Cat Vaccines Cat Vaccines: To vaccinate or not to vaccinate your cat? With which vaccines and how often? These questions are best answered after a talk with your veterinarian.

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Cats and Vaccines


To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? With which vaccines and how often? These questions are best answered after a talk with your veterinarian. Because of the need to tailor vaccines to your cat's lifestyle and to consider the risk factors and the presence of underlying diseases, it is necessary for you and your vet to decide what is best for your cat.

In the past, veterinarians used to vaccinate all cats on an annual basis. This practice was called into question in the 1990's when veterinarians began to notice some cats getting cancers where vaccines had been previously administered. These locally aggressive cancers would occur even several years after vaccination. Since then, veterinary organizations such as AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) and AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) have taken a long, hard look at vaccines in determining what is appropriate for dogs and cats.

Based on extensive research, the AAFP (American Association of Feline Practitioners) has developed feline vaccine protocols, and most veterinarians are now following these guidelines.

Vaccine administration sites have also changed. While all vaccines used to be given under the skin in between the shoulder blades, the current recommendation is to give vaccines at separate sites. Some vaccines are given on the hind legs as low as possible- the right hind leg for rabies vaccine, the left hind leg for feline leukemia vaccine and the right side of the chest for the FVRCP (3 in one) vaccine. If there is a local reaction, the vaccine can be more reliably identified and if a cancer does occur, the cat's life can more easily be saved.

Also, while it is generally recommended that kittens receive a series of vaccines, not all vaccines are given annually to adult cats. The FVRCP (3 in one) vaccine is given every 3-4 weeks for a total of 3 times to kittens, then every 1-3 years afterwards to adults. The FeLV (feline leukemia) vaccine is given every 2-3 weeks for a total of 2 times to kittens, then every 1-3 years afterwards to adults. The rabies vaccine, given once to cats older than 16 weeks, is valid for a year and when repeated, is valid for 3 years. But any combination of these vaccines may or may not be given, depending on your cat's lifestyle, risk factor, age and health problems. There is no one vaccine protocol that is suitable for all cats.

The wide-spread use of vaccines undeniably has had some benefits, among which have been to decrease the incidence of certain diseases such as feline distemper (panleukopenia) and feline leukemia (FeLV). They have also decreased the virulence of certain infections such as rhinotracheitis and chlamydia that result in upper respiratory diseases, a common problem in cats.

Most vaccines are safe, and negative reactions to vaccines are rare. To minimize negative reactions, most veterinarians advise against giving more than two vaccines at a time. If a cat has had a negative reaction in the past, it is recommended that only one vaccine should be given at a time and the cat is premedicated with benadryl to minimize reaction.. Occasionally, a cat will be a bit lethargic for about 24-48 hours, not longer, after receiving a vaccine. Rarely, a cat can have a sudden negative reaction to a vaccine, usually immediately or within 60 minutes post vaccination. The signs can be vomiting and/or diarrhea, and this requires immediate medical attention.

In some cats, vaccines can do more harm than good. While there are still ongoing studies to determine the cause-effect relationship between vaccines and induced injury, there have been some trends noted. Some cats have an increased risk to cancer formation to some elements in some vaccines. There also seems to be a genetic predisposition to cancer formation. Just like cancer tends to run at a higher occurrence rate in some human families, cats can be similar. When one cat has had a cancer secondary to a vaccine, other related members similarly are at higher risk.

Vaccines should not be used in cats shown to have immune-mediated diseases (when the body destroys its own red blood cells or platelets). Vaccines should not be administered to any cats that are ill from feline leukemia (FeLV) or feline AIDS (FIV). There is no harm or benefit in giving the FeLV vaccine to a healthy feline leukemia positive cat. The decision to vaccinate and with which vaccines is based on your cat's lifestyle and risk factor, as well cat's age and any concurrent health issues.

