This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Human food is generally not meant for feline consumption. As a general rule, the food we eat lacks the specific nutrients in premium cat food that cats need for a healthy life. But human food tastes good to our kitties, and they can quickly develop a liking for it and lose their appetite for cat food.

For that reason, once you feed them the first time, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a cat who acts cute and begs for scraps the minute you go into the kitchen. Just in case that happens, it pays to know ahead of time which foods are ok for your kitty to eat.

The following foods are generally considered safe for cats:

Beef, chicken, turkey:

Given that cats are carnivores, cooked scraps of meat are generally pretty safe for your cat to eat. And if your cat steals an uncooked piece, that is not a big problem either. The feline digestive system is designed to process meat, so salmonella is usually not an issue.

The biggest threat to cats is choking on small bones, so make sure that any meat you feed your cat is boneless. Also ensure that the meat doesn’t have any seasonings that are dangerous to cats, such as garlic, onion, or salt.

Fish:

As with meats, cats generally like fish, and an occasional small piece of tuna as a snack is fine. But be careful about giving your kitty too much. Some species, such as tuna, swordfish and salmon, may contain higher levels of mercury that can deplete the cat’s vitamin E supply. Cod, halibut and flounder are generally safer.

Regardless of which type of fish you give your cat, always make sure that it is cooked, smoked or grilled. Uncooked, oily fish can break down thiamine in your cat’s body, and uncooked fresh water fish might carry a tapeworm.

Eggs:

Cats can safely eat eggs, as long as they are well-cooked and unseasoned.

Vegetables:

Even though cats are carnivorous, they do sometimes consume vegetables to help their digestion. Be careful, though, as onions, garlic or peppers can be dangerous. Vegetables that cats can safely enjoy include baked carrots, steamed asparagus or broccoli, green beans, winter squash, corn and chopped greens. Wash the vegetables well and avoid feeding your feline something that it cannot digest, such as raw carrots.

Dairy products:

Some cats like milk, cheese or yogurt, and they are a good source of protein. But many of our furry friends become lactose-intolerant as they mature into adulthood. For those cats, dairy products can cause diarrhea.

But if your cat likes and tolerates dairy, it is perfectly safe to give your kitty some milk, cheese or yogurt as a snack.

For more information about human foods that are toxic to cats please visit this fact sheet on the ASPCA website.

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Heartworm is a parasitic disease that can be deadly to cats. Though it occurs more frequently in dogs, you should take precautions to ensure that it does not develop in your cat.

The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes. When an insect carrying heartworm bites your cat, the parasites’ larvae pass into your cat’s bloodstream. If the cat is not on preventative medication, the larvae then develop into worms that can live in the right side of the heart and the pulmonary arteries. This process usually takes about eight months.

It is a common misperception that only outdoor cats are at risk of contracting heartworm. Any cat can get the parasite if bitten by an infected mosquito, and indoor cats in areas with mosquitoes are no safer than outdoor cats.

Unfortunately, there are no clinical signs that clearly indicate that your cat has heartworm disease. A cat with heartworm might start coughing suddenly and breathing more rapidly. However, these can also be signs of other diseases such as asthma or respiratory infections. The following table lists both acute and chronic clinical signs of heartworm, but please remember that these may also be indicators of other diseases.

Acute clinical signs: collapse, dyspnea, convulsions, diarrhea/vomiting, blindness, tachycardia (faster than normal heart rate while resting), loss of consciousness and sudden death.

Chronic clinical signs: coughing, vomiting, dyspnea, lethargy, anorexia, weight loss and pleural effusion resulting from fluid accumulation.

Whether those turn out to be signs of heartworm or not, please seek immediate medical attention if your cat shows any of these symptoms. Your vet will likely run blood tests to determine if the parasite is present, but many of these tests are not accurate and will not completely rule out the diagnosis.

If heartworms are present, there is unfortunately no cure and treatment can be difficult. Your vet will treat the symptoms, but unfortunately there is a risk your cat could die of pulmonary failure during the worm’s lifespan.

