Feline Stomatitis

Feline stomatitis is an inflammatory disease that causes severe tissue changes around the gums of the teeth and back of the mouth. The condition can occur at any age in cats and is only treatable with dental cleanings, tooth extraction, antiinflammatory drugs, and laser surgical reduction of the inflamed tissues.

The presenting complaints for cats with feline stomatitis include, growling, pawing at the mouth, drooling, pain and hissing when eating, yowling, and weight loss. Sometimes too the cat presents for not being able to close it's mouth because a tooth has become loose and is wedging the cat's mouth open. The physical exam is usually diagnostic as the characteristic tissue changes, called faucitis, from all the inflammation at the back of the mouth, is very obvious, as in the pictures above. Biopsy and histological analysis is not often done, but when it is, lymphocytic and plasmacytic cells dominate the cellular structures.

The cause of the disease is a combination of gingival immune reaction to the dental plaque, and quasi-autoimmune response to the actual dental tissues themselves. The cat is essentially allergic to it's own teeth, as evidenced by dental erosions at the sulcus line, and eventual tooth loss, if the condition is left untreated. It is worth noting here that cats have a very strange immune system and are plagued by various diseases where the immune system cells go rogue in the body and form tumors, like lymphomas, eosinophilic lesions like rodent ulcers in the lips, and other autoimmune type diseases like oral stomatitis. It has never ceased to amaze me how independently the immune system can function. To form tumors, cancers, and inflammatory responses to the bodies own healthy tissues, says the immune system may well have a mind of it's own.

Treatment of the disease is by client and veterinarian choice. The least destructive treatments include frequent dental cleanings, and oral predisone administration. More aggressive treatments include dental extraction and laser ablation of the affected and inflamed tissues. I have used all the methods listed here for treatment, but my approach is to use the gentle and conservative treatments unless more aggressive therapy is absolutely needed. Monthly injections of Depo-Medrol, a long-acting injectable version of prednisilone, and even gold injections work well to control chronic plasmacytic-lymphocytic gingivitis and stomatitis. The gold injections though, which are also used to treat chronic arthritis in people, come with some odd side effects like a general loosening of the cats connective tissues in it's joints and skin.

Feline stomatitis is only treated and not cured, though some vets tout that complete dental extraction of all the cat's teeth is a cure, since that does end the stomatitis response. Losing all the teeth, I would say is a treatment, because it is a permanent change to the normal anatomy, and though it ends the disease, it also ends the dentition.

Many Thanks go out to Jaya and her cat Gamma for their suggestion of this article.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

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Kissing Cats and Toxoplasmosis

People love their cats! So it's hard not to hug them and kiss them. This is normally not a problem, unless you're pregnant.

Toxoplasmosis is a protozoal parasite that is generally not harmful to healthy adults. Our immune system generates antibodies against it and anyone who has had cats their whole life, like me, probably has a strong immunity developed for this parasite. The trouble comes with immunodeficiency.

A pregnant woman has a lowered immune system. This is nature's way of preventing an abortion of the fetus, as it too is recognized as a foreign invader. The unborn child also has a very low immune response while it is in-utero, otherwise it would be in a constant state of inflammation.

The toxoplasmosis parasite takes advantage of these low states of immunity and can cause brain damage and internal organ damage in an unborn child. Certainly, this is not what someone wants for their new baby. It is actually a rare occurrence, with less than one in three thousand babies being affected by toxoplasmosis, but it is worth taking the easy precautions.

If you are a pregnant woman, or you are immunocompromised by HIV, AIDS, or immuno-suppressive drugs, then take these preventive steps: Let your spouse or someone else clean the cat box. Use rubber gloves, and a face mask, if you are the one who has to clean the litter box. And definitely don't kiss your cat. If you have had cats all your life, you are probably already immune to toxoplasmosis, but while pregnant, still be cautious.

My mother loved to kiss cats, as she was an orphan raised by her aunt and uncle, after her mother died in childbirth and her father was away as a major in the Army. She made her cats her friends in an environment where her much older guardians may not have given her enough love and attention. Even grown though, she loved to lay on the couch, with a favorite kitty hugged up close, her lips pressed close to their cheek. We all can admit the joys of holding and patting our kitties, and for the most part, it is never a problem. I'm sure the cats enjoy the affection too.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

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Niacin, Neurology, Lights Out, and Pledge Air Freshener

Cats are tough animals and have few medical problems in certain areas. Neurology is just such an area. During my entire veterinary career, I saw very few neurology cases in cats. Their nervous system is not plagued by many diseases, but a few interesting cases did arise.

Niacin deficiency is rare in any animal, especially in cats, though it can occur. I had a kitten come in who was holding his head down low, as though it was just hanging over, and as I hadn't seen this condition before, I had to call Colorado State University Veterinary College for a little advice.

I talked to Dr. Ingram who was the head of neurology there. He immediately knew the diagnosis and I started the kitten on a B Vitamin supplement, and it was better by the next day. The kitten got to go home with just a little vitamin powder to sprinkle on it's food and avoided any shots, blood tests, or surgery. Lucky kitten.

The most common neurological problem in cats in Distemper, also known as Feline Panleukopenia. The Distemper virus attacks the respiratory system and nervous system of cats who have never been vaccinated for it and, if they live through having the disease, they are left with a permanent state of the wobbles that makes it difficult for them to coordinate their walking. Actual destruction of the cerebellum occurs in cats with Distemper, and those neurons never regenerate.

When I was a boy, our neighbor, Natalie Marx, had two orange tabbies that got distemper and they both walked very awkwardly for the rest of their lives. She fondly named them after our vet who saved them, so they were called Tucker and Burr.

One other unusual neurological case I had was with a cat that had a lymphoma tumor in it's medulla oblongata. The cat just got progressively weaker and weaker. The diagnosis required a Cat Scan (no pun intended) to detect the tumor. Unfortunately, that kitty had to be euthanized.

So speaking of neurology, what would cause an entire staff of three veterinary technicians and one veterinarian to go without electricity for three days at a vet hospital? Well, if the lights went out, what would you do? Call the electric company? Check the breaker box? Call to the main hospital of the group to ask Dr. Ikeler what to do with no power? All the above are proper courses of action, none of which was done. It was me wondering why I couldn't download computer information from that location, three days later that prompted the simple act of me going over and checking the circuit breaker box and clicking it back on. Four adult women, one with a doctorate degree, couldn't figure this out on their own. Sound frustrating? It was.

How about at one of my other five Cat Hospitals where I went in to use the bathroom, and slid across the floor like it was a skating rink. I looked to see if the floor was wet, it wasn't, then I wondered why everything in the bathroom was greasy. I looked around and quickly noticed there was a can of Pledge furniture polish sitting on the back of the toilet, right where air freshener would normally be. The entire staff, and the doctor at that location, were spraying the pledge around in the bathroom after they used it, and none of the four of them knew Pledge isn't an air freshener. How many geniuses do you think worked at that veterinary hospital?

