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Question: Three months ago we adopted a spayed 5 year old female cat. She’s very loving and we adore her. But lately she gets these wild streaks and has scratched and bitten our legs, even drawing blood. It’s usually preceded by meowing and sometimes yowling. We spray water on her and scold her. In a few minutes she’s loving and sweet again. We’re retired homebodies so she gets lots of attention. Dr. Nichol: Springtime can bring out the call of the wild. There are risks to life in the great outdoors but that is your cat’s innate habitat. Her natural prey skulks on the other side of your windows. Besides the helpless varmints she needs to stalk and kill, there may also be predators out there that scare the @#%& out of her! She lives in a fishbowl. Our cats are domestic pets who belong with us but they have…
Has your cat ever had a fight? I don’t mean with a spouse or HOA but with a marauding feline neighbor or housemate. Squabbles may start and end with spitting, verbal putdowns, and posturing but when it’s game-on, an altercation can turn dangerous. Feline behavior is complicated and, in many ways, quite different than our species or our dogs.’ Some cats prefer to be part of a group (colony) but they can just as easily go it alone. Except for females and their young, kitties don’t need each other to survive. Unlike us and our dogs, they don’t cry out to their comrades when they’re sick or hurt. They hide-out in hopes of getting well on their own. Our cats and dogs come from different planets. When the politics between pussy cats goes sideways, everybody’s adrenaline surges. Claws and canine teeth inflict multiple deep, contaminated stab wounds in just a…
From the Sunday column in the Albuquerque Journal, and Dr. Jeff Nichol.com, Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Nichol joins TJ to discuss good pet care and welfare for your cats and dogs He talks about protecting your pets from certain human foods, and your prescription drugs, pet insurance, and are roadrunners dangerous to your pets?. All this and more on News Radio KKOB.
The Food and Drug Administration, along with independent researchers, have discovered a possible link between grain-free, “legume-rich” pet foods and a potentially life-threatening heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Deficiency of the amino acid taurine may be another significant factor. Specific categories of diets have been linked to heart disease. A group of Newfoundlands, who were fed a lamb and rice diet, have developed reversible DCM linked to taurine deficiency. Golden retrievers, American cocker spaniels, and Dalmatians also appear to be vulnerable. Vegan and vegetarian diets have been implicated but limited ingredient foods manufactured by Hills and Royal Canin have not caused this problem. An FDA announcement pointed out that, “The potential association between diet and DCM and dogs is a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors.” Of dogs who ate only one type of food – a grain-free diet – 90% developed DCM. Of the 9 diets…
If you’re a cat lover like me you may want even more of them. But kitties stuck inside together can struggle badly: threats, aggression, and house soiling are miserable for everybody. Let’s get ahead of these conflicts.
Last in a series Rather than indulging in frivolous ego-driven jealousy, like humans, our dogs live in the moment. They compete because they’re programmed to worry that food or proximity to their leader might vanish, causing them to wander aimlessly in the abyss, wither, and die of starvation, isolation, and heartache. Polly’s aggression was turbo charged by her severe anxiety disorder, very likely genetic in its origin. Her squabbles with Holly were already beyond name-calling and hair pulling; a shootout with life-threatening injuries, or worse, was right around the corner. My clients wanted an immediate end to the hostilities but a close second priority was a peaceful life for the dogs they love. Everybody was safe when these combatants were separated. Holly the victim was definitely happier but Polly’s agitation just kept on. Nobody can be taught to abandon their anxiety. Polly’s misery stemmed from a disorder of her neurochemistry.…
Chronic arthritis, surgery, bad teeth, back and neck pain – lots of cats and dogs suffer. There are safe, modern treatments that can make a big difference. Know what to look for and how to help.
Third in a series Polly and Holly, our canine pugilist protagonists, were first brought to me for help several years earlier. Their hostility had already become dangerous. Holly the victim was done quaking in her boots when Polly the bully threatened. It was game-on at first sighting. Most people are oblivious to the pecking order among their dogs. And that’s fine. Members of this species communicate among themselves almost continually, nearly all of it with subtle body signals. Those with more stripes on their sleeves quietly require their underlings to step away from the food, toys, or leaders. Ego isn’t part of it. Those on the lower rungs of the social ladder frequently remind their betters that they are in fact so low they have to look up to see down. But with Polly’s anxiety-driven aggression and Holly’s fear of annihilation, none of this was happening anymore. Holly badly needed…
Crying, scratching at the door, chewing furniture and woodwork – these are not the behaviors you were looking for when you fell in love with that cute, wriggling puppy. You’ll need to practice kindness and patience to get through this. You also need a plan.