Ways to Socialize the Cat Afraid of Strangers

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6
A safe place for a cat when visitors come. This cat can CHOOSE to go higher or to another room if he wants to avoid strangers.

The doorbell rings and your cat runs and hides under the bed. You answer the door and your friend comes in. After some small talk, she says “By the way, how is Fluffy?” You explain that Fluffy is fine and is hiding – she just isn’t a very friendly cat.

The cat afraid of strangers may freeze or feel she has to protect herself with her claws and teeth during her veterinary exam.  Medication and training help but these will work better if your cat has some ongoing positive or at least neutral experiences with strangers.

Socialization for the cat afraid of strangers

Kittens handled gently and appropriately by a variety of humans when they are 2-7 weeks old (the sensitive period) quickly learn to accept people and enjoy being with them.

That is fine and good you say, but my cat is older now and I don’t have a time machine. It is true that we can’t have the same impact on an older cat as a kitten.  However,  we can still provide the older cat positive, predictable experiences with humans in and outside the cat’s household.

Ways to Socialize the cat afraid of strangers

Safe Places
Consider having some high perches or maybe a cat tree in your living room. Cats are curious folk and want to satisfy their curiosity if they can do it safely. A high perch or cat tree allows a cat to CHOOSE to interact or not.

CAT guidelines – Rules for Humans!
If a cat anticipates that a human will treat her in a positive and predictable way, she will be more likely to interact with that person. The CAT human-cat interaction guidelines  developed at the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, aim to make cats more comfortable when interacting with us and are easy follow.

Point out these guidelines to guests and ask that they follow them. The video version may be more appealing to children. After a few experiences of visitors seemingly ignoring your cat, she may start to show up when strangers come over.

Desensitizing Your Cat to the Sound of the Doorbell
Doorbells can be noisy and startling.  After all, doorbells are designed to alert us to deliveries or the arrival of visitors.

  • Record the doorbell sound on your phone.
  • Lure your cat to her high perch or cat tree in the livingroom.
  • Play the doorbell sound at a very low volume and offer her a high value treat.
  • Lure her down with target stick or treat. Repeat.

Gradually increase the volume of the doorbell sound over time. The doorbell will still be an unexpected noise but now has a positive association with it. You can also use the doorbell sound to cue your cat to go to her safe place (very useful if you have a door-dashing cat).

The Calm Before The Storm

For big holiday gatherings, you may also want to consider giving the cat afraid of strangers a supplement such as Zylkene or Anxitane a few days before the big event. These non-prescription supplements can make your kitty feel calmer when lots of unfamiliar humans are around.

Regular veterinary care is an essential part of a long and pain-free life for your cat. Regular visits can head off problems and spread veterinary costs out over time. Desensitizing your cat to strangers can help reduce his fear and anxiety at the vet clinic, making it easier to take him to the vet.

If you have concerns about how your cat is handled at the veterinary practice, consider taking your cat to a Cat Friendly practice, where staff is trained in feline handling techniques.

This is the final post in the “Better Vet Visits for Your Cat” series. I hope you try some of the techniques suggested in these posts. Remember to break things up in simple steps that your cat can understand and master. And, always try to see things from the “feline purrspective”.

 

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How to Give Your Cat A Bitter Pill

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6
Pilling a Cat with Pet Piller
This cat knows how to take medication from a pet piller.

Many cats are terrified coming to the veterinary clinic. Some freeze in fear while others fight for their lives.  Calming medications given before the vet visit can reduce your cat’s anxiety!

Your vet has prescribed calming medication for your cat. So, what’s next?

How to Give Your Cat a Bitter Pill

Calming medications such as gabapentin and trazadone are bitter.  How do you give your cat a bitter pill?

Giving Medication in Food
Pros: convenient for the caregiver
Cons: If you give your cat a bitter pill in her food, she may refuse to eat that food in the future. Use something other than your cat’s regular diet, say, tuna fish.
Cons: Your cat needs to eat all the food to get her full dose of medication. Use as small an amount as possible of strongly flavored food to deliver the medication.

Tip: “Hunger is the best sauce” according to Sancho Panza’s wife, Teresa, in the novel Don Quixote. If your kitty is hungry, she will be more likely to eat the food containing the medication. Fast your cat overnight or pick up her food 2-3 hours before offering the medication in food.

