Cat Chit Chat

Munchkin kittens - This is an offspring of "Milton" a fine solid Cinnamon, longhair, male Munchkin dwarf cat. Milton is a TICA Champion. This cat is a chip off the old block. Photo published with the permission of Terri Harris. Photo copyright Terri Harris . You can see Milton one of this cat's parents and a lot more on the Munchkin on this page: Munchkin -- founding dwarf cat . You might like to read this page and click through some of the links before thinking of adopting Munchkin kittens . First things should be first. What is a Munchkin cat? A lot of us might know that the Munchkin is a dwarf cat or a small cat. There is, of course, a difference between a dwarf cat and a small cat. A dwarf cat is a normal cat with abnormally short legs due to dwarfism. A small cat, such as a miniature cat or a teacup cat is simply a very small cat. A cat breed that is not is neither a miniature cat nor a teacup cat but which is a the smallest cat breed is the Singapura cat . Wha

Cat ( Siamese ) and Ferret - they love each other - photo by _schadenfreude www.cats.com has been around for ages and never filled its potential. How can I say that? The domain name is impossible to buy now. It's been impossible to buy for a long time. Yet www.cats.com is Alexa ranked 400,000 . With a domain name like that and the time the site has been on the internet the Alexa ranking should be much better. Alexa is an Amazon.com company that measures traffic to a website. I'd expect the domain name to be worth lots more than the website. People search for the www.cats.com website. I guess that they do this to look at cat breeds and find information about cats. Well, if I say it myself and I will, Pictures of cats.org is much better. The photographs are by Helmi Flick and the best amateur photographs of cats in the world and the facts are very carefully researched. The facts are not regurgitated "facts" but real information carefully thought out. And if you d

I have called this page "Ocicat Cat" because the name of this cat breed does not necessarily indicate that we are talking about a cat breed. Below is a beautiful photograph of two young Ocicat cats by Helmi Flick . And great cat wrangling by Ken Flick . Ken and Helmi work internationally: see International Cat Photography - shooting in Japan. Ocicat cat - photo copyright Helmi Flick One interesting thing about this photograph is that both of these charming cats are licking their noses. This is displacement behavior. See cat licking displacement activity and cat licking behavior . In brief it is the cat equivalent of us scratching our heads when we are thinking and not sure what to do. Or we bite our nails for the same reason. It just takes away from the slight anxiety and/or confusion of the situation. There is no doubt that there is a similarity in appearance between the Ocicat cat and the Bengal cat and indeed other so called Exotic cats such as the Savannah .

Here is a fantastic picture by Helmi Flick of two Birman kittens that are just entering adulthood. Both these pictures are links to much larger versions. Birman cats/kittens . Photograph is copyright Helmi Flick . Helmi says that on the top is BumbleBe Degas Dancer, a 6.5 month old Seal Tortie Point Birman Female. On the bottom with Bumblebe Degas Dancer's paw on her head is BumbleBe Dore', a 6.5 month old Blue Tortie Point Birman Female. And here is another great Helmi Flick picture of three Birman kittens : Birman kitten - Photograph copyright Helmi Flick If you are looking to buy a Birman kitten you might like to read this post and go to more on this page: Birman cat (more great pictures and a full description plus history and some top breeders). The Birman is a pointed cat an unusual feature, white feet. Colorpointed or the Himalayan longhair cats have the genotype aac s c s ll . aa represents the non-agouti gene ( homozygous ), c s the pointing gene and l

I find this extremely sad - photo by Animals Abused & Abandoned One big reason why people abandon cats is because their cat is not going to the toilet in the cat litter. Yet cats will almost automatically use a cat litter if it is in decent condition. This is because it will be the best thing in the home in which to go to the toilet and cats look for appropriate spots to urinate. So, if our cat is not using the litter provided, either she is ill (e.g. cystitis which makes you want to go very urgently - this is a human disease as well - this is a Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease ) or the litter is unattractive and unsuitable. If the litter is clean (cleaned at least once a day), large enough (make it large) and well sited (quiet and perhaps covered) all should be well. It also depends on the home. If the home is not clean and our cat has already gone to the toilet outside the litter this encourages our cat to think that the litter is the home or the home is a suitable area.