It was incidents like these that made me question human intelligence in general. One of my professors at Cornell University was Carl Sagan. He also questioned if humans were intelligent and was quite open and honest that he didn't think we were. He thought we might have moments of semi-intelligence, but basically a lot of what people did to themselves and the planet he thought was very dumb. It was a privilege to have had such a famous person be one of my college professors. I still feel honored today to have known him.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

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Medical Excellence and the Four Foot Tall Milkweed

An important life lesson I have learned is that when you think you have things going really well, think again. At The Cat Hospitals of Denver we really (okay, I really) strove for excellence in our delivery of medical care and customer service. Over the years, I saw that about one percent of my employees did too.

We had weekly meetings to teach our staff and doctors medical knowledge and excellence in customer service. A true "learning organization." Everyone got paid over-time to be at these three-hour long, Wednesday afternoon meetings, that were very fun and interesting. I even had some employees that could parrot back some of our key service axioms like, UA-Fecal-EAG, and "it's not customer service, it's customized service."

So with all this going on, I thought our staff members had a real grasp on doing an excellent job in taking care of the clients and patients. I even didn't feel it necessary to make weekly stops in at all my five Cat Hospitals to check up on the people working at them. Then one late summer afternoon, I had to deliver some special surgical instruments to my Lakewood Colorado office, and I was aghast at what I saw.

As I pulled up and parked in front of the hospital, I saw a client coming out the front door with her cat in a carrier, and she lifted her leg up high as she STRADDLED OVER a three to four foot tall milkweed right in the center of the front step. I was so embarrassed, I sat in my car until the client drove off. I went inside and asked who let a four foot tall milkweed grow right in the middle of the front steps.

Of course, no one knew, and it must have just grown up over night. After all, we had daily duty rosters that included sweeping the front steps and making sure there was no trash or debris around the entrance of the vet hospital. But I have to give them credit, because the duty rosters did not mention anything about pulling up milkweeds if they were growing right in the front step, where the clients walked in.

The even odder part, was that two of my supposed top people, let's call them Carol and Brent, were working at this hospital and were entirely responsible for it. They were let go soon thereafter, because the inside of the hospital was a pig-sty as well and those two employees had also worked it out that they were clocked in all the time and were rarely even there.

So it comes back to the lessons I learned from reading William Marriott Junior's book about his Marriott Hotel Chain. You have to check on everything yourself. Bill Marriott actually goes into his various hotels and checks under the beds, and behind the toilets, and under the sinks to make sure his hotels are actually being cared for to the standards that are the Marriott Brand. You would think the president of a multi-billion dollar Hotel conglomerate would have better things to do, and he does, but it is this single step that rattles the chains and keeps his well paid employees actually doing what they are paid for. I wish the world was a better place.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Old Doctor Burr and Coster's Cascade of Criticism

During the eight years that I worked at Wilshire Animal Hospital in Santa Monica, California, I had a chance to tell my employer and friend, Dr. Ian Coster, about the first vet I ever worked for when I was younger. His name was Dr. Isaac Tucker Burr, and he had a very general country practice in Walpole, New Hampshire, and he was quite a character. Dr. Coster reminded me though, that I was just in my twenties and even though I liked to tell "Old Dr. Burr" stories, that someday too, people would be telling "Old Dr. Ikeler" stories. It probably is true, and I'm sure they're good stories.

The best stories though involved unique elements of Dr. Burr's personality. He was raised in Boston and went to Harvard for college, "just to be educated" as he would describe it. He then went to Cornell Veterinary College after his time in the military, after the second world war, and he told that the only reason the Germans were defeated was because they had ten times the power fighting against them, and still it was close!

My years with Dr. Burr were spent rambling through the countryside of New Hampshire delivering calves, testing for mastitis, splinting broken dog legs, and spaying and neutering a lot of cats and dogs. Dr. Burr had the most eloquent vocabulary, but he liked to swear and sometimes it came out so comically. During a Saint Bernard ovariohysterectomy (a dog spay) one time, a ligature slipped, spurting blood everywhere, and Dr. Burr yelled out, "Oh Jesus, Jesus," and then with a little reflection added, "I wish you were here", as though a little help from above was needed and appropriate at that time.

Dr. Burr also did not understand the modern form of the Learning Organization. Because I was a teenager and wanted to be a vet, he somehow assumed I knew everything there was to know about what to do in a veterinary hospital. Instruction was minimal and so I took it upon myself to know everything for how to be a great veterinary assistant. Self-taught, of course.

Dr. Coster was different. He was very much a teacher and, in reality, taught me how to be a great veterinarian. The twelve years of college I have attended only filled in the details. One thing Dr. Coster did though that was very funny and unusual was he couldn't stop himself when he had to tell an employee they did something wrong. He started out with the mistake, and stated it clearly, but then he had some unconscious need to continue, as though to get to the real underlying reason why this person made the mistake in the first place.

He would go beyond the first criticism, then add that they must have done it due to something inherently wrong with themselves, then go further to add that it must be something wrong with the gene pool of their relatives that was inferior that lead to the mistake made in the hospital. I labelled the phenomenon "Coster's Cascade of Criticism" to let Doc know he didn't need to go that far when telling someone they had goofed up. Luckily, I somehow escaped the cascade for the eight years that I worked for him during college and vet school.

Dr. Coster had lived in the back apartment of Wilshire Animal Hospital where I lived while I was finishing up my undergrad studies at UCLA. He said I was the last of the line to have lived in that apartment and then gone on to become a veterinarian like he and his boss, Hal Snow had done before him. I think there was even one vet before Hal who had done the same thing. Johnny something comes to mind. He had a bad drinking problem and Hal spent a lot of time covering for Johnny while he left Hal alone in the hospital to play veterinarian while Johnny went off drinking.

Being able to live and work at a vet hospital was quite a privilege looking back on it. I got paid good and got a free apartment and amenities. Quite helpful to a young man from New Hampshire working his way through college. It wasn't a simple place to live in though as friends would point out when they visited. My brother Fred, summed it up perfectly: He said, "Is it ever quiet here? All day long, it's just ring, ring, ring, ding, dong, and woof, woof, woof, and what am I sleeping on here, some dead dog blanket or something?" "When do you ever get to take a break?" "At night, when I watch the hospital, that's the only time I need a break," was my answer to him.

He just didn't understand the privilege of living at a veterinary hospital.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Slaughter House Earth and the Evolution of Veterinarians

Charles Darwin called our lovely planet "Slaughter House Earth" back in his hay day around the 1850's. He called it this because he noticed that life was so brutal. From insects vomiting up digestive acids on their prey, while they're still alive, to the cruel and vicious deaths brought upon prey by their predators. My own experience is that mankind isn't much nicer, even a hundred and fifty years later.

Veterinarians have been around since man began to domesticate animals thousand of years ago. The profession didn't evolve to a doctorate program though until about a century ago. Harvard had one of the most prestigious veterinary programs, but it dropped this curriculum with the advent of the horseless carriage, thinking erroneously, that veterinary medicine would go away with horses. Surprisingly, their are more horses around now than there were a hundred years ago. Harvard should have kept the Vet Med curriculum and kept turning out top notch vets.