Pilling by hand
If your cat accepts being “pilled”, coat the capsule or tablet in some butter or a pill treat, and slip it down kitty’s throat. Video Link.

Pros: You will know that your cat has gotten the medication
Cons: No one likes having something shoved down his throat. Your cat may gag and spit out the tablet.
Cons: It may be hard to repeat the dose if your cat decides to hide.

Tip: Reward your cat with some tuna juice or a tuna paste treat after she swallows the pill.  This will also help the tablet or capsule go down.

Other Ways to Give Your Cat a Bitter Pill

Make your cat a partner in his health care. Let’s reward him with something of value for taking the medication. Take a few minutes and think about what your cat really likes.  Is there a particular treat he likes – liverwurst, cheese, tuna or chicken paste? Catnip? Grooming session?

Do some “pill training” with the following methods before you try giving the medication. You can use hard treats or kibble as “fake pills”.  Start 3-4 days before you have to give the medication. This way you can practice your technique without wasting the prescription medication or running the risk of your cat biting into the bitter pill.

Introducing a pill into a stream of treats

This technique works best if the tablets are small and the cat is hungry. With larger tablets, you run the risk that the cat will bite into the bitter pill.

  • Offer your cat several treats.
  • Then offer a “fake” pill (a treat in a “pill treat”, cheese, liverwurst – something you can mold around the pill).
  • Immediately present more treats as your cat finishes eating the “fake” pill.
  • Video Link

Using a Pet Piller

Contercondition Pet Piller
Niki enjoys some chicken baby food on a pet piller.

You can use a “pet piller” to give the capsule or tablet. A pet piller is a tube with a plunger and a soft tip. The pill fits into the tip.

To use a “piller”, it is best to practice first with treats. If your cat likes tuna or chicken paste, start by offering your cat the paste on the piller and letting him lick it off. This way he associates swallowing with piller.

Work up to offering a “fake” pill in the piller after your cat has licked off the paste. You want to ease the “fake pill” into the side of mouth onto the “wave” (back) of the tongue. Avoid cramming the piller down the cat’s throat and making him gag. Follow with more paste on the piller to help your cat swallow the pill.

It may take a few trials for your cat to learn to use this gadget. Once he does, he will voluntarily swallow the pill in anticipation of getting more treats. This method works well for a variety of sizes of tablets and capsules. Video Link.

Using a Squeeze-Up Treat

If your cat likes the tubes of paste (Churu, Delectable) that you can squeeze up into her mouth, you can try to give small capsules or tablets using squeeze-up treats. You will want to cut the tube so that the opening is wide enough to accommodate the tablet or capsule that you are giving.

  • Give your cat some of the paste
  • Slip the capsule/tablet into the tube
  • Squeeze the paste with the medication up into your cat’s mouth.
  • Squeeze fast enough so that the tablet or capsule slips up into your cat’s mouth while she is licking and swallowing. On the other hand, don’t squeeze too fast or your cat will gag and refuse the treat.

Zelda, a Maine Coon cat, needs several gabapentin tablets to be calm for a lion cut. The other day, she bit into the first tablet in a pill pocket and then, understandably, refused the next treat-wrapped tablet. Fortunately, Zelda is trained to accept medication via a pet piller. She readily took the next tablet with the piller and was rewarded with a Churu treat.

Calming medications help reduce your cat’s anxiety and fear, resulting in a more productive veterinary visit. But it is challenging to give your cat a bitter pill. Training your cat to take medication not only ensures that your cat gets the medication he needs but also strengthens your relationship with him.

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Better Vet Visits: Preparing for The Cat Friendly Exam

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6
A feline practitioner listens to this cat’s chest in his preferred position.

What can your cat expect at her veterinary exam? The typical exam starts at the head and works through the body to the tail. This way health vitals are systematically collected. But it is important that the feline practitioner pay attention to the individual cat. For example, if your kitty seems to have pain in her mouth, in the cat friendly exam the vet may work through the rest of the exam first, and address the possibly painful mouth last. Saving the worst for last keeps your cat from anticipating pain throughout the entire exam.

Cats prefer high-intensity interactions that don’t last long. So, your cat may be offered a break between parts of the exam. Your cat may enjoy treats, toys, or gazing out a window during these breaks.

