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PoC is quite a large site. It does not stay away from topics that are dark, uncomfortable or controversial if cat welfare demands it. The focus is on (a) the best cat pictures (b) the best information about cat breeds and wild cat species and (c) at all times cat welfare, root and branch.

The best way to find information on almost any topic is to search for it using the excellent Google custom search box above. Using the navigation bar above – just below the header – is good too as the major pages are listed with links.You can see new posts at the top of the right hand side navigation bar.

Savannah Cats Play Fight

F2 Savannah cats play fighting. Photo by Michael.

Visitor Cat Stories

I have a new input form. I love personal stories about cats from concerned cat caretakers. I like them because they are personal. They are real stories. Also I love the average moggie cat. The average, unknown, random bred cat, in a home somewhere is the sort of cat I would like to celebrate, to publicise. They are cats that most people have as companions.

Please tell me about your cat using the easy to use form below — Every box should be completed to ensure that it works, if you are just uploading a photograph – thanks. Also please leave your email address in the post as I may have to contact you. It won’t be used for marketing or anything like that.

Please select your image(s) to upload.

Comments

Home Page — 33 Comments

  1. I have a indoor cat Sebastian that will be 12 July 1 he has been having diarrehea he eats and drinks fine but is looking a little skinny in the back are he had a seizure last night but was fine after a little bit and he was fine this morning before I went to work and when I came home he was fine eating, playing, licking his hair and laying around his normal routine, someone told me he might have Roundworms so I have been giving him Hartz Ultra Guard Rid worm paste can you give me any suggestions n what it could be?

    • Hi Gina, sorry that I am unable to answer right now due to pressure of work due to the site moving to a new host company. But diarrhea is a general symptom of many illnesses. Search for diarrhea on the site and you might find some clues. You mention a seizure. This is a serious condition and I would have thought that you would take Sebastian to a vet asap. The thing is it is very hard almost impossible to provide decent advice over the internet like this. The cat needs to be in front of a good veterinarian. I know that means money etc. But there is no other way at the end of the day. Good Luck. Here is a post on cat seizure: http://pictures-of-cats.org/cat-seizure.html

    • Hi Gina. Better late than never. Sometimes getting to the bottom of these problems is difficult. There are parasitic diseases that are difficult to detect in the laboratory. The disease coccidiosis (treatment is one dose of Baycox) is one of them but the extremely disgusting smell associated with it is a good diagnostic tool. The laboratory said they did not find any parasites in the samples. One of my cats was cured of persistent diarrhea simply by changing her food to a different brand. Others had a bacterial infection which was cured by antibiotics. The use of disinfectants containing quaternary ammonia is better than bleach as it is also very effective against the spores and that spread parasitic diseases. Another problematic disease is entamoeba histolytica which is difficult to treat because the medications have a bad taste for cats.

  2. Please take your cat to a vet! It sound like the onset of Diabetes.
    Find a good vet! Some of them dont know and some dont care. I just euthanized my baby of 13 years due to Renal failure. The vet didn’t impress me with renal failure all he talked about was diabetes. Whats worse than the euthanizing was how long he suffered thinking he was going to get better and his kidneys was shot! Its been almost a month now and I dont think I will ever forget how much he suffered. I still cry for him.

  3. I love cats and I found them therapeautic when I hug them. They take away my depression. I am giving my youngest cat Vitamin C, which is also what babies drink. Is it alright to do it?

    • Hi, I would not give your cat vitamin C. Providing specific vitamins separately can be hazardous to a cat’s health. The best way to keep your cat healthy is by providing top quality cat food which will contain the vitamins required. That plus tons of love and the odd visit to the vet when required. Don’t declaw and don’t over vaccinate. That’s my advice.

      • Michael great advice! With good quality cat food (not expensive just a trusted brand) and plenty of fresh accessible water if its the dried sort there is nothing else your cat needs except care and lots of love.

  4. Dear Michael,

    your site looks great!!

    I hope it is alright if I add my own beliefs here. I personally am very convinced of Vitamins and am taking vitamins in high dosage myself – so take my opinion with a bit of salt.
    I can only speak for myself and for me, but if you start to investigate Vitamins and what we are told about them, you will probably also find that adding Vitamins is something we might also consider for our pets.

    The only person ever to receive 2 Nobel prizes, Dr. Linus Pauling, treated himself with high doses of Vit C (and other Vits and minerals) and said that we are kept on “sub-clinical scurvy” on purpose. So he founded the “Orthomolecular Medicine”, which is based on giving the body what it really needs…

    Since our foods are much less full of Vitams as they used to be, I very much assume that is the same or even worse for pet food.

    So I believe everybody should make up their own mind and not only believe what paid for studies tell them and google ie. “orthomolecular medicine” and also go to doctoryourself.com. The fantastic mercola.com has a huge section about holistic pet health.