When I entered the profession thirty years ago. The big controversy was between vets who hunted and those who didn't. Today, the debate is between vegan vets and those that still eat meat. Even my best friend from vet school, Dr. Richard Thoresen, who was a hunter, evolved (most probably from the influence of his wife) to become a vegan veterinarian, and he doesn't hunt any more too.

Before the hunting controversy, there was an arrogance among veterinarians that treating cats and dogs was a waste of time and below the dignity of a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Most vets today just treat dogs and cats. I am personally glad the issue now is whether or not we should be eating animals for food. It is a brutal industry that raises and slaughters millions of animals each day. That figure is correct. Millions Of Animals Each Day. Billions each year, worldwide.

A little known fact about one veterinarian, Dr. Dunlop, is that he invented air filled rubber tires that we all drive on now in our cars. He thought the cobble stones were too rough for his son to ride his tricycle on, so he made air filled rubber tires for his son's trike. Dr. Dunlop went on to expand his product line for car tires, that many of us drive on still today. You should know the tire brand, Dunlop, pretty well.

There is a little kindness on the horizon as slaughterhouse techniques are becoming less brutal and more people are eating less meat. I was beef raised and we even said with disappointment to my mother,"oh, steak again" when I was a child, because we ate so much of it. The starving children of Africa might think I was a little spoiled, even back then.

The future is bright though, as organizations like PETA, who are unfortunately too far ahead of their time, will bring about more changes to improve the lives of people and animals. The change is needed, and will surprise you. One day we will even look at keeping animals as pets as cruel too. For the luxury lifestyle that my two cats live though, that day is far away. They happily hog my bed and cover the furniture with cat hair. I feed them twice daily and clean their litter box twice daily too. I think if we asked my two cats if keeping them as pets is cruel, they would answer with a resounding, "No." I know this to be true as Moe got out and was lost for over a month last summer and he couldn't have been happier to have me find him and bring him back home after he had lost half his weight. He ate constantly and purred for a week straight! Me and Bunny are glad to have him back!

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Blacula And Flea Allergy Dermatitis

During college, I had the privilege of living at Wilshire Animal Hospital in California. It was the perfect place for a pre-veterinary student to live as it provided lots of animal hospital experience and free room, phone, laundry, and electricity, as well as a decent salary. I lived at Wilshire Animal Hospital for three years while I finished my undergraduate studies before going to Vet School. They were wonderful times, to say the least.

While living in the back apartment of the hospital, I adopted one of the blood donor cats as my pet. Her name was "Blacula" because she had a pure black fur coat and longer than normal fang teeth that stuck out all the time. She was more than happy to relinquish her life as a cage dwelling blood donor and at least have some family life with me.

Blacula had Flea Allergy Dermatitis though, that I had to manage by giving her a once a month injection of Depo-Medrol. That's the long acting corticosteroid medication that I have mentioned before that reduces inflammation in pets and people and works really well in cats, especially for flea allergy dermatitis.

Cats get a miliary dermatitis (small scabs that look like millet seeds on the skin) from the bites of fleas. Cats are actually allergic to the saliva of the fleas and it is this antigen/antibody reaction that produces the lesions of flea allergy dermatitis. In areas of great flea infestation, the problem sometimes never goes away.

Dr. Ian Coster, who I worked for at Wilshire Animal Hospital told me one time that seventy five percent of his hospital's business was flea related. He even had a friend, that was a very wealthy veterinarian, who drove a Rolls-Royce and had a flea painted right under the Rolls-Royce car logo. Fleas had made that man rich.

Blacula did well with her dermatitis treatments and she brought great joy to my life as a pre-veterinary student. Two things she did in particular still make me laugh today. The first was, every morning she would go out and take a poop in the flower box right outside our kitchen table window. I can still see Blacula's back arching and flexing as she defecated right in front of my roommate, Steve Smith (also now a veterinarian), every morning while he ate breakfast. For some reason, it didn't seem to bother him, and would make an America's Funniest Videos winner today.

The other thing Blacula did was sleep on my wife Kelly's neck at night. With absolute stealth, Blacula somehow would sneak up on the bed at night and curl herself around Kelly's neck so Kelly looked like she was wearing a black scarf by morning. Somehow Blacula got there and never woke Kelly during the night.

I will always remember Blacula for the dear sweet kitty she was. She gave blood that saved many other kitties' lives, and gave us love and entertainment that even the best money could never buy. Our love still goes out to you Blacula, even though now you are in cat heaven, and a part of eternity.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Feline Obesity

If you think you have a hard time losing weight, just think of your cat. Cats get fat easily and they lose weight with great difficulty. They are so sedentary, that with twenty hours of sleep a day, it is amazing that they use any energy at all. Dogs are different, because you can walk your dog many times each day to make it lose weight, if needed.

The cause of all obesity, in pets and people, is simply eating too much food. Metabolic problems, genes, "big bones" and all the other excuses are equally invalid in people as they are in overweight cats. Fat cats are getting too much food and they, like us, love to eat.
What should a cat weigh? Female cats should be in the six to nine pound range. Male cats should be in the nine to twelve pound range. Any cat over fifteen pounds is obese. Even the larger breeds don't get that heavy unless they are suffering from obesity and being overweight.

How do you get weight off a cat? There's only one way: Caloric restriction. See also my book on life extension and the benefits of caloric restriction with optimal nutrition: http://www.ikelerbooks.com/ and my blog on the same subject at http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

You have to feed a kitty a limited amount of food each day. Typically one cup of food per cat per day. That is one leveled measuring cup of weight loss food, like Science Diet R/D, and you can divide it up into three or four meals to keep kitty satisfied with multiple meals throughout the day. With a person too, it helps to eat before you are hungry, and have four to five small meals each day that add up to twelve to fifteen hundred calories of dietary intake.

It will take weeks to months to get your cat back to ideal weight, but it can be done. The need to do it is the same as in people: Health Benefits. Cats get the same diseases we do from being overweight. Diabetes, arthritis, asthma, kidney disease, hepatic lipidosis, and cancer all have an origin in obesity. Cats don't appear to get cardiovascular disease as much as people do and that may be due to the fact that they don't live as long and have a slightly different physiology than we do and don't inflame their arteries and veins with alcohol and tobacco products.

The heaviest cat I have ever personally seen was exactly thirty pounds. He was huge! The world record is 46 lbs and that cat died of respiratory failure at age ten. No surprise, since all that fat would be pushing up on it's diaphragm and make it very difficult for the cat to breath. The oldest cat I have ever seen, just to throw in a point of interest, was twenty nine years old. He was one old stiff bugger, but he was hanging in there. The world record for oldest cat is thirty eight years old. Pretty amazing since the average cat lifespan is fifteen.

Obesity shortens lifespans dramatically in people and in animals. Take steps today if your cat is overweight. See your veterinarian for help with this process. See your physician or join Weight Watchers if you are overweight. I have seen many of my clients over the years lose tens of pounds of excess weight, and invariably, they said they did it through Weight Watchers. It is an honorable thing to do to respect your health and live at ideal weight. I applaud the people who take the steps to do it.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Cat Fur Balls, Hair Mats, And This Award Winning Web Site

The inspiration for this article is my new vacuum cleaner. I have used nothing but bag type vacuums my whole life, but this time, I bought a tornado type vacuum. I am endlessly fascinated by how this vacuum cleaner turns vertical air suction into a lateral swirl that uses the hair, dust, and lint to create a perfect hairball that attracts other hair, lint, and dust into it's mass to form a hairball within the canister. When you are done vacuuming, you just pour the hairball out and that's it. No more bags to buy, and you get to see this perfect hairball form every time you clean. I know the novelty will wear off, but for now, it's amazing.

