Five Frequently Asked Questions about Cats

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Cats are curious and sometimes act in ways that can drive humans crazy. They don’t do it on purpose; being naughty just sort of happens. Here are answers to five frequently asked questions about cats.

Q: Why does my cat push things down from my shelves?
A: Cats are curious, and easily bored. Your cat probably wants something to do. Even if there’s a plethora of cat toys around the house, they might have grown old and boring, and your kitty might want something new. Take time to play with your cat, and invest in some fresh toys.

Q: Do cats wag their tails when they’re happy?
A: Cats aren’t like dogs, and they normally don’t wag their tails because they’re happy. On the contrary, a cat swishing their tail indicates agitation. They wag their tails if they’re annoyed or see something that doesn’t please them. Not the best time to pet the cat!

Q: If a cat sleeps on a person’s lap, does that mean they like the person?
A: Yes. Sleeping makes a cat vulnerable, and sleeping on your lap means that you are trusted. As a bonus, your lap is probably warm and comfortable.

Q: Do cats really have a great sense of direction?
A: Some cats do, and can find their way across amazing distances. Don’t rely on it. Keep a collar on your cat with a tag, and microchip your feline friend. The outdoors can be intriguing and overwhelming for indoor kitties getting out, and even the most experience outdoor cat can get into trouble.

Q: Why does my cat bite me?
A: Cats bite for a lot of reasons. It might be because of play aggression or over stimulation, but also a way of saying, “Stop that.” Think about what you’re doing when your cat bites you.

Watch out for heatstroke in pets

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Watch out for heatstrokeDogs can’t sweat. They pant to cool themselves off, but it’s not the most efficient system. Another risk for dogs is that they’re generally eager to please their owners and will not stop playing or even indicate that something is wrong until it is too late and heatstroke is a fact.

When it comes to cats and dogs, the pets most susceptible to heatstroke include:

  • Pugs, Bulldogs, and other short snout dog breeds
  • Persians and other cats with flat faces
  • Sick and elderly pets
  • Cats and dogs with heart conditions
  • Dogs who exercise in hot weather
  • Dogs who have airway problems or snore
  • Overweight pets
  • Cats and dogs who recently relocated to a hotter climate
  • Any pet who has had a heatstroke before. They are at higher risk of getting it again.

Heatstroke is a real problem. It can lead to kidney failure, liver failure, brain damage, swelling of airways, lung damage, seizures, muscle damage, bleeding disorders, and even death.

Make sure your pets have access to a cool area. If you don’t have AC, use fans to increase the circulation in the house. Always make sure your pets have access to cool water.

Pet doors allow cats and dogs to come back inside when they want to. An energy efficient dog door or cat door such as the PlexiDor dog doors and cat doors will ensure that the heat stays outside.

Symptoms of heatstroke include:

  • A blank stare or anxious expression
  • Heavy panting and possible raspy breath
  • Bright red gums
  • Salivation
  • Throwing up
  • Stumbling, falling, or collapsing
  • Elevated temperature
  • Lying flat on cool surfaces
  • Pet’s skin feels warmer than normal
  • Seizures

If your pet shows any signs of heatstroke, hose them down so their panting slows. Small animals can be sprayed with a spray bottle of water set at a fine mist. The water helps prevent the body temperature from raising further.

Call the vet. Heatstroke is serious and this is not a time to apply a wait-and-see approach.

When you go to the vet, keep the AC on in the car to keep the pet as cool as possible. If you don’t have air-conditioning, make sure to keep the windows down. Just watch the pet so they don’t jump out of the car!

At the vet, treatment can include intravenous fluids, blood tests, and oxygen. Severe cases of heatstroke require hospitalization up to ten days.

 

Can cats see in the dark?

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CatWhen a cat zips around the house in what appears to be total darkness to us, he or she probably sees pretty well. They can’t see in complete dark, but they see well with only a sixth of the light humans need.

This night vision ability comes from their hunting habits; cats normally move about in the twilight of dusk and dawn, and sneaking up on prey requires the ability to see.

Cats have muscles around their iris that can pull it to a slit in bright light, and open very wide in low light conditions. They always maximize their use of any light available. They also have a reflective membrane called the tapetum lucid that takes available light and reflects it. This is also why a cats eyes can seem to glow in the dark.

Can cats eat dog food?

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eating catCats should not eat dog food. Dogs can eat cat food just fine, but cats should not eat dog food. Cats and dogs are more different than meets the eye, and they have vastly different nutritional needs.

Dogs have developed side by side with humans to a point where they can eat most of the things we eat and digest. They are considered omnivores, which means that they are able to digest carbohydrates, and they can survive on plant based foods. That doesn’t mean that dogs prefer meat to vegetables and other plants, or that a diet based completely on plants would be nutritionally adequate, but they can survive on it. A cat cannot.

Cats are carnivores. That means that they cannot live unless they eat meat in some form. One major difference between dog food and cat food is the percentage of meat.

Other differences between cats and dogs include the ability to handle vitamins and amino acids. Dogs, for instance, have the ability to break down organic pigments from plants called carotenoids and convert them into active Vitamin A. Cats can’t do that.

Cats have to get Vitamin A already converted by some other animal. That is, they have to eat the meat from some animal who already converted the carotenoids to active Vitamin A. This is one of the reasons most carnivores don’t eat other carnivores; they need to eat animals who live off plants in order to survive.

Arginine is another big difference between cats and dogs; it is a building block for proteins and cats have to get it with every meal. Dogs produce an enzyme that helps them produce Arginine, and they only need to get a little with their food.

Taurine is an amino acid distributed through the heart, retina, and other organs. Dogs produce their own, but cats must eat it, and it is not present in any plants.

There are more examples of substances cats must get through their food, such as niacin and arachidonic acid.

Lilies and cats

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Lilies are beautiful, and in springtime many yards hold an abundance of them. They’re also common in many Easter flower arrangements. While not particularly dangerous to humans or dogs, some types of lilies are poisonous to cats. This article will tell you what kinds are the most dangerous to cats, and what to watch out for.

Around Easter time, the Easter lily is a welcome guest in many homes. These flowers are very poisonous to cats, and it goes for every part of the plant. Leaves, petals, stems, and pollen are all poisonous. If you see your cat eating or licking an Easter lily, even if it’s just nibbling a leaf, call the vet. Cats can also accidentally ingest the pollen while grooming, and even such a small amount can lead to kidney failure.

Symptoms develop in six to twelve hours after exposure, and the signs of poisoning include:

  • Vomiting
  • Loss of appetite
  • Dehydration
  • Lethargy

Some cats also stagger, become disoriented, or suffer seizures.

Easter Lilies are dangerous to cats
Easter Lilies are dangerous to cats

If your cat ingested any part of an Easter lily, it needs treatment at once. There aren’t any antidotes to lily poison, and the vet will administer drugs to bind the poison and give intravenous fluids to flush out the kidneys. They will also monitor the kidneys through blood testing. If the cat gets treatment quickly, all this will be easier on both the pet and your wallet.

Other types of lilies known to be poisonous to cats include Tiger lilies – common in yards – Day lilies, and Asiatic lilies.

Amongst lilies that usually do not pose a problem to cats we find Peace lilies, Calla lilies, and Peruvian lilies.

It’s always a good idea to keep the numbers to your regular vet and pet emergency rooms saved in your phone and written down somewhere you can find it even in a time of stress.

Fun facts about cats

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CatCats have excellent night vision, and can see well at one-sixth of the light level required for humans. They also have excellent hearing  and can hear higher-pitched sounds than both dogs and humans. The cat’s hearing is amongst the best of the mammals.

In addition to these great senses, cats have an acute sense of smell. It might not be as good as a blood-hound, but it’s still twice as good as a human’s.

When cats meet they don’t usually greet each other nose to nose, because that puts both participants in a vulnerable position. Cats who know each other well and have been apart for a while feel safe enough to do this, and through the nose contact they gather information about how the other cat is, where they have been, and what they have been doing.

Most human societies find it polite to meet another’s gaze. Cats do the opposite; they blink and narrow their eyes when they accidentally make eye contact. To make friends with an unfamiliar cat, try to blink and look away when you catch his eyes.

Get a food bowl that fits the size of your pet

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Get the right size food bowlHave you ever noticed that if you put food on a big plate it looks so little, and by the time the plate is full, the portion is enough for dinner as well as lunch the next day? The same principle is true for dog bowls.  A big bowl makes a correct size portion look tiny, and it’s easy to put on too much.

In 2013, the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine made an experiment with 54 dogs and their owners. Four combinations were tested:

  • Small bowl with a small scoop
  • Small bowl with a large scoop
  • Large bowl with a small scoop
  • Large bowl with a large scoop

Just as one might guess, the servings in the small bowl with the small scoop were significantly smaller than all other combinations.