photo by Mathieu Struck Cat people are different to dog people . Although there is bound to be a lot of middle ground where the person's personality makes him/her suitable to like both cat and dog. The reason why cat people are different to dog people is because cats are different to dogs. Both see their human owners are parents but the dogs live in packs with status playing an important role. The dog therefore sees a family as a pack and the head of the family as the top dog. Looking at it from the human's point of view the kind of person who wants to have a family is the kind of person who fits into society, accepts society, plays by the rules, has a career and is a group animal. This person will also prefer a dog as the dog thinks along the same lines (i.e. a dog needs a pack or group in which to thrive). Turning to cats. Although they bond and look to the person as the surrogate parent they are more independent. They don't come to heel and there is no hierarchy or

Are lethargic cats ill ? No, not necessarily. Although lethargy is often a common sign of illness, alone it is far from conclusive. The key is to be aware of our cats normal movements (including bowel movements!), activity patterns and of course eating habits. When we add lethargy to a change in usual behavior that continues for say 12 hours or so we reach a situation where a visit to the veterinarian could and should, perhaps, be considered. Typical additional symptoms and signs of illness might be lack of appetite, vomiting, poor breathing, diarrhea and gums looking pale. Once we have decided things don't feel right we need, I think, to monitor our cat closely and without delay (when we consider it time) to visit the vet. I've built two pages that might help: Cat Health Problems lists a pile of potential health problems from the serious diseases to illnesses that we might treat ourselves Cat Illness Symptoms is the other side of the coin and sets out symptoms of a ra

What is the York cat ? Why is it called the York cat? And are there any pictures of this recognized cat breed? Yes, lots of questions but I am surprised that as a cat breed recognized by the World Cat Federation the only form of description that I can find is the breed standard and Sarah Hartwell's. Anyway, I shouldn't whinge. This is an experimental cat breed so is yet to receive full recognition. The breed seems to be distinguished by the fact that it has been developed from domestic medium/long haired cats without a pedigree and the colors allowed are very restricted to chocolate and lilac solids or these colors with white (see cat coats solid and white for a general discussion on this). The York cat is a medium/large cat. The head is a little small in proportion to the body. I think the Bengal cat has the same appearance in relation to head size. This cat has large ears and eyes medium in size and oval in shape. The coat is medium in length, glossy and silky with the u

Animal body parts for sale in the Burmese town of Tachilek. The photographer says that the photograph was taken quickly before being told that no photographs were allowed. Tiger penis and Clouded Leopard skins were on sale. A dried tiger penis can be worth $6,000. Photo by 9.81 meters per second squared . Unsurprisingly Myanmar is in breach of CITES . Surprisingly Myanmar does have animal welfare law. The law is the The Animal Health and Development Law . It would be a relatively simple step to incorporate CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora into the local laws of Myanmar. It could be linked into the above law. Why hasn't this been done? And why is the international community not enforcing the terms of the convention against Myanmar? The country is wantonly and arrogantly ignoring open trading of CITES listed species including the wild cats listed in Appendix I, the most endangered species. See CITES in relation to cats

You shoot a cat dead in Michigan? What is going to happen? The person, a neighbor who allegedly shot a cat from 3 feet with a rifle may well find out. The County Sheriff's Department said it could lead to animal cruelty charges and careless use of a firearm. How can this be careless use if a firearm? 3 feet away and shoots a cat? The cat was called Ben and he was kept by Irene Sawyer and her daughter. The alleged shooter lived not far away and it seems that Irene tried to stop him. The place?: Ypsilanti Township: View Larger Map The person who saw it said the person had scooped the cat up into a garbage bag afterwards. No rhyme or reason for this. Well, a lot of people hate cats ( see i hate cats ). A lot of people love cats. The world is divided. Strange. The world is divided in many ways, however. In the state of Michigan, if the perpetrator is charged and convicted it would be a felony (not all states classify such a crime as a felony). He could face a sentence of a fine

The Iriomote wildcat is yet another endangered wild cat. How many endangered wild cats are there? (I'll find out). Most wildcats are endangered as far as I can see. This cat is a Japanese wild cat or to put it another way, the cat lives on a Japanese island. The full name is Iriomote yama-neko . Iriomote wildcat Above photo:   published under Wikimedia® creative commons license license = Attribution-ShareAlike License. Author is 岐部　博 (Hiroshi Kibe) ja:User::ｋａｔｕｕｙａ . This is a stuffed cat at the Japan National Science Museum, Tokyo, Japan. This wild cat's habitat is a relatively small island south of the Japanese mainland: View Larger Map So how endangered is this wildcat, the size of a domestic cat? According to the Red List (IUCN) this is the position: CR stands for Critically Endangered (CR) , facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Why? The island habitat would seem ideal. The habitat is subtropical rain forest. Iriomote is the largest o