The Cat friendly Exam

Auscultation of the chest
Here your vet “listens” to your cat’s heart and lungs, measuring a heart rate and respiration rate in addition to noting abnormal heart rhythms (eg. heart murmur) and abnormal breathing sounds (eg. congestion). The vet typically will approach the cat from the back or side and use a stethoscope.

Head and Neck examination
Parts of this exam may happen even before your cat is on the exam table. Head tilts and facial swellings can be observed from a distance while your cat is walking around the room. In the more hands-on part of this exam, your vet may use an ophthalmoscope or otoscope to check the eyes and ears. He or she will also raise your cat’s lips to get a look at her teeth and open her mouth to check the oral cavity and get a quick look under her tongue.

Abdominal Palpation
In this part of the exam, the vet massages your cat’s belly to feel her intestines, kidneys, and bladder. It is also a check for possible growths in the abdomen and thickened walls in the intestines and bladder.

Back and limb assessment
This part of the exam includes assessment of the muscles along the spine and legs. The paws will also be evaluated and the claws extended.

Under the Tail Check
A quick look under the tail for fecal debris, swelling, and discharge… completes the exam.

Reference: “2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques”, Rodan et al.,  Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Volume 24, Issue 11, November 2022, Pages 1093-1132

the cat friendly exam: practice at home

Some of the handling your cat may encounter at his vet visit includes being lifted up onto an exam table, getting weighed on a scale, sitting on an exam table to have his chest auscultated, having his head and mouth examined, and having his back and legs massaged and handled.

You can practice some of the cat friendly exam handling with your cat at home.  Training some basic behaviors such as “pick up“, “sit” and “target” can make this a pleasant experience for you and your cat.

First – choose an area at home where you will train
Pick a table, counter, or dresser (avoid the kitchen table or counter) where you can set up your “exam room”.
You can purchase a baby scale to weigh your cat if you want to monitor his weight or just get the bathroom scale and place it on your counter. The weight from the bathroom scale will not be accurate but your cat will have the experience of getting on a scale.

Fast Forward…
Let’s say you have trained your cat to be picked up, to sit and to target. Your practice vet visit at home may go something like this:

Give your cat the “UP” cue and gently lift him (support his front and back body) and place him on the counter. Make sure to reward him (treats, head rubs…).

Once on the counter, use your target stick or finger, to guide him to walk over to the scale and climb on it. Once he is on the scale, ask him to “Sit”. Reward him when he sits.

Next, ask him to get off the scale using the target stick or your finger and have him sit on the counter.

Approaching him from behind, rub his head and hold it gently. Work up to lifting his lip to view his upper teeth.  Reward and repeat on the other side.

To evaluate his feet, massage each foot, gently extending his claws – reinforce cooperative behavior with a reward.

Give your cat the pick up cue, and gently put him back on the floor. Reward him for a job well done!

It does take some time to train your cat to be picked up, sit, and target and combine these behaviors as outlined above. And – unless your cat is used to performing away from home – he may not go through his home routine at the vet clinic, especially if he is being handled by strange people. But the handling in the cat friendly exam will be familiar due to his practice exams at home and should not trigger him to engage in protective or defensive behaviors.

Cats that are used to being handled do not get as stressed and anxious as those who are only handled occasionally. A cooperative cat needs little or no restraint and can often be examined by one person. Make sure you let your vet know which behaviors your cat is familiar with and what the cue is for each one.

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Tips for Managing Your Cat’s Stress in the Waiting Room

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6
Cat in carrier in waiting room
Your cat will do better in the waiting room if her carrier is covered and on a higher surface.

Your cat is in his carrier and the ride to the vet clinic went well. He went into his carrier for some treats without a whole lot of fuss. You played some of the cat specific music on the ride and your kitty was actually quiet for a change.

You pull into the clinic parking lot and pick a spot to park. What’s next? The dreaded waiting room!

managing your cat’s stress in the waiting room

You enter and check in at the front desk. You put your cat in his carrier on the floor and immediately a small dog and child run up to the carrier. You are thanking your lucky stars that you covered that carrier. After checking in, you look for a place to sit and wait. The place is packed with barking dogs and some terrified looking cats in carriers. You find a seat and squeeze in to wait.

your cat’s stress in the waiting room

The Cat – Both Predator and Prey

The waiting room at a veterinary hospital can be a terrifying experience for your cat. By nature, cats are hunters but they are also hunted by larger animals, from coyotes and mountain lions to domestic dogs. Now your cat is shut in his carrier, with potential predators around.

