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Proactive Cat Healthcare Seminar at the Orlando Cat Cafe

Last week, I attended the second seminar in a series at the Orlando Cat Cafe. The topic of this one was proactive cat healthcare.

Proactive Cat Healthcare Seminar at Orlando Cat Cafe

Jodi Ziskin, the healthy pet coach spoke that evening, to an audience of humans and the 22 cats in the cafe.

Jodi Ziskin at Orlando Cat Cafe

She talked about how preventative healthcare means getting your cat to the vet, and she explained that cats are seeing veterinarians less frequently than they previously did.

Wild Cherry, adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

One of the important things that a vet can do to help you is by being your partner in understanding what is normal for your cat. A baseline bloodwork test performed before your cat becomes geriatric helps you and your vet detect changes as your kitty ages. That way, you know whether an unusual value in bloodwork in your senior cat is unusual or normal for your cat.

Patrick, adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

Similarly, Jodi advocates knowing your cat. Being aware of how often your cat normally urinates and defecates daily helps you notice when an issue arises. Being familiar with what your cat’s output smells like is useful, too. If what you find in the litter box is suddenly more pungent than usual, it can alert you to something going on with your kitty’s health.

Baby Gray adoptable kitten at Orlando Cat Cafe

Although her previous seminar was all about nutrition, Jodi recapped some of the high points, including reminding everyone that cats are obligate carnivores and that cats don’t need kibble. She says she cooks for her cats, but that there is plenty of canned food that helps provide the moisture that cats need to stay healthy.

Jolly Rancher, adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

While Jodi talked, the cats were doing cat things around the cafe. One irresistible gray kitten stole the show. I spent nearly the whole time playing with him instead of taking notes.

Baby Gray adoptable kitten at Orlando Cat Cafe

As you can see, he doesn’t feel at all guilty about playing in the noisy crinkle tunnel while Jodi was talking.

Baby Gray adoptable kitten at Orlando Cat Cafe

Loud crinkling kittens aside, it was an interesting talk, and I’m looking forward to the next lecture in the series, Think like a Cat, The Importance of Enrichment and Play, on May 18th.

All of the cats featured in today’s blog post are available for adoption from the South Lake Animal League at the Orlando Cat Cafe.

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March 31, 2017 Filed Under: Health 14 Comments

Cat Nutrition Seminar at the Orlando Cat Cafe

I attended a seminar about feline nutrition last week at the Orlando Cat Cafe.

orlando cat cafe exterior

The Orlando Cat Cafe partners with the South Lake Animal League to let visitors spend time with adoptable cats. When I visited last week, there were 16 adoptable cats in the cafe. Nine were under a year old. Central Florida is a part of the country where kitten season never ends, so our oversupply of kittens is probably why the average age of cats in the cafe is lower than I expected.

orlando cat cafe adoptable cats

My previous visit to the Orlando Cat Cafe was in their opening week, and they had not approved any adoption applications at that point. They have made a lot of happy matches between cafe cats and humans since then! Being the closest cafe to Walt Disney World, vacationing visitors from other parts of the country have fallen in love with cats and adopted them while visiting on vacation.

orlando cat cafe adoptions board

Last week’s visit wasn’t just to visit the cats. It was also to listen to a seminar by Jodi Ziskin, the Healthy Pet Coach. She talked about biologically-appropriate nutrition for cats.

Jodi Ziskin speaks at the Orlando Cat Cafe

Some of what Jodi talked about wasn’t news to me. I understand that humans are omnivores and fuel ourselves with carbs while cats are carnivores and need protein a fuel. She explained how cats have no biological need for grains or the grain substitutes like chick peas that are being added to many cat foods.

She also discussed how kibble isn’t biologically appropriate, especially in terms of getting enough hydration into your cat. She mentioned canned food as an alternative to keep cats more hydrated.

Raleigh, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

I found it interesting that she said up front that she cooks for her cats. She says it takes about 20 minutes to make enough food for four days. Since that’s an avenue I have considered trying for picky Pierre, that caught my attention.

