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.

Cat Nutrition

What is good nutrition, and why is it so important? Nutrition is the process of using or transforming food into living tissue. Cat nutrition is very important for a cat because poor health of a cat may lead to serious diseases and may lead to respiratory problems as well.



If not provided a complete and balanced diet, your cat will not grow properly, reproduce, maintain the health of all its body tissues, or fight infection.

Your cat's hunt for a complete and balanced daily food intake is now easier than its ancestor's hunt for thousands of years ago; thanks to commercial pet foods as they provide a complete healthy diet for a cat. The sound of the can opener or the jumbling of the dry food in the box will awaken the beast inside your cat - it will run from the comfy carpet near the fire-place to the kitchen to devour its neatly packaged and completely nutritious "prey".

Your cat's ancestors had to go for "shopping" in search for cat nutrition. The game they caught provided every-thing: protein from muscle tissue; fats, vitamins, and minerals from organs and bones; carbohydrates extracted from the vegetable and cereal matter left in the game's digestive tract. Vegetables and cereal starches aren't required by cats, but they do provide calories in bulk.

Years of research and development by the major pet-food companies have produced complete and balanced foods for your modern cat. These products, 'filch are excellent from weaning to old age, eliminate the need for home made that are time-consuming and expensive to prepare and may lack important nutritional requirements.

The following discussion will focus on

1. The composition of food,


2. The types of pet foods,


3. How much to feed at different stages of cat's life,


4. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of commercial pet food.

What is the right food for cat? Why there is a requirement for choosing right composition of food. Right food helps the cat to grow healthy and wise and to face their maternity period strongly and healthily. And also to fight against infection, diseases, etc.

In the balanced diet for a cat there should be natural raw materials which are natural solution to remain healthy. The food can be either dry or canned for a cat. Both of these foods have their own pros and cons as discussed below.

Dry food is crunchy and is available in various flavors, colors, different sizes and shapes which a cat may like to have. It is easy to store it; it should not remain open for a long time as it can come in contact with moisture. Dry food is good for the teeth's of a cat as it helps them to get stronger. But it doesn't provide sufficient water to their body. Due to this reason their body may get affected by lack of water. Dry food is still considered as good nutritious food for a cat overall as it provides sufficient nutrition to their body.

Some cats are fond of moist food which is known as canned food. Canned food has its own benefits as the canned food is moist and rich in water. It increases the water intake in the body of a cat. We can leave canned food outside for a long time also, but once we have opened a canned food we have to keep it in cool place like refrigerator as it can get spoiled. It is good food for cats and is complete cat nutrition.

Best food for cats can be dry or canned as already discussed above. There can be some more category of food like it can be premium, or it can be super-premium. Any of this food can be a perfect cat's balanced diet.

Dog Bedding

Bedding for dogs can also be a problem. For indoor dogs you have a choice of several different kinds of mattresses, canvas stretched across metal or wooden frames, and all sort of beds. You can make beds out of pieces of thick carpet or cast-off mattresses cut down, or you can allow pets to sleep in old chairs. An old blanket that can be laundered when necessary is a simple solution.

Some people like the smell of cedar in bedding, but the smell of stale cedar mixed with dog odors is unpleasant. After a while the smell pervades a whole house - even the clothing hanging in closets. Ordinary pine shavings can be bought for a fraction of the cost of cedar and actually makes better bedding, especially if you add some flea powder to the shavings.

Some dogs refuse to sleep on soft beds. Great Danes often develop large elbow joint swellings from irritation caused by sleeping on hard surfaces, and almost everyone has known at least one dog that insisted on lying right by the crack under the door. Heavy dogs that refuse to sleep on the softer bedding provided for them sometimes develop sores or stiffness. Light dogs usually show the marks only at their elbows. In outside kennels, oat or wheat straw is as satisfactory as any bed-ding. Marsh grass is also excellent. Wood shavings are likely to be tracked out, create an untidy appearance, and are difficult to rake. If straw is placed in a kennel, there should be at least four inches of the packed material under a dog in cold weather. In summer less is needed. It is seldom necessary to dust outdoor dogs for fleas if a liberal amount is shaken in the bedding each time it is changed. In wet weather the bedding may have to be changed every few days, whereas in dry weather it may serve a month. If it stays over a week, flea powder should be dusted over it every six or seven days.

