Cats Herd You

Catmouflage

Newton: You can’t see me behind this leg of the cat tree.There’s no cat here…

Lintigo Simplex – Freckled Noses in Orange Cats

Newton has a black spot stretching up his philtrum, the vertical groove in his nose. You may have noticed that it looks like he’s always a little dirty there, but he’s a very clean cat. He has lentigo.

Lentigo simplex a genetic condition in orange, calico, and tortoiseshell cats resulting in dark spots found which can begin appearing as early as when the cat is a year old. The lentigines (the fancy plural word for lentigo) begin appearing first on a cat’s lips, small and having no symptoms. Unless your cat spends time checking out his lips in the mirror, he won’t know they are there because he can’t feel them any more than a human feels freckles.

Unlike freckles, lentigines don’t change appearance by time of year or by the amount of sun exposure your cat gets. Once your cat has lentigines, it may get larger, or others may follow. Spreading along his lips, gums, nose, and even appearing on his eyelids and/or the inside of his ears. They can even appear on your cat’s footpads.

Newton has a pretty mild case of lentigo. Other cats have much more distinctive lentigines.

The good news is that lentigo is just cosmetic, and it doesn’t develop into melanoma. The only bad news is that there’s no way to at a glance for you at home to tell lentigines apart from melanomas. If you’re ever concerned about a spot on your cat, especially if it changes in size or becomes raised or tender, see your vet to be on the safe side.

Reference and Further Reading

Muller and Kirk’s Small Animal Dermatology7: Muller and Kirk’s Small Animal Dermatology, Hyperpigmentation: Genetic, Lentigo Simplex in Orange Cats
Problem-based Feline Medicine, Hyperpigmentation (Lentigo Simplex)
University of Sydney Centre for Veterinary Education, Lentigines

Photo Credit

flickr/ilovebutter

Pierre’s Secret Stash

Pierre: * PURRING *

Hmmmm?

No, I don’t know anything about the drool-covered toy mouse under your pillows. Why do you ask?

PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy Review and Giveaway

Indoor cats need enrichment in their environment to keep their minds sharp and to keep them out of mischief. Since we humans can only wave a wand toy around for so many hours a day, toys that engage cats attention on their own are especially important. That’s why I was excited at the opportunity to review the PetSafe Cheese cat toy.

All right, I’ll admit, I was partly excited about it because it looks like a huge wedge of cheese, and I’m addicted to cheese. There’s now scientific evidence to show that cheese is addictive now, so I can say that. But let’s face it, your cats or mine aren’t likely to recognize that wedge shape as representing cheese. They probably don’t even recognize the little, yellow mice that pop out of the cheese at irregular intervals are supposed to represent mice.

What they do recognize, though, is the prey-like behavior of the little battery-driven mice. (You need 3 AAA batteries to make them go, unlike actual mice.) Just as a cat’s prey might peek out of a hole and then scurry right back inside, the mice from the cheese entice cats to try to catch them. Newton, caught surprise by the behavior of the cheese, was a little startled by them at first.

It didn’t take him long to start to wonder what was hiding inside the hole in that plastic cheese, and he had to take a closer look.

What was really surprising was the length of both Newton and Pierre’s attention spans for the cheese. Newton was interested for nearly half of its five minute runtime, which is a long time for what we jokingly call his attention deficit feline disorder (ADFD) to hold out.

Pierre, on the other hand, can watch for the entire ten minutes, which is is a very attention span for anything not containing food.

He spent the whole ten minutes inching closer until he was nose to nose with the mouse.

Finally, he was ready to catch his prey… only by then, the cheese had stopped.

Pierre: Make it go again!

One of the really neat features about the cheese is that it has a “play while you’re away” mode where the mice will come back on for another cycle in two hours, and again for another cycle after that. Since I suspect the cats sleep all day, it’s nice to know there’s something that will get their attention and have them active during the day, and there’s nothing about the cheese that makes me worry about leaving it for them to play with unattended. It has simple, solid construction, and even if they managed to knock it over, it wouldn’t hurt anything for the mice to continue poking their little, yellow heads out.

One really funny thing happened while testing the “play while you’re away” feature. All three cats were in the kitchen with me, begging shamelessly at the table while I was eating when suddenly all three went running out of the room. They don’t abandon the kitchen table before the food is gone, so this seemed strange. Then I realized I could hear a low, mechanized sound in the living room. The cheese’s timer had gone off and the mice were starting to peek out again. They were so irresistible, the cats had to rush to see them, even though it meant abandoning a chance at snacks from the table. If that isn’t a sign of approval, I don’t know what is!

PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy Giveaway

If your cats would like to try their very own PetSafe Cheese cat toy, PetSafe has sponsored a giveaway. For ways to enter, see the Rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway is open to readers in the United States only, and ends Tuesday, November 17th. Winners will be chosen by random drawing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Winners will be notified via e-mail. Prize winner must provide Sometimes Cats Herd You with a physical address to which the prize will be mailed within 72 hours. If this information is not received, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing. Winners will be announced in a separate post following the drawing.

FTC Disclosure: We received our PetSafe Cheese cat toy at no charge from PetSafe in exchange for our honest review. Receiving free product did not influence anything we say. All opinions expressed on this site are our own.