|
 |
|
|
care
feline heartworm disease
The Cat Practice STRONGLY urges all of our clients to place their feline family members on
heartworm prevention every month of the year. In fact, the American Heartworm Society also
advises that all cats be placed on monthly heartworm prevention (See link below).
Heartworms, in the cat, are transmitted by mosquitoes (exactly as they are in the dog) and
there is no shortage of mosquitoes in Southeast Louisiana. In fact, the incidence of feline
heartworm disease is close to 30%...that means 1 out of 3 cats, including indoor cats, has
been infected with this parasite.
In the cat, heartworms can cause, but is not limited to, cardiac disease,
respiratory tract disease, and chronic vomiting. New research points to the fact that
feline heartworms are probably responsible for the bulk of the cases that we refer to as
“asthmatic” cats…cats that have a persistent cough. One of the more tragic clinical
manifestations of feline heartworm disease is the so-called “sudden death” syndrome where a
cat suddenly dies without any signs of illness whatsoever. |
online resources for feline health and behavior
The Cornell Feline Health Center, of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York, is a veterinary medical specialty center devoted to improving the health and well-being of cats throughout the world. The Cornell Feline Health Center is a great source for feline
health information. It includes articles, instructional/educational videos, and consultation services.
Founded in 1910, the Dumb Friends League is a national leader in providing humane care to lost and abandoned animals, rescuing sick, injured and abused animals, adopting pets to new homes, helping pets stay in homes, and educating pet owners and the public about the needs of companion animals. The DFL website is a good resource for feline behavior issues including aggression, destruction, house soiling, introductions, kitten issues, and eating and grooming issues.
The Pet Web Library, of Mar Vista Animal Medical Center, provides informational materials on some of the most common medical concerns of pet dogs & cats. This material has adapted to the World Wide Web so that the entire global community may benefit.
|
|
senior wellness
|
For General Information
Click here to download Feline Senior Wellness (68KB)
We all want our cats to live forever. While that is not possible, it is possible to make sure our feline family members have a good a quality of life for as long as possible.
One of the ways we can do this is to aggressively monitor our older feline population for disease common in the older cat. Cats older than 8 years of age should be seen by a veterinarian at least twice yearly and have a Senior Profile run annually.
A Senior Profile at The Cat Practice is a series of tests that pro-actively check for diseases in your cat not always visible during a physical exam. The Senior Profile looks for hypertension (high blood pressure), anemia, glaucoma, urinary tract disease (upper [kidney] and lower [bladder] urinary tract disease), diabetes, thyroid disease, and feline heartworm disease, if necessary. If it does not definitively diagnose a problem in your cat, it might point the way for us to look for other diseases your cat may be harboring that may be causing your cat not to feel well. Finally, it is a baseline of data for us to have so that when we repeat the Senior Profile, we can clearly see how things have changed.
Our philosophy is to detect these problems in our beloved older cat population before they become significant causes of disease and make our patients too sick. To encourage you to do the same, we offer this diagnostics package at a significant discount over the costs of these individual tests alone. |
|
|
