Cat Tree and Cat Care Information

Elderly Cat Care

November 24th, 2008 at 08:18am Under Cat Care+ Cat Health+ Cat Owner

By David Beart

Our cats become a part of the family over time. But unlike
humans, who are considered elderly at 60 or 65, cats are
considered “senior citizens” at the ripe old age of 10. It is
important to understand the proper care of cats at all stages of
life. A kitten cannot be fed, groomed, medicated, and treated
the same way as an elderly cat. Here is a guide to proper
Elderly Cat Care.

Feeding Time

Most pet supply stores sell specially formulated cat foods that
are designed to provide proper health and nutrition to elderly
cats. Some formulas assist with proper digestion, since this can
often be a problem with older cats. Senior cats cannot
assimilate their food in their digestive tracts in the same way
that they did when they were youngsters.

Older cats can also have problems with their teeth that cause
them to eat less. This is why it is important to maintain good
dental hygiene in cats at a young age by either brushing, taking
them to the veterinarian for a cleaning, or feeding them snacks
that clean their teeth. If your elderly cat eats less, it may be
due to a toothache, thus it is sometimes ideal to feed them
softer foods, mostly wet, canned foods, so that chewing their
dinner won’t be as much of an obstacle.

Many cat owners find that their cat’s coat becomes dull with
age. This is due to poor nutrition. Feed your older cat a diet
rich in essential fatty acids to fix this problem. When
organisms, including cats, get older, they have an increased
production of free radicals in the body. Free radicals
contribute to the degeneration of cells in the body. Help build
up the immune system of your beloved cat by increasing his or
her intake of vitamin C and E.

Finally, you want your cat to remain active in old age. The
more energetic activities your cat participates in the better
health it will remain in. If you allow your cat to become obese
it will lay around the house and have reduced quality of life,
as well as a decrease in general health. Watch your pet’s eating
habits and assure that it is not overeating, or eating as a
recreation as some cats do.

Grooming Elderly Cats

Another element of proper Elderly Cat Care is grooming. When
cats age, they sometimes stop grooming themselves with the same
frequency as they did when they were younger. This can create a
matted fur coat that is dirty and smells bad. Bad hygiene will
eventually lead to bad health. Because of this, it is important
that you groom your eldery cat yourself. Purchase a good cat
brush that doesn’t just brush the outer coat, but one with
bristles that reach down to the skin to pull up old hair.

It sometimes helps to give your cat a bath, even though most
cats hate them with a passion. The best way to wash a cat is to
place them in the tub and gradually introduce water. You
certainly don’t want to throw them into the tub with hot water
running inside! You may get a deep claw mark in the arm that
will never heal and remind you to never do that again. If you
apply water gradually to the cat’s coat until they are
completely wet and then work in some shampoo quickly, you should
be able to accomplish that goal.

Vet Visits and Medication

When your cat grows into old age, it may have health
complications that require regular medication. You should
schedule a regular vet appointment for your elderly cat to
assure that you are keeping up with all details of its health
regimen. In older age, cats may seem fine but still have
complications. Ask your veterinarian to give your cat a blood
and urine test to find out if there is anything to be concerned
about to head off any future problems. Going back to dental
care, most older cats develop gum disease which can lead to
health problems down the line. Gum disease can be treated by
your veterinarian.

Just as with a human who has to take daily medication, if your
cat has been prescribed to take medications on a daily basis it
is helpful to keep everything in one place as a reminder. You do
not want to miss a day of any crucial medication as the system
of your older cat is much more delicate than those of younger
cats.

Pet Insurance

Insurance companies are coming to recognize the love that
people have for their pets. Thus, there are many new pet
insurance products popping up on the market. It is best to
enroll your pet into an insurance program at a younger age to
assure a more reasonable premium, but you may still be able to
enroll your elderly cat into an insurance program where his or
medical bills will be partly covered in the case of a medical
emergency. Some pet insurance companies will charge anywhere
from $20-$50 per month per cat, depending on their particular
situation.

The costs of pet surgeries and treatments can be way out of the
budget of most households, so having a pet insurance plan to
back you up can be a great asset. It will also give you peace of
mind about your cat as it ages.

Activities of the Elderly Cat

The activity level of elderly cats vary. Some cats become
inactive and spend most of their day sleeping or sitting. But
other cats can be just as active in old age as they were in
their younger days. These cats may still like to play with you,
run, and chase the other cats around the house, but you just
need to be understanding that they may not be able to
participate in these games for as long as they used to. For
example, a game cats love to play is “chase their owner.”
Instead of letting them chase you up and down the stairs as you
did when they were young, maybe you could keep the activity to
one level of the house. That way you will not overexert your cat
and help prolong his time spent active.

Most cat experts agree tht a cat is generally healthy and happy
when they are “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Another indication
of a healthy cat is a lustrous, shiny coat, and a tail that
sticks straight up in the air when the cat is walking. Proper
elderly cat care is dire if you love your senior cat and want to
keep it in good physical health.

