For cats, cat cafés are like an innocent human being banged up in prison and beaten up

Ben the Vet on TikTok has an interesting take on cat cafés. He thinks they are unsuitable for cats. He seems to disagree with the entire concept. I think he'd get rid of them if he had the power to do so. The point he is making is that in cat cafés, a rather large number of cats are confined to a rather small space and this creates pressure on them territorially.

At a fundamental level domestic cats have the character of the African wildcat which is solitary. Domestic cats have learned to be social creatures over the nine thousand years of domestication but their solitariness is ever present and beyond a certain point being confined with many other cats can put too much pressure on some of them.

They become stressed and a fight can break out as seen in the video. This is why I disagree with multi-cat homes. Normally people who want to own many cats and keep then locked in their home are pretty insensitive to their cats' needs.

RELATED: Are cat cafés ethical?

For me they are ego-centric. They want a lot of cats for personal reasons. How the cats feel is secondary. It should be the other way around.

I think Ben has exaggerated the problem a bit with his analogy but it's an interesting one and it got me thinking which is why, I think, he said it.

And he mentions cystitis being caused exclusively by stress. He's suggesting that cats in cat cafes are going to be predisposed to contracting cystitis. And possibly get a bite and cat bites can be serious because of the bacterial infection injected under the skin. They wound will need to be washed out and the puss removed and the cat put on a course of antibiotics.

Squabbling cats at a cat cafe. Screenshot.

Veterinarian nicely explains why their fees SEEM to be expensive when they are not

Vets provide private health care. Screenshot.

Ben the Vet on TikTok explains in his very precise and clear way why veterinary bills seem to be expensive. It is far more likely that the British people will think this because Brits are used to getting medical treatment for themselves which is 'free' at the point of delivery. The NHS is supported from tax receipts. So, it is not exactly free but it feels like it to many.

Veterinarians provide private health care and as you can see in the video their fees for the same operations on humans are much cheaper. 

Vets are cheap and not expensive if truth be told. I don't begrudge vet's fees. They could and perhaps should charge more as many independent vet clinics are selling up to the big corporate owners. This tells us that they find it too hard to operate their own businesses and be a veterinary surgeon at the same time.

RELATED: Why are 80% of new veterinarians in the UK women?

There is another point, I feel. Because of speciesism humans regard themselves as being of a higher 'value' than lesser animals. For that reason, they feel it is okay to spend heavily on their health when needed.

But they don't want to spend heavily on companion animals if they can help it. This leaves them with the feeling that vet's fees are expensive when they are not.

RELATED: Is it right that veterinarians are cheaper than doctors?

And there is one last point. When vets such as occurs in America carry out mutilating operations for no therapeutic benefit to the animal whatsoever, you have to hate them for it. I am referring to cat declawing.

Veterinarian exasperated with viral cat videos with one showing morbidly obese cat

Exasperated Ben the Vet. Screenshot.

Viral cat videos can be abusive of the cat. This is what exasperates Ben the Vet on TikTok. Of course, he is concerned with health but also with reality like me. There is a lot of shortsightedness across a swath of cat owners about concern for their cat's welfare as they dive into video making in an effort to make a mark within this highly competitive area of internet social media.

The video says it all. And I am very sympathetic to his views. I've been saying these things myself for 15 years. The problem is that people want to make interesting videos. I understand that and am also sympathetic to their desires. Cats are interesting to a lot of people. Unfortunately, it can lead to cat abuse in various forms sometimes very mild and sometimes more severe. 

RELATED: 34% of cats featured in ‘funny cat videos’ are upset and stressed.

It has been shown that sometimes cats become stressed during these viral videos. So, the videos are, without being tiresome, not uncommonly an abuse and exploitation of the domestic cat to entertain people which is what PETA hates and me as well. 

I like Ben because he voices my thoughts perhaps better than I can. Veterinarians anyway have a status which they can use to help educate society. People tend to listen to them. And he points out that this cat is morbidly obese to the point where it will seriously jeopardise the cat's health. The owner appears to have ignored this point and tried to make a funny viral video on the back of it. 

As a vet he doesn't like it. He is exasperated. As a non-vet I don't like it either. The first duty of a cat caregiver is to keep them safe and within that umbrella it means keeping them healthy. 

After that it is our duty to entertain them and keep them happy and not for them to entertain us although inevitably, they do if they are well cared for.

Alternative cat show commentary of a Persian cat by a veterinarian

Alternative cat show commentary of a Persian cat by a veterinarian. Screenshot.

This video appeals to me because veterinarians have the status in society to have their voice heard and listened to. And there is a need to educate the public about the irresponsible breeding of Persian cats which has been going on for donkey's years with the acceptance of the cat associations. People should not be creating animals that are inherently unhealthy. Simple. Full stop. And yet it happens all the time because appearance trumps health in the cat fancy. It is worse for dog breeds. There are some horrendous stories. 

