‘Staggering disease’ in wild and domestic cats and the viruses that cause it

Staggering disease

There is an article in the online news media today (24th August 2024) about a female mountain lion in Colorado, USA, which was seen staggering around with paralysed hind legs. The journalist said that the cat suffered from “staggering disease”. That’s a generic term which doesn’t specify the virus causing it. But in this …

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Can faecal microbiota transplants in cats or humans result in needed weight loss?

FMT for weight loss in cats and people?

The question in the title was prompted by me because of a study that is being conducted at present which is assessing faecal microbiota transplants as a means to achieve weight loss in cats. A $73,199 grant has been awarded to Ohio State University for Jenessa Winston, DVM, PhD, DACVIM to conduct the research. …

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Women belittled by American hospitals in misogynistic behaviour, a reflection of the crazy cat lady syndrome

Women less likely to get correct treatment in ER because they're viewed as hysterical and exaggerating

For me, this is a story which intersects the way women are treated by American and Israeli hospitals and in general and in particular with respect to the stereotypical cultural concept of the “crazy cat lady”. They are all designed to belittle women and they all stem from the male’s misogyny which in American …

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Cat owners with children are more likely to accept obesity in their cat companions

Having children is linked to underestimating cat body condition and weight.

The title describes one interesting aspect of study into normalising overweight and underweight cats (and dogs) which I address below. Unfortunately, it happens too often, nowadays. Caregivers tend to overestimate their cat’s weight if they are underweight and underestimate their cat’s weight if they are overweight. This is normalising cat weight. It’s a blind …

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Invasive species such as cats killed-off the fast dodo, not hunters

Dodo was fast on its feet but no match for the killer cats

A new study which involved a team of scientists going through 400 years-worth of literature and visiting and measuring dodo specimens around the UK came to the conclusion that it was invasive species such as cats and rats and others rather than Dutch sailors – who hunted the dodo for its meat – which …

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True or false? Cat owners are more neurotic than ‘resilient’ dog owners?

Is this study inadvertently misogynistic by inference?

Another study, this time from Australia (the country where they hate feral cats), concluded that dog owners have a personality which allows them to better bounce back from stressful situations i.e. they are more resilient than cat owners who they conclude are more likely to be neurotic (‘demonstrating higher levels of neuroticism’). Let’s have …

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Good gut microbiome when young is important for cat and human health later

God gut and bad gut microbiome health has impact on overall health

The gut microbiome is important for cat health and of course all animals and humans. I am not a vet but I know a bit about cats and also about human health. I also know that if the stomach microbiome is messed up it can cause autoimmune diseases such as inflammation of the arteries …

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Cats are aloof? They grieve for their friends. Infographic.

Cats are aloof? They grieve for their friends.

I have compressed the results of a research project by Prof. Jennifer Vonk and Brittany Greene entitled: Is companion animal loss cat-astrophic? Responses of domestic cats to the loss of another companion animal, into an infographic in order try and get Google to recognise its existence as Google’s catastrophic algorithm changes four months ago …

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