Bartonellosis (Cat-scratch Disease)

cat-scratch Disease (CSD), also known as Rochalimaea henselae or Bartonella henselae, is an infection in humans that most often occurs after prolonged contact with a young cat. When diagnosed in cats this disease is called feline bartonellosis. It is caused by a bacteria called Bartonella henselae.

All ages, breeds, and sexes of cat are susceptible; however, kittens under one year of age, kittens or cats infested with fleas, and feral cats or former strays are more likely to have the bacteria in their bloodstream. Fleas are believed to play a major role in cat-to-cat and possibly cat-to-human transmission. Cats can be infected with the organism for months, or even years, and never show any clinical signs.

Children and immunocompromised people may suffer severe disease when infected by these bacteria.

All ages, breeds, and sexes of cat are susceptible; however, kittens under one year of age, kittens or cats infested with fleas, and feral cats or former strays are more likely to have the bacteria in their bloodstream. Fleas are believed to play a major role in cat-to-cat and possibly cat-to-human transmission. Cats can be infected with the organism for months, or even years, and never show any clinical signs.

Children and immunocompromised people may suffer severe disease when infected by these bacteria.

cats are considered the major reservoir for these bacteria, although fleas and some other mammals have also been shown to play a role in the disease transmission.

What to Watch For in Cats

Bartonella is not known to cause serious disease in most cats. Most cats will have no clinical signs of illness. Some cats may exhibit:

Lethargy

Fever

Lack of appetite (anorexia)

Reproductive difficulty

Lymphnode enlargement

Vomiting

Red eyes (uveitis)

What to Watch for in Humans

Signs of human disease include raised skin lesions that are red to purple in color. Anywhere from a few to over 100 may be found on the face, trunk, arms and legs. If cat scratch disease spreads internally, it can cause fever, weight loss and vomiting. Upon examination, the liver and spleen may be enlarged. Humans with immunodeficiency problems are at higher risk for disease.

Diagnosis

In people, definitive diagnosis generally requires a biopsy for microscopic examination and culture.

Other tests to diagnose the organism in cats might include:

Blood culture

Serology

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Complete blood count (CBC)

Serum biochemical profile

Urinalysis

Feline leukemia virus testing (FeLV)

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Testing (FIV)

Treatment

Cats with no clinical signs of disease do not require treatment. Cats that have clinical signs of disease may be treated with antibiotics and supportive care as needed. There is not a lot of information about treating this disease in cats and much of the information about treatment is extrapolated from studies in human medicine.

In people, cat scratch disease responds to several different oral antibiotics, such as erythromycin, clarithromycin,  and doxycycline. Antibiotics are usually given for 2 to 3 months unless there is bloodstream or internal organ involvement. In advanced HIV (AIDS) disease, long-term management with lower doses is usually necessary to prevent relapse.

Home Care and Prevention

There is no home care for bartonellosis. Preventive care is based on maintaining good hygiene. Wash your hands after handling pets and wash scratches or bites thoroughly. Never let a cat lick an open wound, and maintain meticulous flea control. Preventative flea and tick control is recommended. For more information read , flea and tick control programs

Blood cultures and serology should be performed on pets belonging to immunocompromised people.

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Halitosis (Bad Breath) in Cats

By: Christian Yost

May 14, 2009

Halitosis, or bad breath, is an unpleasant odor coming from your cat’s mouth. Usually halitosis had oral causes, although sometimes it can be caused by other disease processes.

There are several products on the market to help you deal with bad kitty breath including cat toothbrush and paste, cat treats  that can help minimize tartar or freshen cat breath as well as kitty breath drops.

It is first important to understand and treat any underlying diseases that may be causing the foul odor. These include:

Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums)

Abscessed tooth or teeth

Bone or hair stuck in mouth

Oral ulceration

Foreign bodies in the mouth (such as plant material or grass awns)

Oral neoplasia (tumors of the mouth)

Lung diseases, such as lung cancer

Severe kidney disease

Periodontitis (inflammation of the tissue that surrounds the tooth)

What to Watch For

Oral discharge

Oral pain

Bloody oral discharge

Drooling

Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing)

Difficulty eating

Depression

Diagnosis

veterinary care should include diagnostic tests to determine the underlying cause of the bad breath and help guide subsequent treatment recommendations. Some tests may include:

A complete medical history and physical examination

A complete oral exam, which may require a brief anesthetic

Full-mouth radiographs (X-rays) with a dental machine

Periodontal probing (a blunt probe that is used to check the gum/tooth interface) to identify gum and periodontal diseases

Treatment

Optimal therapy of any serious or persistent medical condition depends on establishing the correct diagnosis. There are numerous potential causes of halitosis and before any treatment can be recommended, it is important to identify the underlying cause. Initial therapy should be aimed at the underlying cause. This treatment may include:

Removal of foreign object if present

Treatment of any oral tumors as needed

Periodontal therapy and root planing (cleaning/scraping the teeth under the gums)

Home Care

Home care recommendations will depend on the underlying cause of the problem. Some steps that you can take to help eliminate your cat’s bad breath include:

Brushing your cat’s teeth daily. Tooth brushes/finger brushes and special toothpastes are available from your veterinarian.