    The way vitamins are in my opinion supressed (cui bono?) lets me hope that everybody will make up their own minds and do their own research, for themelves and their pets. Even the (classical pet) doctor here was so advanced to make me give my bunny Vitamins when it was sick.

    by the way, on doctoryourself.com the words “depression” and “Vitamin C” are on the same posts sometimes…

    Beware: am no doctor, but like to make up my own mind… I really encourage anyone to do your own research…you cannot make money or make the shareholders happy with selling Vitamins!

    Best
    Daniel

    • Hi Dan, thanks for your contribution. Very welcome. One problem with the cat is that they have specific nutritional requirements as they are obligate carnivores. So, in general, we should be cautious about adding supplements to a decent diet. Vitamin C is ascorbic acid. It is necessary for the formation of collagen, a structural protein, in cats. A dietary source of vitamin C is not required because cats can synthesize enough vitamin C themselves. In other words a cat makes his own vitamin C to a sufficient level. Also Drs Giffin and others (authors of the best cat health book) say that “growing kittens do not need supplemental vitamins and minerals. Modern high quality commercial kitten foods supply the needed vitamins…” provided of course the kitten eats high quality kitten food to the required level. An excess of vitamins D and A can cause health problems. Old cats that might eat badly through lack of appetite may benefit from vitamin supplements. Hope that adds something to the page.

  5. Hi Michael,

    thank you… I did know that dogs can (still?) make their own Vitamin C and that humans lost the ability to produce their own vitamins (that’s why they are calles Vitamins, by the way, except for D) … didn’t know that this was trie for cats, too…

    so I agree, for dogs and then obviously for cats Vit C (and others) may not be necessary…but I strongly doubt that highly processed foods contain all the necessary minerals and vitamins and other things… you need the basics for their bodies to produce these Vitamins…they cannot produce minerals, these just “are” there … or not

    so here I am obviously too much focussed on my body, obviously… but still, I would argue that many diseases in pets might be a result of lacking vitamins and minerals and food created with “love”… and many people put better oil in their cars than food in their or their pets’ mouths

    so go and check out websites dealing with the basic providing things our bodies need

    Dan

  6. Hi Michael, just found this site surfing the net in search for answers about my cat’s condition and just subscribed,so many interesting topics here!
    Here is what I wanted to ask you,in the hope you have a different opininion than my vet..

    I have a traditional Persian,I didn’t buy from a breeder but from a pet shop.

    He was dirty and bad condition (skin disease)because the pet shop people had not taken care of him,but the vet managed to cure him.And he had a happy healthy life until now..

    He is 11 yrs old now and about 2 months ago he suddenly had blood hanging from his bum.So asap to the vet,when she examined him she told me he had renal problems,most likely polycystic kidney disease,as many Persians have this problems. She gave me special food and pills and for awhile the bleeding stopped,but unfortunately today started again.

    I looked on the internet for symptoms of PKD,and actually have to say my cat doesn’t have those??He has appetite and usually is active too,except for today,when he starts loosing blood also again.:( He usually wakes me up in the morning and always follows me where ever I go but today he was hiding under the table and didn’t move from there all day.Could my vet be wrong and could it be something else?She did take his blood and the test showed he has renal problem,but it could be a different problem from PKD,no? I will take him back to the vet,just hoping to hear someone else’s view, I’m also afraid he is maybe suffering,I’m crying just the idea that maybe I have to let him sleep in,so I’m really hoping to hear your opinion..:(

    • Hi Keira, thanks for your comment and sorry to hear about the health problem. It is tough for the human caretaker when a serious condition is diagnosed. The vet has run tests and I guess we have to trust the vet. Apparently X-rays can detect the cysts on the kidneys caused by PKD. Also ultrasound is the modern way to test and it is accurate. There is also a DNA test that was developed by VetGen for PKD (www.vetgen.com – 800 483 8436).

      That said, as you have asked, I will recite what I can find about blood on the bum and its relationship to PKD. The reference to bleeding from the anus or rectum that I have is a sign of anal and rectal disease. Under PKD or kidney failure I have no reference to bleeding from the anus. Does he lick his rear repeatedly? If so that would indicate anal/rectal disease. Another cause of blood on the bum is an anal sac infection and/or anal sac abscess. The anal sacs are close to the anus. Cancer of the anal canal is uncommon but the growth bleeds.

      PKD causes kidney failure and a sign of kidney failure is increased urination and drinking. Does he have this symptom? It may the case that the little fella has two conditions, the one diagnosed by your vet and another condition that causes the blood around the bum.

      I can’t do much more because a vet who has seen your cat and run tests is obviously the person to take advice from. All I can do is recite books. I hope it helps a bit though.

