Cat Nursing Problems

There are some serious problems during nursing that require immediate cooperation between you and your doctor. Since pregnancy and milk production may demand more calcium than the mother can spare, clamps (low blood calcium)max be seen during nursing. The signs are nervousness, crying, stiffness, staggeration. fever (as high as 107°F), muscle spasms, and convulsions. Eclampsia usually develops within the first three weeks of the nursing period and is a life threatening medical emergency. Fortunately, it is rare in cats. See the veterinarian immediately.If the rectal temperature is 106°F or over, place ice packs between the cat's thighs to lower the fever during the ride to the doctor's office.

Intravenous calcium solutions will usually stop the signs. As the solution is injected, the convulsions cease, the muscles stop twitching, and the cat stops panting. The mother cat will not have to be hospitalized unless it does not respond to treatment (this is rare). Upon returning home. nursing should be stopped or at least restricted. If the kittens are older than three weeks, start them on solid food. Younger kittens will have to be hand fed to prevent a recurrence of the disease.Your doctor may also prescribe a calcium supplement for the next few weeks.

A malfunction in the organ that controls calcium metabolism (the parathyroid gland) is thought to cause eclampsia. To prevent it, consult your doctor before you breed your cat. He or she will advise you on the proper calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D supplements. Eclampsia can occur again in a female who has had it once and is re bred. To prevent its recurrence, have your cat spayed.

A bacterial infection of the uterus called acute metritis is another emergency .A physical exam, blood tests, and possibly X-rays may be necessary for diagnosis.If retained fetuses are seen on the X-rays, an immediate various is the best treatment. If you want to breed again, a less acceptable and risky choice is to do culture and sensitivity tests and use the specific antibiotic to treat the infection .Flushing the vagina with general antibiotics may also be tried. An injection boomtown within twenty-four hours after delivery may prevent uterine infections.Good hygiene and appropriate care are also important.

Cat Illness Symptoms

Cats are calm pets by nature. The owner has to be really close to the cat to know that it is sick. To analyze your cat’s illness symptoms you must observe the pet very closely and should try to make out any change in its behavior, eating pattern, sleep pattern, and general mood.

Like other species on this earth cats fall sick too, but they are gentle and quite bearable in nature. A dog might bark and bark till the owner knows that it is in trouble, but cat takes a peaceful path and makes itself sit silently in a corner. Thus the owner has to be really agile to know about cat illness symptoms.

To make out whether your cat is actually sick or not and whether it needs medical attention you should not go by only one symptom. For example, if your cat vomits once does not necessarily mean that it is suffering from something serious. However if it vomits a couple of times during the day and continues doing the same other day also, then you must take it to vet.

Here are some common cat illnesses symptoms and the possible causes associated with them:

Vomiting :Swallowing their hairball is a very common cause of vomiting among cats. Vomiting once in a while is okay for cats but if the cat vomits more than twice in a day, traces of blood is found in the vomit, worms come out in the vomit, then the cat must be taken to the vet. Then the cat might be suffering from feline kidney diseases or over fatty liver.

Cat Dandruff

Human beings are not the only living beings facing the problem of dandruff. Dandruff and flaky skin is a common problem faced by other species too. Those who have cats at home must have confronted the problem of cat dandruff.

If the cat’s skin sheds dry white flakes or if you spot white flaky on the body of your cat, it means the cat has dandruff. Cat dandruff problem hampers the physical appearance of the animal and also gives rise to hygienic issues.

Cat dandruff should not be confused with dander. Dander is the natural process of shedding of dead skin. However, dandruff is excessive dryness of skin caused due to lack in moisture and causes itching.

Here are some common causes for dandruff in cats:

Dryness in the air: If the atmosphere where you stay is very dry and the skin feels tight and devoid of moisture, then the cat skin is also likely to develop the same dryness. Excessive dryness in the air increases the growth of dandruffs.