For instance, the Boxer has 74 inherited health problems thanks to unregulated selective breeding over a very long time which has reduced this breed to a living catalogue of major health issues.

Here is Ben's video on Persians.

I suppose I should not harp on about the Persian too much but it is the paradigm example of cat breeding gone wrong. Someone in the cat fancy decided in the 1950s that flattening the face of this once beautiful cat (c.f. the doll-face Persian) would make it more attractive. How did they figure that one out?

Clearly the peke-faced, punch-face in India, Persian is less attractive than the original Persian. The point is that it is more interesting looking. It is more extreme in appearance and people like something different whatever the 'product' is.

But in flattening the face they distorted the internal anatomy in the head which leads to health issues and breathing problems.

35% of Persians also suffer from PKD; polycystic kidney disease. This describes cysts on the kidneys. Not good, right? People should protest and stop buying the flat-faced Persian until the cat associations make it mandatory to breed healthy Persians by disqualifying all flat-faced ones from cat show competitions.

TikTok vet Ben says 'Dear God, never get a Munchkin cat'. He explains why.

TikTok vet Ben says 'Dear God, never get a Munchkin cat'. He explains why. Screenshot.

Here is Ben the Vet on TikTok explaining why people who love cats should shun the Munchkin, the founding dwarf cat. 

I wrote about the diseases that these cats tend to inherit many years ago. The health problems are linked to the dwarfism which makes them cute. This is due to a genetic mutation. To the problems that he mentions I can throw my knowledge into the ring and say that they can inherit: Lordosis and Pectus excavatum. You can read about them by clicking on this link.

If we are honest there is a moral dimension too. It is unacceptable really to breed dwarf cats. It is what the Germans would call torture breeding. Funnily humans see dwarfism as not cute in humans but cute in cats. It sheds light on the human-to-cat relationship.

@ben.the.vet #stitch with @Margie the growing popularity of Munchkin cats is a great animal welfare concern #catsoftiktok #veterinary #animallover #learnontiktok ♬ Puff - Hany Beats

Please note that the video above does not have a super-long lifespan as its presence here depends on its presence on TikTok. If it is deleted on TikTok it disappears here as you can expect and I have no control over it.

There are no studies on these diseases in dwarf cats regrettably. They are very cute cats and are still quite popular despite the potential health issues. 

This is because humans tend to place appearance above all other aspects in many walks of life. For example, during Covid-19, in the UK, people adopted French Bulldogs in large numbers in the knowledge (or they should have had the knowledge) that they suffer from health issues. 

RELATED: 21 genetic diseases inherited by the French bulldog. Are they always in pain?

And that they were often imported from European puppy mills. They just loved the appearance. There is a bit of a backlash now as they understand that pet health issues are in fact more important than appearance at the end of the day.

Why do up to 10x more cats die under or after a general anesthetic than humans?

Feline anaesthetic deaths in veterinary practice are at approximately 0.11% (1 in 895 anaesthetics) of healthy cats. A study reports that this is more than twice as frequent as has been recently reported in dogs. And for humans it is 1-4 deaths per 10,000 anaesthesias.

Let's just recap that. One death per 10,000 is 0.01% which is about 10 times less than for cats. 4 deaths per 10,000 is going to be half the rate of cats or even better.

There is no way to avoid the conclusion that between double to 10 times the number of cats die under general anaesthetic compared to humans. We need to know why, don't we?

So far, I have not found an answer. Can somebody out there who reads this article tell me the reason why? Is it because veterinarians don't have the same standard of equipment that hospital doctors have?

His female cat went in for a standard spaying operation and came out severely injured. It makes me sick and mad to be honest.

Is it because veterinarians have to be doctors and anaesthesiologists at the same time? When you go to a hospital you have a surgeon and an anaesthesiologist in the operating room. Anaesthesiologist are highly trained specialists. There is lots of advanced equipment. Great care is taken. The standard is exceptionally high, normally.

My gut feeling is that the standard of care provided by veterinarians to cats when they are given a general anaesthetic is lower than for humans in hospitals. And it is this difference rather than a difference of cat and human anatomy which causes the up to 10 times greater fatality of cats when under a general anaesthetic.

And if I am correct, it is not good enough. But then perhaps this is a question of what the general public think they can afford when they take their cat or dog to a veterinarian. If a vet has to buy more advanced equipment they are going to charge more. There is already a problem with cat owners not taking their cat the veterinarians often enough. 

Veterinary cat care is well below that of dog veterinary care. Cat owners think that their cat is independent and with that thought in mind they tend to be switched off as to their cat companion's health problems.

This morning I wrote about a man who took his young to a veterinarian for a spaying operation. The cat was put under a general anaesthetic. The effect was catastrophic on this sweet female cat.