So what’s the good news in all of this? Preventing heartworm disease is extremely easy and helps to ensure your cat stays happy and healthy. Many heartworm preventatives are simple topical medications applied once monthly to the back of your cat’s neck. While there are a variety of heartworm preventatives on the market, they aren’t all effective or safe.

Always ask your vet about the different options available for your cat. Also by buying the product directly from your vet’s office, many manufacturers offer a guarantee and back their product 100 percent. Some will even pay for your cat’s treatment should they contract heartworms while on the preventative, or will even refund your money if your cat ends up having an allergy or sensitivity to the preventative.

For more information, please visit the Feline Health Library on our website: www.justcatsclinic.com.

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Does your cat see the vet often enough?

According to Banfield’s 2014 State of Pet Health, their 850 veterinary clinics across the country saw 2.3 million dogs and only 470,000 cats.  There are more cats than dogs in this country. So why aren’t cats getting veterinary care?

The Bayer Veterinary Usage Study, determined several reasons why cats don’t get the appropriate preventative care that they need.

• A poor understanding of the need to get routine examinations. Many cat owners do not understand that their cat must see the vet every year, even it doesn’t require annual vaccinations.
• The costs of veterinary care. Unfortunately, vet bills can be steep, especially when your feline friend is fighting a life-threatening illness. But this is truly a case in which an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Catching and treating an illness early thanks to an annual checkup can ultimately save you thousands in the long run.
• Many cats either do not like being transported to the vet in a carrier or going to the vet at all. The resulting aggressive behavior that cats can display makes many owners reluctant to take their cats unless it is absolutely necessary. In previous articles, we’ve covered some ways to make this process easier.

Despite these hurdles, cats do need veterinary care. Unlike other animals, cats excel at hiding their illnesses, and it is easy to overlook subtle signs.

For that reason, the American Association of Feline Practitioners recommends that a vet examine cats seven and younger once a year and cats older than eight every six months. During the routine physical examination the veterinarian often detects conditions that could affect your cat’s health in the long run, so that they can be managed or treated before they become a bigger problem. Obviously, cats with chronic illnesses need to see their vet more frequently.

As a member of your family, your cat deserves the best possible care. And as its guardian, it is up to you to make sure he or she gets it, so that your cat can live a long and healthy life.

For a more a more comprehensive description on how to care for your cat please visit:

Catvets.com

American Journal of Veterinary Medicine

 

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Even though we love our cats very much, we may not like every single thing they do. There are definitely some feline behaviors we can live without! Scratching our furniture, shedding on our black pants and coughing up hairballs are a few habits we’d just as soon not have to deal with.

One of the most frustrating, however, is our feline friends’ occasional tendency to urinate outside the litter box. When our cats, whose bathroom habits are normally quite fastidious, start finding new places to use as a litter box, it can cause an unsightly mess and leave the entire house reeking. And making matters worse is the fact that once a cat starts urinating in a particular corner, on a living room sofa, or on a piece of its owner’s clothing, it will probably continue to do so for a long time.

Urinating outside the litter box can be due to a variety of issues, some more serious than others. If you notice that your cat is doing it, it is critical that you address the situation immediately — both for your cat’s health and the integrity of your carpets and furniture.

Any time your cat starts urinating outside the litter box consult your vet immediately.

Your vet might suggest that you make sure that your cat’s litter box is clean. Some cats will urinate in inappropriate places if they find their litter too dirty. Switching to new litter can also lead to urinating outside the box if your cat doesn’t like the change.

If resolving the litter box situation doesn’t halt the inappropriate urination, the next thing to look for is stress. Sometimes, cats will begin urinating outside the litter box when they feel insecure, when there is a new cat in the house, when you’ve started using a new cleaning agent or when there is a new human addition to the family. The point of urinating outside the box can vary, depending on whether they are trying to mark their territories or signal their displeasure to you, but the results are the same.