A cat that is indoors 100% of the time has a different risk factor from cats who are indoor/out. Indoor/outdoors cats have varying degrees of risk, depending on whether they stay close to home when outdoors or tend to roam. The frequency of interaction with other cats and wildlife, whether this be nose-to-nose contact, fights resulting in bite wounds or abscesses, scuffles with raccoons or other wildlife or hunting prey (rodents, birds, snakes) is also an important variable. Additionally, if there are other cats in the same household and if those other individuals are indoor/outdoor, there is increased risk for spread of disease

Many cats that "just got sick" and are brought to the veterinarian for care have actually been ill for months. Cats generally tend to hide their diseases so that they show signs only when the disease has reached a certain stage, and the cat can no longer cope with it. Thus, it is very important to screen for diseases on a regular basis once a cat reaches middle-age (i.e. 6-7 years old). For many older cats, the annual vaccines should be replaced by an annual blood and urine test and radiographs to check for diseases, just like our doctors do for ourselves as we age. Lab tests are especially helpful to check for the presence of hyperthyroidism, kidney failure and diabetes since 80% of older cats come down with one or more of these.

While blood and urine tests give a "snapshot" as to your cat's bodily functions physiologically, radiographs are helpful to give insight as to your cat's structural function (heart size, lung density, thickness of gut loops, intestinal gas pattern, kidney size, presence of bladder/kidney stones and the presence of tumors). All this information is important in determining if your older cat is indeed healthy or has a medical problem that should be addressed before vaccines are considered.

Because of the complexity of this issue, it is best for you to talk with your veterinarian about which, if any, vaccines are appropriate for your cat.

The above is general veterinary information. Do not begin any course of treatment without consulting your regular veterinarian. All animals should be examined at least once every 12 months.

About the author:

Linda Mar Veterinary Hospital and its cat-only affiliate, Coastal Cat Clinic, are small animal practices located in Pacifica, California. To find a veterinarian or to learn more about the vet clinic and our staff, visit:[http://lindamarvet.com/]


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Caring for your cat during pregnancy may require a lot of time and effort in your part but it is a very wonderful and rewarding experience. But after the kittens are already born, you will need to do a different task and that is to take care of the newborn kittens. These kittens will need special kind of attention and care and you must make sure that you could provide it to them.

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My name is Shaun Bradley and I am an avid Cat Lover/Owner. I have had cats ever since I can remember. Now I have just two cats named Sylvia and Goldie. They are great pets and fairly simple to take care of as long as you know some easy cat training tips. Visit my website for more information http://www.trainingyourcats.com

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No Sugar for Your "Sweetie" if it has Diabetes

It's a habit that almost all pet owners fall into. We tend to equate human diseases with veterinary ones. Sometimes certain human diseases are just like certain animal illnesses, but diabetes is not one of them.

"Diabetes in humans is not exactly the same disease that we see in dogs and cats," says Dr. Olivier Dossin, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, "you can't do a direct transposition between the two." While people may look at their pet's diabetes and try to put it into the framework of either the more commonly-known type 1 or type 2 in humans, that's not really the way the disease is approached by a veterinarian. However, feline diabetes associated with obesity is close to the human type 2 diabetes.

Fortunately, diabetes in our pets is fairly easy to diagnose. Owners usually complain that their pet is drinking and urinating more frequently. They may also eat more than usual despite weight loss. It's also important to note that, "diabetes can be a life threatening disease," notes Dr. Dossin. This is because it can cause a condition known as ketoacidosis, which may cause the animal to fall unconscious.

Interestingly, cats can become hyperglycemic, or have too much sugar in their blood, just from stress. For example, when brought to the veterinarian's clinic and a urine test is performed, cats may have an increased amount of sugar in their urine because they are scared.
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Tips on Managing Cat Allergies

In the United States, half the number of households owns either a cat or a dog as pets. However, it is just a little unfortunate that many people are allergic to cats, which discourages them from owning one, despite their fondness for these loving domestic animals. In fact, there are about 10 million Americans who have shown allergic tendencies to cats.