Spraying 0.12 percent chlorhexidine (prescribed by your veterinarian) into your cat’s mouth once a day for seven to fourteen days.

Following dietary considerations recommended by your veterinarian. Special diet hat may be beneficial include Hill’s Prescription Diet T/D®.

Evaluation by your veterinarian if the bad breath persists.

Please visit us at  www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

6 Ways to Read Your Cat’s Mind

By: Christian Yost

May 12, 2009
Wouldn’t you love to know what your cat is thinking? You can sit and watch your cat for hours but you never know just what is going on behind those big dreamy blue (or green or amber) eyes. Your cat squints at you, fluttering his eyelids until they almost close. He switches his tail. Is he angry or just excited? We may not know, but we can make some pretty good assumptions about what cats are thinking based upon the full context of their behavioral signing and events that normally follow.

The Eyes Have It

Look into your cat’s eyes and you can tell a lot about his state of mind. The direction of your cat’s gaze will direct you to the subject of his attention. But gazes vary. Some are intense and focused while others are haphazard. When your cat stares without blinking, does he want something from you or is he feeling hostility? Either could be true.Although a fixed gaze and rigid body posture might mean hostility, the same look might be soliciting petting or some other form of attention in a relaxed, purring cat.

Another fairly definite eye sign relates to pupil size. If your cat’s pupils are constricted and slit-like, his mood is probably ambient, bordering on vegetative. Or perhaps it’s predatory. However, if your cat’s pupils become fully dilated in broad daylight, appearing as large black pool’s he’s either in pain or ready to fight or run away. Increased pupil size is not intended to intimidate other cats or people but rather to allow more light into the eyes. Cats’ pupils are always large at night but veterinarians learn very quickly to beware when a cat’s pupils are fully dilated in a brightly lit examination room.

The degree of opening of the eyelids can tell a tale, too. Wide-open eyes correlate with alertness and increased levels of mental activity – ready for action, if you will. Semi-closed or fluttering eyes mean that the cat is in a more dozy, complacent mood or may be in the mood for a nap. So if your cat’s eyelids flutter and periodically close while he is looking at you, it is a sign of faith or trust. Even if he is on the brink of falling asleep at the time, squinting at you is still a compliment because your pet is showing that he is comfortable and trusting enough to take a nap in your presence.

The Ears Have It, Too

A cat’s ears can adopt several different positions and for several different reasons:

Ears erect and forward – alert, with attention focused ahead

Ears swiveled sideways like a swing-wing fighter – on the offensive

Ears pressed backward onto the head giving the appearance of a snake – extreme defense (ears folded back to protect them from harm)

One ear forward and one back – ambivalence

Ears rotating like radar dishes – listening carefully in an attempt to find the source of the sound.

Mouth

Your cat normally keeps his mouth closed. This tells us very little about a cat’s motivation. When the mouth is open, however, you can sometimes learn about your cat’s motivation.

The gape. Your cat gets a far-away look, allows the bottom jaw to drop, and looks as if it’s grimacing in pain. What he’s actually doing is savoring certain pheromonal odors on the breeze.

Open mouth with lips retracted. Your cat stares, bears his teeth and hisses. This indicates intimidation and aggression.

The yawn. Yawning indicates stress, ambivalence, or sometimes preparedness for action.

Head and Body Position

A cat on the offensive often walks directly toward the subject of his angst with his head held low and moving slowly from side to side, with his eyes fixed on the target. When in this mode, your cat will swivel his ears sideways and his body will appear wedge-shaped as his rear legs stiffen. Watch out for this cat: He means business.

When your cat is on the defensive, he will hunker down while backing up and lean away from the threat. His head is sometimes deflected to one side giving the appearance of a sideways glance and he will vocalize (hiss, growl or shriek). Other signs of defensive aggression include extension of claws in readiness for a fight, and piloerection (hair raised) – making him appear larger and thus more fearsome. A cat in this posture is less likely to attack than retreat – because he is afraid.

Tell-Tail Signs

Tail position and movement offers insight into your cat’s psyche. Basically a cat’s tail can be up, down, or sideways; it can be curved or straight; and it can be still or moving. Here’s how to interpret the various positions and movements of the tail:

Tail tucked – fearful, defensive

Tail held at half-mast and moving slowly from side to side – indicates mild interest

Tail vertical or straight up – indicates anticipation and/or greeting

Tail vertical but curved to one side – indicates playfulness

Tail curved over the cat’s back – indicates expectation/monitoring

Tail held completely to one side in a female – indicates sexual receptivity

Tail held low with tip twitching – indicates a stalking, predatory stance

Tail frantically switching in wide arcs – indicates heightened affect/aggression

Tail puffed up (piloerect) – indicates fear and aggression

Marking Signs

Bunting. Your cat may rub or push his face against objects with his forehead, cheeks or chin. What your cat is doing is marking them with subtle biological scents. Some say that a cat’s rubbing with the forehead or cheeks indicates affection, but rubbing with the chin is usually reserved for territorial marking.