A 16 year old girl drowns a cat in London by throwing the cat into the Thames from the gangway of a famous warship, HMS Belfast. This happened at 6 am, 9th Feb.2008. She had been drinking beforehand. This is where it happened (off Tooley Street): View Larger Map The cat was the ships cat called "Kilo". He was adopted from a famous rescue center for cats and dogs, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. This is totally senseless and pointless. The girl has been found guilty. Although the report doesn't say it she would have been prosecuted under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 . The offense is animal cruelty . The maximum sentence is 51 weeks and/or £20,000 fine but she is likely to get 6 months imprisonment it seems ( see penalties ) Update 21-11-0: This girl has been found guilty at Camberwell Youth Court of animal cruelty and given a 9 month supervision order. This is getting off relatively lightly. I said that the cat drowned. This is not strictly true as Kilo the cat was n

Japanese Bobtail cat - photo copyright Helmi Flick - see a large version The Japanese domestic cat is seen as the Japanese Bobtail cat , at least the purebred version. But do all Japanese cats have short tails? The answer must be a definitive no, particularly as the best stray cat photographer in the business, MAR, has let me publish some of his photographs on the Pictures-of-cats.org website; see stray cat picture - these are all Japanese cats and no bobtails (or at least very few). Apparently, you can see stray cats in the forest of Yanbaru and in sub-tropical Okinawa and also Tokyo's commercial Ginza district and an island called Teuri off northern Hokkaido. OK, so what about the Japanese domestic cat? Japanese people have kept domestic cats for centuries. People have speculated that the domestic cat came to Japan around AD 540. Imaizumi Tadaaki, a Japanese guy (I presume) writing for http://web-japan.org , says that the domestic cat was introduced into Japan at the same

Cat Lovers in India are a little scarce it seems but growing in numbers (I hope - am I wrong?). While I am building the Pictures of cats.org website and this website (a Blogger subdomain), it has become increasingly apparent that the cat fancy (cat breeders and cat lovers) is confined to certain countries and I would dearly love it to be much wider. India is a growing country and a world force economically and becoming increasingly westernized. Yet as far as I can see the vast majority of Indians see the cat as a bad luck omen and a link to witchcraft. Am I misinformed. A person left a comment to say that I was. It also seems that another reason why the cat is not that popular is that people in India seem to prefer companion animals that are utilitarian. The companion animal needs to perform a service of some sort and dogs being bigger and stronger can at least protect people (note though that cats are great for keeping the rodent population down so they do have a use). You can tel

Here is a great picture of a Japanese Bobtail cat by Helmi Flick. Japanese Bobtail cat - photograph copyright Helmi Flick The picture is both aesthetically very pleasing and interesting while also being very clear and of a type that is useful for informational purposes. All the photos and text on this page are protected by copyright ©. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA). The Japanese Bobtail is different to the Manx cat a better known breed. Some people call all cats with a short tail Manx cats. That is how well known they are but it is not true. Anyway sometimes the Manx has no tail. There are other short tailed cats. A long haired Manx is called the Cymric . A Russian tailless cat is called the Kurilian Bobtail . There are more; explore a list of really rare breeds on this page: Domestic cat breeds . The Japanese Bobtail is a type of short tailed cat that is common in the Far East. The tail is never absent just substantially shortened due to the

There is a long running story of disappearing cats from Meriden Avenue in Wollaston, West Midlands, UK. Here's a map: View Larger Map Cats have been disappearing from this part of the Midlands for some time and it is causing distress for cat and human alike. I have a theory. If it was a person who simply wanted to kill cats (and there are such dysfunctional people), he/she wouldn't need to hide the cats. Killing cats, although a crime, is not taken seriously by the police. So the criminal doesn't have to be that careful. The key is that the cats are disappearing and that the cats are domestic shorthair or longhair cats, meaning that they are not purebred cats. If they were purebred it could be argued that they were being stolen and sold as purebred cats in the UK are worth in the order of £500 each. No, they simply disappear. In March I made a post about the cat fur trade in Switzerland . Domestic cats were being stolen from the streets of France to feed this trade.