Cat's get hair balls and mats too. The internal hairballs are already covered in another article on this web site, so go to the search function if that is more precisely the topic you are looking for. Cat fur is subject to getting twisted up on itself and forming a mat. Cat's groom themselves by licking their fur, but sometimes, this isn't enough. When a cat gets matted, it is going to need professional help.
In the worst cases, the hair mats are so bad, the cat gives up on grooming itself completely. Then the mats get worse. I have seen many a cat where the mats became one on top of the cat and then continued to grow to encompass more and more of the top and sides of the cat until it even interfered with their ability to walk. We did a lot of cat grooming and the Cat Hospitals of Denver over the years and most of our patients came in really matted.

Our standard procedure was to sedate the cat and shave it's whole body. Our most common clip was called a Lion Cut and it involved shaving the body, but leaving the head, legs, and tail still covered in fur, so the cat looked like a little lion. The clients were very satisfied with this grooming procedure and many came in early in the summer to get a lion cut for their cat just for the cool sleek look it gave them.

We had a few stray cats that we fed out the back door of CHD that got very matted too. One was named "Jaws" because his jowls were so big and thick from being un-neutered and from fighting with other tom cats so frequently. I saw Jaws groom himself one day as he sat and just ripped his mats off with his teeth. Nature has a way of solving it's own problems. The best way to avoid hair mats on your cat is with regular combing. A steel comb is best because it penetrates down through the fur to get to the deeper levels and clears away any hair tangles.

Congratulations go out today to Rebecca Anderson, a former CHD employee, who is expecting her second daughter in February of 2010. Also, Thanks go out to http://www.i-love-cats.com/ for designating us as one of their Award Winning Cat Web Sites. We appreciate the honor!

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/ http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Is My Cat Being Difficult?

One of the most common questions I was asked at The Cat Hospital of Denver during a patient exam was, "Is my cat being difficult Dr. Ikeler?" Most often times they weren't, as a cat will hiss and cower in a strange environment. Sometimes though, they were really difficult.

We were known at CHD, and had a reputation for, being able to handle the most difficult cases. My hope for that reputation was that people meant the most difficult "Medical" cases. We had that reputation too, but difficult extended to mean "hard to handle" cats as well.

Our advantage was we were actually very skilled at handling difficult and "fractious" cats. The staff also had standing orders to never tell a client that their cat had been mean, aggressive, scary, fractious, or difficult. We told every client we were able to take care of their cat without a problem, and quite frankly, that was very true.

We used the best restraint technologies to our advantage. The best restraining device was a fish net with a long handle. With this we could "catch" any cat in it's cage, in it's carrier, coming out of it's cage or carrier, or on the run inside the hospital. It may sound a little odd, but it was the best form, and least harmful method, of cat restraint.

With the cat in the fish net, and rolled up tightly, we could give it an intramuscular injection of ketamine to sedate it without ever having to risk harm to ourselves or the kitty. With the cat sedated then, all procedures were possible.

The things we didn't use for getting a hold of a difficult cat were: leather gloves, as I had been bitten through them many times before at other veterinary hospitals while I was a student, aquariums, because you had to get a cat in them first to gas them with anesthesia, and squeeze cages, also because they were harmful to the cats and the people using them.

So when a client asked me if their cat was being difficult, I would tell them about what really difficult cats acted like: They could defy gravity and run around the walls of the exam room or treatment room. They would clear off entire shelves as they ran through them to escape. And they could literally climb walls and end up near the ceiling before gravity assisted us in their recovery.

The worst case scenarios were when a cat got caught in behind the computer system. With a central computer that connected all five of my Cat Hospitals, a mass of wires and equipment sat beneath one of my desks in my office. When a fractious cat got in behind there, it was near impossible to get them out. The wires, modems, and main frame computer created an impenetrable maze through which we could not get a net or towel or any thing back there to catch them.

In their fear, the cats often defecated and urinated all over the computer equipment and wiring and left the area a mess, which took hours after to clean. So everyone knew, at all cost, don't let a cat get in behind the computer system. I was so good at catching fractious, angry, and difficult cats, that my staff members even called me "The Fastest Net In The West."

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/ http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Cat Gook, Constipation, and MegaColon

As we always worked to create the most welcoming and friendly environments at The Cat Hospitals of Denver, some times we would try things that truly elevated our standards of appearance. This time it was my turn.

I have worn a jacket style white doctor's coat for almost all of my veterinary career. At the peak of our excellence, I thought I would change to the higher standard of full length white lab coat, white shirt, and tie. I realized though that this higher standard gave my clients the impression that I was no longer there to treat their kitties. The realization became the most clear when one of my best clients, Liz Sexton, told me I looked too fancy now to be dealing with cat gook! Liz was right, and I was happy to give up the long sleeved coat and shirt and tie, to get back to my more functional white jackets.

Some of the worst cat gook came with cats who got constipated. Cats are a desert animal and they extract most of the water out of their stools before they evacuate them. Some cats are a little too good at this water extraction and end up frequently constipated. The worst and most chronic cases get Megacolon, a disease condition where the large intestine stretches out so much that it can no longer contract.

The worst part for me was I was the guy who got to perform the "digital enemas" to relieve this obstipation condition. With the cat sedated, KY Jelly and a rubber-gloved hand, had to carefully dig out the impacted and obstructed stools from these poor kitties rears. No fun, but the treatment was simple and effective.

Fortunately for my patients too, I was one of very few veterinarians who knew how to perform a sub-total cholectomy surgery that removes most of the large intestine and cures the megacolon and obstipation (constipation to the point of obstruction) condition. These cases were wonderful referrals to me as the results were immediate, curative, and permanent! With the stretched out bowel segment removed, these cats never got constipation again, but had generally soft and mushy stools.

For the less severe cases, stool softeners and a high fiber diet can prevent and treat constipation in cats. The x-ray above shows a picture of a constipated cat with megacolon. For those of you looking to make yourself a career in veterinary medicine, be prepared to deal with a lot of cat gook.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Scratch

As a Cat Specialist, many of my cases come to me as second opinions on difficult illnesses that may not have worked out well at another vet. One cat certainly made me a hero to his owner. His name was Scratch, and his owner was Cindy Kilgore.

Cindy brought Scratch in many years ago and he looked like the kitty in this photo. Nearly completely bald and even given the name "Scratch" because he was always scratching himself. Cindy was at her wits end and even considering euthanasia because she thought Scratch was suffering. I told her I could diagnose his skin condition and get him to back to normal.