She admitted that premade, dehydrated food for cats that they would actually eat used to be impossible to find, which is an experience I had years ago. But she also said that has changed, and that people who don’t like to cook like me can feed cooked food that way at home. Watch out, Pierre!

Snowy, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

Jodi talked about benefits of probiotics, and I learned that probiotics made for cats are actually stronger than the ones for humans, since a cat’s stomach is more acidic than ours. I knew about the cat’s stomach part, but I never thought about them needing different probioitics than humans as a result.

Marilyn, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

One of the tips Jodi gave us is something I learned a couple years ago from Ingrid King at the Conscious Cat: sprinkling nutritional yeast on a cat’s food is a great flavor enhancer. And it’s healthy for them, too, unlike some of the other things you might add to their food to try to get a reluctant cat to eat.

Wild Cherry, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

When Jodi talked about making cat food at home, she stressed that it didn’t have to be hard. She mentioned the raw food recipe I used and pointed out how intimidating it can be and went on to say that there are now premixes with all of the supplements and dried glandular tissue in them, so all you need to add is meat. I have wondered about these mixes but thought they sounded too good to be true. Hearing someone who consults on pet nutrition recommend them makes me want to take a second look.

Kringle, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

Upcoming Talks at the Orlando Cat Cafe

Jodi’s lecture was informative, and packed with great information that anyone listening could put into use immediately.

Yale, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

If you’re disappointed you missed this talk, you can attend one of the upcoming events where Jodi is scheduled to return to the Orlando Cat Cafe to speak about some more interesting topics:

  • March 21, 2017 – Proactive Healthcare for Cats
  • May 18, 2017 – The Importance of Enrichment and Play
  • July 20, 2017 – How to Avoid Common Behavioral Issues
  • September 14, 2017 – Integrative Care vs. Conventional Care for Cats
  • November 16, 2017 – Senior Cat Care

Severus Snape and Kringle, adoptable cats at the Orlando Cat Cafe

The Cat Cafe Cats

The cats currently at the Orlando Cat Cafe were especially lively during the seminar, occasionally upstaging Jodi while she spoke. As anyone who lives with cats knows, they are crepuscular, meaning they are most active in morning and evening twilight times. The cafe cats were no exception. They raced up and down cat trees and explored behind Jodi as she talked.

I was especially charmed by a petite young cat named YingYang who through some birth defect or incident has an asymmetrical face. Her nose and muzzle point a little bit to the right, making her look a little bit askew. But she was friendly and sociable, and I’m sure someone will fall in love with her and adopt her.

YingYang, an adoptable cat at the Orlando Cat Cafe #adoptdontshop

I’m looking forward to visiting the cat cafe again for more of Jodi’s seminars in the future. While I would love to be able to visit with some of the same cats, I’m really hoping that all of these kitties will be gone to loving homes before I have a chance to visit again, because every one of them deserves a family to love them.

Raleigh, an adoptable cat at Orlando Cat Cafe

 

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January 23, 2017 Filed Under: Health, Tourism 16 Comments

Hard Water and Your Cat’s Urinary pH

Newton would really like it if he could stop showing you photos of him going to vet.

orange tabby cat peers out of carrier

But this time, it was for a followup. He spent about a month on a prescription diet from the vet for his urinary tract. He didn’t get any crunchy treats when Pierre did. There were no unauthorized table scraps when he begged. He didn’t even get anything special for Thanksgiving because we didn’t want to risk altering his test results.

Newton is not a fan of the prescription food. He’s a good eater who always finishes his food, and he didn’t finish his meals. So in a way, he was ready for this vet trip, because he was crossing his paws he could go back to a diet he liked more.

When the test results came back, there was some good news and some OK news. The good news was that his urinary crystals were gone.

orange tabby cat looks at test results

The OK news is that his urinary pH was 7.5. This is down from the 8.5 reading that he started with in October, so it is progress in the right direction, but it’s nowhere near the 6.0 to 6.5 pH he should have.