Over weight: It is a general observation that overweight and fat cats are more likely to develop dandruffs on their rum and tail. Due to excessive weight cats fail to brush these areas and thus causing dandruff.

Sunburn: Cats who stay outdoors under the sun for long hours develop dryness of skin. The sun burnt skin develops into dead cells which lead to dandruff.

Cat Neuter

If you do not want to breed your cat, please have it neutered. for its own health and as a contribution to reducing the pet population. It is not true that neutering causes obesity and laziness; overeating and getting too little exercise are to blame.



The best time for the female's ovario hysterectomy is before the first heat (but not before five or six months of age). The estrogens secreted during the heat period may prime the breast tissue for later tumor development. and approximately 90percent of them are malignant. Spaying early may help prevent tumors from developing.

The ovario hysterectomy is the surgical removal ("ectomy") of ovaries ("ova-rio") and the uterus ("hyster") through an abdominal incision. The size of the incision does not indicate your doctor's surgical skill. Some doctors make small incisions, and others like to have good exposure of the surgical area. The size of the organs to be removed will vary among animals as well.

Spaying is common surgery, but every pet is unique. and special care will betaken. A careful and thorough preoperative exam will determine your cat's ability to undergo surgery. Modern anesthesia (gas or inhalants) is very safe: an anesthetic caused death is extremely rare in a healthy pet. Your doctor will instruct you not to feed your cat for twelve hours before surgery, which will allow the stomach to empty. If there is food in the stomach during surgery, it may be vomited and pass into the breathing tubes and lungs, and an aspiration pneumonia could occur.If the monitoring equipment (which keeps track of breathing and heart functions during surgery) indicates a potential problem, your cat can be brought out of the anesthesia in a few minutes. Many veterinary hospitals have the same heart monitors used for humans in hospital intensive care units. Emergency fluids and drugs,which are rarely needed, are readily available.

Postoperative complications (such as infection) are also very rare because of aseptic surgical techniques: the operating room is well sterilized, as are the instruments, drapes, caps, masks, and gowns. Modern anesthetics allow most cats to be on their feet minutes after surgery, which also probably lessens the postoperative discomfort. Your cat may be home the same day or the next day, depending on the veterinary hospital procedure.

Home care after surgery consists of keeping the incision clean (don't allow your pet to lie on dirt), restricting your cat's exercise (cats will normally restrict their own activity), and checking the incision for swelling, redness, or discharge. If any infection develops, call your doctor. The sutures can be removed in a week.

Castration (surgical removal of the testes) is recommended to prevent or eliminate roaming, spraying, fighting, and breeding in male cats. The testicles are removed through a very small incision in each scrotal sac after the cat has been anesthetized. Most cats are sent home the same day, and surgical recovery is un-eventful. In fact, when our male cat CPU was castrated, he was out of the anesthesia in five minutes. I drove him home shortly afterward, and no sooner had we arrived home than he gobbled down some cat food and briskly mounted Mitzi, our tolerant female Siamese! Now that's what I call a recovery!

It may take up to a month for the roaming, spraying, fighting, and mounting behavior to stop, because it will take a few weeks for the male hormones still circulating in the body to be used up. A very small percentage of cats may still have some residual objectionable behavior. The best time for the surgery is before the behavior patterns develop - about six months of age.

Rarely, a male cat will have only one testicle (monorchid) or none at all(cryptorchid) in the sacs (scrotum). Although sperm will not be produced in the undescended testicle, male hormones will still be manufactured: your cat will continue to strut around like the neighborhood lover. One problem with undefended is that they frequently form a large sterol cell tumor after seven years of age. Again, this is extremely rare in cats.

If your female cat has been misdated (accidentally bred), an estrogen injection, followed by estrogen tablets given at home, is usually successful at preventing pregnancy if given within twenty-four hours of the breeding. The injection makes the uterine environment hostile to the sperm and egg; therefore, implantation won't occur. Estrogen can have toxic side effects, however, so this treatment is discouraged. Unless you really want to breed your cat, I recommend annotations.