Do your joints ache?

 It's tough getting old, whether you are a cat or a human. But we cats have an extra problem. We hide our pain.

So for the help of your human, instead of a cat photo here is a quiz photo. Humans are so dumb that they have to have simple instructions on how to recognise our pain.

It should be obvious, really - if we hesitate when jumping up on to the bed, or have to bunny hop using both back legs when going up or down stairs. 

If we are slower to play or spend more time in our bed - it's not "just old age" it can easily be arthritic pain. AND we need painkillers just like elderly humans do.

So show this to your human.... remember they are dumb animals that need instruction.

Cyprus disease alert

 

Humans need to protect us. There is a serious disease that is killing cats like us in Cyprus. We need to ban the import of cats from that country NOW.

It's a severe version of FIP, a feline corona virus which causes FIP, and there isn't a cure for this. If this reaches the UK or the USA, any cat that has a cat flap may be at risk. And in Cyprus even indoor cats have been affected. The details can be read here. 

This is an urgent warning to all humans. Read up about this illness. Check that your cat has not been, and cannot be, in touch with any Cypriot imported feline. Quarantine all street cats carefully before admitting them into your home where there are other cats.

Hygeine in shelters and cat sanctuaries has never been so important. Any cat lover travelling back from Cyrpus should make sure they have washed their hands (changed their clothes) before handling their own cats.

We also need import bans.

Growing old gracefully

This is my friend, also called George. He is a senior cat. He is happy, and healthy even if he does sleep rather a lot. He's not as sleek as he used to be, as his fur has thinned a bit and he's not good at grooming himself in the difficult parts to reach.

I think his human  should groom him daily, just to get to the areas where he finds grooming rather tricky. She told me that the next time she takes him to the vet, she will ask if he has arthritis that might be painful. It may hurt him to turn his body round to groom his back.

How does she know he is mentally still active and not suffering from dementia?

•  He is able to move round the house and garden without being disorientated. He can find his way around.
  
• Their relationship is unchanged. He is neither clinging nor strangely distant.
• He sleeps and wakes at his usual times. There is no middle-of-the-night waking and calling.
• He uses his litter tray without trouble
• His behaviour is normal. He doesn't pace restlessly.

Check that we oldies are not in pain from arthritis. Keep an eye on our behaviour - if we start behaving abnormally, it could be disease or the beginnings of losing it. 

We senior cats need to keep their dignity and wellbeing. Get your owner to read up on elderly cat care

 

Purrfect nursing for your sick human

 

Tilly shows how purr therapy is done

I have been busy these last six days nursing my sick human. She has been suffering from some kind of stomach bug that has left her feeling nauseated and weak. 

That's why my blog wasn't posted last week.

So she sleeps a lot. Luckily I sleep a lot too. So in the past week I have worked really hard to help her. I have upped my sleeping time from about 80% of the day to 90%, only waking her up at meal times.

I aim to sleep elongated near her, my back to her, but near enough so she can rest her hand on it and feel the rhythm of my purr. She can also hear the regularity of purring. it seems to relax her.

Between meals, I have purred a lot. Purr therapy seems to work well on humans. When she goes to bed feeling sick, purring seems to help her fall into a healing sleep.

Fortunately she has been conscientious in her duties - cleaning the litter tray and making sure I have a bout 4 meals a day and renewing the dry food which is there for a snack.

It's been hard nursing her but I am doing well. She ate a cheese sandwich a few hours ago and gave me a bit of cheese as a thank-you present.

Take Your Cat to the Vet Day? No.

 

Last Sunday was Take Your Cat to the Vet Day.... what on earth do humans think they are doing.

Take your cat to the vet day? I think not. For one thing it's a Sunday and the human will be charged much more money than normal.

For another, - how can I put it? - CATS HATE VETS. 

Vets smell bad. They smell of dog and disinfectant and pain and animal fear. They stab you with needles. They force your mouth open. They stick things into your ears. They even stick things up your butt.