Furniture scratching. Contrary to popular belief, furniture scratching is not the cat’s way of sharpening his claws but is a form of visual and scent marking. Your cat’s paws are equipped with scent glands to facilitate this function. Territorial concerns will increase furniture scratching/marking and should be addressed if furniture scratching becomes a problem.

Marking objects with urine or feces. This is an even more distasteful form of marking behavior to most cat owners. The function is similar to furniture marking signifying an olfactory warning.

Anal sac secretions. Your cat may sometimes discharge his anal sac when in situations of extreme fear. Anal sac secretions are thought to contain a fear pheromone that serves to remind the cat not to pass that way again.

There are benefits to caring cat owners in obtaining glimpses into the mind of their pet because it enhances their bond with their cat and facilitates communication. So, next time you are alone with your cat and don’t have anything to do, try reading your cat’s mind. You’ll probably learn something you didn’t know before and have a greater understanding because of it.

Please visit us at   www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

Why Cats “Wag” Their Tails

By: Christian Yost

May 12, 2009
One of your cat’s most beautiful features is her tail. Long and graceful, it curls around her body softly when she sleeps or sits, or floats behind her when she walks. The tail is another marvelous part of your cat’s anatomy, and she uses it in various ways.

About 10 percent of your cat’s bones are in the tail – up to 20 vertebrae. These small bones are encased in muscles that allow finely graded movements, such as elevation of the tail its movement from side to side, and the lowering or curving of it around the body. Interestingly, the domestic cat is the only feline species able to hold the tail vertically while walking.

Many animals, including cats, use their tails to communicate with other animals. For example, the position of a wolf’s tail can tell another wolf what mood he’s in.A confident wolf holds her tail up high, whereas a frightened wolf holds her tail between her legs; a white-tailed deer shows alarm by flicking her tail; horses flatten their tails between their legs when frightened and lash them back and forth when they are irritated or annoyed.

Likewise, your cat’s tail is a barometer of her feelings. A high vertical tail is a sign of happiness. If that high tail quivers from the base up, it indicates that she is really happy and excited. If that tail goes in the opposite direction and is tucked between the legs, your cat is afraid or trying to avoid a confrontation.

A cat’s wagging tail means various things, each wag is slightly different. Broad wagging, even whopping, indicates annoyance. Your kitty may be curled up next to you enjoying a nice petting session when suddenly she decides that she’s has enough. She will signal this to you by swishing her tail up and down or its tip from side-to-side. If you miss the signal, she may bat at you with her paw, or worse, to make her point.

If she’s really agitated, she will wag her tail rapidly back and forth from the base. This is a threatening signal to warn other cats (and you) to back off. On the other hand, a tail that waves back and forth slowly and gently indicates that your cat is relaxed and happy.

Your cat may swish her tail when she’s in her hunting mode. By swishing her tail, she mesmerizes her prey. Since your cat can’t see her prey if it becomes still, she moves her tail to initiate the slightest movement of her target, which she can then see. Mother cats train their kittens in the fine art of hunting by twitching the tips of their tails to provoke playful attacks.

Then there’s that little tail flick, which involves just a quick movement of the tail. Your kitty may be resting at the foot of the bed and you say her name and there it is – a little flick. Her eyes are closed and she appears to be sleeping, but you say her name again, and there it is again – a little flick. You know she hears you, even though she’s pretending she doesn’t. This is a movement of happiness and contentment. Your cat trusts you enough to remain sleeping in your presence – and in her own way, she’s letting you know that she hears you and all is well.

Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

When Your Cat Gets the “Midnight Crazies”

By: Christian Yost

May 12,2009

It’s 1 a.m. and you’re jolted awake by the sound of a trash can lid hitting the floor. You shuffle into your kitchen and there’s your cat perched on the kitchen counter – you swear she’s grinning at you. She lets out a howl, leaps to the floor, runs sideways, leaps into the air, and pounces on nothing with all her might. Your cat has been gripped by the “midnight crazies.”

The “midnight crazies” is a popular name for a cat’s behavior when she plays and roughhouses in short spurts in the middle of the night. The cat may entertain herself with wild activity or jump on your bed and paw at your feet, elbows, hair and face to get you to join in.

What motivates a cat to such boisterous and disruptive behavior? One theory is that the cat is simply practicing hunting methods, fighting maneuvers, and escape techniques.
“Cats in the wild are active at times when rodents come out, typically after dark, a cat naturally wants to spend her evenings hunting and playing predator games, even if she is a well-fed house pet.”