Dog Bedding Choices

While buying a bed for your dog you must be aware of the fact that you are not buying the bed for your use rather it is for your dear pet. So, you are advised to buy the kind of bed that would be preferred by your dog. If you are up to buying a bed of your dog’s choice, try to buy do a little amount of research on the breed to which your do0g belongs. Try to get some suggestions from your friends and associates who have dogs of the same breed. You may yourself try out a bit of self study to know the choices of your dog.

While buying the bed for your pet dog you should buy the bed that can be easily washable. To keep your dog away from the attack of diseases you are recommended to wash the bed of your dog on regular intervals to keep the bed and the surrounding environment clean and germ free.

Types of bird cages

The first thing that you need to consider while purchasing a pet bird is a place for the bird to stay. Ideally you should keep the bird in the cage itself. For keeping the bird as a pet you should have a bird cage. There are so many bird cages available in the market of different size and shapes and you have to select the cage for bird according to your need. While buying the cage for bird one should consider certain aspects of bird caging. The caging requirements of birds vary from one species to another.

The certain aspects that one should consider while buying pet bird cages are:

• Length of cage: The cage should have good length as all birds prefer to stay in large cages. It is significant for one to provide spacious and tall cage to birds as birds like to fly from one side of the cage to the other.


• Cages are available in different types of materials but one of the best materials with which one can go with is stainless steel. One can also have powder coated metals cage. One should prefer cages that are made up of metals than cages made up of plastics as the cages that are made up of metal are easier to clean compared to the cages that are made up of plastic.


• One should also consider the spacing of the bars while purchasing bird cages. The large sized birds prefer cages that are huge in size and that have wide gaped bars. Whereas small size birds require large sized cages as well because of their behavioral nature of flying from one end of the cage to the other. However, the bar spacing for small birds should be very small.


• The cage you choose for your bird should have wide doors and easy sliding trays at the bottom.

Types of bird cages

1. Breeding Cages: This type of bird cage is actually designed for two birds that are attached to one another but partitioned by a thin panel. One should remove the panel during the breeding period in order to facilitate mating process in birds.

2. Dome top Cages: This type of bird cage allows the birds to fly freely. This is the most spacious bird cage.

3. Parrot Perches: This type of bird cages are usually for large sized birds. Parrot perches can be made from different materials like - wood, rope, concrete etc.

4. Flight Bird Cages: This type of bird cage provides enough space to birds to exercise freely this will allow the bird to enjoy a full flight. The type of cage is ideal for community bird breeds.

These are the common types of bird cage. Many other types of bird cages are - the single bird cages, the play top bird cages and travel bird cages. One should consider the size of cage before purchasing it so that bird can fit in comfortably. It is significant for one to clean the bird cage regularly.

Cat Grooming

Regular grooming of your cat consists of hair treatment, bathing, nail trim-ming, and ear cleaning.

Hair Treatment

Different coats need different strokes: the combing or brushing needs varyaccording to the length and coat type. Longer coats need bristle, wire, or cardbrushes, and pet combs with rounded teeth that avoid irritating the skin. Brushshort-haired cats weekly with a grooming glove. This will decrease the chance ofhair balls.



Long-haired cats often have matted hair (from infrequent brushing and comb-ing) behind their ears and under their legs. This should be pulled gently apart andcombed out.

Many breeds of cats need regular clipping and stripping. You can learn to doit at home or find a professional groomer, who should be gentle and have a clean,odorless establishment. Ask your neighbors and friends for recommendations.

If you start the brushing and combing early (about twelve weeks of age) andstay gentle and patient, this will be an enjoyable and healthy experience for youand your pet.

Bathing

Cats need baths just as humans do, because tongues are not adequate cleans-ing tools. Since the oils come back in the hair and skin within twenty-four hours,bathing could be done as often as necessary, but once every month or two isadequate.