The video above comes from TikTok and it is tragic. It is hard to watch and it is extremely sad. It is not the first time that a female cat going in for a spaying operation has been killed by the anaesthetic. Years ago, a woman wrote in about her British Shorthair kitten who died under the same circumstances. She was bemused and confused. She didn't know why her kitten that died. Clearly the veterinarian had not told her. Perhaps he didn't know himself.

How urgent is your cat's health problem? Here is a list.

A common problem that some cat caregivers have is getting their cat to the vet promptly enough when a health problem demands prompt action. Delay obviously makes things worse. The usual reason for the delay is an understandable concern about the open-ended nature of a veterinarian's fee. How much is it going to cost? If the health problem is unknown or unclear the cost will be unclear as well until tests have been concluded etc. 

Cat at vet's. Image is a screenshot.

Some procedures have fixed costs but a lot of health issues do not. The main reason for delaying is to see if the problems resolve itself to avoid vet's fees. And, of course, there is the hassle and stress of taking a cat to the vet. Both cat and person are probably stressed equally.

This page might help in deciding how soon you should take your cat to a vet. The information comes from: A-Z OF CAT DISEASES & HEALTH PROBLEMS by Bradley Viner BVet Med MRCVS Published by Howell Book House Macmillan - USA. ISBN 0-87605-043-7.

Against each symptom/illness is a number 1-3:

1.  = See vet immediately
2.  = Book next available appointment with vet
3.  = Make arrangements to see vet in due course

This list is alphabetical:

• Anal irritation - 3 (cat scooting or licking a lot).
• Bad breath - 3 (see Bad Breath in Cats)
• Behavioral abnormalities - 3
• Bleeding - 1
• Breathing that is laboured - 1 (My Cat Has Lost Appetite and Weight with Labored Breathing)
• Choking - 1 (hacking noise story)
• Collapse - 1
• Constipation/straining - 2 (Home Treatment)
• Convulsions - if repeated in quick succession or if it lasts for about 5 mins - 1
• Coughing - 2 (Cat Cough)
• Diarrhea - 3. If blood stained of severe - 2 (Treating Cat Diarrhea)
• Ear problems - 2
• Eye problems - 2. If damage to eye - 1 (Feline Eye Disease)
• Feeding problems - 2
• Depraved appetite (eating strange things) - 3
• Hunger (ravenous) - 3
• Fever - 2
• Fits - 1 (seizure)
• Hair loss - 3 (see more)
• Injuries - 1 (fan blade injury)
• Lameness - 2
• Nails (ingrown) - 2 (trim claws)
• Nasal discharge - 2. If bleeding - 1
• Obesity - 3 (see more)
• Pain - 1 (signs of cats in pain)
• Paralysis - 1 (more)
• Poisoning - 1 (more)
• Scratching - 2 (can be caused by stress)
• Skin Problems - 3 (more)
• Sore mouth - 2 (mouth disease signs)
• Sneezing - 2 (more)
• Staggering - 1
• Straining - (if can't pass urine -  most common illnesses)
• Swellings - 2
• Swollen abdomen - 2 (personal story)
• Thirst (excessive) - 2 (more)
• Vaginal discharge - 2
• Voice (loss) - 3 (more)
• Vomiting - 2 (if severe or persistent - more).
• Weakness - 2
• Weight loss - 3 (more)
• Worms - 3 (story)
• Wounds - 2. If severe - 1
• Yellow gums, ears - 2 (picture and more)

Trigger warning! Read what SUNNYSIDE VETERINARY CLINIC says about cat declawing

The phrase "trigger warning" is very current. It actually applies to the Declaration of Independence. This is one of America's most famous documents and the National Archives has erected a trigger warning next to this founding 18th-century document of the United States according to the historian Andrew Roberts. He said that a framed explanatory text next to the document at the archives in London, UK now warns readers that the statements within the declaration are "outdated, biased and offensive".

And this is what we can expect from things said and done in the past. They become outdated, outmoded and objectionable. Essentially people become more civilised. Humankind is on a long journey towards being civilised. We are perhaps in the middle of that journey but nowhere near the end of it.

Declawing was invented in the 1950s in the US. It is now outdated and highly objectionable. There should be a trigger warning outside all American vets who perform the operation.

Within about two minutes I found an American veterinarian's website where they proudly declaw. It is the website for Sunnyside Veterinary Clinic in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA. And they state the following:

"In America, most (but not all) veterinarians agree that when done properly, declawing can be a benefit to both the cat and the people involved.  Without a doubt is is a painful procedure, and absolutely must be done in conjunction with excellent pain control."

So, most vets in America believe that declawing benefits the cat. This is despite the fact that two thirds of declawing operations leave bone fragments in their paws. It is despite the fact that there is an epidemic of botched declawing operations because they are carried out too casually and quickly.

Dr Bruce Fogle, the UK's best-known vet says that declawing is barbaric. Agreed.

It is despite the fact that 99.9% of declawing operations are carried out at the convenience of the cat's owner and not for the cat's benefit. Yes, the reason why cats are declawed is to stop them scratching furniture.