To help manage cat allergies, let us focus on the specific forms of cat allergies. The first one would be dander, which is dust coming from the cat’s body. Dander is a term used to refer to old skin that is shed off from the cat’s body in the forms of minute flakes.

Aside from causing skin irritation, dander also penetrates the immune system, which consequently causes allergic reactions. Once it enters the immune system, it becomes a problem, and although it is not a disease-producing element, it can certainly cause problems with people prone to allergies.

Cats spread allergens in many ways- blood, saliva, and urine. Even after the cat has left the area, his excretions can still bring about problems. You will find these things all around the house as the cat’s daily routine such as licking, scratching, and rubbing, makes it possible to do so.
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Multi-Vitamin for Cats

Many pet owners wish to provide their animals with the best health possible by giving them a multi-vitamin for cats. Cats require a certain careful balance of vitamins and minerals as well as other nutrients in order to function at their best. By ingesting the proper combination of these vitamins, your cat will remain healthy and strong and is more likely to enjoy a long, happy, and illness free life.

The exact vitamins which your cat will need are slightly different from the vitamins which you may see in a human multi-vitamin supplement, however, so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the basics of feline nutrition before you purchase anything.

Benefits of Multi-Vitamins for Cats
Ideally, a good cat food will provide your pet with all of the different vitamins and nutrients that he needs. However, there are a number of reasons why he may still require a vitamin supplement as well. First, many cat foods do not provide the highest quality nutrients as a result of lower quality ingredients in the food. Second, sitting on the shelf for weeks or even longer can mean that the vitamins and nutrients which are naturally in cat food are reduced in quantity, thereby not giving your cat the nutrition he requires. For this reason, multi-vitamins are a good supplement to help your cat overall.

Components of a Cat Good Multi-Vitamin Cats require certain enzymes and amino acids that can only be found in meat sources. For this reason, cats that do not eat meat will not be healthy and, ultimately, will not survive. Thus, many of the multi-vitamin supplements that are available for cats focus on some of these types of nutrients which are usually found in meat sources. These include:
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Focus On Cat Health

Cat Health

TOXOPLASMOSIS

Toxoplasmosis (commonly called toxo) is a disease caused by a microscopic protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii. You may have heard about this infection because of the danger to newborn children if a woman becomes infected while pregnant. Another reason cat owners should be aware of toxo is that the cat is considered the "definitive host" of the toxoplasma organism, meaning it is the only animal that sheds infectious toxo in its feces.

All mammals can become infected with toxo. Infection can occur in two ways. One is by ingesting toxo that has been shed in the feces of a cat. This can occur through contact with soil where cats have defecated or through direct contact with a cat or its fecal matter. This is a very uncommon occurrence. The much more common method of acquiring toxo is by eating meat or prey which contains toxo in the form of a tissue cyst. In cats and other predatory animals this occurs commonly when they eat uncooked prey. In people it occurs most commonly through eating raw or undercooked meat since beef, pork and lamb can all contain toxo.

When any animal, including people and cats, become infected with toxoplasma it usually is an inapparent infection with no illness. This is because the body's immune system puts up a defense that stops the spread of the toxo and walls off the organism into a tiny tissue cyst which remains dormant for years. These are the same tissue cysts which if eaten can cause infection.

In people the situation is different if the person who becomes infected has a compromised immune system, such as a person with AIDS or a person on immune-suppressing drugs. In these cases, the spread of toxo may not be held in check and it can develop into an overwhelming and sometimes fatal infection which may affect many organs including the lungs, liver, eyes and brain. The situation is also different if the person who becomes infected is a pregnant woman.

The woman will generally have no apparent illness, but the toxo organism can pass to the fetus and result in damage to the eyes or brain causing congenital disease.