Another theory is that house cats become active at night simply because they aren’t getting enough play and exercise during the day.

“Many house cats spend the days alone and indoors while their owners are at work, when the owner comes home in the evening, the cat wants to play and will be very active.”

Late-night activity is especially common in young cats with a lot of energy to spare, and in new kittens who simply do not know any better. “The kitten may have never lived with a human family before and not know that she is expected to sleep through the night, “She may also feel a little unsure of her new human family and be uncomfortable about living in unfamiliar surroundings.”

Here are some suggestions for coping with a nocturnally active cat.

Help Your Kitten Relax

If your kitten is too anxious or nervous to lie down and sleep at night, you can help her feel more secure by sitting down with her for a while, holding her closely, and gently petting her. Some kittens are also comforted by a softly playing radio tuned to an all-night talk show or soft music station. Others are comforted by having a toy or blanket from their former nest so that the smell from that familiar place is present where they sleep. Once your kitten is soothed, put her in her own bed and praise her when she stays there.

Provide More Opportunities for Play

Make sure you’re meeting your cat’s needs for play at appropriate times during the day and early evening. If you’re home during the day, take breaks with your cat by spending a few minutes tossing cat toys for her. Try to keep your cat busy and active so that she doesn’t sleep for too long during the daytime, at least until she is in the habit of sleeping at night.

If you’re away at work from 9 to 5, try to spend some time playing with your cat before you leave for work, and then have another play session after you get home in the evening. Have your last play session about an hour before you go to bed. “If you play a lot with your cat immediately before you go to bed, you will get her all charged up and she won’t be able to fall asleep,” Meyers notes.

‘Evening Proof’ Your Home

Try to anticipate the mischief your cat might want to get into while you’re asleep and plan accordingly. Put garbage pails, kitchen glassware, lamp cords, computer keyboards, books, and clothing out of harm’s way before going to bed.

Confine Your Cat for the Evening

If your cat is especially boisterous or destructive at night, you may need to confine her to a spare bedroom or bathroom for the evening. Make sure your cat is in a big enough space so that she’s able to walk around. Provide food, water, a litter box, and scratching post in the same room. If your cat starts whining because she wants to come out, don’t give in. “If you do, you will be rewarding the cat for vocalizing and scratching at the door,” Simpson says. That means she’ll learn that she’ll get what she wants if she cries long enough.

Interrupt Bad Behaviors

If you allow your cat to sleep  in your bedroom or have free reign of the house at night, you may want to have either a spray bottle or a gun-shaped hair dryer on hand so if your cat wakes you up with her meowing, you can just reach for the hair dryer and blast the cat with some air or water. “Doing so won’t hurt the cat, but will simply startle and discourage her from doing the same thing again,” Simpson notes.

Punish the specific action, and do it at the beginning of the behavior. “Then once the cat stops meowing in your face, you can then pick her up and snuggle,” Myers says. But don’t give any attention during the actual bad behavior. “Sometimes pet owners pick up the cat while she is saying ‘meow’ and in effect they are just reinforcing the meowing,” Meyers says.

Keep in mind that it’s unrealistic to think your cat should sleep  all night if you haven’t taught her to do so or if you haven’t met her need for play during other times in the day. Remember, cats need recreation and sleep, just as humans do. The trick is coordinating your schedules so both you and your pet can be happy.

Please visit us at  www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

Feline Personalities

By: Christian Yost

May 5, 2009
As all cat owners

know, individual cats have very different personalities. This is why people who seek to clone their cats – if the technology does become feasible – are in for a disappointment if they think they’ll get an exact replica.

However, there are some common themes in the way they act. For example, cats tend to be more independent than dogs; they are somewhat more cryptic; they sleep a lot; they are fixed in their habits; and they are fastidious about their hygiene.

These commonalties aside, there are many unique personality types

that are the result of their genetics and personal experiences. Behaviorists, like other scientists, are never happy when presented with infinite arrays of anything, and that includes personalities. Trying to make order out of chaos is what scientists do for a living, and true to form, some have spent many long hours trying to capture the essence of feline personalities.

While there is no absolute best classification of personality, there are some things that can be learned from the studies.

Of Cats and Men

There are a number of ways that human personalities can be classified: There is the gold standard California personality Index (CPI), the Myers Briggs personality profile analysis, and its abbreviated derivation, the Kiersey Temperament Sorter. Each one has a slightly different spin and assesses personality in a slightly different, more or less complicated, purpose-specific way. At the end of the day, all the various traits can be distilled down to four basic types that present in different combinations in different individuals. So it is with cats, except currently the basic subtypes of personality have so far only been distilled down into three.