Does it matter?

Yes. Obesity is a health problem on the rise for pets as well as people, and keeping track of portions is especially important for pets eating dry food. Kibble is generally high in calories, and just a few extra pieces each day can make a small pet gain weight quickly.

Good ideas are to use a graded measuring cup, and to use the large bowl for water. Many pet owners have a small water bowl and a huge food bowl, but pets need much more water than they do food.

Everyday items that should be kept out of reach

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Xylitol is poisonous to petsBy now most pet owners know dogs and cats shouldn’t have chocolate, raisins, onions, and macadamia nuts. Many other common every-day objects are also very dangerous to cats and dogs, and they’re so small and common it’s easy to forget they’re easily available in an open purse or on a table.

Human medications like Advil, Motrin, and Tylenol are present in almost every home, and very dangerous to pets. The acetaminophen in one Tylenol is enough to kill a cat or cause severe liver problems in a dog.

Asthma inhalers can also pose a problem if a pet chews on them. If a dog were to bite through the shell, the substance inside is enough to cause an acute, life-threatening poisoning.

Most chewing gums and mints contain xylitol. Xylitol is also common in chewable vitamins, sugar free candy, and nicotine gum. Xylitol is very toxic to dogs.

Also look out for all forms of nicotine. Cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarette cartridges and fluid, nicotine gum, lozenges, anything with nicotine can potentially kill a pet.

Another common item that can be found in many cars, purses, and backpacks is hand sanitizer. These products contain lots of alcohol and can potentially cause coma and death in pets.

Prevention is naturally the best. Create good habits with putting potentially dangerous things away. If you still think your pet got into something poisonous, call your veterinarian at once. If the cat really ate something they shouldn’t have minutes can matter, and the sooner you get the correct diagnose the easier, safer, and less expensive it will be to treat your pet.

Cats and dogs may see flashes of light around power lines

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A couple of weeks ago the PlexiDor blog reported about cats and dogs being able to see in ultraviolet. The ability makes it possible for many animals to see things humans do not, such as threats that would otherwise blend in with the environment and patterns that can lead to food. 

Being able to see like they see would probably be both convenient and amazing in many situations. Flowers, for instance, may have patterns we will never be able to discern. However, due to human interference the ability to see in ultraviolet might also be terrifying.

The Guardian reports that UV cameras can pick up coronal discharges around power lines that humans cannot see with the bare eye. These lights and flashes correspond with the humming we can sometimes hear around power lines.

Naturally, what we see with the aid of a camera is still not the same as animals able to detect ultraviolet frequencies would see, and the cameras can see a narrower range than most animals, but at least it gives us an idea.


We have known for a long time that animals in the wide prefer to avoid power lines, and the popular explanation has been that the corridors cut to accommodate the lines expose animals to predators. However, with power lines looking like glowing and flashing bands across the sky, they might have an unforeseen worldwide impact. Besides disturbing our domestic friends like cats and dogs, they might interfere with migration routes for birds and prevent mammals from going where they need to be.

Burying all power cables does not seem a realistic alternative, but one idea is to put a non-conducting shield around the cables to screen them from view.

How much does a cat sleep?

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Cats seem to sleep all the time. They’re experts at enjoying life and make stretching out for a nap in a ray of sunshine seem like the epitome of joy.

The average cat sleeps fifteen hours a day, and some nap as much as twenty. The only well known animals sleeping more than cats are bats and opposum.

So, why do they sleep so much?

Cats are born hunters, and all that skulking about in the shadows and pouncing on pray, whether it’s real or imagined, uses up enormous amounts of energy. The large amounts of sleep is reserve energy for running, climbing, and creeping.

Cats are also most active during the twilight hours between dawn and dusk. Luckily they are both sociable and adaptable, and quite able to adjust their sleeping habits to be awake when their human is awake and home.

 

Cats at sea

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Cats and humans have walked side by side on land for thousands of years. It is less known that cats have shared the seas with us. They have a great ability to adapt to their surroundings, and thrive on ships.

In today’s society many people consider black cats bad luck. At sea, it was the complete opposite. Cats, particularly black cats, were believed to protect ships from dangerous weather. Fishermen’s wives would keep black cats at home, hoping they would protect the men at sea.

The US Naval Institute writes, “It is likely that the ancient Egyptians were the first seafarers to realize the true value of having cats as shipmates.” The kitties protected the ships from rats and mice, served as company, and could to some extent warn for foul weather. Cats have sensitive inner ears, and low atmospheric pressure often make them nervous and restless.