How, on earth, can that be of benefit to the cat? This veterinarian is lying through his teeth. This veterinarian has no right to be a veterinarian. This veterinarian is in complete and abject breach of his oath which he swore when he became a vet. He might as well tear that up and stick it in the nearest bin. It is completely pointless.

In their oath vets swear that they will only do things for the benefit of their patients. This is obviously completely incorrect in the vast majority of veterinary clinics in America if you believe what this veterinarian states namely that most veterinarians agree that declawing can be a benefit to both cat and people.

Yes, it can be benefit to people who are highly sensitive to a domestic cat's needs. It can benefit people who are highly insensitive to the need to improve their cat's life and not cause them unnecessary pain, sometimes lifelong pain because of the declawing operation.

It benefits people who fail to understand how they can avoid being scratched and how they can avoid their furniture being scratched by alternative means. They dive straight in and declaw young kit a kitten instead.

I messaged this veterinarian to tell him what I think about him. Just for the record. And I sent him a link to a page I wrote a little while ago about the high number of botched declawing operations leaving fragments of bone in cats' claws. Perhaps he needs educating. I think it does.

The world's best-known veterinarian and author believes that declawing is barbaric

This is a short note but one that must be made. I would say that the world's best-known veterinarian/author on cat health, welfare, anatomy and anything else to do with domestic cats (and dogs and other animals), is Dr. Bruce Fogle MBE, DVM, MRCVS. Nobody comes close to him as a veterinarian/author. The only veterinarians/authors that come to mind are those that wrote Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook but they wrote one book and there are four of them. Fogle has written many books on cats and dogs and other topics.

Dr Bruce Fogle. Photo in public domain. Here he is photographed in his clinic in London.

In one of his recommended books, Complete Cat Care, he has a small section on declawing. Dr. Bruce Fogle lives and works in the UK to the best of my knowledge. He is British but born in Canada (dual passports I guess). He states that "declawing cats is a cultural issue". That is certainly correct because the operation is confined to a very small part of the world i.e. North America. And in North America it is more or less, nowadays, exclusively confined to America as Canada is doing away with this barbaric operation through a gradually extending ban across the provinces.

Dr. Fogle states that when he qualified as a veterinarian he declawed cats. I think I will quote verbatim:

"Personally, I performed this operation in the first years after I graduated, but I stopped once I thought about what I was doing. I haven't declawed a cat now for over 30 years. I think it's a barbaric procedure."

I think he is being very honest when he says that. He was trained in Canada, a declawing nation. He came to Britain in 1970 to work at Regent's Park Zoo.

I remember asking my veterinarian about 15 years ago in London what he thought about American veterinarians declawing cats and he wouldn't answer the question. He knew that I had a website and he simply wanted to keep out of trouble. He kept quiet. I wanted him to speak up like Dr. Bruce Fogle to help put some pressure on American veterinarians to stop the procedure but he failed me. He was a huge disappointment to me.

RELATED: Another vet tech reduced to tears by botchy cat declawing operation

Dr. Fogle statement is interesting because he changed his mind after performing the operation for a while. He had been presumably indoctrinated to a certain extent by his training to believe it was all right but after he had carried out the procedure a number of times he saw how barbaric it was. He is speaking on the back of first-hand experience of what domestic cats go through when they've been declawed.

Vet techs have come forward with the same thoughts: barbaric.

RELATED: Vet tech spills the beans on those evil declawing veterinarians

I hope people take note of that. One last point: he also states that:

"In other countries this type of surgery is considered a mutilation, and performing it is enough to have a vet's licence to practice revoked."

Yes, if a veterinarian performed the operation in the UK, I would argue that they would lose their licence to practice veterinary medicine and they would expose themselves to being charged, tried and convicted of animal cruelty and abuse under the relevant criminal animal abuse laws of the UK.

Leroy, a happy cat who had fragments of his spine in his abdomen and a fused spinal cord

Leroy is at Happy Tailz Cat Rescue Inc. (Tampa Bay area, Florida) . He is being cared for brilliantly. He was badly injured; I am not sure how. His spine was damaged. He was operated on but the infection wouldn't go away so they operated again. They found 3 fragments of his spinal column in his abdomen. They must have split off when he was injured. And nature had fused his spine. The rescue said:

"Dr Sabshin removed the pieces and took an X-Ray which revealed Leroy has a partial fusion of his spinal cord, more than likely from injury related to the formation of his original wound. This cat is a walking miracle. With his spine like this we should see issues walking, even paralysis, but he has no issues!"

Leroy. Photo: the cat rescue.

Nature healed this cat's spine which became partially fused. Image: the rescue.

Fragments of bone from Leroy's spine found in his abdomen. Photo: the rescue.

A handsome, happy and resilient boy cat who is being loved and cared for. And he is a humble black moggy. That's the best thing about it. America's rescue organisations do some impressive work. And lots of them are volunteers doing it for love. They are the best of us.