This is an incident of aggravated cruelty to a cat in New York state . New York state animal welfare laws rather unusually it seems to me (I could be wrong) include the term "aggravated" into their code. See the code here . The term adds an extra dimension to the crime, making it more serious. The term "aggravated" qualifies a number of crimes such as aggravated robbery or aggravated burglary (in the UK at least). In this case an actor, Joseph Petcka, has gone on trial and admitted to killing his girlfriends ginger cat. The trial failed to come to a conclusion, the jury voting 11-1 (the judge must have requested or the statute must demand a unanimous verdict, it seems). A retrail is possible. The prosecution claim he killed the cat while drunk and jealous. His defense is that he acted in self defense. That seems to be a bit thin. Isn't defense meant to be proportional? He weighs 250 lbs. Couldn't he simply avoid the cat or remove the cat if he was being b

Torturing a cat in Pennsylvania is a first degree misdemeanor. In some states it would be a felony, Alabama being one example ( see the law ). However, in Pennsylvania, on a second offense it becomes a felony of the 3rd degree. I understand that new law is being debated. At the date of this post the law as stated is correct. This piece of criminal code ( which can be seen here ) may well apply to a certain Erik Lach, aged 23, who has been accused of torturing several cats. The alleged criminality took place in or around Hunting Park, Pa. Blood was found in Mr Lach's home. Two of the cats were so badly injured they had to be put down. The third survived and is being fostered. Mr Lach has also been charged with being in possession of drugs. Are the two linked? Perhaps. It takes a sociopathic/psychopathic personality to want to torture any animal so if he is convicted he may have a mental health problem. We must remind ourselves that he is innocent 'til proven guilty. If he is

Dubai feral cat - photo by elvis_payne Feral cats spread disease? I have just read a report from a website called XPRESS about the rising population of feral cats in Dubai. The report claims that people risk catching disease from feral cats and that they are a health hazard to society. The report also claims that half the feral cats in Dubai carry parasites that can cause blindness or miscarriage in pregnant women. This is simply wrong and is a misrepresentation regarding feral cats. As regards miscarriage in pregnant women this is a reference to the parasite toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite called toxoplasma gondi. Provided sensible and simple precautions are taken a pregnant women living with a domestic cat would be highly unlikely to contract the disease from the cat. There is more risk in raw and poorly prepared meat. How one can catch the disease from a feral cat I don't know. I'd be surprised if there was one case of it worldwide; perhaps in a poo

Abandoning cats is a form of cruelty to cats if the cats suffer physically as a result. I'd add psychological damage as well but at present there is no way of measuring a cat's mental health. Two states in the USA (at least) recognize this, namely Arkansas and Arizona . In the UK abandonment is not specifically referred to (as is the case for the animal protection laws of Arkansas and Arizona) but clause 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 covers the position. Accordingly, the people in the UK (near Warrington in the north and reported by the Warrington Guardian) who abandoned four cats in a box outside the RSPCA, one of which had the address of the people who did the abandoning on a collar, could in theory be prosecuted for animal cruelty. Two more cats were caught making the total 6 abandoned cats. Clearly a defense in this instance is that they appear to have left the cats outside the offices of the RSPCA. But two cats seem to have escaped from the box. This is at the lea

Cat cruelty in California is probably no more frequent or rare than most other western countries. Here is an example. A senseless piece of cruelty, serving no purpose. Such acts of cruelty to animals would indicate that the perpetrator needs help as well as punishment. The location is San Jose, California. San Jose is at the southern end of the Silicon Valley area. And some cat loving (animal loving - no plain decent) residents of Silicon Valley are upset and have offered a reward of $700 to help find the perpetrator. The cat is now dead. His name was Mo. He was a kind of semi-stray cat or a community cat attached to a complex of apartments in San Jose. He was put down, euthanized due to the severity of his injuries. Someone put elastic bands around his paws, tail and neck. This caused the skin to die in those areas. It wan't spotted until it was too late. Cat cruelty in California is a felony punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine . Under the criminal code of California,