Owner Assessment

In one study, owners were asked to describe their cats using terms that displayed high inter-observer reliability: terms like, active, aggressive, curious, excitable, vocal and watchful. When these terms were put into a statistical melting pot and rendered down, they were segregated into three non-correlating (i.e. completely different) categories termed alert, sociable and equable. A cat like the Rudyard Kipling’s famous cat that preferred to “walk by itself” may have been described as fearful of cats and people, solitary, tense and watchful. That aspect of the cat’s personality could be assessed under the single heading of sociability, or rather, lack thereof.

Condensed Groupings of Personality Type

1. Alert: The assessment of the quality known as “alert” is based upon the cat being active and curious. Low or high levels of alertness and curiosity are embraced by this score.

2. Sociable: Describes the range of temperamental characteristics that hinge on the ability of the cat to get along with other cats or people. At one end of this scale are anti-social, loner cats. At the opposite end of the scale are gregarious cats that tolerate well or even seemingly enjoy the company of all comers.

3. Equable: This term describes evenness of mood. At one extreme, the term embraces long-suffering cats that weather the worst psychological insults stoically. At the other end it describes those cats that fly off the handle for the slightest reason or sometimes, from our point of view, for no reason at all.

Interpretation of Grouped Assessments

As is the case with human personality assessment terms, the qualities divined are found in different combinations in any one individual. A cat that rates favorably in all three areas is thus active and curious, calm, even-mooded cat – your typical well-adjusted Maine coon. On the other hand, an introverted loner cat that hates other cats and most people and flies into an egregious rage whenever things don’t go his way, or his solitude is disturbed, is one that is extremely difficult to live with and to treat.

It would be boring if all cats were even-mooded, affection-seeking sycophants. On the other hand, they would not make good pets if they were all impatient and bad-tempered. Fortunately, either extreme is quite uncommon and in real life the vast majority turn out to be blends and swirls of the basic three personality types, each presenting at a different levels of expression.

For example, you can find the inquisitive, friendly cat that happens to be a bit skittish; or the highly inquisitive, owner-loving eccentric that hates all other cats but tolerates strangers well. And then there’s the even-tempered, long-suffering recluse that prefers to be alone but will accept just about anything that’s thrust on him. The list of individual personalities is infinite, thank goodness; making cats as interesting as the reputation that precedes them.

There are some ways that you can tilt the balance of the type of cat you are going to get. One way is by selecting a certain breed. It is well known, for example, the Abyssinian tend to be more active and emotional while Persians are more often quiet stoics. If you close your eyes at a cat show , you can hear where the “Abys” are by the commotion they are making, and you can tell by the acoustic void where the Persians are located.

Another way you can stack the deck for or against you is by careful inspection of a cat’s background. Cats that have been raised without the company of people for the first seven weeks of their lives are never good with people, having missed the sensitive period for socialization to humans. The corollary applies to orphan cats raised without exposure to other cats; they will probably never be comfortable around their own kind. Cats’ personalities are a product of their genetics (probably around 50 percent contribution) and their experience. Unless they are identical twins, no two cats have identical genes and even twins will not have identical experience. This makes them, like all of us, truly unique and irreplaceable.

If you look for a cat that matches one you have loved, don’t expect him or her to be an exact replacement. You may find a cat with a similar personality because you help shape your cat’s reaction to the world around it, but there will never be an exact replacement, just like there’ll never be another you.

Please visit us at  www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

The Amazing Sensitive World of Cats

By: Christian Yost

May 5, 2009
Leonardo da Vinci called them “Nature’s Masterpiece.” In ancient Egypt they were worshipped as gods and goddesses of the sun and moon, and killing them was a crime punishable by death. Cats are clean and have been praised for their mysterious, exotic looks. They are fun to watch, whether they are stalking a toy, your ankles or a snack. And they are noted for their keen senses: their sharp hearing, sense of smell and touch, and the ability to see in near darkness.

Your cat’s senses evolved from those of the wild cat’s, a long line of hunters and predators, and are designed for the purpose of stalking, hunting and killing. Almost all of your cat’s five senses have heightened ability when compared to humans.

Scent Savvy

The first thing your cat does when he climbs onto your lap is smell – your lap, your hands, your clothing. Before he digs into his food, he will sniff it; before he takes a treat, he will sniff it.And have you ever tried hiding medicine in his food? I’ll bet it was a solitary object lying in the bowl after he finished.

Your cat’s sense of smell is superior; it is one of the ways in which he interacts with his environment. His nostrils are working constantly. His nose is small and neat, but hidden behind it is a maze of bones and organs. Cats have 19 million odor-sensitive cells in their noses compared to 200 million in dogs and about 5 million in humans. In the roof of the mouth is a taste and smelling organ called the Jacobson’s organ, a tiny cigar-shaped organ that links the senses of taste and smell. He uses it to sniff out things like a potential mate, a strange cat in his territory or an unusual odor.