The Cat – Both Solitary and Social

The waiting room may also have some other cats waiting. They may be frozen in fear or hissing and growling.
Cats are by nature solitary hunters but they will come together in social groups called colonies if there is enough food available. The core of the colony is the mother cat and her daughters, sisters, and their offspring. Consequently, cats are social with their immediate families, although not necessarily with other cats.

The Cat – the Language of Smell and Scent

Cats communicate in large part by smell. The waiting room is most likely full of unfamiliar scents and smells. There are the scents of strange cats and canine “predators”, in addition to the odors of humans, cleaners and disinfectants.

The Cat – Unfamiliar Sounds

Cats have one of the broadest range of hearing of any land animal – they hear the high-pitched sounds of mice (that we can’t hear) but also lower pitched sounds, like that of the human male voice. Returning to the waiting room, your cat may be hearing not only the barking dogs and hissing cats but also the sounds produced by the clinic office equipment. These unfamiliar sounds can be stressful for your cat.

tips for managing your cat’s stress in the waiting room

  1. Cover the carrier so that your cat will not see other animals or people.
  2. Place the carrier on a higher surface off the floor – on a chair, on your lap. Being higher up helps your cat feel safe, less vulnerable to predators.
  3. Play cat specific music – this music can be downloaded to your phone and played at a very low volume. Your cat can hear sounds that are almost inaudible to people. Place the phone in your cat’s carrier and allow her to hear some familiar, soothing music.
  4. Spray the carrier cover with pheromone spray (“Feliway” Classic, Comfort Zone Calming) prior to leaving for the vet clinic. Pheromone sprays can send your cat a message of safety and territory.
  5. Bypass the waiting room: Ask the clinic staff if you can wait in your car until an exam room is open. Explain that you are trying to keep your cat’s stress levels down.

Choosing a cat-friendly practice can alleviate the concerns we have listed above.  A Cat Friendly Practice will have a strategy to keep your cat from seeing, smelling and hearing other animals that can make your cat fearful and anxious.

  • waiting area just for cats
  • cat-only appointment times
  • allowing you to wait for an open exam room in your car

Managing your cat’s stress in the waiting room is another step toward having a good veterinary appointment.  Because you have prepared your cat for travel to the clinic and given her ways to cope with the stress in the waiting room, she will not be so anxious during her exam.  Our next step is to demystify the veterinary examination for our cats.  Thank you for being an active participant in your cat’s health care!

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The Vet Visit: Help Your Cat Cope with the Stress of the Car Ride

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6

stressors your cat experiences during a car rideCats tend to be homebodies – your cat’s ideal day may include eating breakfast, then finding a sunny window to nap in. Midday is time for a stretch and a snack; if the weather is nice, he may want to spend some time in his catio. Unlike dogs, few cats become ecstatic at the prospect of a car ride, hanging their heads out of the window.

Once your cat accepts his carrier, the next step to getting him to the vet is the car ride. The car ride introduces additional stressors for your cat to experience. Here are some tips to help your cat cope with the stress of the car ride.

Help your cat cope with the stress of the car ride

Unfamiliar Smells and Scents

 

Include your cat’s familiar bedding in her carrier to offset the unfamiliar smells of the car with the reassurance of her own, individual scent. Spraying the carrier with feline facial pheromones (Feliway Classic, Comfort Zone Calming) also sends a message of security and territory to the traveling cat. Make sure to spray the carrier 15-20 minutes before your cat enters it so that the alcohol in the spray dissipates.

Lack of Resources

Delays due to accidents or road construction are part of car travel. Make sure to provide your cat some resources on the way. A non-slip absorbent pad for accidents is part of a well-equipped carrier. On long car rides, you may want to consider putting some ice cubes in a bowl that will gradually melt, provide water to drink and less mess in case of spills.

Motion

Some pets may be prone to motion sickness – this may be in part due to anxiety. Carrier/travel training can alleviate some of this. Travel medications for anxiety and nausea will be addressed in a later post in this series.

Unfamiliar Noises

Horns honking, engine noise, and sounds of passing vehicles are part of the car travel experience. Try offsetting these unfamiliar noises with some cat-specific music (https://www.musicforcats.com/).