  7. Thanks Michael for replying so fast!

    I don’t know if my vet did a X ray or ultrasound check,she didn’t mention that but I will ask her,also about the DNA test.I only know about the bloodtest that showed his kidneys are in bad condition.
    My cat does lick his rear often so I will ask my vet if it could be one of the diseases/infection/cancer that you mentioned.It looks indeed like he is suffering from 2 different problems.I have made an appointment tomorrow,talked to her through the phone and she thinks it’s something he ate that caused infection,thus starting the bleeding.I did give him a tsp full pieces of boiled chicken filet mixed with the food the vet prescribed for his kidney disease,because he doesn’t like that food,and like this he eats it at least.He used to drink more then the normal and urinate more,but not right now.I change his water twice a day just to keep it fresh,but he drinks only half of it,also when I clean his litterbox it’s not so much urine like it used to be,so I don’t know what to think,that supposed to be a good sign,maybe the special food is helping a bit on the renal disease part,just hope he is not suffering..will have a talk tomorrow what the vet thinks,but thank you very much for your time,your answer is helpful,so glad I found this site!:)

    • I don’t think renal disease is painful. Some degree of kidney failure is not a huge health problem because there is often a lot of life left in a cat. I hope you find the cause of the bleeding. I think it is causing some discomfort which may account for his subdued behavior.

    • Hi keekpetite, Nice to hear from you. I had to move the site and that changed things but you can subscribe to email notifications on this site which is an identical site. All that has changed is the way it looks. The email subscription box is on the right hand-side navigation bar – right hand column. Hope you are OK.

  10. I’m writing here to let everyone know that a scam exist in rescuing savannah’s. They will advertise the kittens for free but you must pay for them to be shipped to you. The shipping agency is Express Guarantee shippers and they advertise as professional animal world wide shippers. They will send you an invoice complete with references and links to legitimate sites and organizations. They are their own references and they operate out of Houston, Texas. Their references will even reply to you if you write them. You will receive legitimate looking documents before shipment and the shipment cost start at $200. to be paid via wire transfer. The scam is when the animal starts in transit, it will be held at some airport because of health reasons. You will then be ask to pay for health insurance for the animal which is refundable when the animal arrives safely. The Houston police dept. and FBI are on to them. I was scammed and have case numbers to prove it. I only lost $200, but many others have lost more. Beware and always check it out

    • Thanks Chris for taking the time to alert people to this scam. I’ll see if I can dig around a bit and maybe do a post on it.

  11. Hi Michael,

    I’ve been reading through the articles on your site for a few hours and I just wanted to stop by your main page to mention that you’ve done an excellent job with your site.

    The articles are top notch – long, detailed, interesting, and accurate. That’s my idea of good reading. The site is laid out well and is attractive. It also loads nice and fast.

    Lots of nice pictures and great topic choices.

    It stands head and shoulders above most cat sites and I look forward to coming back to read more soon.

    Job well done and many thank,

    =^-^= Hairless Cat Girl =^-^=

  12. This comment can be seen here. It has been moved to try and speed up home page load times. Sorry to the author.

    • I am so pleased you visited, Susan. I have a feeling we think alike. I would love to see some sort of regulation on breeding. Actually, I would prefer something wider than that but that is a personal view. I am always shocked to hear about the beautiful Bengal cat needing to be rescued. I find it astonishing. I would feel privileged to live with a Bengal cat.

      I am very pleased you stayed on the site for a while. This is my site but there are some great people who regularly visit and comment. Their comments very often add a great deal to the pages.

      I’d like to praise you for rescuing cats and being so committed to what must be a tough job. If PoC can help you in any way just ask. If you want to advertise or promote just email me and I’ll publish it. PoC is about cat welfare and great pictures. Cats need us. They are dependent on people who have an empathy for them.

      My email address is mjbmeister [at] gmail.com

  13. I had a problem with my cats a couple of years ago and my Vet told me that it was a virus that had come out and I should not let them outside…He gave me oral imoxisillion and everything seemed to have cleared up…a couple of weeks ago I took five more to an animal shelter to get spayed and neutered and now they have the same problem including the ones that didn’t go…They sneeze and the ones with white noses look like their noses are turning brown…Do you know what this is and is it life threatening?

  14. My cats are my most reliable therapists, they provide me with relaxation under stress and depression. They give me joy with their antics and give me rest as I look at them sleeping.

  15. Hi Michael,

    Love your site, very informative! My little guy is four, he likes to drink from the faucet several times a day. We installed a water softener recently…my question, will the sodium be harmful to him?

    Thank you!

  16. Thank you so much for getting back to me..enjoyed the article!

    I forgot to mention, my cat gets cold spring water from the frig for his drinking bowls. He does enjoy drinking from the bathroom faucet a few times a day.

    I’ll definitely have my husband install a bypass to the softening device to be on the safe side. Again, thanks for caring about our furry friends….