Sunday, September 28, 2008

Hormones, diet and epilepsy

Sparky has epilepsy. When she was a little kitten, she had big seizures, and as a result she suffered brain damage. You can tell when she walks...she falls down often, and sometimes she jumps into walls and windows. But otherwise she seems fine.

From observing Sparky, I think there is a connection between diet, seizures and hormones. I've mentioned this connection to our Vet's but they don't THINK there is a connection, but agree that there MAY be a connection.

This is what I found: January 2008...Sparky goes in heat. You can't miss it - she changes into a totally different cat. She WANTS everyone to pat and touch her. She is nice to the dog and other cats. Before she goes in heat (every few weeks for 2 years), her appetite increases. She goes from 3 cans a day to 6 or 7. This increased eating usually lasts for 5 to 7 days. So, in January, I begin to wonder what would happen if she does not get that extra food. Will she still go in heat? What would happen? Would she lose weight?

So, I put her on a tighter eating schedule. 3 cans a day only... no more eating on demand.


A few weeks pass, and she is asking for more food (follows me around, and is always under my feet.) She survives the new diet...sometimes she gets a few bites of the other cats food, but not too much. And she doesn't go into heat. Not in February...not in March. She also does not lose weight. She also has NO siezures, none at all.

I take her to the Vet in April to get weighed and get her phenobarb blood levels checked. She lost a tiny bit of weight..a few ounces. And her phenobarb levels are perfect.

It is now September and she hasn't been in heat since January. She has had a few seizures in July, when we traveled across country in the car and slept in hotels. She stayed at a kennel in Niagra Falls Ontario and they messed up her eating routine and missed a pill. It took a month to get her stabilized again, but she has been great ever since.

So, is there a connection betwwen hormones, diet and epilepsy?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Catnip

Nepeta is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. The members of this group are known as catnip or catmint because of their famed effect on cats—nepeta pleasantly stimulates cats' pheromonic receptors, typically resulting in the animal temporarily exhibiting behaviors indicative of being in an induced, euphorically giddy sort of state.



The genus is native to Europe, Asia and Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region east to mainland China. It is now also common in North America.[1] Most of the species are herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annuals. They have sturdy stems with opposite heart-shaped, green to grayish-green leaves. The flowers are white, blue, pink or lilac and occur in several clusters toward the tip of the stems. The flowers are tubular and spotted with tiny purple dots. The scent of the plant has a stimulating effect on cats.



Oil isolated from catnip by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches and termites.[2][3] Research suggests that in a test tube, distilled nepetalactone, the active ingredient in catnip, repels mosquitoes ten times more effectively than DEET, the active ingredient in most insect repellents,[4][5] but that it is not as effective as a repellent on skin.[6] Additionally, catnip and catnip-laced products designed for use with domesticated cats are available to consumers.


Both true catnip and Faassen's catnip have a sharp, biting taste, while the taste of giant catmint is bland.



Catnip and catmints are mainly known for the behavioral effects they have on cats, particularly domestic cats.[7] When cats sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip, they may roll over it, paw at it, chew it, lick it, leap about and purr, often salivating copiously. Some cats will also growl and meow. This reaction only lasts for a few minutes before the cat loses interest. It takes up to two hours for the cat to "reset" after which it can come back to the catnip and have the same response as before.[8] Young kittens and older cats are less likely to react to catnip.



Approximately two thirds of cats are susceptible to the behavioral effects of catnip. The phenomenon is hereditary; for example, most cats in Australia are not susceptible to catnip, since Australian cats are drawn from a relatively closed genetic pool.[9] It elicits such a response in only some cats, because a genetic element is involved that is enriched in domesticated breeds. There is some disagreement about the susceptibility of lions and tigers to catnip. Some claim that the way lions and domestic cats react to catnip suggest further evidence of the genetic existence of a susceptibility to catnip outside of domestic felines.[9]



Catnip contains nepetalactone, a terpene. Nepetalactone can be extracted from catnip using steam distillation.[10] Cats detect it through their olfactory epithelium and not through their vomeronasal organ.[11] At the olfactory epithelium, the nepetalactone is hypothesized to bind to one or more olfactory receptors where it probably mimics a cat pheromone, such as the hypothetical feline facial pheromone or the cat urine odorant MMB.



Other plants that also have this effect on cats include valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and plants that contain actinidine or dihydroactinidiolide


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Dogs and Cat toys

I've always considered myself very lucky when it comes to my dog. Mind you, he is a bit simple minded, and can't do much more than sit...but he's never chewed any shoes or furniture. Even when we first got him, he was soooo easy to train. I think we had one little accident on the floor, amybe 2, but no more.