The first thing I did was run a comprehensive feline blood panel on him to test for Feline Leukemia, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline Infectious Peritonitis, and his thyroid levels. The blood panel also tested his internal organ functions and gave differential white blood counts that could indicate allergies or other problems. I also started Scratch on a twenty milligram injection of Depo-Medrol given subcutaneously because his skin condition looked empirically like an allergic skin condition called Miliary Dermatitis.

The comprehensive blood panel came back all normal and my diagnosis was correct. Cindy brought Scratch back in a month for a recheck and an additional Depo-Medrol injection. To Cindy's great joy, Scratch already looked like a new kitty with ninety percent hair regrowth and almost no scratching.

Skin diseases are some of the easiest diseases to diagnose, because the skin is right there in front of you, but I have noticed that some practitioners just don't see the skin disease. The other defect some veterinary practitioners have is they have this idea that steroid use is harmful to animals. In fact, steroids are miracle drugs and have many applications that are life enhancing and life saving. Steroids only have a bad reputation because they are overused and abused by athletes who do give them a bad name.

Scratch lived happily for years to come and lived the usual cat lifespan of about fifteen years until nature called him home. Cindy became a good friend and devoted client and I enjoyed watching her get married and have a family of her own.

Remember all people are different and the veterinary profession has moved forward in it's offering of specialization. Get a second, third, or fourth opinion if you are not satisfied with your pet's diagnosis and treatment. It can make all the difference in the world.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Cat Abscesses

Cat abscesses are a common presentation in any veterinary clinic and even more common in a cat specialty practice. Usually a painful swelling is noticed by the cat's owner and often times the cat feels hot and acts lethargic due to fever. Questioning the owner about whether or not the cat had been outside recently invariably prompts an answer of yes.

Cats, like us, have a great variety of different bacteria in their mouths. Pasteurella bacteria are the ones that create the deep wound infections, though other bacterias like staphylococcus and streptococcus do too. When cats bite each other a few bacteria are left in the deeper tissues and they set up an infection. The area swells with inflammation and the accumulation of dead cells and white blood cells create the pus filled pocket we call an abscess.

The abscess makes the cat very sick mostly due to fever that can rise to 105 or 106 degrees. I often times was prompted to look further when a cat had such a high fever with no noticeable bite wound swellings yet seen. With fever comes inappetance and dehydration. The dehydration alone becomes lethal in a pyrexic (feverish) cat.

The other reason to get abscesses treated promptly is that they can get far worse. Some clients would ask on the phone if they could let the abscess rupture on it's own and drain out without having to bring them in to the office. The answer to the client was that was not a good idea. The abscess can continue to enlarge and make the cat sicker. It can also become gangrenous and cause the loss of body parts or death. I've had to amputate legs and tails due to gangrenous abscesses and I've also had to do major reconstructive surgery to graft new skin onto areas where the skin sloughed off due to necrosis where the abscess was underneath it.

With an abscess presentation, your cat should also be tested for Feline Leukemia, FIV, FIP and have it's vaccines checked to make sure they are current. A full blood panel to test blood chemistries and internal organ funtions is in order too. Indoor cats can bite each other and get abscesses, but it is more common when a cat goes outside. The tail, rear end, and face are where most abscesses occur, but they cat be anywhere on a cat's body.

Treatment usually involves sedating the cat, lancing and flushing the wound, fluid therapy for re-hydration, and an injection of antibiotics to hit the infection and reduce the fever. Take home pill or liquid antibiotics are part of the standard treatments too. The abscess wounds heal remarkably quickly and a week's worth of antibiotics does the trick. If the wound does not heal quickly, another underlying health problem that is delaying the healing is usually present. I had one cat we eventually found had kidney failure because it's abscess would not heal.

Prevention is the key. Realize that cats are perfectly happy living an indoor only life. They get into big trouble outside. Attack from other cats, dogs, coyotes, and automobiles make the outside world a hazardous place for our sweet kitties.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

The Human-Animal Bond, Especially For Cats

Much is touted in veterinary literature about the human-animal bond. In simpler terms, it means some of us just love animals. And who couldn't? They are a source of never-ending unconditional love. How much unconditional love do you get from people? My own experience in life is all love from people is conditional. Animals are also adorable and incredibly cute. Every child melts when they see a puppy or a kitten, and they just have to have one!

My mother loved cats, and that is most likely why I became a Cat Specialist Veterinarian. My mother, Mildred Patricia Jackson Ikeler, more commonly known as "Milly," was orphaned at birth. Her own mother died in childbirth, in 1936, and mom was named after her mother, Mildred. Mom never liked the name Mildred, because of the "dred" part at the end of that name, she was happy with Milly though. Her middle name was Patricia because she was born on Saint Patrick's Day, in 1936. From there she was plagued with a lifetime of green Birthday cakes that people thought were somehow unique, but that repeated the pattern every year. Her father was named Millard Jackson, and they traced their family lineage back to Stonewall Jackson, of the Civil War.

With no brothers or sisters, except for a half sister named Audrey that was growing up in California, and her father away as a major in the army, mom grew up an orphan, and was raised by her aunt and uncle from her mothers side, Robert and Agnes Brackett. Mom grew up in the same house that I grew up in, in Alstead, New Hampshire. I still own that house today and it has been in our family for over one hundred and fifty years.

Mom's closest friends were her cats. "Smokey" was a noted favorite, and most of mom's pictures from her childhood show her accompanied by a cat. We had a double-digit cat population the whole time I was growing up, with twenty five being the top number of cats we ever had at one time. In the countryside though, certain hazards abound and we lost one or two cats every year. Mom was kind though and whatever stray cat came to our door was welcomed in to a new home.

We took good care of all our cats and vet visits were very common. That's probably why our local veterinarian, Dr. Issac Tucker Burr, was more than happy to give me a job working with him as soon as I was old enough. I learned about the common cat diseases early in life as abscesses, fractures, and hit-by-car injuries were frequent.

There are times even today, when I feel like that part of my mother that is in me is still gathering joy and happiness from the patting and hugging of our kitties. The photo here is of a red persian cat, who looks just like one of my mother's favorite cats ever, "The Royal Reggie." My mother's legacy lives on and she has helped tens of thousands of cats, by having me, and raising me to love them as much as she did.

Many thanks to http://www.i-love-cats.com/ for the free cat photos.

See also my web site on life extension at http://www.lifeextensionbooksbydrdougikeler.blogspot.com/

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

Time For Kitty To See The Dentist?

Cats need regular dental check ups too! Luckily, we veterinarians are doctors, surgeons, dentists, pharmacists, radiologists, public health officials, meat inspectors, dietitians, business managers and great people, all in one! So a dental checkup can be part of your cat's yearly visit.

Some vets are recommending twice yearly visits, but that is your choice to make. Once a year may be enough.

Cats have fewer teeth than we do, only twenty eight, versus our thirty two, and many fewer teeth than the forty two a dog has. With modern soft and mushy diets though, cats accumulate tarter quickly on their teeth and need to have it scaled off. Ultrasonic dental scalers do a very thorough job of cleaning a cat's teeth, but sometimes a cat may only need the larger tarter chunks popped off with a hand scaler. I used to keep a hand scaler in each exam room for just that purpose.