Start bathing your kitten at fourteen weeks of age (sooner if it gets verydirty - just avoid chilling it) so that it will be accustomed to regular baths. The bestway to bathe is to make your pet comfortable and to make it a game. No noise andslow motions will ease your job. Before placing your pet in the sink or bathtub, fillit with a small amount of warm water (running water will only scare your pet).While talking quietly and stroking and petting your kitten, place it in the warmwater. Continue the petting motion and wet your pet with a soft spray hose at-tached to the faucet or use the water in the tub. The same petting and stroking canbe used to lather the shampoo (preferably a good pet shampoo or "no-tear" babyshampoo) into the hair coat. It is a good idea to protect the eyes first with a fewdrops of cod-liver oil or ophthalmic ointment and the ears with a small wad ofcotton. Rinse with a soft spray hose attached to the faucet, still stroking, petting,and talking to your pet. Rinse thoroughly, because dried soap can irritate the skin.A creme rinse or hair conditioner can then be used to make the hair softer andmore manageable for combing out. Don't forget to remove the cotton from the ears!

Towel dry your pet and continue all the ploys you used for the bath. Thenoise of a hair blow-dryer disturbs most animals, but you can try it later - afteryour pet is accustomed to baths. Make the whole experience pleasant and playful.A cat treat would definitely be in order after a successful bath. My cats are easy tobathe, although each needs special care. One has to walk around the water contin-ually while we lather him; another must be rubbed on the cheek and talked to whilebeing bathed.

If your cat doesn't take to bathing, try placing a window screen at an angle inthe tub. The cat can cling to the screen, making bathing easier. Holding the cat bythe scruff of the neck is also helpful.

Nail Trimming

Start trimming the nails at twelve weeks of age to accustom your pet to thismportant grooming practice. Long nails can get caught in carpeting, grow into theootpad, or cause your pet to stand improperly. The dewclaw (equivalent to theNumb) does not touch the ground and needs more frequent trimming.

You can trim your cat's claws with a "human" nail clipper, or with a Resco orWhite nail clipper. Trim just in front of the pink area, or dermis. which containsserves and blood vessels. If the nail is dark and the pink area cannot be seen easily,tune a bright penlight through the nail to see where the dermis begins. Otherwise,List trim the nail as it curves clown.

A nail trimmed too short will bleed. Application of a styptic pencil or directpressure with gauze or a clean cloth will stop the bleeding.

Ear Cleaning

Many owners neglect proper ear care and become aware of its importanceelf when their cat "smells funny." Then they look in the ear and discover an affection.

The wax in the ears should be cleaned once a month (more often if your catas a history of ear problems). Clean only that part of the ear canal that you cansee: otherwise, you may damage the eardrum. Use a cotton swab soaked in mineralcoil or alcohol. Wax protects the ear canal, so a small amount left behind is beneficial.

The hair in the ears should not be plucked unless there is so much hair thatR impedes air circulation. If your doctor feels this is necessary, use your fingers toremove only the hairs that come out easily. Plucking can expose the hair follicleso bacteria, so be careful. Some doctors recommend an antibiotic ointment afterplucking to prevent infection.

Cat Ears

Not long ago, we came home to a very strange sight. All our cats had gathered around the refrigerator and were completely entranced by its bottom. On moving the refrigerator, we found cockroaches! The high-pitched communication of bugs or rodents that falls on our"deaf" ears is music to a cat ears.



A cat's superb hearing ability begins with the sound-gathering flap called the pinna. The inner surface of the pinna and the beginning of the ear canal (which you can see) should be a light pink.

The cats ear canal is L-shaped, going down (vertical canal) and then in (horizontal canal). The eardrum is at the end of the horizontal canal. Sound waves (the cock-roach talk, for example) travel down the canal and beat against the eardrum like stick beating a drum. The cockroach-talk vibrations are amplified in the middle by three small bones called the auditory ossicles, which pass the sound on to the inner ear's snail-shaped and fluid-filled cochlea via the oval window (a vibrating membrane). The waves produced in the cochlea are converted to electrical sages that travel to your pet's brain via the auditory nerve. Your cat ears interprets message as cockroach talk and sits in front of the refrigerator, patiently waiting for a roach snack.

Above the cochlea are three small, fluid-filled semicircular canals. These loops of tubing contribute to your cat's remarkable sense of balance. If your cat starts to fall, fluid in one of the canals is displaced. Hair cells in the canals detect be change and immediately inform the cat's brain, which orders muscles to tighten and keep your cat upright.