P.S. I wonder if Leroy is genuinely not feeling pain. Cats purr when in pain and distressed. Although the photo of him shows a relaxed cat.

Your male cat looks like he is pregnant. Why?

This is a cross-post from one that I just wrote. I like to refer you to the original post which you can access by clicking on this link. The default position for a cat owner when faced with their male cat companion having a distended abdomen is to call their local veterinarian for a professional diagnosis.

Cat showing abdominal distension due to FIP

The reason is because there are a wide range of conditions which can cause this, the most common of which is probably feline infectious peritonitis, which is a very serious and fatal illness. There are other conditions, even including overeating or constipation or a blockage. It might be cancer or it might be a septic ascites. Ascites is a buildup of fluid on the abdomen. It occurs over a period of time and the most common causes feline infectious peritonitis.

CLICK THIS LINK FOR SOME PAGES ON FELINE INFECTIOUS PERITONITIS

A pretty comprehensive list is as follows:

1. Overeating;
2. Eating fermented foods;
3. Constipation;
4. Worm infestation, in kittens particularly;
5. Cushing’s disease;
6. Bowel obstruction;
7. Bowel obstruction;
8. Bladder outlet obstruction;
9. Abscessed uterus;
10. Acute gastric dilatation;
11. Heart failure and
12. Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP).

It is difficult for a non-qualified, in the medical profession, cat owner to talk about medical issues. All I can do is present some basic facts which might help to give some guidance as to what might be done. My reading of cats suffering from a bloated or distended abdomen is that it is possibly serious or even probably serious after you discount relatively straightforward issues such as constipation, overeating and eating fermented foods. Although constipation can be quite serious too (click for home treatment for constipation). The most common reason is the most serious: FIP, which is why I say you have to see a vet without delay.

Queensland tabby cat eats 61 hair ties!

A Queensland ginger tabby-and-white cheeky cat whose name is Riker was taken into surgery after they discovered a large lump in his stomach. He had eaten, over a period of time, 61 hair ties which had balled together to create a 7 cm lump. Riker had been taken to the West Toowoomba Vet Surgery in house down, Queensland for a checkup and Michael Burke, the veterinarian, felt a hard lump in his abdomen.

Tabby cat eats 61 hair ties and is not sick. He ate them over time though. Credit: see image.

He rushed Riker into surgery fearing it could be a serious illness but discovered this rather odd ball of hair ties. It is a particularly remarkable case of what cat lovers call Pica Syndrome. This is the eating of non-nutritious objects. Riker has a history of it. A couple of years ago he ate a corncob and had to have that surgically removed as well.

It seems that veterinarians have to remove foreign objects from cats and dogs fairly frequently. Dr. Burke has removed large bones, nectar seeds, underwear and the occasional sock from the stomachs of both cats and dogs.

It makes sense to keep these objects out of reach if your cat is predisposed to eating them! And annual checkups can be useful as in this instance because they were able to spot this huge foreign object. Riker was never sick. He never vomited which is quite remarkable considering the size of the foreign object. He recovered very well.

You probably know about Pica Syndrome. As mentioned, it's the obsessive compulsion to consume non-edible "foods". It is not that uncommon. Remarkably, veterinarians are not sure as yet why cats like to eat non-foods. There may be several causes such as early weaning, dietary deficiencies, inherited predispositions due to their genetics, boredom, stress or as one symptom of a compulsive disorder. It is normally seen first at about three months of age and some cats grow out of it by around two years of age.

How do you treat Pica Syndrome? I think that it is difficult to deal with but clearly keeping an eye on your cat and removing objects that he or she might eat would be a good starting point. Toxic plants can also be removed from the home. You can play with your cat a lot more which I'm sure would help. Stress is often caused by a lack of stimulation so adding fresh stimulation to your cat's life would help which includes enriching the environment. For example, you might train your cat to walk on a lead and take him into the backyard if he is a full-time indoor cat or even further afield. That would be safe stimulation.

Another thing that you might do is to give your cat something to chew on which she can't swallow! That may help. And lastly you might make the sort of objects which she chews on unappealing although not sure how you do that! I'm sorry to be a bit flippant but this is quite a difficult problem to deal with. If, for example, a cat is doing it because of early weaning this kind of behaviour is quite deeply ingrained as all behavioural traits adopted at an early age i.e. in the first weeks of life, are.

Do veterinarians have to report animal abuse in the USA and UK?

Until April 24, 2020, the state of Kentucky was the odd man out in terms of veterinarians having a duty to report animal abuse to the authorities. On that date Kentucky governor Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 21 into law which empowers veterinarians to report suspected animal cruelty.

Tabby cat at vet. Pic: Pixabay.

And so, in the US, veterinarians in all 50 states have a mandatory duty to report animal abuse if they have reasonable cause to know or suspect that the animal has been subjected to cruelty or animal fighting and they shall report the matter to local law enforcement or bureau of animal protection.