If you let your cat's teeth go without cleaning, the teeth get caries (cavities) just like our teeth do. Cats teeth are so small that they are hard to drill out and put fillings in, even though I have done that for many of my patients. The new glass inomer kits, and drill and scaler choices, make more advanced dentistry choices available to the modern kitty.

Teeth cleaning diets are also helpful in that the ones like Science Diet T/D are large and gooey, with chunks that surround the teeth and pull off the tarter build up as the cat is eating. A good dry food diet is great for daily cleaning of the teeth as the dry food is hard and strengthens and cleans the teeth as cats chew it.

Modern dental techniques allow veterinarians many options beyond the old "Elevate and Extract" days that described the extent of dental care available for animals when I was a boy. We can now offer fillings, crowns, root canals, orthodontia (braces) and even tooth implants for people interested in restoring a pet's teeth.

I personally don't recommend brushing a cat's teeth because cats hate it and then the relationship with their owner is lost. Dry food diets and tarter control diets work better and are easier and keep you in good relations with your cat. And that's what it's all about, a warm and loving relationship between you and your kitty!

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Medical Advances And Cholangiohepatits

Science and Medicine advance rapidly. If fact, the American Dental Association, describes the advancement of dentistry in humans now as "daily." I graduated from veterinary college almost twenty five years ago, in 1985. I thought medical science was really advanced then! Fortunately for us and our pets though, advancements continue to come.

Axioms that described some of the lack of veterinary medical knowledge three decades ago included, "Sick Sheep Seldom Survive," and "a yellow cat is a dead cat." I can honestly say that four word axiom encompasses my entire knowledge of medicine in sheep. (Good thing they were never a part of my patient base.) Sheep and farm animals are their own specialty now and each veterinarian has knowledge that mostly encompasses their personal interests.

My interest has always been cat specialty practice, so I know the most about cats. I do know a great deal about horses and birds too, but those animals did not gather my interest the way cats do. I have also had people wonder how I ever kept busy just seeing cats. We were overwhelmed with business and I had five veterinary hospitals devoted to just seeing cats.

So, I learned that a "yellow cat," that is a jaundiced cat, can survive and do well, and I am glad many people came to me for a second opinion when they were otherwise given a hopeless prognosis. My first really close experience with jaundice and liver disease was actually with one of my veterinary college roommates. He got jaundice after getting an infection in his liver. He looked ghoulish with glowing yellowish green eyes and yellow skin. It made me realize where many of the spooky stories came from in antiquity.

My roommate survived, so I figured cats must be able to survive liver disease too. I learned that three diseases dominate liver disease in cats, but that many other toxins and parasites can induce liver disease too. They are Cholangiohepatits, or infection or inflammation in the liver, Hepatic Lipidosis, or fatty infiltration of the liver, and Cancers of the liver, usually a lymphoma or lymphosarcoma type of cancer in the liver tissues.

The liver also can have shunts that cause Hepatic Encephalopathy, a brain affect that follows after eating a meal. This condition is treated by surgical ligation of the shunts, or feeding a restricted protein diet. The other liver diseases are treated with fluid therapy, hand feeding, antibiotics and anti-inflamatory drugs, like prednisilone. With a few days of therapy, the cats with cholangiohepatitis or hepatic lipidosis can often times be sent home. If they have liver cancer though, their chances of making it are slim.

I'm glad to be a part of an advancing era of medical science. It sure beats the old days when an entire species of animals, like sheep, where written off as goners before ever being given a chance to survive.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Thank you Yvonne Ashmore for the cat photos.

Cat Tails, Or Is That Cat Tales? The Story Of High-Rise Syndrome.

Cats are truly one of the hardiest creatures on the planet. That's probably why there are so many species of cats and have been for millions of years. When we studied species survival in evolutionary biology in college, the one characteristic of the best surviving species was it's ability to move fast! Good examples were horses, cockroaches, and cats. The fastest land animal is the cheetah, who haved been clocked running seventy miles per hour. Anyone who has ever seen a scared cat run up a tree will agree that cats really are fast!
The other thing cats are is agile. The theory is correct that cats can right themselves to land on their feet when they fall, if they have enough time. They use their body and their tail to twist "in their skin" to a feet down position. There is a traumatic disease in cats known as High Rise Syndrome and it came out of New York City as so many cats there fall from balconies. You may wonder why cats fall from balconies in the first place. It is because cats like a high vantage point perch, like a balcony, and also because their focus on prey is so intent that they become distracted. A bird or bug flying by can send a cat into mid-air. The results from high rise syndrome studies show an interesting capacity in a cat's ability for survival.
From one to five stories up, cats usually live through the fall and only get minor injuries. From six to ten stories up, cats get the most injuries, including broken bones, and trauma that results in death. From eleven stories up and higher, cats actually start doing better again and are more likely to survive the fall. The reason is they have time to maneuver themselves into a superman-like position to maximize wind resistance and to have their whole body take the impact, and not just their legs. Such a strategy gives the cat a real chance for a high fall survival.
A note about the cat tails, is that that body part seems to get injured frequently. It gets bitten as they try to run away from rivals. It gets caught in car motor fan belts, and it gets slammed in doors. During my veterinary career, cat tail amputations were common. It is easy to amputate and often times has to be because their is no way to save it. The tail gets crunched and degloved so easily, and once the skin or circulation is gone, there is no getting the dead tail to heal. For all the good a tail does a cat, them seem though, to do delightfully well without it. Cats truly are amazing!
Also, I would like to welcome my cousin Kristal Oz to the blogging world and encourage you to visit her web site called "The Wizard Of Paws By Kristal Oz" for "Pawsitive Helpful Hints" for your pets! http://www.wizardofpaws.blogspot.com/
Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Those Amazing Cat Eyes

One of the most amazing things I have ever seen my cat "Bunny" do is catch a fly in mid-air with his two paws. Bunny is in the picture to the right. His fly catching feat is impressive enough for any cat, but Bunny is also cross-eyed and has chronically inflamed third eyelids.

I have often wondered what Bunny sees because he certainly sees double as I notice him looking at me from side to side, wondering which of me is the real one. Another impressive cat feat I saw was one of our hospital cats getting a look in his eye about something he wanted outside the hospital. His focus was unwavering and as soon as a client opened the door, Marbles shot out and caught a baby squirrel fifteen feet up in a tree. We were able to get the squirrel away from him and nurse it back to health luckily.

Cats have large eyes for their body size and are known for their night vision and nocturnal hunting. Large eyes gather more light, but also come with the defect of being more difficult to focus. Cats and Owls can see prey perfectly far away, but they almost can't find it when it is right at their feet.

The cat's pupil is vertical and slit shaped and can open very broadly to let in a maximum amount of light that allows them to see clearly in eight times dimmer light than we can see in. The cat's eye lens is also bigger, and can focus more light onto their retinas, but the bigger lens makes closeup focusing more difficult. The cat's retinas are larger too and have light sensitive cones everywhere on the retinas, with no cone-only areas like we have that give us fine color vision. A person can distinguish over two million color variations.

Consequently, cats have great night vision, but they would qualify as color blind in the same way that color-blind people have difficulty differentiating certain colors from one another. Greens and blues and reds and yellows blend into similar color perceptions for the cat like they do in color blind people.

