Thunderstorms can be very unsettling. Typically, when it comes to our pets, we think of dogs as the ones who end up shaking, crying, or hiding when Mother Nature displays a sound and light show, but many cats also become nervous. If thunderstorms cause anxiety to your cat, here are nine tips to help ...
Read More »Psychogenic Alopecia in Cats
What is Psychogenic Alopecia? This is a condition where the cat engages in excessive grooming that becomes an obsessive behavior. This goes beyond the normal fastidious grooming that a cat would exhibit. Initially, psychogenic alopecia begins as a displacement behavior that the cat engages in to relieve stress. The over-grooming becomes something the cat can’t ...
Read More »How Your Cat may React to Your Children’s Halloween Costumes
You may love to watch your children jumping all around and acting in character when they dress up in their Halloween costumes but your cat may have a completely different reaction. Some cats may be frightened when seeing someone walk or run into the room wearing a costume. Depending on the costume, your child ...
Read More »Do Cats Deliberately Misbehave?
My office receives a large number of requests concerning cat behavior problems and it’s alarming to me whenever I hear people refer to their cats as spiteful, or they’re sure a beloved cat’s motivation behind a particular behavior is anger or revenge. Really? Do you believe your cat is capable of plotting a behavior as ...
Read More »Does Your Cat Have a Litter Aversion?
To a cat parent, one litter may be just as good as another. In fact, what humans may find attractive about a particular brand or type of litter may actually be highly disliked by the cat. There are also other factors that come into play when trying to evaluate whether your cat has a ...
Read More »The Importance of Cat Wellness Exams
Cats need routine wellness exams at least once a year. For older cats that routine exam should happen every six months, or as often as you and your veterinarian decide would be best. As cats age or if they have specific health concerns, your veterinarian will recommend a customized schedule for you. As much ...
Read More »Multicat Households: Keeping the Peace
The key to keeping peace in a multicat household is to make sure there are enough resources and space for everyone. That doesn’t mean you have to move out of your current home and into a mansion, but it does mean there might need to be some tweaking done to the current environment. If each ...
Read More »Wool Sucking Behavior in Cats
If you’ve never heard of this, I know it probably sounds like a very weird and unappealing thing for a cat to do, but it’s actually relatively common. What is Wool Sucking? The behavior consists of a cat actually sucking on items such as blankets, sweaters, shoelaces, and even bathmats and carpets. The most common ...
Read More »Is Your Cat Afraid of the Vacuum Cleaner?
The vacuum cleaner is something that is brought out of the closet on a regular basis in most homes. For some cats, this is no big deal but for many, fear of the vacuum cleaner can trigger total panic. Even if a cat has lived in the home with that dreaded vacuum cleaner year after ...
Read More »Hyperesthesia Syndrome in Cats
This is also referred to as rolling skin disease, and in fact, the skin does ripple and twitch. It’s a condition that typically affects younger cats. The cause of hyperesthesia syndrome is unknown but some experts describe it as a neurotransmitter malfunction in the brain during periods of anxiety. It’s also believed by some to ...
Read More »