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Our cats tend to be clean and healthy pets in general, but cat fights, parasites, and illness may crop up from time to time.  Notice when  your cat withdraws physically and socially.  Instead of telling you he’s sick, and needs to go to the vet, Kitty’s instincts are telling her to hide.  She feels more like the hunted instead of the hunter, so she hides to escape any possible danger.  Kitty doesn’t realize she needs to come tell you when she needs to go to the vet.

Vet availability and improved pet care standards make diagnosis and treatment of a cat illness usually just a vet visit away.  Select a veterinary doctor you have a good rapport with, and don’t be shy about asking questions if there’s something you don’t understand.  On your next visit, ask your vet’s take on local zoonoses issues. 

 Tuberculosis is one of the relatively few diseases that passes between pets and their owners.  Zoonoses refer to disease that passes from people to cats, and from cats to people.  As closely as I live with my pets, I’m fortunate that communicable diseases aren’t more numerous.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who shares more with Kitty than I really should.  We like to accommodate our companions, don’t we?

When Kitty is not feeling well, giving her some attention, affection, and petting may help nurture her to health sooner.  Also, studies indicate that petting your pet decreases your blood pressure.  Petting can, however, get to be too much of a good thing from a cat’s point of view.  My Kitty always bites at my wrist when it’s time to stop.  She doesn’t break the skin, but she makes her point.  Use human sense about the cat’s perception of the difference between appreciated affection and being annoyingly obsessive.

Cats learn to read their human’s body language, and many is the time my cat has come to console me when I’m feeling down or sickly.  Ever wondered why germs don’t usually pass from pets to people?  It has to do with receptor cites. My professor of vet anatomy explained that cell receptor sites are of varying sizes and shapes–I think of basic shapes like a cube or star or circle.  You can’t put a square peg in a round hole.  Along the same lines,  a germ gets in through a “friendly” receptor site.  Lucky for us that most germs around today’s domestic situations have key receptors that can’t get through the physiological maze of both human people and domestic pets–usually they can get in one, but not in other species.  If you love on kitty when you have a cold, you won’t give her your germ.  Likewise, if Kitty has a cold, you won’t catch it from her. 

Out of all the shared germs out there in our world, just a handful of bad health situations are transmitted between pets and people.  Tuberculosis is a bad one.  Another situation cats and people have in common is the bad reaction to bad food.  Maggots are maggots.  Rabies, is another shared health issue, and is usually lethal to infected animals and people.  Since our pets are more likely to run into local wildlife that might have rabies, it’s very important that they receive a rabies shot on a regular schedule.  Ask your vet how long the vaccine is good for protecting your cat.  Vaccinations used to be required annually, but some vets use inoculants that provide protection for two or three years.  If your cat is not on an annual schedule for rabies, just remember your furry friend will need his rabies shot next year.  Local ordinances encourage you to keep up with responsibilities like that.  It’s good for the population–both two- and four-footed!

When I worked at a vet clinic, I did receive a vaccination series for rabies myself.  A rabies vaccine is available for those in the veterinary professions because they are most likely to face risk of getting rabies.  Those in the general population don’t need the shot because statistically their chance of getting rabies is very small.  Rabies still exists in the wild portion of North America’s animal population.  Foxes, wolves, the mongoose, raccoons, skunks, bats, and dogs are rabies vectors–which means they can carry the disease.  Because rabies is transmitted through saliva, any bite poses rabies risk if the individual has not been inoculated. 

Since people are generally less furry than their pets, you may be annoyed by flea infestation but won’t actually know the degree of misery involved with the skin irritations caused by parasites.  Can you imagine the feel of a microscopic parasite like a mite burrowing in to your skin?  Parasites seldom show up an just one.  If you’ve ever lived through a home infestation of fleas, you’re aware of the extreme cleaning and carrying away required to remove fleas from an infested area or animal.   Fleas and other parasites carry diseases with them as they travel from pet to person.  Mites and fleas can cause skin problems for people too.  Always wash your hands real good with soap and water or a sanitizer after you’ve groomed or petted your cat or dog.  You don’t want Kitty’s mites to find their way into your ears.   

If Kitty has scales peeling away at the base of her coat, look into the matter.  Some parasites are too small for people to see, so a trip to the vet may be required to find the cause of excessive kitty dandruff.  You and Kitty will both be happier when any feline parasites are quickly identified and steps taken to remove them. Depending on the weather where you live, you may or may not be using year-round flea prevention, like Advantage for cats.  Depending on your vet, you cat may or may not be on a regular heartworm preventative.  Warmer climates and tropical zones allow fleas to thrive year round.  Where I live in Texas, we tend to figure all the fleas die with the first good freeze of the year.  That may or may not be true.  If you can afford to keep your feline companion on a flea preventative year-round, it’s probably a good idea.

Most health issues won’t pass between a cat and her owner.  If we can keep the environment as clean as Kitty keeps herself, we’ll be doing just fine.  Give Kitty’s bed a good wash with detergent and sanitizer every so often to remove extra hair and other bad stuff.  She cleans as much as she can, but it’s the owners responsibility to take care of the big parts of domestication. 1104