I talked to the vet about putting him back on a raw diet, but this time, I was going to not rely on raw produced by anyone but me. That way I could control everything that went into it, all the way down to the water.

Water is Important

I started thinking about our water supply after reading a study by Trupanion pet insurance where they noticed that parts of the country that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)says have hard water also had submitted more claims for cats with urinary issues, including urinary crystals like Newton’s.

It turns out that Florida, where we live, is one of the places with hard water and a high number of cases of feline urinary issues.

Most of the water in public water systems here in Florida comes from groundwater in the Floridian aquifer, which runs through the limestone underneath the whole state. Rainwater seeps deep intothe ground through hundreds of feet of sand and rock. While this process filters the water, it also adds small amounts of calcium to the water.

The Water Cycle. Public domain image courtesy US Geological Survey

If your house uses water from a water utility company, they probably publish a water quality report annually. The report from our county doesn’t disclose whether your water is soft or hard, but if you call your water company, they will know. A call to the county water utility here found that in our part of our county, the water measures 7.8 grains per gallon or 133.2 ppm.

The water hardness scale according to the US Geological Survey and Water Research Center:

Classification mg/l or ppm grains/gal
Soft 0 – 17.1 0 – 1
Slightly hard 17.1 – 60 1 – 3.5
Moderately hard 60 – 120 3.5 – 7.0
Hard 120 – 180 7.0 – 10.5
Very Hard 180 & over 10.5 & over

We have hard water!

The high concentration of calcium and other minerals in hard water acts as a buffer that makes the water more resistant to changing pH. It acts like an invisible sponge in the water, preventing things from happening too fast.

Hard Water and Newton’s pH

This started me wondering what kind of pH Newton was taking in. His food is made primarily of chicken which has a pH of 6.5-6.7. But food is only part of his intake. There’s also water.

I bought some pH test strips (affiliate link) to have a look at the water. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to test Newton’s urine between vet visits, but even if I can’t, the test strips are really cheap. I tested our tap water, which goes through a filter pitcher before going into the cat fountain and bowls, and I also tested distilled water for comparison.

The results surprised me.

water pH test

The dark green strip is the one testing the tap water. The pH looks like it is about 8! I had no idea until I did this test and then did research that it isn’t unusual for water in a treated water supply to have a pH between 7 and 8. Harder water usually has high pH, and our water is at the high end of that.

The second strip tested the distilled water, which tested at about 7, which is the expected neutral pH for water.

Water with a high pH and a high calcium load is going to resist changing to a more acid pH. Maybe that’s what is going on with Newton’s urine!

orange tabby cat drinks from Ashton's Chicken Emporium glass

This is all a theory until we try it out on him, of course. But for now, Newton is thrilled to be back eating a raw diet, happily cleaning his bowl at every meal and drinking distilled water. He has another vet visit in his future to see if we have finally figured out how to keep his urinary tract just as happy. We’ll let you know if this finally solved the mystery for him once we have more test results.


References and further reading:

Trupanion Trends: Study finds Link between Pet Health and Drinking Water
United Utilities, The pH of drinking water
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Importance of General Chemistry Relationships in Water Treatment
Hospital for Special Surgery Journal, How Much Calcium Is in Your Drinking Water? A Survey of Calcium Concentrations in Bottled and Tap Water and Their Significance for Medical Treatment and Drug Administration
US Food & Drug Administration, Importance of General Chemistry Relationships in Water Treatment
US Geological Survey, Water Hardness and Alkalinity

Image credit:  Public domain image from US Geological Survey

This post contains affiliate links, which means we receive a small percentage if you make a purchase using the link on this page.

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December 12, 2016 Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Newton 29 Comments

Your Senior Cat

Did you know that November is Senior Cat Month? Cats begin to be considered senior around seven years old, so there’s a good chance that you have a senior kitty in your life. This month is a great time to give extra appreciation to your senior cat and be aware that she may have special needs as she ages.

Your senior cat

Watch for Changes

Cats are good at hiding illness, but if you know what is “normal” for your cat, you can be on the lookout for changes that could be early signs of illness in your senior cat.