When mammals other than people become infected a similar thing happens. The vast majority never have illness but may carry tissues cysts of toxo for life. Only a few whose immune system fails to stop the toxo will become ill. This holds true for cats as well. A high percentage of cats have toxo cysts but are not ill, but we only occasionally diagnose toxoplasmosis in cats where it causes disease of the eye, lung, brain or other organs.
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Cat Blood Types

Cats have A, B and AB (rare) blood types. Most cats in the United States have type A blood - something like 99% of domestic shorthair cats have Type A blood. This ratio varies from country to country. Other cat breeds have a much higher incidence of Type B blood. As the popularity of purebred cats increases it is likely that the ratio of cats with Type B blood will also increase.

There is no "universal donor" blood type in cats - a very small amount of the wrong blood type can kill a cat if is is sensitized to the blood. This can be an issue in some cat breeds. In particular, British Shorthair, Cornish Rex and Devon Rex cats, where the percentage of Type B cats is much higher, perhaps as high as 50%. Other breeds with significant percentages of Type B blood include the Abyssinian, Himalayan, Japanese Bobtail, Persian, Somali and Sphinx breeds. (preceding information from Urs Giger, University of Pennsylvania, Kirk's XI).

If a Type B queen (mother cat) gives birth to Type A kittens, severe reactions can occur in the kittens
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Lab Blood Work Tests for Cats

Cats require blood work tests when they need to diagnosed for different diseases. Blood tests are widely used in veterinary medicine. The results are measured against normal values, which are typically present in healthy pets; these values differ across species. The lab test results may be influenced by certain drugs, so always inform your vet about the medication of your pet prior to blood tests. Prior to certain blood tests, your cat should fast.

Complete Blood Count
The complete blood count is a blood test that is very frequently employed to inform the vet about the amount of different types of cells in the blood flow of the cat.

The red blood cell count as well as the white blood cell count and the hemoglobin are important values to determine the condition of the cat. Red blood cells transport the oxygen to the vital organs, while white cells help fighting infections.

A low red blood cell count can indicate anemia, while a high amount of white blood cells can indicate an infection or a viral disease.

Platelets help the blood to clot. If the platelet count is low the cat may have a destroyed bone marrow or an autoimmune disease.

Hematocrit or packed cell volume (PCV) may also measure the red blood cell count.

Commonly Performed Blood Tests There are numerous tests that can be performed on a cat to determine his health condition. Some tests will show how a particular organ functions, while other tests will give a general overview.

The following tests are most commonly performed in felines:
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The California Spangled Cat

A shorthair cat breed , California Spangled originated following a fateful visit by Hollywood script writer and animal lover Paul Casey to Tanzania, Africa, in the early nineteen seventies. Casey was shocked by rampant poaching of leopards there for their skin and after motivation by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, decided to develop a breed that would resemble the spotted big cats in appearance and generate awareness among people regarding conservation of great cats in the wild. The idea was that if people own a spotted cat of their own, they would desist wearing of furs of other spotted cats. It was not until the mid nineteen eighties that Casey was finally able to develop the breed from a number of different cats including American and British Shorthairs, Abyssinians, Angoras, Manx and Siamese. Though the resulting Spangled cats gained initial popularity, they were not enthusiastically received by many cat fancies who were not so keen in adding another spotted cat to their registry at that time. Today very few of these purebred cats remain.

Medium sized cats with short hair, California Spangles are well muscled felines. They are lean and sculpted and move like their wild cat cousins even as they have entirely domestic genes in their heritage. Fur is short and velvety and occurs in a number of colors including black, blue, bronze, brown, charcoal, gold, red and silver. Spots are dark, well defined and preferably rounded or blocked. At times they are arranged into rosettes. Triangular and oval markings are also accepted. Tabby-like stripes often exist on head, chest, throat, legs and tail. Head is round with prominent cheek bones, almond shaped slanting golden to brown eyes and high set ears.
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Singapura Cat and Kitten Information

The Singapura cat is a small, well built cat that can take up to 2 years to reach full maturity. The eyes are characteristically large and are typically yellow, hazel or green in color. The coat of Singapura is short, fine and silky to the touch. Colors can range from light beige to dark brown. Males weigh in at about 6 to 8 pounds and females from 5 to 6 pounds. It can take as long as 2 years for the Singapura to fully mature.