If both the litter box’s condition and stressors can be ruled out, then there are a variety of infections and diseases that can cause inappropriate urination. Cats can’t tell you if it hurts to urinate and they might be trying to alert you to that fact. The causes may include:

• Crystals in the urine
• Bladder stones
• Kidney stones
• Urinary track infection
• Idiopathic cystitis

Your vet will check your cat’s blood work, urine and x-rays to determine if any of these issues could be causing the urination problems. If they are, the vet will prescribe the appropriate course of action.

Regardless of the cause, the longer this has gone on it can be challenging to retrain your cat to use the litter box once the problem has been resolved. Be sure to talk with your vet about strategies get your feline friend back into the box.

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Kidney disease, kidney failure or chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a renal disease in which a cat’s kidneys progressively shut down. Just as in the case of humans, cats often develop CKD as part of the aging process. Compared to us, however, cats are much more likely to get the disease. CKD will develop in 10 percent of cats older than ten and 30 percent of cats older than 15. Younger cats can also get CKD, but in those cases, the illness generally is caused by exposure to toxins.

CKD can be a very difficult disease to treat because it is usually diagnosed only after it has progressed significantly. It cannot even be detected until a cat has lost more than 65 percent of their kidney function. It is hard to know when this happens, because the cat will often not even display any symptoms until the disease’s later stages.  Moreover, the symptoms of CKD, if displayed, may also indicate a completely separate infection.

If you suspect that your cat may have CKD, ask your vet to run a a blood chemistry panel and a urine test. The latter measures the concentration of the urine, which usually decreases as kidney functions are lost. It is important to conduct additional tests to rule out the aforementioned infections.

After their cat has been diagnosed, people usually want to know how bad it is and how the disease can be treated. The answer to both depends on the stage of the disease.

Stage 1: The creatinine level in the blood test is lower than 1.6, which means that less than 66 percent of kidney functions have been lost. At this stage, most vets suggest switching the cat to a more kidney-friendly prescription diet that is lower in processed protein. Read More

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

There are many common foods, household products and medications that are perfectly safe for humans but potentially deadly to felines. If ingested, a lot of things could make your cat very sick or even kill your furry companion. And because cats are so small, even the tiniest amounts can be harmful.

Below is a short list of things around the house to keep your cat out of. It is not comprehensive, though, so please consult the American Society for the Protection of Animals website for more information. If you have any doubts about a particular substance, you can also call Poison Control.

Foods: Though it can be tempting to do, it is generally not a good idea to give your cat food from your own table. Several common ingredients in our dishes can be harmful if your cat should ingest them. For example, onions, garlic, artificial and sugar-free sweeteners, yeast and alcohol are all toxic to cats. Other foods to keep away from your felines include grapes, avocados, coffee and tea.

The one to really watch out for, though, is chocolate. Though all varieties are toxic, the darker chocolates are generally more harmful. And because it contains methylzanthine, baker’s chocolate is the most dangerous of all.

Household products: Cats are beloved for their curiosity, but as the old saying goes, that can get them into trouble. Especially when they go sniffing in places where dangerous chemicals are stored. Household cleaning agents such as laundry detergent, toilet bowl cleaner, rust remover and bleach can cause excessive drooling, difficulty breathing, vomiting and burns inside the mouth and esophagus if they are ingested by your cat. Be sure to store these products in an inaccessible place.

Many gardening and lawn care products can also be toxic to felines. Poisons designed to kill insects, weeds or rodents are very dangerous to your cats as well. Cocoa mulch and fertilizers should also be kept out of reach. And though not a gardening product, antifreeze is particularly deadly, so please take care that your cat cannot get into a bottle of it.

Medications: It should not be surprising that medications intended for humans are not generally good for cats. Here is a short list of things that cats should not consume:

• Over-the-counter painkillers (Advil, Aleve, Motrin, Tylenol)
• Antidepressants (Cymbalta, Prozac, Lexapro)
• ADD/ADHD medications (Concerta, Adderall, Ritalin)
• Sleep aids (Xanax, Klonopin, Ambien, Lunesta)
• Birth control pills (Estrogen, Estradiol, Progesterone)
• ACE inhibitors (Zestril, Altace)
• Beta blockers (Tenormin, Torol, Coreg)
• Thyroid hormones (Armour, dessicated thyroid, Synthroid)
• Cholesterol-lowering medications (Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor)

If you suspect that your cat has ingested any of the above, please call your vet or Poison Control immediately at 1-800-222-1222.

