Adorable Adoptables: Miss Stella
Lovely Miss Stella is a beautiful black kitty with extra toes. Some people call cats like her Hemingway cats after the author Ernest Hemingway and his love for polydactyl (many-toed) cats. Ernest Hemingway would have loved Miss Stella. She is full of energy and affection, and she loves to cuddle at night.
Miss Stella is an extra-special girl because she has no vision in her left eye. The veterinarian believes that she lost vision in her eye due on illness that went untreated when she was a kitten. Other than not having vision, the eye is healthy enough and doesn’t need to be removed.
Having one eye doesn’t slow down Miss Stella at all. She loves her foster brothers and sisters and spends lots of time playing with them. She is the type of cat who gets bored without a companion kitty, so she would love to join a household that already has a cat so that she always has a friend to keep her company.
Not only does Miss Stella like other cats, she also likes dogs, and she is great with children. If you are looking for a fun, friendly new family member, Miss Stella wants to meet you and show you why she’s the one you’ve been looking for.
Miss Stella is available through Whiskers and Paws in the Orlando, FL area. Click to email her foster home directly and ask about Miss Stella!
Not Me!
Pierre: I heard a rumor that there was a hole in the carpet on the cat tree.
And the rumor says that a cat may have been to blame!
*looks around*
Nope, I haven’t seen anything like a hole in the carpet.
You must have been thinking of a different cat tree. And a different cat.
Sunburn in Cats
Ashton: Who loves sun puddles? Raise your paw!
I do, too. Nothing feels as good as having warm sunshine making your fur all toasty warm!
Keep that paw raised, everyone. Now, if you’re a white cat, keep that paw up, otherwise, you can put your paw down. Or you can pretend to bathe it so that it looks like you were waving your paw around on purpose. Either way, if your paw is still up, this message is especially important for you, white cats who like to sleep in the sun…
Cat Sunburn and Skin Cancer
But did you know that too much sun exposure can actually cause skin cancer? I bet you knew it about yourself. You probably put that stuff on your skin that makes you smell like a fruity drink when you are going to be outside to be sure that you don’t get too much sun exposure. Cats have skin, too, though it’s underneath our fur.
When you’re colored like me, dark fur helps give some protection from the bad ultraviolet rays of the sun. I also have plenty of melanin. You know, melanin is the stuff that makes you tan. Don’t get any bright ideas about shaving me to see if I’m tan! A lady never tells.
White cats don’t have that melanin, or the dark fur covering them. And of course, naked Sphynx cats don’t have fur, either. That means that their delicate skin is much more at risk of sunburn, especially if you live somewhere like Florida where the sun is intense. Areas with less fur, like ear tips, nose, and lips, are the most likely to get burned. Repeated sunburn causes the highest risk of cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), just like it does in humans. White cats have more than a 13 times greater risk of getting this type of cancer than cats of other colors.
In cats, this cancer due to sun is most often found on the ears, which have to be removed to eliminate the cancer. This is why if you search Google Images for “earless cats,” the majority of the returned images are of white or light colored cats.
Preventing Sunburn in Cats
The best thing to do is to keep your light-colored kitty indoors to prevent exposure to the ultraviolet rays that cause sunburn. If this isn’t possible, limit exposure by only allowing your cat out when the sun isn’t at its most intense (early morning and late evening instead of midday), and make sure that they have plenty of shade in your catio or yard.
Indoor cats who spend the whole day in a window that drenches us in sun puddles can get more ultraviolet exposure than you expect, since the glass used in houses do not filter out all of the ultraviolet rays that cause skin damage. You can get UV film to put on your windows to keep out the harmful UVB radiation.
Don’t use human sunscreen on your cat. Not only do we not want to smell like a tropical beverage, human sunscreens have ingredients that are toxic to cats such as Zinc Oxide, Octyl Salicylate, Homosalate and Ethylhexyl Salicylate. Products containing Titanium Dioxide as an active ingredient are considered OK to use on ear tips and noses but they are toxic if ingested, so be cautious.
When in doubt, be careful about sun exposure for you and your kitty for both of your safety!
References
UVA & UVB Radiation, A Danger Outdoors and Indoors, Skin Cancer Foundation
Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC), Long Beach Animal Hospital
Finding a Cat Safe Sunscreen, The Cat Hospital of Fairfax
White cat photo courtesy Enrico on Flickr
One eared cat photo courtesy Mary Bailey Thomas on Flickr