About the Author: David Beart is owner of the
www.professorshouse.com Professors House, a site
dedicated to family, relationships,
www.professorshouse.com/pets/cats/cats.aspx cat
information, and household issues.

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: www.isnare.com/?aid=221435&ca=Pets

By Fred Add comment

Do Cats Think?

April 18th, 2008 at 12:24pm Under Cat Owner

By John Young

I don’t know why I thought I could get away with it.

When my cat “Bear” jumped onto my lap expecting his morning
petting session, I wondered if THIS time I could get away with
reading the newspaper while giving him a few off-hand,
preoccupied strokes.

“Heh, heh”, I thought. “I’ll start by giving him my full
attention but then I’ll sneak my paper in when he’s not
looking.” I “chucked” him under the chin while stroking him from
head to tail, and he began rolling in ecstasy.

When he turned his back on me, sprawling on his stomach, my
moment came. Quickly, I reached for the newspaper with my right
hand. Continuing to pet Bear with my left, I opened it to the
front page.

Bear put his ears back.

“Uh, oh”, I said to myself. “But wait…he can’t see what I’m
doing. How does he know that I’m cheating?”

But he knew.

Bear tolerated it for a few moments; his ears laid back, his
tail thrashing. Suddenly he leaped from my lap and lay down on
the floor. After a few minutes of washing, he stared at me with
an accusing expression.

I’d spoiled HIS morning petting session with my own selfishness
and he was clearly letting me know the error of my ways.

DO CAT’S THINK?

Cat owners may be the only pet lovers who sincerely believe
their pets think. It won’t be the first time that a cat owner
has the distinctly uncanny feeling that not only does his
beloved cat think, but that he is being manipulated by her.

Veteran cat owners have noticed:

•Cats are an extremely obsessed and determined animal.

•Cats seem to contemplate things and make decisions.

•Cats choose and adopt people.

•Cats become offended and can hold grudges at insults to their
dignity. Fortunately they forget them pretty quickly.

•They are embarrassed easily and seem to cover it up with
nonchalant behavior.

•They are extremely independent, but want to cooperate with
humans as long as this spirit of cooperation is thoroughly
disguised.

In short, the cat “owner” always has the vague feeling that he
is somehow being conned, but is never sure exactly in what way.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THE WORD “THINK”?

Answers.com defines the ability to think as “To exercise the
power of reason, as by conceiving ideas, drawing inferences, and
using judgment.”

Arguably, it is the power of reason, the ability to conceive
ideas, use judgment and put the results into action that has
placed Man at the top of the food chain. In other words, Man
dominates his/her environment because of his/her ability to
think.

THE CAT BRAIN AND CAT BEHAVIOR

Cats are often used as experimental animals because the feline
brain is structured like the human brain. The question is,
however, do these similarities result in similar cognitive
processes, i.e., can a cat actually assemble information, reason
things out and make decisions?

The cat’s lack of cooperation with trainers has been taken
either as a high degree of intelligence on the part of the
feline (either too smart to do what a human tells her to) or a
low degree (too stupid to be amenable to training).

Cat lovers usually opt for the former having the distinct
impression that they, not their cats, are being trained.

CAN CATS USE TOOLS?

A writer for About.com, J. Justin Lancaster, reported that his
cat Sasha had discovered a way to wet down her dry cat food by
carrying a cotton hair “scrunchy” to the toilet to wet it and
subsequently using it to drip water on her food. This may be the
most sophisticated use of tools ever observed in the non-human
animal kingdom.

On the other hand, most cat owners observe that a cat, when
confronted with an obstacle barring her from a goal, will never
move the obstacle out of the way. If the obstacle falls out of
the way the cat will be momentarily surprised, but will then
proceed to reach the unobstructed goal.

When finding herself again in the same situation, with the same
destination blocked by the same obstacle, the cat will not knock
the obstacle out of the way even though previous experience has
shown that this is the best way reach the goal.

THE JURY IS OUT

So, the jury is either out, or “hung”, on the question of
whether or not cats think.

But when my cat, without looking at me, knows that I’m not
giving him my full attention, and gives every evidenced of being
miffed at this, I wonder.

Why is petting him while reading the newspaper not the same
thing as petting him while using my full concentration?

It doesn’t make sense unless I accept the possibility that he
has thought it out. That he has decided that it is either all or
nothing, and he just isn’t going accept “playing second fiddle”
to a newspaper. And his conclusion is: I’d better shape up.
Anything short of my full attention is not acceptable.

He is going to get a full petting from me — or not at all.

About the Author: John Young is an editor and writer living in
Southern California with his wife and pet cat “Bear”. He is
author of “Your New Cat’s First 24 Hours”,
www.yourcatsecrets.com and editor of a new ezine “The
Online Cat”, www.theonlinecat.com .

Source: www.isnare.com

By Fred 1 comment