The Black Death — the mid-14th-century pandemic that killed perhaps 30–60 % of Europe’s population — is among the most devastating tragedies in human history. For decades, popular memory and many historical accounts depicted it as a tale of black rats, fleas, and filth: rats infested medieval towns, fleas carrying the plague bacterium jumped …
I think it is always useful for people who are new to cat caregiving to quickly check over what is meant by an infectious disease. When domestic cats get ill it is most likely to be because of a bacterial and/or viral infection. Perhaps the most common is the URI – upper respiratory infection …
This is a short note that reminds us that dry cat and dog food has the ability to be toxic to both cat or dog AND their caregiver at the same time. The most recent example, reported currently online, concerns an American product. Carolina Prime Pet, Inc, announced on Friday it is recalling 400 …
The purpose of this article is to ‘fact check’ or put some sensible reality into what I would consider to be sensationalist headlines in the news media about a study (which I can’t find sadly on the Internet) which according to the news media states that antibiotic-resistant superbugs are jumping from cats and dogs …
Let’s compare viral and bacterial diseases affecting domestic cats. Here’s a concise table highlighting the key differences. The sources are many veterinary websites and other authoritative websites (see base of page). Sorry but you’ll have to turn your smartphones horizontally to see the 2nd and 3rd tables width-wise. This is a coding issue and …
What are the reasons why it is not okay or okay to allow your cat onto the countertop? I have presented two arguments. In the first we see the reasons why it is not okay to allow a domestic cat on the kitchen countertop. In the second there are the reasons why it is …
NEWS AND VIEWS: The Mail Online has a sensationalist headline as per my headline in which they add that “officials rushed to contain virus”. Rare and normally hard to spread It sounds as if Oregan is about to be swamped by a bubonic plague epidemic but it’s not. Bubonic plague is very rare in …
There’s an interesting letter in The Times today (29-08-23) from a doctor, Dr. Matthew Dryden. He says that, in the USA, private clinics take advantage of “vulnerable patients” by allegedly deliberately wrongly diagnosing Lyme disease. This allows them to prescribe a long course of expensive treatment all paid for by health insurance. The issue …
Note: Some older videos on this page were hosted on Vimeo. That account has now been retired, so a few video blocks may appear blank. Thanks for understanding — there’s still plenty of cat content to enjoy!