How Stressed is Your Cat?

 

There are many different things that can cause our felines stress. New additions to the family (both of the four and two-legged variety), moving, changes in schedules, even a new piece of furniture can cause cats anxiety and stress. Besides the emotional and mental affects of stress, feline stress can cause a variety of health problems and can affect a cat’s behaviour in many different ways.

Common Stress-Related Behavioural Problems:

• urine marking
• vertical scratching
• over-grooming
• redirected aggression
• hiding, decreased activity, no interaction with owners

Common Stress-Related Medical Problems:

• Cystitis (inflammation of the bladder)
• Anorexia
• Obesity

 

Feliway is a synthetic copy of the natural feline facial pheromone proven to help reduce or prevent feline stress and the associated behavioural or medical problems. It is a replica of the natural feline marking pheromone that they use to designate their territory. Pheromones do not smell, and are processed only by the specific species they are produced by. 

Feliway can be used to help comfort and reassure cats while they cope with a challenging situation and help prevent or reduce the stress caused by a change in their environment. It comes in a few different methods of dispersement - a spray and a diffuser.

 

Diffuser:

• Need to place the diffuser in the most common area the animal will be and where the problem is occurring
• 1 diffuser will cover approx. 500-700 sq feet
• Needs to be plugged in all the time and can last 4-5 weeks
• Takes 24 hours to diffuse into a space
• Replace diffuser every 6 months or after 6 refills
• Should be no smell
• Do not place near vents or under a table as this may block the flow of the pheromones. Place in an open area to ensure optimal diffusion and effectiveness

Spray:

• Ideal for boarding animals, veterinary visits, car travel, vertical scratching, new elements in the house, spray 15 minutes before you put your cat into the area
• Needs 5 pumps into environment or carrier or surface
• Do not spray directly onto your cat
• The spray will have an immediate effect and lasts 5 hours in the environment
• Does not stain surfaces

Here at the Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic we have a designated cat room with a Feliway diffuser going all the time to ensure you cat's visit to the veterinary clinic is as stress free as possible.

For more information on Feliway and to learn more about cat behaviour, visit their webpage: http://www.feliway.com/ca_en

Chantelle Oliver, RVT
Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic

Veterinary Medicine at the Zoo!

We are very lucky here at the Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic. Along with being able to provide veterinary care and a cuddle to dogs and cats, we also get to see more exotic styles of creatures. It is not unusual to see small mammals like rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas and rats in our reception area, or even reptiles and birds, along with the occasional fish! And on top of this, we may have a lion cub from Bowmanville Zoo strolling in the door to get weighed for a routine deworming, or we may need to actually go out to visit the zoo if one of their larger animals is showing signs of illness.

Zoo animal medicine is a highly specialized field. As a result, we have a lot of unusual equipment available to help these very special animals under our care. We have things like a pole syringe which can inject medication into a big cat from a safe distance, and a blow gun which can use a small dart to administer anesthetic to a primate. We even have a dart gun that can administer a dart from a great distance, just in case one of the larger animals accidentally escapes.

Most of the veterinary care provided to the zoo is preventative in nature. Just like your dog and cat, regular physical examinations and vaccinations are very important. The animals at Bowmanville Zoo are highly socialized, and many are leash trained and allow physical examinations. But some of the animals require sedation to safely examine them, and so we also take that opportunity to collect a blood sample from them. This provides a nice baseline set of normal values for the animal, and then if they happen to become ill, we can use these normal values to compare to the “sick” ones. Twice yearly we also run stool sample analysis on the zoo animals, and treat them with dewormers if we find parasites. And just like in domestic pets, dental health is extremely important- sometimes we can have one of the wolves or a tiger come in for a dental cleaning. They walk out again with a nice bright smile!

Then of course, there are the emergencies. Just like dogs and cats, sometimes zoo animals can suddenly run into trouble. We need to work fast in these situations, and so our equipment is always ready for a quick trip to the zoo. I remember a number of years ago when a female buffalo was giving birth, and the calf got stuck with only one front hoof out. The male bison were very protective and obviously we could not anesthetize the whole herd. So tractors and backhoes and trucks were driven in to form a fence around the now sedated female, and I could safely go into this little holding to deliver the calf. Not exactly a relaxing moment, with two huge male bison breathing down my neck!

It is a privilege to help keep the Bowmanville Zoo animals healthy and happy. They are fascinating and exciting creatures to work with, and certainly add variety to our day!

Dr. Wendy Korver

Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic