Tag Archives: Veterinarian

Veterinarians and hairballs

This year, World Vet Day and Hairball Awareness Day (24th April) follow each other closely. Now, hairballs can lead at the veterinarian’s !

By licking us, we swallow our hairs ; they agglutinate in our digestive system but are not digested.

If we’re lucky, our hairs don’t go farther than our stomach, and we vomit them in a characteristic sausage shape. Provision of grass to be chewed helps to regurgitate the ingested hairs.

If we have less luck, the swallowed hairs pass in the bowel ; they can then cause a constipation, an intestinal obstruction requiring a surgical operation, or in the worst case an intestinal obstruction.

To avoid all these inconveniences, we must be regularly brushed to eliminate the dead hairs and avoid that we swallow it too much. The long-haired cat breeds must be brushed every day, and the old cats two-three times a week.

Having heard about this “magic” tool at least a million times, Claire finally bought us a FURminator. She took time to be convinced that it was not a gadget, but seeing the price of the object (40 CHF !), we can understand that she took time to get her opinion made.

She’s thrilled, and us too : we purr every time she uses it. It’s a purchase that is really worth of it : the ergonomic shape of the tool allows to have it well in hand, hairs are collected without any trouble, no need to press or to pull excessively, it’s very effective. A 10 minutes session a week is amply enough for us who have short hairs.

We shall not thus go to the Cabinet du Molage for that reason : moreover, we don’t like that the veterinarians make us injections and that they stick us a thermometer in the ***, that they inspect us ears and teeth, even if we know that it’s for our good. Claire nevertheless likes this office, because all the staff is very nice. The three veterinarians are competent and say clearly things : certain people don’t appreciate this frankness, but that suits our human very well. They have a big package of handkerchiefs for difficult times, and always have a small word kind to us. They watch our health, and Claire trusts them: finally, maybe although we like them… just a little !

PS: we were very sad and very angry to hear that a young veterinarian had made dirty and dishonored this beautiful profession by a useless, cruel, and stupid act of which she boasted on social networks. Shame on her. #JusticeforTiger on Twitter and on Facebook.

How to choose a healthy food for your cat

There are hundreds of food brands for us ; cat food is sold in the supermarket, in specialized stores, or at the veterinarian.
We find wet food, dry food (kibbles), or still semi-wet. Prices can be multiplied by nine between the cheapest and the most expensive product.

In Europe, Nestlé Purina (Félix, Friskies, Gourmet, Vital Balance in supermarket, and Purina in specialized store for example) and Masterfoods (Whiskas, Kitekat, Ronron, Sheba in supermarket, and Royal Canin in specialized store) realizes roughly 2/3 of the sales ; the rest is divided between the own brands of the distributors, Procter and Gamble (Iams), Colgate-Palmolive (Hills), and some rare independent small companies.

How can the humans find themselves there ?

By showing common sense : quality has a price. A wet food containing less than 8 % of meat and ingredients of low quality will be cheap, but won’t have the same nourishing properties as a more expensive food containing at least 25 % of meat developed with good quality ingredients.
By inquiring : veterinarian, specialized literature, specialized web sites. You can give us factory feedstuffs, or prepare us yourself our meals (BARF or cooked dishes); this last option requires however good knowledge in feline nutrition. A cat is a strict carnivore, and his food has to bring to him, in percentage of dry material : 30 to 40 % of proteins, 10 to 15 % of fats, less than 45 % of carbohydrates, as well as several vitamins and key nutriments as taurine and arginine. Wet food will have a bigger proportion of proteins than dry food.
By making the best choice for us : your human has to take into account his budget AND your health ; he must however know that by saving up on the quality of the food, he can maybe find himself with veterinarian’s more important expenses in a few years.

Claire chose to feed us mainly with top-quality wet food ; we just get some kibbles for night, but they’re also top-quality. We’ll explain you in another article why she chose this food brand for us.
In the meantime, here are three books that we recommend you to read about pet food ; we don’t know if there are translations in your human’s language.

In French :
In English :
In German :

Enjoy your meal !

How to catch a cat being wary to go to the veterinarian

No cat really appreciates to go to the vet. Nevertheless, if we are sick, or hurt, it is essential that our human can take us to him quickly. To let us go in the PTU, it’s easy : a treat at the bottom and hup ! Here we go !

Pixie 24 mai 2014

But all the cats are not also cooperative as us. A colleague of Claire, for example, has a very wild cat : she can pet him, but not carry him. She saw that he had an abscess on a cheek, but impossible to catch him.
There are nevertheless various tricks which the human can do to facilitate the task :

Leave the PTU with arrangement permanently (without the door) : we use them as hiding place or as bed. They are familiar objects, and it avoids that we hide immediately as soon as we perceive them.
If your cat can go out freely, close the door when he’s inside as soon as possible, even the day before. Claire missed some appointments early in the afternoon because our angel Loupi had not came back “as usual” at about 11 am in the morning…
Once inside, if your cat hides under the bed, start the vacuum cleaner in the room : we’re so much scared of this thing that we’re immediately going to leave the room ! Close doors one after the other to confine the cat in a single room (or in the less possible rooms).
Put the cat in the PTU ; be firm, and close immediately the door.
For the most contrary cats, you can try to capture them in an old pillowcase : roll the pillowcase as a sock. Put the head of the cat inside coming from above and be VERY fast : slide the pillowcase around the body and especially the back legs, and wrap the cat. Hold firmly the closed pillowcase and slide the wrapped cat in the PTU. Close immediately the door. Don’t worry, the cat has enough air to breathe, and he already probably went out of the pillowcase during the 2 seconds which was necessary to you to close the PTU.

You’re now a traitor in the eyes of your cat : good dose of cuddles and some treats should be able to arrange that once back home !