No wonder some co-resident cats attack their feline companions when they return from the vet surgery, smelling of vets.

I admit that I purr on the veterinary table. Most cats don''t but I do.

Just because I purr when I am at the vet's surgery being handled by one of these human monsters. It doesn't mean I am happy. Nor does it mean that I love the vet.

I purr to comfort myself. And maybe I purr in the forlorn hope that the vet will listen to me and stop hurting me.

Humans, do not deceive yourselves.  CATS HATE VETS.

"It's just old age."

 

Chester, old with untreated hyperthyroidism

"It's just old age." That's what humans say, when they see us looking scruffy, spending most of the time asleep, losing weight and generally moving more slowly.

No, it isn't "just old age."

Elderly humans get help for old age. They go to doctors and have tests. They get pain killers for arthritis, treatment for thyroid problems, medicine for high blood pressure and even treatment for cancer.

What do we get. "It's just old age."

Not good enough, humans. Wise up on cat diseases. Do as you would be done by. Give us some quality of life by getting proper treatment for our aches and pains.

You can start by reading this book. Caring for an Elderly Cat by Sarah Caney and Vicky Halls.

Human response to vaccination

My human experienced for the first time the hell of vaccination. If she wasn't so dumb, I could have told her that vaccinations occasionally make me feel rather ill.

Not only do I hate going to the vet. Always a stressfulI experience. And sometimes I feel rather ill after a vaccination - depending on which kind I get. 

Well, this time it happened to her. Now she knows what it can be like. I didn't gloat. Well, I did. But only a little. She totally failed to do her secretarial work with this blog.

So that is why there was no blog from me. My paws can do a little on the keyboard but I don't like doing more than a single sentence. 

So there was no blog. Sorry, fellow cats. Not the first time that humans have disappointed us.  

Weird cat pictures and Victorian remedies

I never thought I would say this but thank goodness for vets. I have been reading an old book about cats, and I am horrified at the medical suggestions. It is Cats: their Points and Characteristics with Curiosities of Cat Life and A Chapter on Feline Ailments, 1876, by W. Gordon Stables, a retired sea doctor who also wrote Medical Life in the Navy.

The illustrations are weird. Did you ever see cats like these? The anecdotes are odd - one about a tom cat on board a ship threatened with being shot by the captain. And there is even an ad for a cat medicine chest (see last illustration). His remedy for diarrhoea is this:

"Begin the treatment by giving the little patient half a small teaspoonful of castor-oil. Give a still smaller dose about six hours after, to which two drops of laudanum or solution of muriate of morphiæ has been added. Afterwards give, three times a day, either a little chalk mixture, with half a drop of laudanum in each dose."

It's castor oil again for bronchitis and a diet of beef tea (sounds good to me) and bread (less good!). For fits, the good doctor suggests holding smelling salts to the feline nose (ugghhhh) and bleeding (uggghhh).. Then there is a disease he calls The Yellows, and suggests a horrible amount of remedies such as glauber salts, bismuth, creasote, aromatic powder and laudanum, which is a mixture of alcohol and morphine, quinine and cod liver oil.

I don't think many cats could have survived this cure, let alone the disease!

So though I hate vets, I think Dr Stables would have been even worse. He had great whiskers, though. Almost as good as mine!

 

Stand up for cats in rescue.... keep us apart and safe.

Cats in rescue ought to be kept in single houses - unless they already know their companions. Just dumping us in a pen full of strange cats is enormously stressful.

It may seem like a good idea to save money, or just to rescue more cats, but it doesn't pay off.

More stress means more disease. More disease means more vets bills. More disease also means more cats are euthanised.

Scientists have measured our stress levels in rescue, and a pen full of cats - coming in and going out to new homes - is the worst possible accomodation.

So, rescues, start thinking smart not fast. Build proper premises. Take in fewer cats, concentrate on homing them out fast.You will save money and you will save more cats.

And saving more cats is what we all want.

• For more feline thoughts on human behaviour go here.