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin composed music that would calm cats. In 2019, this cat music was tested in the veterinary clinic at Louisiana State University.  Stress and handling scores were lower for cats exposed to the “cat music” than the scores of cats exposed to silence or classical music. (see Cat Music:Just for Cats).

Unfamiliar Sights

 

Flashing lights and large vehicles going by your car can startle and frighten your cat. Consider covering your cat’s carrier to shield him from unfamiliar sights.

Cat-Carrier-Cover

Help your cat cope with the stress of the car ride: Practice rides

Of course, there is nothing like actually having some positive travel experience. When teenagers first get their drivers’ permit, there is some anxiety and excitement on those first few drives that goes away as they gain experience driving.

Some short “practice drives” with positive reinforcement can help your cat cope with the stress of the car ride.  If your cat is clicker-trained, the clicker can be used to trigger some positive emotions – your cat associates the sound of the click with something good such as treats.

First, let’s get your cat used to the car.

  • Have your cat enter his carrier. Click and treat.
  • Carry the carrier to the car and put it inside.
  • After a few minutes, take the carrier back into the house and let kitty out.  Click and treat.

Once your cat is comfortable sitting in his carrier in the car, get ready to do some driving.

  • Have your cat enter his carrier.  Click and treat.
  • Carry the carrier to the car and put it inside.
  • Start the engine and let the car idle for a few minutes.  Play music if you plan to use it.
  • Go for a drive around the block.
  • Return home and turn car off.
  • Take the carrier back into the house and let kitty out. Click and treat.

Your cat now has some travel experience under his belt. Car travel should now be a little less scary.  Every so often, take kitty for a spin around the block or to a park nearby if he will ride in a backpack or stroller.  Try to allow him some positive experiences where the car drive does not end up at the vet.  (For information about your cat’s safety and carrier placement in the car, visit https://www.centerforpetsafety.org/).

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Making Vet Visits Better for Your Cat (and You!)

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6

Working at a cat hospital, I have become sensitized to my patients’ distress. Many cats are terrified coming to the veterinary clinic. The experience is not only stressful for the cat but it can be stressful for you, the cat owner. Perhaps you feel embarrassed when your cat misbehaves or maybe you just dread the ordeal of getting your cat into his carrier. These are a few of the reasons why we don’t see as many cats at a veterinary clinic as dogs, although cats outnumber dogs as pets.

The net result of this stress and anxiety is that you may delay medical care for your cat because getting to the vet is so stressful.

What can we do to reduce the fear and anxiety of the vet visit for us and our kitties?

This is the first of a series of posts about making vet visits better for your cat. We will start by looking at how your cat feels about the vet clinic.

making vet visits better for your cat (and you!)

from the feline perspective

You know something’s up – your carrier is out. You hide under the bed but your human pulls you out and proceeds to squeeze you into the dreaded box.

You swing along in the air and then are loaded into a larger box that moves and smells funny.

You finally stop moving and swing through the air some more and arrive at another house where you smell lots of other animals. Oh no, not this place again! You can smell other cats – most of these cats too are afraid. As you move through the fog of smells, you arrive in a small room with a metal table.

A strange human opens your carrier door and tries to coax you to come out – you’re not sure what is out there but now your carrier seems like a good place to stay.

Suddenly, your world tilts and you slide out of the carrier onto the cold, hard table.

You hiss your displeasure. Another strange human proceeds to look into your eyes, put a hard plastic thing in your ears, and presses a cold metal disc against your chest.

Then, the strange human pokes you with a needle and you are finally allowed to escape back into the dreaded carrier – at least, it has taken you back home before.

The veterinary visit can make the most mellow cat anxious.

Does your cat…

  • Turn into a frozen lump on the exam table?
  • Or does he become a Tasmanian devil, hissing and striking at the veterinary staff?
  • Or will he frantically eat the treats offered in an effort to soothe himself?

How can we ask our cats to accept handling and medical exams?

Making vet visits better for your cat (and you!)

Sedation is one way to relieve anxiety and fear. But sedation works better when your cat is used to being handled. (For more about sedation, see https://www.felinepurrspective.com/medication-before-your-cats-vet-visit/).