The tapetum lucidum is a reflective surface behind the retina that bounces light back to the retina for another exposure to the rods and cones. This effectively doubles the amount of light exposure to the retinas and gives cats that glowing eyes in the dark appearance when a light is flashed on them.

If a cat went in for eye glasses testing, their vision would be an average 20/100, on our scale of 20/20 as they are very far-sighted, and again have poor close-up vision. Other interesting facts about cat eyes are that they have a 200 degree field of vision, because of the binocular integration of their eyes, and they have a protective third eyelid, the nictitating membrane, that covers the whole eye on the inside when they are fighting and attacking prey or acting defensively. Bunny's third eyelids are always half way up as you can see in the photo. The third eyelids being up can also be an indication of illness in your cat, so see your veterinarian immediately if your cat's third eyelids are up.

White cats with blue eyes are genetically deaf seven percent of the time. The old wives tale is that all white cats with blue eyes are deaf, but it only occurs with the double recessive gene phenotype, which is one in sixteen of the bunch. Lastly, when a cat blinks at you, it is sending you a kiss. Their blink says they like you, so look for those sleepy eyed cat blinks to know if your kitty truly loves and appreciates you.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/

Hairballs In Cats. Those Pesky Trichobezoars.

Nothing matches the early hours experience of getting out of bed in the middle of the night and stepping barefooted onto a squishy, slimy, freshly hacked up hairball, left by your cat so conveniently close to your bed! Cats groom themselves, and during the course of all this licking, they swallow quite a bit of hair. Normally, the hair passes through the stomach and intestines and exits with the stools. Hair though can become trapped in the folds of the stomach and form into a cigar shaped mass that irritates the stomach lining to the point where it triggers vomiting.
A very odd symptom of hairballs is that they make your cat "cough." The Hairball Hack it is called and it appears as a combination cough/vomiting wretch that is often described by a person thinking their cat is very ill. A physical exam by a veterinarian is always indicated as he or she will need to rule out other diseases like asthma, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, and stomach infections. If a cat appears perfectly healthy otherwise, a diagnosis of hairballs can be made from the description of the hacking.
Prevention of trichobezoars, the scientific term for hairballs, can be made mostly by brushing your cat. A good combing is better because brushes tend to ride over the top of the fur. After daily or at least frequent combing, you can offer your cat a hairball diet if the hairballs persist. The fiber in these diets binds to the hair in the stomach and intestines and it drags the hair along with it out with the stools. If combing and a hairball control diet aren't enough, then a petroleum product like Vaseline, Laxatone, Petrolatum, or Katalax (for those of you who drive a luxury car) can be used to slide the hairballs through.
The Laxatone type products come in savory flavors too that cats like. You can offer kitty malt, tuna, or liver flavors. Or just regular Vaseline, the taste of which a lot of cats like too. It somehow amazed me early in my veterinary career that you can eat Vaseline, but I guess it is used as a lip balm, and is not toxic even with continuous use.
Cats eat grass to self-medicate when they feel the irritation of a hairball in their stomach. It is most likely an instinctual behavior and adds a nice green color to the vomited up hairball. For persistent hairball vomiters, I have often given them a shot of a long acting anti-inflammatory drug called Depo-Medrol which lasts over a month and stops the vomiting in cats that have particularly sensitive stomachs.
My last piece of advice is do not use a vacuum cleaner to vacuum hair off of your cat. The suction can do instant and irreparable harm to a cat's ears and eyes in a moment of inattention.
Hairballs can only be treated and not cured. The hairball control diets do work well though, and your cat will enjoy the combing!
Dr. Doug Ikeler www.drdougikeler.com

Why Do Cats Purr?

A Cat's purr is one of it's most endearing qualities. When we ask why cats purr it is certainly for the obvious reason that it is expressing it is happy and communicating it's contentment and comfort with others. All cats purr. Even lions, tigers, cheetahs, and the lesser cats, including our house cats. The large cats purr so loudly, it almost sounds like a growl. On a trip to South Africa, I had a chance to pat a cheetah and it's purr was so big and loud I wasn't sure whether or not it might be growling. Some other species purr too, but the cat's purr is the most distinguished.

The creation of the purr is still not completely understood because it involves a unique coordination between both the larynx and the diaphragm, and cats purr on both inhalation and exhalation. The house cat's purr resonates at a soothing 25 to 150 Hertz. A sound frequency that is known to promote healing and improve bone density. Some theorize a cat's purring is why their bones heal so well. Cat's bones heal so well because they are tough creatures and this is part of their survival adaptation.

Some people even go as far as suggesting cats be taken into outer space with the astronauts to prevent the loss of bone density in the astronauts brought on by weightlessness. I think that's stretching the theory a little far.

Cats purr under many conditions though and the sound may be for other uses as well. The mother cat purrs during birth of the kittens and it may help them locate her and bond with their mother. Purring is certainly a mode of communication and it may serve as a general expression for many feelings as I have seen in other animals like when a dog barks. Animals generally lack specific and elaborate communication modes that are as detailed as human speech. My own experience around cats tells me they can express about ten different things. Similar to the number of major emotions we have. Cats have communication, it's just not as elaborate as ours.

Cats also purr when they are frightened, ill, and near death. The purr may release endorphins in the cat's brain and bring a soothing and pain killing effect to the cat. The last question is, "do cats purr when they are alone?" If they do, they are using their relaxing mantra to bring soothing happiness to themselves that they are also happy to share with us. Cats are just the best!

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Old Cats and The Needs of the Geriatric Patient

In my feline specialty practice, I have seen patterns occur within the lifespan of cats. An odd one is that you can weigh a kitten and tell it's age by it's weight. A one pound kitten is a month old. A three pound kitten is three months old. Kitten's gain a pound of weight each month as they grow. I have even checked the kitten's weight with their tooth eruptions to confirm their ages. Yes, they do match. This is not a scientific discovery, just the observation of a pattern.

I also noticed the old cats died in the spring. By a factor of ten times as much as they died during other times of the year. It must be nature's way of making room for the new mouths to feed as the new year of mating approaches. Again, not a hard and fast rule, just a pattern in the lives of our feline friends.

Old cats have specific needs. For them to live beyond twenty, they must be on a special diet that is low in protein but very nutritious. I commonly recommended the Science Diet K/D or the Purina CNM Diet, NF. Both are purrfect, did I just say "Purrfect," for the elderly cat. The other thing old cats need to live longer is warmth. A heating pad under a towel, and set on LOW HEAT is just right to provide the added warmth an old cat needs so it doesn't have to use metabolic heat to keep it self warm. There are commercial cat beds available too that plug in and bring just the right warmth, in a round and sided cat bed, to keep any old kitty very happy. My favorite cat ever, "Mama", who appears with me on the cover of my book "Life Extension", loved his heated cat bed and would sleep in it every night. Yes, Mama was a male cat whose real name was Joey, but his nickname stuck, and he was quite famous for it.