This is the first in a diary of big cat sightings . Every time I read about a big cat sighting I'll list it in brief in a posting plus a Google map. Over time this should present some sort of pattern in terms of location and type of cat sighted. This one concerns a person who heard a big cat growl near Balcombe (Paddockhurst Road). Other people claimed to have seen the big cat. The cat was claimed to be like a ginger tom cat but three times the size. What does that conjure up? A cat 3 times the size of a domestic cat cannot be a big cat but a medium sized wild cat at best. Servals are about 3 times the size of domestic cats and they are tamed to be domestic cats. They do not look like domestic cats though; far more slender and "rangy" looking. Fast runners and high jumpers with long limbs and large ears. Other medium sized wildcats are the Ocelot , Fishing cat and American Bobcat but I am not sure that these cat growl like big cats. They make noises more like domestic

See some gorgeous cat ear furnishings on a beautiful doll face traditional Persian cat photographed beautifully by a great cat photographer, Dani Rozeboom. These are the best I have seen that come out of the ear. Ear tufts are also ear furnishings that are on the ear flap. The best tufts are on Miss Kate, miss glamor puss, a fantastic Maine Coon CFA champion. See Miss Kate . Cat ear furnishings, in case the term is new to you, is a cat fancy term that refers to ear hair, the stuff we as humans trim off and on cats we usually rave about. See another fine traditional Persian cat . Click here to see a slide show of traditional Persian cats . The cat's name is Tuala . She is a Red silver shaded classic tabby. Classic tabby is blotched rather than spotted tabby - see cat coats tabby . She was born on May 26th 2008. Photo is copyright Daniëlle Rozeboom. Dani runs cattery Yeri Shaes in Almere, The Netherlands. The Netherlands is a nice country. The people speak good English. There i

Bobcat scratching - fleas? - almost certain - photo by ehoyer In my experience, on a day to day basis, cat flea treatment should be fairly straightforward. These are the factors: Keep the home clean and well hoovered. If a I feed a stray cat I check him for fleas and apply cat flea treatment (see below). Check for fleas daily with a flea comb. Act on the information. The sooner one spots fleas the less likely they are to present a big problem. Fleas like to inhabit areas around the chin, neck, back of head, the end of the spine (just before the beginning of the tail). If I find fleas I comb them out. If there are too many I use Frontline or a similar dropper treatment. The instructions should be followed carefully. I continue to comb after giving Frontline to check on progress. The fleas will gradually disappear. I comb some out as well. Important I think in support of cat flea treatment: Hoover around the areas where the cat sleeps or likes to sit and watch. This should b

Compensation for loss or injury to a cat is limited to economic loss in the USA. I am sure it is the same in the UK. Of course this refers to a claim for damages under a court action. Most compensation comes from insurance companies and a cat being a "chattel" would probably fall under household insurance. The class actions I am referring to is the pet food recall negligence claims in the United States of last year that concluded recently with a $24 million settlement approved by the judge, working out at about $1,500 per cat keeper. The compensation, deemed adequate covered loss of work, veterinarian bills and damage to the home etc. No reference to the pain and suffering of the cat owners caused by the cats injury or death was made in respect of compensation. It would be certainly off the scale to think that the cat herself could make a claim through her human keeper. Children can certainly make claims through a Guardian ad Litem in the UK. The underlying premise of al

Munchkin cats - Here's a fantastic photograph of " Galadrial " by Helmi Flick. He's a bit of a star. See him again but in large format and with notes explaining the breed standard (the guide as to how this breed should look): Munchkin cat . Photo copyright Helmi Flick - respect copyright A bit About the Munchkin Perhaps it is worth reminding ourselves that this cat breed is a normal-sized cat in every way except for the shortness of the long bones in the legs. The leg length may be as short as 5 inches from floor to shoulder blade. It is said by the breeders of this cat that the short legs do not interfere with the jumping ability of this cat except commonsense dictates that this breed will be less athletic than say a Bengal cat, for instance. They are very endearing companion cats, it must be said and very cute to look at. The first munchkin cats to be documented (I am sure the mutation has happened elsewhere and at other times) was in 1983 in Louisia