In this series of posts, we are going train our cats to accept the handling that goes along with the veterinary exam. We will break the vet visit down into parts and work on making your cat comfortable with each part. We will use a technique known as “clicker training” to communicate safety and familiarity to your cat.  Your cat voluntarily accepts handling in exchange for something he likes. In this way, your cat becomes an active participant in his health care.

THE VET VISIT IN PIECES

  1. Getting kitty into the cat carrier
  2. The car ride
  3. The waiting room
  4. The exam room/vet exam
  5. Other procedures
  6. Homeward bound

From getting your cat into her carrier to the return trip to home, training can help reduce situational anxiety by making handling and traveling positive, familiar experiences.

However, don’t expect your cat to go through his entire repertoire of behaviors in a distracting environment with strange people such as the veterinary clinic. Unless you train your cat in such an environment, he may behave as if he has never done any of these  things before. However, because he is used to being handled, appropriate handling should not elicit defensive behavior.

A frightened cat fighting for his life is very intimidating to handle. However, the past 2 decades has seen the advent of stress-free handling techniques designed to address the frightened cat. If you have concerns about how your cat is handled at the veterinary practice, consider taking your cat to a Cat Friendly practice, where staff is trained in feline handling techniques.

Making vet visits better for your cat is challenging, even if your cat is calm, relaxed and food motivated.  We will start next week with carrier training.

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Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth: Why and How Part 2

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Brushing the Upper premolarsIn Part 1 of Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth: Why and How, we learned that brushing your cat’s teeth with a pet toothpaste such as the PetSmile or Virbac CET brands can help reduce the bacteria in your cat’s mouth and improve her dental health. But how do you convince your cat to let you brush her teeth?

The answer is to find something she likes (a Greenies dental treat? head rubs?) that you can use as a reward and break the tooth brushing into small steps that she can master while she becomes accustomed to the process.

brushing your cat’s teeth: Step by Step

To brush your cat’s teeth, your cat needs to

  1. sit still and have her head held
  2. accept the toothpaste
  3. allow you to apply some toothpaste onto to her upper cheek teeth with your finger
  4. allow you to gently brush her teeth

 

Step One

It is important to watch your cat’s body language and proceed at her pace. Break these steps up into smaller ones if you need to. For example, it will be helpful if your cat knows to sit on cue reliably before asking her to let you hold her head.

step two

In step two, we will offer her the toothpaste. Cat toothpaste is available in several flavors including chicken and seafood. Choose the flavor you think she’ll like best. Offer her the toothpaste on your finger and then on the toothbrush.

step three

Once she indicates which toothpaste she likes, move to step three: put some tooth paste on your finger and try gently rubbing her teeth.

step four

Go slowly with the toothbrush and use a very light touch. Remember, when you brush your own teeth, you can feel how hard you are pressing – you don’t have this feedback when brushing your cat’s teeth. The first few sessions will be short – try to end on a positive note, before she starts to struggle or wants to leave.

Make sure to reward her after each step. It may seem counter productive to give her a dental treat – after all, you just brushed her teeth! However, you have disturbed the biofilm with brushing and the saliva now contains the toothpaste with its antibacterial components.

It may take your cat several weeks to master all these steps.  Above all, go at your cat’s pace. Don’t move to the next step until she has mastered the step before.

To see how it’s done, check out the two-part video series, “Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth: Why and How” in the video gallery at www.felinepurrspective.com.  Part 2 features video of cats having their teeth brushed.

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More on Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6
Cat with Human toothbrush
Human toothbrushes are not designed for cats’ smaller mouths.

Good dental care for people centers on regular dental cleanings once or twice a year. This is supplemented by home dental care – twice daily brushing and daily (or more) flossing. Our cats should have periodic professional cleanings done under anesthesia but what about home dental care? How about brushing your cat’s teeth?

Brushing your cat’s teeth

The Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC) has a list of accepted products for cats. On this list are several dental diets including the over-the-counter Hills Oral Care, a water additive, oral spray and oral gel made by HealthyMouth, in addition to Greenies treats. The list is a bit outdated with the most recent entries dated 2012. Nowhere are toothbrushes or toothpaste.

Having tried the diets, the water additive, and brushing teeth, I have found that hands-down brushing your cat’s teeth is the most effective. Tartar accumulates most frequently on the outside of the cat’s upper premolars and those are the teeth we can target.