In the UK, there is currently no mandatory reporting by veterinarians of animal abuse. It is obviously a difficult subject and there are privacy issues and I guess difficulties in making an accurate decision. There is an article on the BMJ website which states that UK veterinarians need special training to report cases of suspected animal abuse and neglect as per research published online in Vet Record. The purpose would be to boost confidence and skills in this difficult task.

There is a fear that the veterinarian will be breaching client confidentiality unjustifiably resulting in a loss of earnings. You could foresee the potential damage being incurred by the veterinarian's practice if they get it wrong. It could also leave the vet exposed to a claim in defamation.

A study found that in the UK around one third of veterinarians said that they had seen a case of suspected animal abuse in the past year but only 46% of these veterinarians had reported it to the authorities.

There is a known link between animal abuse leading to human abuse and violence against people. Therefore, it is clearly important to report animal abuse to the authorities. The recommendation to train veterinarians on this topic appears to have been mooted in late 2019.

I need some help on this because I do not see any search results indicating that the recommendation has been carried through to fruition. What I am thinking about it this: if veterinarians are trained on spotting animal abuse, they could adopt the US mandatory requirements if they have reasonable cause.

I don't have info on the rules on this topic in other countries. I'd expect there to be the same sort of ambivalence and difficulties. It is a very tricky topic. In the world of humans, there are many incorrect diagnoses of child abuse leading to parents losing their children for months and longer and being ostracised highlighting the difficulties.

Vet pulls bug from kitten's nose with tweezers

There has to be a warning about this video which you can also see on Twitter. It's a short video of a warble (the lava of a botfly) being extracted from the nose of a young kitten. It looks gruesome and it is pretty gruesome. You don't want to watch it if you've not got a strong stomach. 

Botfly larva being removed from a young kitten's nose. Screenshot.

It is a curiosity because it's quite rare but in the US and Canada (also in Mexico and the neo-tropical regions) there is a species of fly, Cuterebra, which lays eggs near or in the opening of rodent and rabbit burrows. These eggs develop into larvae and the larvae can burrow into the skin of cats, kittens and dogs. They might enter the cat through the nose, mouth or a skin wound.

🚨 WARNING: Video may be too graphic for some- viewer discretion is advised. 🚨

More info: https://t.co/Ns042YOPcI pic.twitter.com/mNDGLBogQs

— Nebraska Humane Society (@NEHumaneSociety) July 20, 2016

The lava develops in the skin as part of their life-cycle. It's at this stage that a lava has been pulled out of this kitten's nose in the most gruesome video on this page. If the lava is left to develop inside the cat the botfly larvae migrate to the tissues beneath the skin where they encyst to continue their development.

Some species of botfly larva migrate to different parts of the body. Once they have developed inside the cyst, which may take from 19 to 38 days inside small rodents and from 55 to 60 days in Jackrabbits, they leave the host and the lava develops into a pupa in soil or plant litter on the forest floor according to VCA hospitals. The cyst left behind can cause an infection and be more of a health problem than the parastic larva.

If a botfly is developing inside a kitten's nose as we see in the video then it is a misfortune that the kitten has become a host for a fly. Botfly larvae are called warbles. They look, as mentioned, horrible and the thought of them is horrible but they are a fact of life.

Cat owners should call a veterinarian under these circumstances

Richard H. Gebhardt, former president of the Cat Fanciers' Association, tells us that cat breeders and cat owners should call their veterinarian under the following circumstances. He refers to illness symptoms and whether you should call a veterinarian immediately or the next day i.e. he is grading the importance of dealing with the matter.

My cat inspecting the fence of his enclosure. He eventually escaped!
Picture: Michael. Only 1 in 1000 escape thse enclosures I was told.

I will list them as he writes them if I may as I don't think that there will be any copyright issues in doing this. It ensures the information is accurate. His book was published in 1991, almost 30 years ago.

• Any deep wound or wound still bleeding after pressure has been applied: see a vet at once.
• Seems drowsy after ingesting a foreign substance: see a vet at once
• Stopped breathing after chewing on a poisonous plant: see a vet at once
• Temperature elevated beyond 105: at once
• Temperature between 103 and 105, and other signs of illness present: next day
• Decreased appetite coupled with coughing, vomiting, diarrhoea: next day
• Sudden weakness in hindquarters: at once
• General lameness in any leg lasting more than three days: next day
• Red, ulcerated sore on the lips or other part of the body: at once
• Abscess that is warm and painful to the touch: at once
• Any general swelling that is warm and painful to the touch: next day
• Runny nose accompanied by elevated temperature, pale gums, weakness: at once
• Runny nose accompanied by lethargy, puss in the eye, or rapid breathing: next day
• Coughing accompanied by elevated temperature, difficult breathing, depressed energy level: next day
• Foul breath accompanied by increased water intake, increased urination, excessive appetite, lethargy: next day (this is kidney disease by the way)
• Evidence of trauma accompanied by shortness of breath, elevated temperature, pale gums, lethargy, at once
• Vomiting accompanied by lethargy, frequent attempts to urinate, elevated temperature, blood in stools: at once
• Diarrhoea accompanied by bloody faeces, elevated temperature, vomiting: at once
• Diarrhoea accompanied by dehydration: next day
• Constipation accompanied by straining and failure to defecate: at once
• Abnormally thin stools accompanied by elevated temperature: next day

I hope that this helps somebody at some time. The list presents the symptoms only but that keeps it nice and straightforward and simple.