Cats are equipped with glands that secrete pheromones, which are identifying scents akin to fingerprints in humans. These glands are found on your cat’s cheeks, on his lower legs, and under his tail. He deposits his scent marks as he walks, when he rubs his cheeks against something or when he sprays. Another cat will identify these scents and will gather information, such as the identity of the cat (if it’s one he knows), when he was there, which direction he headed, and even what kind of mood he was in.

Seeing Stars

Keeping in mind that your cat evolved from hunters, you can understand why his sense of sight is one of his strongest. He can scan your backyard with a single sweep of his eyes and detect the tiniest of movements from the tiniest insect. He can see in the dimmest of lights; his eyes can open about three times as wide as the human pupil and let in as much light as possible at the normal “hunting” times of dawn and dusk. He also has about three times as many rods (the receptors that are sensitive to light) than we have.

But letting enough light into the eye is not enough; your cat’s beautiful eyes also have a reflective layer at the back called the tapetum ludium. This accounts for the reflective glow you see when your cat’s eyes reflect light. Also, to make sure his sensitive system isn’t a problem during the day, he can shut his pupil size down to a fine vertical slit so that only a small amount of light enters the eye. His retina is limited in size and by giving more space to rods than cones (the cells that recognize color), he probably sees some blues and greens but not reds – they probably look gray.

A final protection is the third eyelid – a thin fleshy membrane that is usually tucked away at the corner of the eye, but that can be used rapidly for protection. It reduces the intensity of bright light, affords some protection from eye damage in a fight or in pushing through prickly undergrowth, and it helps to clean the eye. You might see it when your cat isn’t feeling well.

Hearing Aids

Your cat is sound asleep in the back room of the house when you open a can of soda. Nothing happens. Later, you open up a can of cat food. Suddenly your kitty is there, stretching and looking sleepy and hungry.

A cat’s sense of hearing is amazing. Cats can hear high frequency sounds we cannot. The upper range of hearing in cats is about 60 to 65 kiloherz, which enables them to hear both their kittens and the ultrasonic calls of rodents. They can also distinguish the tone or pitch of sounds better than we can. And their ability to locate the source of a sound is highly advanced. From a yard away, a cat can distinguish between sound sources only 3 inches apart. They can also hear sounds at great distances – four or five times farther away than humans.

Cats can also detect the tiniest variances in sound, distinguishing differences of as little as one-tenth of a tone, which helps them identify the type and size of the prey emitting the noise. It also helps them distinguish the sound of your opening a can of soda from the sound of your opening a can of cat food.

Observe your cat as he listens to something. His ears move back and forth, functioning like mini-satellite dishes as they rotate to pick up the sounds and funnel them to the brain. The external ear, or pinna, contains more than 12 muscles, which allows the ear to turn, rotating up to 180 degrees to locate and identify even the faintest of squeaks, peeps or rustling noises.

Touch of Cats

You may have noticed as you pet your cat, he turns into an “id,” demonstrating nursing behavior like drooling and treading – behaviors normally performed by kittens to stimulate milk flow. These are pleasurable memories from kitten-hood. When you stroke your cat, he, in fact, regresses to behave as he did when his mother groomed him. It was her touch that was the primal source of affection, and your cat substitutes you for his mother when he licks or kneads you.

Cats can feel their way around because of their highly developed sense of touch. Their skin is covered with highly sensitive “touch spots,” which respond to the lightest pressure. Add to that their whiskers and eyebrows and the group of long hairs in the back of their forepaws that all transmit pressure sensations to the brain.

It’s said that if a cat’s whiskers touch a mouse in the dark, the cat reacts with the speed and precision of a mousetrap. The whiskers are the most sensitive of all and play a vital part in his survival. The special hairs, called the vibrissae, are set deep within the skin and provide the cat with sensory information about the slightest air movement around it – a valuable tool for a nocturnal hunter. Whiskers also help a cat navigate at night and help him determine whether he can fit through small spaces.

Taste of Tabby

You buy a new cat food, a “delicacy” as the ads say. You open the can (your cat comes running) and place it in his dish before him. He takes a quick whiff, turns and walks away – without even a taste.

In spite of their reputation for being finicky when it comes to food, cats have less ability to differentiate among tastes than humans; we have 9,000 taste buds, while cats have only 473. Your cat’s taste buds are found in the mushroom-shaped papillae at the tip and sides of his tongue and in cup-shaped papillae in the back of his tongue. However, they make up for this deficiency with a superior sense of smell, and his most powerful response to food is through that sense of smell, not taste.

Your cat’s taste will respond not only to flavor, but also to food’s texture and temperature. Food that is not room temperature is a turnoff to most cat’s and may be the result of his ancestor’s natural predilection for eating recently killed prey.

Making Sense

Cats can hear sounds we can’t hear, see things we can’t see and smell and feel the world around us in ways that we could never grasp. These remarkable abilities are part of the evolutionary adaptation to the role of solitary nocturnal hunter. Overall, the predatory instinct plays a large role in your cat’s behavior. Properly channeled through play and exercise, it makes for an interesting and exciting relationship with your pet.

Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

How Cats Communicate

By: Christian Yost

May 5, 2009
Although cats have a reputation for being solitary animals, they have developed an elaborate system for communicating with each other. Scent, body language, touch, and sound help one cat learn about another. Your cat will use the same tools to communicate with you.

Following Their Noses

Odors are one of the most important ways your cat learns about his environment and other cats that live in it. If your cat lived outside, he would use urine to scent-mark his territory, backing up to an object, squirting urine on it, and leaving a pungent odor for any feline passers-by to smell. While not having the effect of keeping other cats away, urine marks alert other cats to the presence of the marking cat.

If you’ve had your cat neutered before he began spraying, he should not urine mark inside your home, but he may use his sense of smell in other ways to identify his space.Depositing facial pheromones by rubbing his cheeks on objects increases your cat’s comfort level and helps him navigate around his environment. If you have more than one cat, you will notice them butting heads and rubbing their cheeks on the other. Only cats comfortable with each other will engage in this mutual rubbing. Once they have determined that it is safe, cats will approach each other and raise their tails, each allowing the other cat to sniff their rear end – a sign of mutual acceptance.

Body Language

About 70 percent of human communication is nonverbal, resulting from changes we detect in the way a person sits, walks, or changes expression. Your cat also uses body movements and facial expressions to let you and other cats know what’s on his mind. To determine what your cat is thinking, observe his body language as a whole rather than simply one aspect of it. For example, if your cat’s pupils are dilated, it may mean that your cat is becoming aggressive and wants to fight, it may mean he’s fearful, or it may mean his eyes are accommodating to low light.

A relaxed, contented cat points his ears forward, half closes his eyes, and purrs. When he becomes more alert, his eyes open widely and his whiskers stand straight out. If your cat is afraid, he draws his ears back and begins to fold them flat on his head. His pupils dilate. An agitated and aggressive cat has completely dilated pupils, flattened ears, taut facial muscles, forward sweeping whiskers, and may open his mouth to bare his teeth. He is ready to either scare off an intruder or to fight with one.

To a cat, staring is intimidating behavior, and your cat will stare at another cat he wishes to challenge or threaten. To prevent your cat from feeling menaced when you gaze at him, slowly blink your eyes to indicate that the look is benign rather than belligerent.

A defensive cat will be poised for action. He may arch his back and puff up his hair to appear larger. If your cat feels totally relaxed with another cat or with you, he will roll over and bare his belly – a sign of total submission. Be careful, though. Just because he shows you his belly doesn’t mean he wants it rubbed. Some cats enjoy belly rubs while others don’t and forcing the issue may make your cat aggressive. He may claw your hands.

Moving his tail is another way your cat sends non-verbal signals. A tail held high above a cat’s back is a sign of dignity and self-respect. A cat holding his tail in a lowered state says that he is relaxed and content. A rapidly flicking tail indicates annoyance and ambiguity.

Cat Talk

Your cat will tell you what he needs through vocalization as well as body language. In the wild, cats have two sets of language – one to communicate between mother and offspring and another to communicate with other adults within their territory. The pitch, intensity, frequency, rapidity, and volume of the meowing reflect your cat’s different emotional states and physical needs. The more rapid, intense, and loud are the vocalizations, the more panicked, scared, and anxious your cat may feel. Conversely, the slower and less intense the vocalizations are, the more confident or potentially assertive your cat is being.

Your cat’s vocal patterns will fall into three categories. The first is murmur patterns, including purring, that indicates a calm, friendly state. Vowel patterns indicate a need for food or other needs and desires. Loud, strained, intense sounds, including hissing, growling, and screaming, are associated with mating or aggression toward a human or other animal.

Please visit us at  www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

Dreaming and Cat Naps

By: Christian Yost

May 5, 2009
A lot of people wonder whether cats dream. That’s easy to answer – of course they do. Cats are mammals, like us, and need sleep

to rest their minds and bodies.

It is believed that the body’s natural state is in sleep. We stay awake only through constant neural activity within a brain region called the reticular activating system. When we, or our cats, are tired, we lie down, preferably in a quiet, dark room, close our eyes and sleep comes. The reason this happens is because we have shut down the 50 percent of afferent (inward) bombardment that comes from muscle tension, and have effectively curtailed auditory and visual stimulation.

In other words, when you are fully relaxed, lying down, and are not listening or looking at anything, you fall asleep . We all know this, which is why we go to bed in the evening, turn off the radio, draw the curtains  and turn off the light.We just don’t know why we’re doing it and neither does the cat understand his pre-sleep preparation measures. We both do what we have to because it works.

Stages of Sleep

The first phase of sleep cats and people go through is called light slow wave sleep (LSWS). During this phase the electroencephalogram (EEG) demonstrates slow undulating brain waves, but the cat is not fully relaxed and is easily roused. Next comes deep slow wave sleep (DSMS) in which the EEG slows further and the cat becomes progressively more limp and is harder to rouse. Finally, there is paradoxical or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in which the EEG becomes extremely active once more, as if the cat is awake, and yet the body is profoundly relaxed.