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Many cat parents don’t expect that their cats will get sick. As a result, they often don’t put aside money for the day when their beloved pet develops a life-threatening disease, has an accident, or ingests something toxic.

The subsequent trip to an emergency veterinary care hospital can drop a sudden and unexpected bill exceeding $2,000 on parents who are already worried about their cat’s health.

When cat owners cannot afford the costs of potentially life-saving treatments, most veterinary clinics will try their best to offer subsidized care. But they cannot treat patients for free, and they may be unable to help if a financial solution is not found. As a cat parent, you never want to be in a situation like this. Having to decide whether you have enough money to save your cat is a choice no one would ever want to make.

So how can you ensure that you never find yourself in such a situation? By getting pet insurance for your feline friends.

Just like its human equivalent, pet insurance can help pay for the often massive medical expenses resulting from your cat’s medical conditions. The big difference is that while your employer often provides your plan as part of your benefits, you will need to purchase pet insurance yourself from one of the many companies that offer plans.

How does pet insurance work? As with human insurance, different plans offer a different range of benefits. For example, one provider, Pets Best, has three options that cover between $5000 and $20,000 in annual medical expenses. Another, Pet Plan, offers to cover kennels and boarding if you opt for their Silver and Gold packages. Obviously, the premiums vary depending on the level of coverage, additional benefits included, and the annual deductible (which you can usually set).

Unfortunately, there are some limits to what pet insurance will cover. Most plans do not cover routine checkups and vaccinations. More importantly, the costs of treating preexisting conditions are not generally reimbursed. As a result, it is extremely important to look into insuring your cats from an early age – before they develop any potential medical issues. Finally, double check to make sure that the pet insurance company offering the plan you choose does not have per-condition limits. Those ceilings are frequently too low to cover the costs of treatment in Northern Virginia.

Don’t let those restrictions deter you, though. Getting pet insurance is still in your and your cat’s best interest. Though you will hopefully never need it, you will be glad you bought it if the worst should happen.

This is a sponsored post by veterinarian Elizabeth Arguelles, owner of Just Cats Clinic at Lake Anne Plaza. She writes weekly on Reston Now.

Spring is finally here and soon there will be flowers everywhere. Did you know that many of our favorite flowers are dangerous to cats?

Some of these toxic flowers do little more than give your furry friend a bit of indigestion or, at worst, a case of diarrhea. But some are deadly. The ASPCA has a very detailed list of plants with their pictures to help you identify any that may be in your home or yard.

The No. 1 killer of cats is the lily. All of the many species of these beautiful flowers — Tiger, Asiatic, Stargazer, Day, and Easter, for example — are fatal to your cat, but Easter lilies are the most dangerous. If your feline friend consumes any part of a lily, whether the stem, the leaves, the stamens, the pollen, or the petals, the toxins within them can cause acute kidney failure and death within three to six days if left untreated.

So if you have lilies in your house, get rid of them immediately.  Even the ones in high places that you think might be unreachable. Cats are very agile, after all!

If you think your cat may have eaten some of them, check for the following symptoms

• Drooling
• Vomiting (especially if pieces of the plant come up)
• Loss of appetite
• Increased urination and lack of urination after one to two days
• Dehydration

If you notice any of these things, get your cat to a vet immediately, as treating your feline friend within 18 hours of ingestion will greatly increase the chances of a full recovery. Assuming the exposure to lilies was recent and your feline has not vomited, your vet may first try to induce vomiting. Your vet will then start your kitty on high-volume IV fluids to try to flush out the toxins and prevent dehydration. He or she will also check the kidney functions using a blood and urine test.

Please tell everyone you know that lilies are deadly.  Just Cats Clinic has already seen two cases of lily toxicity this week. Fortunately, both cats are doing well because of early intervention.