Cat ears Infection

The ear canal is L-shaped, going down (vertical canal) and then in (horizontal canal). The cat's ear canal (which you can see) should be a light pink. You may see a small amount of yellow wax and a few hairs at the canal opening. These act like flypaper, trapping dust, insects, or other potential irritants and guarding against infection. If this area is reddened, foul-smelling, or has pus like or brown, waxy discharge, an ear infection may be present.

Symptoms

1. If you see your cat shaking her head most of the time, there might be infection in her ears.


2. There may be black discharge in the ears cat which may led to even bleeding.


3. If the cat scratches at their ears again and again, this indicates that she is uncomfortable. There may be detritus's, trashes in your pet cat ears.

This all may lead to a serious disease called ear mites. Ear mite may cause serious damage to the ears of cat if they remain for a long time.

How can you cure them?

Taking care of ears of a cat is very necessary as this is one of the utmost important organs of your pet. If you find any of the symptoms mentioned above in your cat ears it's better to consult to near by veterinarian. The veterinarian can check the rest of the ear with anotoscope, a special instrument equipped with a light source and magnifying lens. He can remove the waste from cat ears by some other methods also which he finds appropriate.

Cat Birth

In general, your assistance won't be required, but it's a good idea to be there, if the mother cat will endure your presence, to monitor the process in case something goes wrong. Keep the area quiet, especially if this is your cat's first delivery; talk in whispers and avoid bright lights.



When the kitten is born, it may be enclosed in the amniotic sac. If so, themother cat should chew open the sac immediately, so that the kitten can breathe, and stimulate the kitten by licking it. The mother should then chew apart the umbilical cord. After birth, the queen may eat the placenta - that's okay.

If your cat does not chew open the sac immediately, gently tear it open your-self and clean the mucus from the kitten's mouth with your finger. Wait a few minutes to see if the mother chews the umbilical cord. If not, tie it tightly with a pieceof thread that has been dipped in alcohol about one inch from the kitten's abdomen. Using scissors that have been dipped in alcohol, cut the cord on the mother'sside of the thread. Rub the kitten gently with a clean, soft towel to stimulate circulation and respiration.

Kittens, like humans, may enter this world head first or feet first. If only apart of the kitten shows, wrap a clean cloth around the slippery newborn's bodyand, as the mother strains, pull it gently all the way out. Pause when the queenrelaxes. Call your doctor if you are not able to deliver the kitten.

If a kitten is not breathing, wrap it in a warm towel with its head down (but support the head so it doesn't wobble) and shake it downward. This should stimulate respiration and remove fluid from its breathing tubes. If a breath still is not taken, gently blow into the kitten's nose until its chest expands, and try rubbing it in a warm, rough towel to stimulate respiration.

The mother cat may rest anywhere from fifteen minutes to two hours betweendeliveries. After all the kittens are born, the mother will stop straining. Instead,your cat will comfortably lick and clean the new kittens.

Within twenty-four hours after the delivery, which in most cases occurs withno problems, the mother and kittens may be examined by your doctor. In general,however, most veterinarians don't feel that cats need to be checked or given ahormone injection after a trouble-free delivery. Be sure to keep the kittens warmif a trip to the office is necessary. A snug blanket placed in a box is perfect.

The doctor will palpate the queen's abdomen to make certain all the kittenswere delivered. The mother will be given an injection of a hormone (oxytocin) toinvolute (shrink) the uterus and to stimulate milk flow from the breasts. Your veterinarian will determine the little ones' sexes, weigh them, and check for birthdefects, such as cleft palates, hare lips, heart problems, and umbilical hernias.

If there are any problems at all during delivery, telephone your doctor. If akitten is stuck in the birth canal and you have tried gentle help, professional manipulation may solve the problem. Sometimes an episiotomy (an incision between the upper end of the vagina and the anus that enlarges the vaginal opening andeases the birth of the kitten) is necessary.

Occasionally, uterine inertia (weak contractions of the uterus) will occur du-ing delivery. If the mother is obese, old, or upset by many people in the room, orhas been straining for a long time, the uterus may become tired and stop squeezing the kittens out efficiently. Injections of oxytocin may help.

In some instances, a caesarean birth (surgical removal of the kittens through the abdominal wall) is necessary. Timing is very important. but the surgery is generally fast and safe. After recovery from the anesthesia. the mother can nurse thekittens and go home. The sutures are removed in ten days.