If your elderly cat can make it past the ravages of kidney failure or cancer, it can live well past twenty years old and maybe into it's thirties. In my own career, I saw several cats at 22 years of age. One at 26, and even one poor old bugger who made it to 29. That's 145 in people years! Loving care, good grooming, clean bedding and fresh food and water every day are also the standards for keeping your feline friend happy for many years to come.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Those Mighty Ear Mites

Ear mites in cats are a problem throughout the world. They occur in all climates and both wet and dry conditions. The reason being is that the inner ear maintains a perfect environment for the ear mites in terms of moisture, cellular debris, and inaccessibility to the cat trying to scratch them out. When I was a boy, my mother use to sit and dig the crusty brown debris from our cats' ears thinking that would solve the ear mite problems. It probably got most of them, but a few certainly remained and were able enough to produce more. The treatments forty years ago were not as effective either and re-infestation commonly occurred, to the frustration of any cat owner.

Ear mites can be detected empirically by just looking in your cat's ears and seeing a brown crusting matter building up in them. Rabbits get an even more dramatic accumulation of crust and their ear mite debris comes out in large chunks: www.ocw.tufts.edu/data/5/215910/49239_medium.jpg Treatment of the ear mites is now simpler than ever. A one time filling of the ears with a product containing ivermectin and the ear mites all die off and go away. You don't even clean the ears prior to application of the medication, as the debris holds the medication in the ears longer. The ears self-clean in time by lateral outward migration of the replicating cells within the ears. Re-infestation is possible, but the ivermectin stays in the cat's system long enough to kill off any early migrants that may be planning a comeback. See: www.petville.com/pet_community/images/cat_ear_mite.jpg

Also see a closeup of an ear mite www.televets.com/upload/images/articles/0vr181-6-47.jpg

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Chronic Diseases in Cats

A friend recently remarked that my cat "Bunny" looked sad all the time because his eyes are sometimes half stuck shut from his chronic conjunctivitis. Surprisingly, he is one of the happiest cats I have ever known. Bunny has an unusual third eyelid inflammation problem that has never cleared up despite all known treatments. He has had anti-inflammatory eye drops, antibiotic eye drops, and even antiviral eye drops. I have found that just cleaning around his eyes every day works the best as his condition waxes and wanes daily and it most certainly is related to allergies.

Chronic conditions can be frustrating as they require chronic treatment. A great hospital cat we had for many years, named Sabrina, had chronic diarrhea and her owner gave her up because of the difficulties of dealing with runny stools every day. We took Sabrina in and made her our hospital cat. After a few months of dietary trials, we came up with the right food to control and manage her loose defecation. She worked out perfectly as a hospital cat and self-assigned herself the role of hostess. She would wait on the porch for each appointment to arrive, then walk down the front steps and sidewalk to greet each client. Then she would walk them to the front door with yowls of welcome and offer to let them pat her while they waited in the waiting room. She was an amazing cat and enjoyed her years with us, as much as we enjoyed our years with her.

So, a chronic condition is not the end of a pet's ownership. Sometimes you just have to accept that a condition is chronic and may need to be managed on going. Some of the best cats in the world have chronic medical conditions. Don't give up on them, as they can bring you love and happiness like you might never imagine.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Feline Aggression or What To Do With The King of Beasts

Cats can be very aggressive. The feline order is not called The King of Beasts for nothing! House cats though are supposed to be pets and not top line predators within the household. Most aggression is between one cat and the other cats in the same home. Sometimes though, cats can become aggressive towards their owners and this usually brings a not-so-happy ending. I have had to euthanize several cats during my veterinary career because they could not be controlled and their owners could not stand to live in continuous fear of them.

On the milder side, there are new products available to help with intra-household cat to cat aggression problems. My new favorite is "Let's Be Friends Flower Essences" which is a flower extract that falls into the holistic category of medications. Apparently it works fairly well and keeps the peace among the household tribe. Other medications, usually tranquilizers, like valium, prozac, and acepromazine can be used if this gentler level of calming the cats doesn't work. The bottom line though is a cat is meant to bring happiness to your home. If an aggression problem exists in any form, you should see your local veterinarian for help.

Thank you again to Kristal Oz for submitting the picture above showing her cat Yogi who had an aggression problem, but was forgiven, and is doing much better on Floral Essences.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Allergic to Cats? Here's the Solution.

Cats produce the most allergenic substance known to man. Some people think they are allergic to cats, but it is actually the dried saliva on the cat's fur that people are allergic to. When cats groom themselves, an invisible layer of their saliva remains on their fur. This dried saliva is a proteinaceous substance that reacts strongly with the human immune system, causing severe allergic reactions. So a person is not allergic to a cat, just it's saliva.

The "Solution" to this problem is a solution of acetylpromazine and water. One ten milligram tablet of ace mixed with one ounce of water is the solution. Putting six drops of this remedy on a cat's food daily causes subtle changes in the character of the saliva to occur. This change in the saliva makes a cat less allergenic to it's owner. The change is an improvement, but it is an effect, and not a one hundred percent cure. So a person mildly allergic to cats will see good results with this solution.

Many Thanks to Kristal Oz in California for the photo of Madame Frou Frou!

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/

Hyperthyroidism. The perfect disease to have?

In my feline specialty practices, we had weekly training meetings to teach our staff people excellence in medical knowledge and customer service. One Wednesday, I was doing a lecture on Feline Hyperthyroidism, and one of my staff people remarked at the end of it, "That sounds like the perfect disease to have". From her perspective, it would be, since she was extremely overweight. She weighed three hundred and fifty pounds.

What this staff person liked about hyperthyroidism though, was that if you have it, you can eat more and more and still lose weight. That is the pathognomonic symptom for feline hyperthyroidism. A client comes in and says, "You know, it's the strangest thing, my cat keeps eating more and more, yet he is losing weight!" Surely it is hyperthyroidism. We always do the tests though to confirm.

The cause of feline hyperthyroidism is not exactly known, though two theories predominate. One is the excess of iodine in commercial cat foods that contain a large percentage of ocean fish products in them. The other is that the left recurrent jugular artery beats against the left thyroid gland in a cat and causes it to become tumified. This theory is supported by the fact that the left thyroid gland in a cat is more often the one causing hyperthyroidism than is the right.

Treatment of this condition has three choices. First, is suppressing the thyroid function in the cat with a drug called Methimazole. Second, is surgical removal of the tumified and hyperfunctioning thyroid gland. Third, and most popular today, is radioactive destruction of the thyroid tissues with Iodine 131, which is given by injection and requires a two week stay at a veterinary hospital.

Hyperthyroidism is most commonly seen in older cats as a lifetime of thyroid gland tumification finally results in too much thyroxine entering a cat's blood stream. The condition must be treated, though it is not an emergency, and cats live on with the condition even if it is not treated. The veterinary community still researches why feline hyperthyroidism is on the rise in cats. My personal thinking is that it is not rising in the cat population, but instead, it is becoming more accurately diagnosed. The first veterinarian I worked for as a boy rarely did blood panels and tests on his patients. Today, forty years later, in-house diagnostics are very sophisticated, and Vet Labs are even more sophisticated still. Blood tests and blood panels are a daily routine in modern day practice.

The diseases have always been there, now we are finally diagnosing and treating them correctly.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/