Keeping Track of Changes

You don’t have to trust your memory to remember how many poops you scoop a day from the litterbox. Write it down!

siamese cat with notepad. photo credit: depositphotos/dundanim

Tracking your cat’s appetite, vomiting, and litterbox output is a great way to find problems early, especially if you can enlist the help of other household members to record incidents you aren’t home to see.

Changes in Weight

Gradual changes in weight can be hard to notice, since you see your cat every day. But weight changes can be an important sign that something is going on with your senior cat’s health. Don’t assume that your cat eating as much as ever means she is maintaining her weight, since some common diseases can cause weight loss while kitty is still eating big meals.

tabby cat on scale. photo credit: depositphotos/adogslifephoto

If you have a scale in your house for weighing yourself, give your kitty a big hug and step on the scale together. You can then put your cat down and weigh yourself again and subtract the two numbers to get the difference.

In a cat, ounces count, so if there is a weight loss noticeable enough that you can see it from your scale made to measure humans, it’s time to visit the vet to see what’s going on!

Changes in Mobility

If your kitty is slow to get up after a nap, don’t write it off to your senior cat slowing down with age.  Arthritis is common and underdiagnosed in cats. Arthritis happens when cartilage, the smooth tissue that protects the ends of bones from rubbing against each other in a cat’s joints, wears  away, causing the bones to come into direct contact.

senior cats get arthritis, just like humans.

Since the wearing away of cartilage happens over time, it is most likely to be found in senior cats.  A study found that 90% of cats aged 10 and over had evidence of arthritis, so if your cat hesitates to make jumps she used to, talk to your vet about ways you can help her feel better.

Visit the Vet

Your senior cat will probably need to visit the vet more often for health screenings than she did in her prime. This is just like the way doctor visits become more frequent for senior humans. Since diseases and conditions common to senior cats can progress rapidly over 3 – 6 months, your vet can help detect the health issues you can’t see with your eyes before they progress too far.

broan tabby cat at veterinarian's office. photo credit: depositphotos/stokkete

The American Association of Feline Practitioners recommends senior cats visiting the vet twice a year for wellness visits.

Special Household Accommodations for Senior Cats

Your senior cat probably can’t jump like she used to. A strategically placed footstool can serve as a way to help your cat to get up and down from locations she used to enjoy but arthritis makes too big a jump as age sets in.

Arthritis can also be tough when it’s cold. Making sure your kitty’s bed is in a warm, draft-free location can help ease some of her discomfort.

sleeping cat. photo credit: depositphotos/Studiobarcelona

So can a heated bed. Just make sure you are heating the bed with something that is safe to be left on all day when you are out of the house. Most heating pads made for humans are specifically designed not to be left unattended, but there are low-power heating units specifically designed for pet beds.

Litterbox Accommodations for Senior Cats

Senior cats can seem to get poor litter habits because things like undersized cat boxes may begin to bother them more as they age. Some senior cats have a difficult time holding the necessary position to take care of business in the shifting, soft surface of the litter box. Making sure you don’t overfill the litter tray so that your kitty doesn’t feel like she’s sinking into quicksand may help.

undersized litter box. Photo credit: Depositphotos/vertraut

Also, be aware that some litter boxes that require a cat to jump in over a high entry may be difficult for an aging kitty. This is a reason your cat may go next to the box instead of inside, so be sure it’s easy to get in and out to take care of business.

A little bit of extra attention can go a long way for your senior kitty so you can enjoy a lot of comfortable, happy years together!


Research and Further Reading

American Association of Feline Practitioners, Is Your Cat Slowing Down?
American Veterinary Medicine Association, Senior Pets
Cornell Feline Health Center, Is Your Cat Slowing Down?

Photo credits:

depositphotos/dundanim, depositphotos/adogslifephoto, depositphotos/stokkete, depositphotos/Studiobarcelona,
Depositphotos/vertraut

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November 21, 2016 Filed Under: Health 16 Comments

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