Eleven percent of UK's domestic cats have never been to a veterinarian

An online survey by the pet food manufacturer Royal Canin found that out of 2,000 participants, 11% of them had never taken their cat to a veterinarian and 43% had not seen a veterinarian within the last year. This implies that 11% of cats are neither spayed nor neutered and are therefore intact and can breed. A source of unwanted cats.

Cool vet deals with angry caracal. Screenshot.

The main reason given is that their cat looked healthy and therefore did not need to go to a veterinarian. The counterargument is that cats hide pain and discomfort very well and therefore the criteria that your cat looks well is not a good one. Cats should be taken to a vet for a checkup to catch diseases at an early stage. Cats might hide their illness so well that it is only picked up at a late stage when treatment is less effective.

A second barrier is the cost of veterinary treatment. Surprisingly, out of the 2,000 participants about 50% had pet insurance but even then the cost of veterinary treatment prevented them taking their cat to a vet. Perhaps this means that their insurance did not cover the reason why their cat needed to see a veterinarian.

Another barrier is the stress of taking an animal companion to veterinarian. It is simply an uncomfortable activity to be avoided. Thirteen percent felt this way. If they were unable to take their cat to a veterinarian, 40% said that they would arrange for a home visit while 29% said that they would search for information online as an alternative and 26% would ask friends and family for advice.

Despite what is described as an obesity epidemic amongst the domestic cat population, only 11% of cat owners in the UK thought that there cat was overweight. It is felt that almost 40% of cats in the UK are overweight. Overweight cats are at an increased risk of developing serious diseases and shortened lifespan. Dogs are taken to vets more often than cats (my comment).

72% of veterinary patients are dogs and 28% are cats - Discuss

Did you realize that American people take their cat to the vet far less often than people take their dog to the vet despite the fact that there are more companion cats than dogs in the United States? So says the results of a 2012 survey of over 8m patients of over 2 thousand veterinarians across the United States.

The survey, conducted by the American Animal Hospital Association, indicates that if we look at the percentage of patients from the companion dog and cat sector, 72% of veterinary patients are dogs and 28% are cats.

What do you think about that? Why is there this huge disparity? Are dogs less healthy than cats? Or are people more aware of a dog's ill health than with the domestic cat who hides it so well?

Image (modified) in public domain

I'll try and speculate. There are far more purebred dogs than purebred cat breeds. There are far more companion dogs that are purebred. Purebred cats are relatively rare. This is probably because dogs have been domesticated for much longer than cats. Purebred animals are deliberately bred. They are bred primarily for appearance. Inbreeding firms up - fixes - a desired appearance. But the trade off can be less healthy animals due to inherited diseases carried by what should have been dormant recessive genes, which are brought to the fore. I feel pretty sure that this is one reason why there are almost three times the number of dogs as patients as there are cats.

But I doubt that that is the only reason. I sense that a major reason is that the domestic cat is self contained. They amuse themselves and sleep and generally are there but not imposing themselves on their human caretaker to the same extent as a dog. This allows people to become less intimate as to the cat's health and behavior, which in turn means that there are cats that should be at the vet but who are not.

In the same vein, cats hide illness well. Perhaps people take their cat to the vet late in the day at which point less follow up visits take place. An early visit to the vet will probably lead to a request by the vet for a follow up visit. That would add to the statistics.

Or perhaps the reason is much more mundane and simple. People just don't care as much for their cat as people do for their dog. This may be a symptom of the nature of the relationship. Dogs are pack animals and the man (usually) is the leader. There is a close leader/follower bond. This may be a factor.

Alternatively another factor might be that cats are usually preferred by women. A single woman might keep a cat. It is still a man's world - let's be honest, although I don't condone that. In a man's world women will have less earning potential. Their wages are consistently lower. Budgets are tighter. This may lead to fewer visits to the veterinarian. Women, too, may be more able to treat and care for a sick cat than a man is able to treat a sick dog.

From the vet's point of view. He or she wants more cat patients. They see that as an untapped market. Maybe if they stopped declawing cats it would present a more friendly face to the public? Perhaps the vet has blotted his copybook with regards to the cat caretaker. The vet could be seen as far more friendly and empathetic towards cats if he or she stopped mutilating them for profit. There are specialist cat friendly veterinary clinics.