The Singapura will show a curious interest in most everything you do and will try to help out. These unique cats are affectionate, alert and their intelligence is obvious in their behavior.

Brief History of the Singapura Cat
The Singapura comes from Singapore and is the Malaysian name for this island. Hal and Tommy Meadow brought this breed to the United States in the 1970s. By 1982, the Singapura was recognized as breed by most registries and clubs. The Cat Fanciers Association recognized the Singapura for show competition in 1988.

The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wildcat, the genus Felis Lybica. This genus is comprised of smaller cats. Cats are thought to have been domesticated with the advent of farming and the storage of grain. The grain attracted rats and other vermin which naturally attracted wild cats. As time evolved, certain of these cats were domesticated for the mutual benefit of both cat and man. The African Wildcat has certain features which is obvious in the housecat of today.

Feline Health Considerations
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Grooming Tips for Preventing Matted Cat Hair

Matted cat hair is entangled hair that ends up in tight knots. Long haired breeds are more susceptible to the condition than other pets. Cat hair is divided into three categories as each type of hair performs a certain role. The types of cat hair include awn hair, down hair and guard hair. The various function of cat hair involves protection from environmental contaminants, heat and cold. The uppermost layer of cat hair also determines the color of individual pets.

Cat Hair Conditions
Cats shed their fur during specific periods. However, fur loss that's caused due to skin conditions such as alopecia, dermatitis or skin allergy needs medical treatment. Although cats routinely groom themselves to maintain their fur coats, pets also develop conditions such as cat hairball due to the ingestion of hair during routine grooming. Pet owners should thus groom the cat with a brush to avoid excessive self-grooming and cat hairballs. Cats that appear sick or lethargic may avoid their routine grooming which in turn leads to matted hair. Thick knots are difficult to detangle with a comb and may cause the pet pain, if the mats are located towards sensitive areas of the body.

Tips to Separate Matted Cat Hair
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Siberian Cat and Kitten Information
Thought to date back some 1000 years, the Siberian Cat has a unique thick triple coat that helps to protect them from the harsh, cold climate of Siberia. A medium to large size cat, the Siberian is well built, has large eyes and powerful musculature. Male cats can range from 15 to 20 pounds and females from 10 to 15 pounds. All colors are recognized for show.

What is Cushing's Disease in Cats?
It is a disease named after a neurosurgeon who first described this disease in humans about 100 years ago. Cushing's disease is a disorder of the adrenal glands, a pair of bean shaped structures sitting just above the kidneys.

Is Clumping Cat Litter Dangerous?
Clumping cat litter has enjoyed a long run as one of the most popular types of cat litter. However, it seems that recently cat litter that clumps has come under fire from some quarters, with claims that the litter can present a health risk to not only your pet but also to everyone in your household. Here are some of the things you should know about cat litter of this type and your health.

Cat Poisoning - What You Need To Know
Many kinds of poisons from many sources can kill cats. Sometimes the poisoning occurs when a cat consumes a toxic substance. Other times it is the result of a cats self-grooming and ingesting poison. For example, a cat may walk through a rodent tracking powder, a petroleum product or antifreeze and consequent consumption of the toxic substance occurs during grooming. Still other poisons may be absorbed through the skin, particularly petroleum-based chemicals or coal-tar products.

Common Health Problems Affecting Felines
Cats, like other pets, will have common diseases that they are prone to, however,most of such illnesses are easily dealt with by visiting your vet. Ber in mind, however, there are a few hereditary diseases that can be terminal and do not have a cure. There are other diseases that could be passed from infected animals due to exposure.



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Cats Can Impact How We Treat Each Other
Are you a cat owner? Was there something about your cat when you picked her out that drew you to her? I own a cat named Pepper that I picked out of a litter when she wasn't even a full day old. I know, what can you tell about a little kitten who doesn't even have her eyes open. I'm not really sure, but whatever it was that made me pick Pepper, it worked correctly.

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