Have you noticed your feline companion is sneezing more than usual, and you’re a little worried? In that case, this post might help!

Just as it is with us, sneezing is a normal mechanism our pet’s body uses to clear any irritants from their nose. This means an occasional sneeze from time to time is quite normal, but if your pet is sneezing more than usual, maybe even showing some nasal discharge, cough, or any other symptoms, there might be something else going on.

Sneezing can have several different causes. The most common cause is without a doubt upper respiratory tract infections, particularly in younger cats. You have probably heard of this already as it is commonly known as ´cat flu`. These infections usually have viruses as a primary cause and the viral agents typically involved are the feline herpesvirus and calicivirus. Although it’s not as common, bacteria such as Bordetella bronchiseptica, Streptococcus canis, Mycoplasma spp., and Chlamydophila felis can also be directly responsible for these infections.

Upper respiratory infections tend to be more common in kittens, young cats and in free-roaming cats that frequently come in contact with other outdoor felines. These viral infections are easily-spread, as these agents can be passed on from cat to cat, through any objects in their environment, or even through their caregivers.

In many of these infections the clinical signs can resolve in about 2 to 3 weeks, even without treatment. However, some cats may be more severely affected and veterinary assistance is necessary. These cats may also present thick and purulent discharge from their nose, depression, fever and lack of appetite. Some are left with recurrent nasal discharge and eye disease.

Other possible causes of sneezing involve nasal obstruction, nasopharyngeal polyps, nasopharyngeal stenosis, inhaling foreign bodies, trauma, chronic rhinitis, neoplasia (typically in older animals) and even dental disease.

Cats have tiny noses, but in some cases the sneezing is due to an inhaled blade of grass or grass seed. This is more common during warmer weather, and in cats with outdoor access. It also worth pointing out that if a cat’s sneezing is also accompanied by cough, feline asthma might also be a possible cause.

The best way to protect your cat from upper respiratory tract infections is to keep your cat’s vaccination plan up-to-date, as this provides protection against herpes and calicivirus. The vaccine does not always prevent infection, but it will dramatically reduce the severity of its clinical signs.

If you are planning to bring a new cat into your household don’t forget to keep the new cat separated from the resident cats for 7 to 10 days, for quarantine purposes. It is also recommended to provide your cat with adequate dental care.

If you notice your cat is sneezing more than usual and possibly showing other clinical signs, or if you are at all concerned, take your pet to the vet.

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Beautiful sunny days are right around the corner! And nobody loves that better than our purring partners who will undoubtedly lounge on the best sunny spots for hours on end.

But, as with everything, the sun can also have its ill effects. Like people, cats are susceptible to sunburns and some forms of cancer come from chronic exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet light. Who is at the highest risk? Because fur protects from the sun’s rays, white cats, especially short haired cats and obviously, cats with very little to no fur are at the most risk.

Squamous cell carcinoma is a form of cancer that arises from the squamous epithelium. This cell type forms most of the skin, lines the oral cavity and also the oesophagus. When these cells are hit with UV rays, they might get damaged at a DNA level and start having errors when they multiply – this situation may lead to an uncontrolled proliferation of cells.

Most cases of this carcinoma are caused by chronic exposure to the sun, especially in areas with low fur density like the nose, ears and eyelids. Carcinomas that do not originate due to damages by UV radiation can happen anywhere, including inside the oral cavity and oesophagus. It’s a disease of older animals, showing up usually at around age 10 or 12.

This type of cancer is locally invasive and can do severe damage to facial and head structures if left untreated though it has very little chances of migrating to other areas of the body that are far away from the original site. It often starts as small scabs that do not seem to heal that will progress into larger lesions with ulcers and rearrangement of bone and other structures.

How the disease progresses can vary a lot and treatment will depend on the cancer stage, location and cause. Animals with smaller lesions that can be submitted to surgery tend to have the best outcomes.

A couple of things that can help avoid this nasty situation are:

• High risk cats should avoid at high sunlight hours;
• UV light blocks for the windows in cats that love to sunbathe;
• Sun block, especially on ears. Make sure you keep an eye on your cat, so they don’t clean it off before it gets absorbed!

If you notice odd wounds on your cat, especially that seem to be getting worse or that don’t seem to heal at all, don’t hesitate to contact your vet!

The sooner this is treated, the better the chances your fuzzy friend has.

Image via: “White Beauty Visiting” by Pinti 1, was built upon and is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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When we talk about environmental enrichment for indoor cats (and for many other pets), the conversation is about more than just getting toys for your cat. Due to their nature and depending on their home environment, domestic cats can be exposed to a lot of stress.

The discomfort can come from a wide variety of sources. Many cats often live in a very comfortable house, but struggle to be able to do what they would normally do in their natural environment. Climbing, resting in high spots, playing, scratching and hunting with all its different stages (seeking, capturing, and consuming) are just a few examples of their normal behaviour. Domestic cats often struggle to find structures to climb and areas to scratch (without annoying their owners), ´toys` to play with, and ways to display hunting behaviour.

When discussing stress inducing factors, poor human-cat relationship and conflict between cats should also be on the list. A cat living with another cat or cats often has to share food bowls, common areas and the litter box with his or her feline housemates. Cats tend to avoid cats they don’t get along with to prevent more serious conflict and over time, this affects their access to important resources. A cat might actually drink less water for example if getting to the water bowl means crossing paths with another less friendly cat.

Other factors include unpredictable schedules, less interaction with their caregivers and even unexpected physical manipulation.

Cats have different personalities and some cats may be more affected by these daily occurrences than others. However, after several studies it is pretty clear for the scientific community that lack of environmental enrichment can lead to domestic cats suffering from numerous disorders such as anxiety, stress, obesity, behavioural changes (urine marking, house soiling, some forms of aggression), and feline idiopathic cystitis.