What do you think? Ruth below believes the obstacle of getting cats to vets is a factor......

I think a main reason cats aren't taken to the vet is that most cats really hate to leave home. Pull out the carrier and the cat vanishes-- and then just try to put him into it. It's stressful for both cat and caretaker.

My sister's cat Kobe hasn't been to the vet since the time he had a UTI several years ago. He's an elderly cat now and though we talk about taking him in for a check up we also know that the experience traumatizes him. He seems healthy enough, so why put him through that? Perhaps others with a cat like him feel the same way.

When I was a child we seldom took our cats to the vet. They were all barn cats, so maybe there was that attitude of "it's just a cat." But barn cats are pretty hardy, so perhaps there weren't health problems requiring a vet's care. The idea of a cat getting a check up would have seemed silly to me as a child.

Although in my immediate family people went to the doctor, my paternal grandmother never did. My father was born in a house, not a hospital. When Grandma fell and broke her thumb she just wrapped it in a hankie and had a crooked thumb for the rest of her life. Whatever came up in life, she just handled it on her own. She wasn't one to ask for help. Do more independent spirits like her have cats than have dogs? They would be more likely to try to treat pet health problems with home remedies.

Lawyer for Kristen Lindsey defends his client in letter to Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners

Lawyer for Kristen Lindsey defends his client in letter to Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners

This is a cross-post as I want to spread the word on this one because there is considerable public interest in the outcome of the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners' investigation into the alleged criminal behavior of Dr Kristen Lindsey in killing her neighbor's cat with a bow and arrow while in her backyard.

If you click on the link you can read more. Below I reproduce the letter again. Lindsey's lawyer says that her alleged behavior has nothing to do with the veterinary profession. Do you agree that? I don't because the attitude and personal standards of a veterinarian are crucial to how she conducts herself at her workplace. Compassion is an essential ingredient to being a decent vet. Lindsey has demonstrated her fondness for killing animals - the opposite. Additionally, the way vets comport themselves outside of work impacts on the profession as a whole.

The veterinary profession must be trusted and trustworthy. All vets have a duty to promote that image. Shooting a domestic cat through the head at close range for entertainment is damaging to the veterinary profession.

Note: at this stage a court has not found her guilty of criminal behavior so these are allegations.

Revocation of Kristen Lindsey's Veterinarian's License

Complaint about vet who killed cat will take up to three years to process

This is a cross-post. The link above discusses the same topic. Don't hold your breath! I expect that you are familiar with the now infamous veterinarian Kristen Lindsey who proudly declared to the world in a Twitter feed, with a photo of her holding a cat with an arrow through his head, that she enjoyed killing him. If you haven't heard about her this link will fill you in.

A complaint was made to the Texas Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (the Board) requesting (I presume) the revocation of her license. The response was standard and it indicated that the whole evaluation process of her right to practice veterinary medicine and what they intended to do would take up to three years.

This is a lengthy timetable. Perhaps that is convenient for the Board because the longer it takes the more likelihood there is of it being kicked into the long grass and forgotten.

People have short memories and nowadays short attention spans as well. Three years is more than adequate for this grizly episode to be buried. That would be a shame because Lindsey has declared that she takes pleasure in killing animals and in this instance she allegedly killed a neighbor's cat with an arrow who happened to wonder into her backyard. Her mum took the photo of her. At the time the photo was taken it is said that the cat was still alive with an arrow right through his head.

She is not fit to be a vet in my opinion. The selection of vet students arguably needs to be reviewed.

Here is a photo of the letter from the Board.

General Practitioner Doctor Does Veterinary Work!

This is a rather extraordinary case of a general practitioner, Dr Liz Dawson, who dabbled in a little bit of veterinary work which as it happens in the UK is illegal because according to the General Medical Council (GMC) only veterinary surgeons registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons are allowed to medically treat animals.

Dr Dawson (photo above) prescribed insulin, needles and chemotherapy drugs for her sister's pet cat.  Apparently, it was common knowledge in her general practice that she prescribed for her sister's cat. She wanted to help out her sister because of the expense of veterinary treatment.

Dr Dawson practices at Horsefair Surgery in Banbury, Oxfordshire. She submitted five private prescriptions for needles, insulin and chemotherapy tablets to a pharmacy, Cox and Robinson, in the town.

The prescriptions were made out for “use in my practice". A whistleblower, we don't know the person's name, complained to the GMC. As mentioned, the GMC stated that Dr Dawson had broken the law but had decided not to take any further action.

Dr Dawson had, in fact, telephoned the GMC to inform them that she had consulted with a veterinarian.  She justified the prescriptions on the basis that the vet's bills were too expensive.

It is, in fact, a bit of a non-story but interesting nonetheless. I will now await another story in which a veterinarian medically treats a human.  That would be a bit more interesting.