familiar with diabetes mellitus, as it’s an unfortunately common disorder in humans and there have been many public health initiatives towards making diabetes a known issue.

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder that influences the mechanism that regulates sugar concentration in blood. Our organism’s capacity to maintain a relatively stable concentration of glucose circulating in the blood stream is one of the most important homeostatic functions. Glucose is the chief energy source of our body and any extreme fluctuations, either too little or too much, will be extremely harmful.

Insulin is the hormone responsible for reducing the excess blood sugar to normal levels and making glucose available as an energy source. It is produced in the pancreas by secretory cells called β-cells and in the most common form of diabetes in cats there is a progressive destruction of these cells.

There are several clinical signs to look out for in our furry friends: increased urine production, increased water intake, increased appetite and unexplained weight loss. Try to keep an eye on their behaviour too. Diabetic cats might be more lethargic, interact less with the family and not be able to do as much grooming, so they end up looking rather unkempt.

If all the signs mentioned above are missed or devalued, it might evolve to include neuropathy of the pelvic limbs (limb weakness, ataxia and incapacity to jump) and diabetic ketoacidosis.

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious complication of untreated diabetes or of incorrectly supplemented insulin therapies. This causes many ill effects and is a medical emergency, so if you see vomit, lethargy, depression, high respiratory rate, weight loss, icterus or lowered body temperature in a diabetic cat or a cat that may have diabetes, don’t hesitate in bringing them in to the vet!

Unfortunately, diabetes mellitus is often a chronic disease that has no cure however, it can be medically controlled and your cat can have a long, healthy life. It’s important that the earliest diagnostic possible is made to begin a successful management of insulin, sugar levels and not risk further complications.

If you think you cat might have diabetes mellitus, take them to the vet and share your concerns. Even after a successful diagnosis and therapy, it’s important to check in with your vet frequently to make sure everything is still running smoothly.

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Having a dodgy ticker isn’t just limited to people, much to our feline friends’ chagrin they can suffer from heart problems pretty much in the same way.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a rather big, mean looking word for a relatively common heart problem in our kitties. Hypertrophic means that the muscle that composes the heart is much larger than what it should be and cardiomyopathy means the problem is in the heart muscle.

It’s not known why the heart walls thicken so dramatically but some breeds like Maine Coon and Ragdoll have mutations in a gene that codes for a cardiac protein. This dysfunction is implicated in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, however, a large majority of the cases we don’t know the cause.

It manifests at a mean age of 5 to 7 years with a larger predominance towards male cats.

The clinical signs that should be looked out for are difficulty breathing, not wanting to move much, vomiting, not wanting to eat, fainting (called a syncope) and if it progresses enough there might be sudden death due to heart failure. Discerning owners that also have dogs might know that that the usual cause of doggy heart issues causes cough (because of fluid build-up in the lungs secondary to heart failure) but cats usually do not have cough due to heart problems.

It sounds a bit of a contradiction, if the heart has more muscle it should work better, not worse. While at first, there might be more powerful contractions and better blood ejection to the whole body, the excess muscle soon starts failing. What’s worse is the chamber affected is the left ventricle. This chamber receives a large quantity of oxygenated blood from the left atrium and distributes it towards all tissues and the muscle will occupy a significant portion of it. All problems stem from this lack of chamber volume and the progressive weakening of the muscles because it’s harder for the blood to enter it, so a huge spike in blood pressure in the lungs happens and organs will have insufficient blood supply.

Unfortunately, while it can be managed to an extent it cannot be cured and cats afflicted with this and showing clinical signs have a reduced life expectancy.

Keep an eye on your cat’s tick tacking heart and if you see any of the above, take them in to your vet’s for a check-up. The earlier its diagnosed, the better it can be managed.

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If you are a cat owner you have probably heard of this disease before. The Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus that affects cats all over the world.

Our feline companions become infected through close contact, primarily through saliva. The virus is passed among cats that spend a lot of time together, as they share food and water bowls, use the same litter boxes and often groom each other. Kittens can be infected through their mother’s placenta or when she licks and nurses them. Entire male cats allowed to roam are also at a higher risk of becoming infected since these cats often fight and bite each other.

Once a cat is infected, the virus starts replicating in the respiratory epithelium, salivary glands and it can replicate in the bone marrow. The outcome of this disease depends on the age, immune status and genetics of the cats involved as well as the pathogenicity of the virus and virus concentration. In general, young and immunosuppressed cats have a higher probability of developing a progressive infection.

Cats that develop a progressive infection can present several FeLV-related disorders such as anaemia, immunosuppression (cats become more susceptible to secondary infections), immune-mediated diseases, stomatitis, and reproductive, digestive and neurologic problems. This virus is also capable of oncogenesis, which means it can be responsible for the appearance of malignant tumours such as lymphoma, leukemia, and other hematopoietic tumours.

Although this condition can be fatal, with cats succumbing about three years following their diagnosis, other cats can stay healthy for many years. Survival rates are also much higher for single cats, living indoors that receive appropriate veterinary assistance (flea/tick treatment, worming, vaccination, neutering, etc.).

Cats diagnosed with FeLV should be fed a good quality diet (avoid uncooked food and unpasteurized milk due to the risk of bacterial and parasitic infections), visit the vet frequently for check-ups and it is also recommended to keep these cats indoors to avoid further transmission of the virus.

The Feline Leukemia Virus is very fragile, being susceptible to soaps, disinfectants and variations in temperature. It will become inactivated in the environment within minutes and this is why very close contact is necessary for transmission.

The prevalence of this disease has decreased over time, possibly due to more effective control measures and to the increased number of cats being vaccinated. It is important to keep in mind that the vaccine does not guarantee 100% protection against progressive infection, but is has been an important factor in reducing the prevalence of this disease.

Testing for FeLV and applying measures to prevent healthy cats from being exposed to this virus is the most effective way to prevent this infection from spreading. It is recommended for owners to get their cats tested. This infection has very serious health consequences not only for infected cats but also for healthy cats.

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