This latter sleep is sometimes referred to as the sleep of the body. Certainly the mind is getting no rest. It is at this most-difficult-to-wake stage of sleep that dreaming occurs. Humans awakened from REM sleep report that they have been dreaming. The fact that the body’s muscles are relaxed does not mean that occasional movements cannot occur and it is quite common to see cats twitching or contracting their toes during REM sleep, as if they are experiencing some mental chase.

Cats sleep paterns are very much like our own. They spend about 10 hours a day asleep, mostly at night, and during this time cycle from SWS to REM and back. Just over 80 percent of their time asleep takes the form of SWS with the balance REM sleep.

The Serotonin Connection

Although serotonin is known as the brain chemical involved in mood and is the one targeted by anti-depressants like Prozac®, its main function appears to be in organizing muscular activity. During LSWS, when the EEG is slowly undulating and the body is still in a somewhat tonic state, serotonin neurons are still active. Not just as active as when the cat is wide awake, but active nontheless. When REM sleep arrives, the EEG becomes active, muscle tone is absent, and serotonin neurons are silent. You might ask yourself how a cat can display rapid eye movement or limbs twitching during this stage of sleep. The answer is quite simple; serotonin neurons supply muscles that control large anti-gravity muscles and not those that control episodic behavior and fine movements, such as muscles that control eye position and movement of the digits.

The Catnap

A catnap is what we see when a cat is in light wave sleep and serotonin neurons are active enough to maintain considerable muscle tone. The cat’s mind is blank at this time and the EEG demonstrates an anesthetized pattern, yet he is able to maintain an eyes closed, limbs-tucked posture. This represents the “sleep of the mind” during which there is no dreaming. If we fall asleep in a chair, people say we are catnapping, and the term is most appropriate. That’s exactly what we are doing.

To Sleep Perchance to Dream

Although they sleep mainly at night, cats are crepuscular rather than truly diurnal like us. Crespuscular refers to their tendency to be most active at dawn and dusk, when their prey would normally be most active, with periods of snoozing and sleeping in between times of peak activity.

And, if we or our cats become totally relaxed, with our eyes darting back and forth, we’re likely dreaming. The subject matter of dreams, however, probably reflects species specific preoccupations, with us more focused on our hobbies and interests and them dreaming of an easy-to-catch mouse.

Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

Why Are Cats So Independent?

By: Christian Yost

May 5, 2009
Ask most people to describe a cat and most likely you’ll hear words like mysterious, stand-offish, composed, regal – and independent. Cats give the impression that they do not need us. They have a quiet composure and dignity that dogs rarely display. And they are not obedient like dogs – we usually can’t teach them to fetch the paper or play dead. When they learn, they often learn things on their own.

The Nature of Cats

The notion that cats are independent has persisted for centuries. Perhaps this is because cats are solitary predators, unlike dogs who hunt within the pack. Dogs are team players, and their survival depends on it. But the cat must hunt alone; in fact, hunting methods of stalking, hiding, and pouncing would not be successful if performed as a group tactic. Although cats can live in groups, they don’t actually need to.

Cats can be highly social animals.When provided with two “squares” and the comforts of home, they have no need to compete for these basic necessities and harmonious living can prevail. But most people don’t see this “sociability” because a cat’s signs of affection are so subtle – no jumping and face-licking here – that we often overlook them. We just don’t notice how excited they are when they touch us with a nose, blink their eyes slowly, or solicitously raise their tail.

A Royal Reputation

Someone once said that thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods – and they’ve never forgotten this. So if your cat acts like a snob, he’s probably remembering his exalted place in history. The cat family can trace their genealogy back to ancient Cyprus and Egypt. Egyptians held cats in such high regard that laws were created to protect them. During the reign of the Pharaohs, it was considered a capital crime to kill or injure a cat, even by accident. If a house caught fire, it was cats first, humans second. If a cat were to die of natural causes the entire household went into elaborate mourning with chanting and pounding of chests as an outward sign of grief.

From 1000 to 350 BC, however, cats were also seen as deities, and worshipped as such. True to the cat’s exalted status, a religious order of cat worship developed that lasted for more than 2,000 years. The cat goddess Bastet, with the body of a woman and the head of a cat, became one of the most revered figures of worship.

The Family Cat

As any cat fancier

will tell you, cats do not have owners; they have caretakers whom they allow to live with them.”We are slaves to cats and masters of dogs,”  However, although a socialized cat has the ability to care for himself, he does rely on the family for affection, mental stimulation, and for good health. And the more you learn about his behavior – his purring and rubbing against you – the more you will realize that he not as “independent” as you thought.

Please visit us at  www.siamese-cattailscattery.com