Without the presence of cats, a crew might find their ship overrun with rats and mice that would eat into provisions, chew through ropes, and spread disease. It was also common to adopt cats from foreign lands to serve as souvenirs and remind the crew of their pets at home.

Dogs and cats might be able to see in ultraviolet

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Light is made up by a wide spectrum of colors. The spectrum humans can see goes from red to violet, like a rainbow. Other animals can see other wavelengths, and we know that bees, birds, fish, some reptiles, mice, and bats can see ultraviolet light. Going back to the rainbow, that would be light below the inner purple band where the human eye not perceives nothing.

What we can see differs between species because of our different needs. A bee, for example, can pick up much more of the short wavelengths than humans, and they need this to see colors or patterns on plants that can lead them to nectar. Reindeer also see ultraviolet, and are believed to have developed this ability to discern polar bears and other threats that would otherwise blend in with the white snow.

Our eyes block out the short-wave light to improve visual acuity. It’s a trade-off where we sacrifice this part of the spectrum for higher resolution vision. We can see details better. The downside with that trade is that we see poorly in low-light situations.

Recently, a group of researchers at City University of London compared sights of a large number of mammals and found that hedgehogs, dogs, cats, and ferrets all see a wider spectrum of ultraviolet wavelengths than we do.

Now the question is; when a cat or dog goes crazy over nothing, do they see something we don’t?

Dogs can see color

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Dogs being color blind is an old myth, but a lot of people still think animals experience the world as gray. They see other colors than we do, but they definitely see colors.

Dogs’ eyes are focused on a spectrum containing yellows, blues, and violets. Red, green, and orange as we see it would appear as yellow or blue.

It’s interesting how many dog toys are yellow, orange, or red, because this lets us see them better. From the dog’s point of view, a blue tennis ball might be much more visible than a yellow one. They find them anyway, because dogs have a great sense of spotting movement.

Image source: //www4.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/la/davis2.htm

An eye contains two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. A human eye has many types of cones, which allows us to see many different colors. A doggie eye has more rods. Thus, dogs have much better night vision and ability to track movement than the human eye. On the downside, they see fewer colors and less details.

There’s another big difference between a dog’s eyes and a human’s. Their eyes are placed on the sides of the head while ours face forward. This means that they get a visual field of 250 degrees, and humans only have a field of 190 degrees.

Image source: findretrievers.com

They have much better peripheral vision than we do, but we can focus and judge the distance to an object better.

Pet Theft Awareness Day

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February 14th was the annual pet theft awareness day in the USA. Pets are stolen every day around the year, but there are some easy safety measures to take that will reduce the risk, and some tips that might help with retrieving a lost pet. 

  1. Make sure that your pet is microchipped and that your information is updated. This will aid in returning a lost or stolen pet to you.
  2. Never leave your pet unattended in a car or public area.
  3. Keep an accurate identification file for your pet. This should include a detailed description and several photos.
If your pet is lost or stolen
  1. Visit your local animal shelters at once, and keep checking back with them every day. It is also a good idea to visit veterinarians in the area, contact animal services, and the police.
  2. Search everywhere. Pets can hide in strange places.
  3. Use the power of social media. Post pictures on your Facebook page and ask people to share.
  4. Distribute flyers, talk to neighbors, and chat with delivery men, postal workers, and others that move around your area on a daily basis.

Most popular dog and cat names in 2013

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The list of most popular puppy and kitten names in 2013 was recently released by vetstreet.com. The list is based on 925,000 puppies and 425,000 kittens.

Bella is the most popular name for female cats and dogs. This is the eight year in a row it tops the puppy list, and the seventh year in a row it is number one for kittens.

For boy dogs, Max is the most popular name, also for the eight year in a row. When it comes to kittens, Max kept the top position for five consecutive years, but was poked down by Oliver.

Here is the top ten list!

 Female puppy names  Male puppy names Female kitten names Male kitten
 Bella  Max  Bella  Oliver
 Daisy  Buddy  Lucy  Max
 Lucy  Charlie  Kitty  Tiger
 Molly  Rocky  Luna  Charlie
 Sadie  Cooper  Chloe  Simba
 Sophie  Duke  Molly  Milo
 Lola  Bear  Lily  Smokey
 Chloe  Jack  Sophie  Leo
 Zoey  Bentley  Nala  Jack
 Maggie  Toby  Daisy  Kitty