Providing cat towers, a wide variety of toys, scratching areas, resting spots, feeding toys, and enough food and water locations as well as litter boxes taking into consideration the number of cats in the household will have a very positive impact on your cats’ health and welfare.

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Lilies are not good plants to be around cats, as these are extremely toxic for our feline friends. Although not all lilies constitute a life-threatening danger to cats, it isn’t always easy to be sure about the ones that are safe.

Many pet owners have never heard of this issue and this is incredibly important, especially for cat owners. Lilies are gorgeous household plants that are very popular during this time of the year and commonly given as gifts around Easter and Mother’s Day.

Unfortunately, cats are extremely sensitive to the toxic effects of lilies, especially of the Lilium and Hemerocallis genera (the “true lilies”), and ingesting any portion of the plant, even in very small amounts, can be fatal. Easter lilies, Day lilies, Tiger lilies, Japanese Show lilies, Asiatic lilies (including hybrids) and Stargazer lilies are some examples of the poisonous plants.

Cats may be poisoned because they nibble on their household plants, but with this type of lilies it isn’t even necessary for a cat to be curious about the plant and eat it. All it takes is for the cat to brush pass the flower and then lick the pollen off his or her fur, as even the pollen contains toxins. Cats can also get sick if they drink the water from these plants, if they are in a vase.

Affected cats will show nausea, salivation, depression, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, disorientation, tremors, seizures, and potentially fatal kidney injury.

Although it is very important for the public to be aware of this so cat owners can avoid the dangerous plants, identifying which ones are poisonous is not an easy task. Many different flowers are called lilies and to make things more confusing there are many hybrids of these plants.

The Lily of the Valley, for example, is not a true lily as it belongs to the genus Convallaria but although it doesn’t cause any damage to our cat’s kidneys it is still very poisonous for them.

Prompt treatment is key for the survival of a cat suffering from this type of poisoning. The toxins on these plants are rapidly absorbed once they have been ingested, and start causing damage very quickly.

If you notice any of the previously mentioned signs on your cat or if you suspect your cat may have been poisoned by one of these plants, do not wait! Take your pet straight to the vet. The sooner your pet is taken to the vet for treatment the higher are the chances for a positive outcome.

Image: “Black cat” by malfet_, was built upon and is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Today we bring you, from the ancient lands of the Isle of Man, a just as old breed of cats that have a very particular characteristic: no tails!

The Manx breed and their distinctive posterior characteristic most likely originated from a mutation that spread throughout the island due to its incomplete dominant characteristics. When the Vikings settled on the island, their lush, long haired cats introduced the longhair coat to the previously short coated Manx population.

All Manx cats have at least one gene for the full tail, which means that two fully tailless cats can produce kittens with complete tails. And because it’s an incomplete dominant gene, there are cats with varying lengths of tail (there might even be a whole spectrum of lengths from the same litter!).

Besides their unique tails, these cats are adorably round, fluffy and robust. They are described as very intelligent, active, playful animals with a surprisingly heavy constitution. Added to it, a strong loyalty and dedication to their families make all the fine ingredients for a working cat.

In the Cat Fancier’s Associations own words “A house with a Manx will never be boring!” and we are very inclined to agree with them.
 

Image: “Ichi & Mustapha” by ismael villafranco was built upon and is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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The Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) is type of retrovirus (a lentivirus) that affects cats all over the world. It causes an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome which means it interferes with our cats’ immune system, lowering its defences, and causing them to be more vulnerable to opportunistic infections and other diseases.

The way this condition develops and its impact on the cat’s body is quite similar to the human acquired immunodeficiency virus (HIV). For this reason, this condition is often referred to (“feline AIDS”) and it serves as model for the study of infections with human immunodeficiency virus.  It is very important to highlight that despite the similarities between FIV and HIV, FIV only affects cats and cannot be transmitted to us humans.

After infection, the virus can be found in the affected cat’s blood and saliva. This virus is transmitted among cats mostly through bites and fight wounds. As a result, adult entire male cats that have access to the outdoors tend to be most commonly affected. The virus can also be transmitted from infected queens to their kittens.

The Feline Immunodeficiency Virus doesn’t cause very serious clinical signs initially. From the point of entry the virus goes to the nearby lymph nodes and starts reproducing, eventually spreading to other lymph nodes throughout the body. This leads to a generalised enlargement of their lymph nodes often accompanied by fever.

Some cats will deteriorate progressively after being infected, some cats may just present recurrent illness, needing veterinary care more often than non-infected cats, and for many cats the disease progresses to an asymptomatic phase, during which they don’t display any signs of disease. This stage can last for several years.

Eventually, infected cats suffer a decrease in their immune surveillance and they will become more predisposed to other conditions, as well as secondary infections resulting from bacterial, fungal, protozoal, or parasitic infections.

Clinical signs of infected cats include loss of appetite, fever, poor coat condition, diarrhoea, inflamed gums (gingivitis) or mouth (stomatitis), skin problems, respiratory problems, conjunctivitis, immune-mediated diseases, neurologic conditions, and tumours. The most common tumour in these cats is lymphoma and they are 5 times more likely to develop them.

With proper care most cats infected with FIV are able to live many years and even die from other causes, in no way related to their FIV infection.

All cats should be tested for FIV. It is recommended to keep an infected cat indoors to prevent spreading this virus to other cats. This also protects FIV-infected cats from any secondary disease which can be very beneficial, given their impaired immune system. Any new cat being brought into your household should be quarantined and tested before being introduced to the other house cats.

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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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