The benefits? Brushing reduces the amount of bacteria in the mouth more effectively than water additives and sprays. Cats are prone to developing tooth resorption which is similar in some ways to human cavities. However, where filling cavities works in human teeth, these feline resorptive lesions just get bigger and bigger once they start and filling them does not work – they need to be extracted.

While we don’t really know why tooth resorption occurs in cats, bacteria is thought to play a major role. (“Microbiome analysis of feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions (FORL) and feline oral health”, Thomas et al., J Med Microbiol. 2021; 70(4): 001353.)

For dogs, VOHC recommends the PetSmile brand of toothpaste, that works by dissolving the biofilm that forms on the teeth using hydrogen peroxide.  The PetSmile website indicates that this toothpaste can be used for cats also.

Virbac makes the CET brand of dog and cat toothpastes.  CET toothpaste contains lactoperoxidase and is designed to boost a naturally occurring anti-bacterial process in the cat’s saliva.  Watanabe and colleagues measured bacterial counts on dogs’ teeth and found that simply applying the toothpaste to the teeth reduced bacteria, although not as much as brushing with the toothpaste. (J Vet Med Sci. 2016 Jul; 78(7): 1205–1208. “Inhibitory effect for proliferation of oral bacteria in dogs by tooth brushing and application of toothpaste”)

So, consider brushing your cat’s teeth. To learn more, check out the two-part video series, “Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth: Why and How” in the video gallery at www.felinepurrspective.com.  Start with Part 1 to find out which teeth you need to brush, what you need to do this, and a strategy to encourage your cat to accept the toothbrush.

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Domestic Cats have Short Noses and Rounder Eyes Than Wildcats

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6
The big eyes and round heads of kittens may elicit a caregiving response in humans.

It is often said that cats are not fully domesticated. There is that streak of wildness in them – they can be aloof and take care of themselves. We don’t control the breeding or hunting habits of the cats that live in the shadows of our neighborhoods and cities.

To some, this offers an opportunity to study the process of domestication. Some of the easy to see hallmarks of domesticated animals are the changes in their faces and shapes of their heads. In selective breeding of foxes, rounder heads, white pigmentation, and droopy ears became apparent after 10 generations of allowing less aggressive animals to mate [“Changes in Cat Facial Morphology are Related to Interaction with Humans”, Hattoi et al, Animals 2022, 12, 3493].

 Domestic cats have short noses and rounder eyes

These changes in face and head make the animals look more juvenile. The noted ethologist, Konrad Lorenz, defined these traits (the round face and big eyes) as the “baby schema”. The “baby face” of human infants is said to stimulate the premotor cortex and activate the basic emotion of CARE in human adults.  Likewise, animals with round heads and big eyes are “cuter” and more appealing to humans.
A research group in Japan [Hattoi et al. see above] compared the facial structure of 1) feral mixed breed cats, 2) owned domestic mixed breed cats, and 3) owned domestic purebred cats with the facial structure of 4) the African Wildcat, the ancestor of our domestic cats. They hypothesized that cats that interact with people would show changes in their faces, and this could be a marker of the process of domestication.

The team mapped facial dimensions to find a measure of the “baby schema” they could use. Since the size of the cat’s eye is dependent on brightness, the researchers chose the nose length and the angle of the eyes to compare the faces of the 4 categories of cats.

Measurement of Nose length in catsThe nose length (B) was reported relative to facial size, the distance between the inside corners of the eyes (A). Eye angles measured the slant of the eyes, from the inside corner to the outside corner.

 

Analysis of 3295 photos revealed:

  •  Domestic cats have short noses  and rounder eyes.
  • African wildcats and feral mixed breed cats have longer noses and slanted eyes when compared with domestic cats.
  • The study also found that people preferred cats with shorter noses – they were “cuter” than cats with longer noses.
  Nose Length(B/A) Angle of Eyes
African Wildcats 1.34 25.61
Mixed Breed Feral Cats 1.32 25.10
Owned Mixed Breed Cats 1.23 25.31
Owned Purebred Cats 1.14 22.77

Humans prefer cats with shorter noses and eyes that are not so slanted.  These features may elicit caregiving behavior in humans.  Domestic cats have short noses and rounder eyes; this suggests that domestication or interaction with humans has changed the facial structure of domestic cats.