Hip dysplasia in cats is relatively uncommon but is a genetic disease that tends to raise it head more frequently than other diseases. It is not confined to purebred cats nor cats generally. It affects dogs and is common in many dog breeds particularly the larger dog breeds. It also affects humans at the rate on 1 in 1 thousand. The disease is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Hip dysplasia in cats and other animals is caused by the ball and socket joint where the leg joins the hip being misshapen and being ill fitting. Normally the top of the leg bone, the femur is a smooth ball shape covered by cartilage for a smooth action and a wide range of movement. The balled shape top of the femur normally fits nicely into the socket of the hip. If the fit is poor and the surfaces ill shaped there will be friction and a loose fit. The disease is often found alongside patellar luxation . The signs are walking abnormally, intermittent lamness and a lack of desi

Is it fair to criticize Cats Protection and the lost millions (or to be more accurate the potential lost millions as they haven't actually been lost yet)? Cat Protection may lose £11.2 million of donations because they put the money on deposit into an Icelandic bank that went bust. In their statement they say that the Icelandic bank concerned Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander, checked out on credit rantings checks. I don't think it really fair to criticize for choosing an Icelandic bank. What I would criticize the charity for is that it seems that all the eggs (more or less) were put into one basket. That created a risk. Also the Iceland banks were offering high interest rates. With high interest comes higher risk. If the charity wanted to invest in high interest accounts they should have spread the investment over at least 5 banks perhaps more. When personal, individual donations are concerned (some donations from relatively poor people no doubt) the investment of funds bef

British Shorthair cat - blue coat - photo copyright Helmi Flick Here is a fantastic British blue shorthair cat photographed by a fantastic cat photographer, Helmi Flick and the cat wrangled by Ken Flick. His name is Earl Grey , the name of a well known and refined English tea. The blue coat is a dilute form of black (see a description of the term genetic dilution and more: cat coat color dilution ). The actual color is a blue/gray. The color could be described more accurately as grey or gray. In the 19th century, when this cat breed started out in the cat fancy, the term "blue" sounded better. Perhaps it still does. The British blue shorthair cat has been popular throughout the long history of the breed. When the British Shorthair cat is slate blue/gray she looks like the Chartreux , a French cat that also has a long history. The Chartreux is one of the grey cat breeds . If you'd like to see more of Earl Grey and see more fantastic cats, plus a full description an

Cat shelter populations rise when the economy is bad. Going through the "credit crunch" results in more cats being left at cat rescue operations. They were already high as far as I am aware. This can only mean more cats being euthanized. The kittens are first in line to be saved. We play god and kill the ones who are less "attractive" visually. This is so shallow. We know it. But some people just don't get it. There should be no correlation between rescue center numbers and the economy. When we adopt a cat we do it for the life of the cat, don't we? There may be struggles and downsides etc. but we do it for the life of the cat and stick with it. If we cannot commit to that at the beginning of the journey, we don't start the journey. In this world there are millions of fine people who live good and useful lives who never get recognition for it. Yet people who are a lot less good become recognized and rewarded. It is these fundamental value problems that

I'm going to be a real kill joy and ask, "what is so interesting about the worlds fattest cat"? This is a cat weighing almost 41 pounds. He is ginger cat. He is actually quite mobile. He can run up the stairs for example. But he is grossly overweight. I presume that this is because he has been overfeed by the person with whom he lives. What is so interesting about that? I would have thought that there would have been some shame not an acceptance or a desire to show off a cat that has been overfeed. This cat must have health problems. It is like doing anything for 15 mins of fame. The guy who shot John Lennon wanted to "be somebody". Well he is but at what price and such a cheap way to be somebody. The same goes for overfeeding a cat. I guess the owner is vicariously getting the fame through his cat. The cat doesn't know what is going on, except he can't groom and will probably die a lot younger than he should. I think we need to get a handle on this an

Nice teeth and gums - they can chew through anything....photo by aylaujp Feline Gingivitis is gum disease. This happens when bacteria infects the gums where dental plaque, calculus and trapped food combine in the small gaps in between the tooth and gum. The plaque, calculus and trapped food are an ideal medium for the growth of bacteria. Feline Gingivitis is a periodontal disease. Feline Gingivitis - Terms gingiva - this means gums itis - this means inflammation The two together mean inflammation of the gums plaque - Dental plaque is biofilm (usually colorless) that builds up on the teeth. If not removed regularly, it can lead to dental cavities (caries) or periodontal problems (such as gingivitis). The microorganisms that form the biofilm are almost entirely bacteria (src: Wikipedia® published under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version - see Wikipedia® licensing below) . Plaque is soft and colorless. It is made of inorganic and organic materi