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Tips for Managing The Cat With Pica

Posted on by felinepurrspective_u3q4o6

a cat chewing on plasticHave you had or do you have a cat who would eat anything – hair ties, ribbons, plastic – in addition to food? Have you experienced the anxiety waiting for your cat to pass whatever object you think he ate? It is not unheard of for cats to eat, chew or suck on non-food items. This behavior is called pica.  How do you manage the cat with pica?

The Bristol Cat Study (Animals 2021, 11(4), 1101; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041101) followed a group of cats for a little over 3 years.  To participate in the study, the owners had to own a kitten or kittens, 8-16 weeks old at the time of registration.

These owners were asked whether or not their cats chewed (with or without ingesting) one or more of the following items: 1) woolen fabrics 2) other fabrics 3) plastics 4) other materials. These questions were repeated at 2-4 months, 6.5-7 months, 12.5-13 months, and finally at 18.5-19 months.  About 25% of 2203 cats were reported to exhibit some pica behavior.

Findings

  • plastics were the most commonly targeted material
  • pica was most commonly reported at 6.5-7 months of age
  • about half of the cats reported to have pica at 6 months did not show pica at 18-19 months of age
  • cats who moved to a new house when they were around year old were more likely to have pica

 

Managing the cat with pica

Pica can result in GI injury, poisoning, or electric shock. The goal of managing pica is to prevent injury to the cat.

Step one: Identify the material being targeted

Yarn? Thread? Hair Ties?

  • yarn can wrap around the tongue
  • thread may have a sharp needle attached
  • hair ties

Poisons?

  • Household chemicals: cleaners, antifreeze, insecticides, plant sprays
  • House Plants: can be toxic – lilies in particular can cause kidney damage even in small amounts

Other?

  • Filmy plastics and things like “fabric softener sheets”
  • Chewing/biting electrical cords
  • Kneading and sucking on blankets
  • Chewing or sucking on toys

Step two: Keep targeted items out of reach of the cat with pica

  • keep blankets and other fabrics in closets your cat can’t get into
  • put hair ties and elastics away
  • replace toys your cat may be eating with ones that he can’t eat
  • supervise play times and access to toys
  • cover electrical cords with plastic covers that cats can’t bite through
  • unplug unused appliances
  • discard or hang houseplants
  • store household chemicals in a secure closet

Step three: Provide the cat with pica an alternative behavior

We would like to provide Kitty with an outlet for her oral activities and provide something safe for her to interact with.

Cat using food puzzleKeeping kitty busy


Try “free feeding” your cat with pica if possible. If “free-feeding” is not an option, frequent small meals will work. Food puzzles offer a natural cat behavior (foraging) as well as a snack. For some ideas, visit foodpuzzlesforcats.com.

Licking – a soothing behavior for cats


Slow-feeding mats are textured silicone mats that you spread canned food on. The cat licks the food off much like a wild cat may lick meat off a bone. Licking appears to be calming and soothing to cats. Some cats may like licking toys or balls made from compressed catnip.

Chewing

There are silicone toys that can be filled with catnip or silver vine (see the PetZone Boredom Buster dental chew toy). There is also a gum stimulator on the Catit Wellness Center that is designed to be chewed and sucked on. If you try these, be sure to monitor the wear on them and be around to supervise your kitty with these.

Cat Grass


Cats are attracted to grass and like to chew on it. There is the grass sold at pet stores and seeds you can plant. Some varieties of ornamental grasses are non-toxic to cats. Make sure to check the ASPCA site to make sure that the plants you choose are safe.

Step four: reducing stress in the cat with pica

Stress can stimulate an increase in pica behaviors, especially as cats grow out of the kitten stage. Identify and reduce stress whenever possible.

Social stress: 

  • How does the cat with pica get along with other pets in the household?
  • Do neighborhood cats come to the windows?
  • Are interactions with humans
 predictable?

Environmental stress:

Managing the cat with pica can be challenging.  Although the Bristol Cat Study indicated that half the cats who had been reported with pica at 6 months were no longer chewing/ingesting things at 18 months, it is wise to monitor your cat for such behavior, even if it seems to have gone away. Providing cats with safe opportunities to lick and chew is key to having a happy and healthy cat.

Your veterinary team is an important resource if you suspect your cat has pica. GI distress, oral pain and neurological issues can sometimes exacerbate pica and are best treated.

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