A few month agao I bought a really cool homemade cat toy from the flea market. It was a 2 foot long wooden stick with a 6 foot long, one inch thick pink strip on flannel on the end. You wave the stick and the cats go crazy...great toy.

It was a great toy until the dog ate it. Almost all of the 6 feet of flannel. He left about 4 inches, making the toy unusable. And the dog did vomit the flannel.

But it could've been much worse. I think we came out very lucky. I now make sure all cat toys are put out of the dogs reach. For a good dog that doesn't chew on anything, I've never had a problem before this, but I will do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again!

Travelling with pets

We are getting ready to travel across Canada with the animals! Well from Nova Scotia to Manitoba, in a mini van!! It should be quite an adventure. I've been taking the cats in the car for small trips trying to get them used to it.


When we have an open house (usually every sunday) we bring the dog and Sparky with us. The dog barks non-stop at anyone he doesn't know and Sparky will bite and possible scratch anyone who touches her. I did make up a nice big sign explaining not to touch the small grey cay, but I haven't had to use it yet. She is just so cute I know at least one person will try to pat her.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Cat Towers


It sure must be nice to be a cat! I was looking for a new cat tower... mine is getting a bit of a lean to it ;), and I am amazed at the variety out there! Cats can play and live in luxury!
Take the cat tower on the left for example. It has a hammock! I think my adult male cats would be a bit too big for it, but Bits would lay in it anyway! I'm not sure it would be Sparky's thing though. You can purchase this cat tower at
Cozy Cat Furniture.com, for only $159.95 - trust me it's worth every penny!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

cute cat toy


I totally love this cat toy idea! The bag moves like there is something in it and that is very interesting to a cat! My cats are not kittens, but love bags, and things in bags! Of course, be careful not to let your pet play with a plastic bag.


You can make this toy at home very easily with a paper bag and a small wind up toy(can be bought at walmart, or Toys R Us for about $1). Wind up the toy and stick it in the bag! A new cat toy for everyones enjoyment!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Cat and Dogs

Naturally cats and dogs do not get along, but when they live in the same house they usually learn to get along just fine. In most cases the cat will even assert his/herself over the dog...maybe that's natures way of keeping the cat safe...make the dog think he's weaker than the cat maybe?



Sometimes Cats and Dogs get along very well! Here is a video from YouTube of a cat and dog who seem to be in love! Anyone who has a cat and dog living together will love this video!



Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Cat TV

I'm just getting over the flu, so a few times in the past few weeks, I've rediscovered Cat TV. My dog watches it everyday with great interest... and from a safe distance.




At my house, Cat TV has 3 characters, with BITS being the main character. Bits is my 5 year old overweight Calico male. It might be becuase of his extra X chromosome, or just his personality, but he ALWAYS has to be the center of attention. Sparky has learned that she can beat up and push around the other cat and the dog, but not Bits. Bits would just hold her down and clean and groom her, even when she is loudly howling.




Back on topic... Cat TV. Everyone with at least One cat has it, but it is better when there is a dog. My dog would've been a psychologist if he was a human. He spends most of his waking in house hours watching Cat TV, with the usual host, Bits.




Cat TV is also better when there are birds outside. Lucky for us, our house is surrounded by trees, and we have lots of windows. The cat run from room to room watching the birds, sometimes making funny cat noises...with the exception of Sparky. Because of her brain damage from seizures as a kitten, she has less depth perception than other cats. A bird in the sky looks like its as close of the bird on the window ledge. Sometimes she goes completely retarded trying to catch the bird, and sometimes she watches them very quietly...like she's watching Bird Tv.




Last spring, my husband was away at sea, and I was downstairs in the laundry room. I heard a lot of comotion upstairs so I ran up to see what was going on. As I climbed the stairs, I noticed my dog outside my bedroom, watching Cat Tv. Uh oh. There was a lot of noise coming from my room. I could feel my heart racing and I started sweating. To my horror, when I looked in the bedroom, all 3 cats were hunting JUNE BUGS. One of the cats knocked out the screen tryng to get to a june bug pounding against it trying to get into the room, attracked by the light.




I closed the door shut and left the 3 of them in the room with the huge bugs. It took me about 3 minutes to calm down and think of what to do. Mike was away. 13 year old daughter was out. It was just me and the bugs. Even the dog sensed my fear and was gone from sight. On behalf of military spouces everywhere, I had to be brave.


Armed with fly swatters, and wearing a big zipped up sweater, I bravely entered the room. First thing, I closed the window so no more would get in. Bits was chewing on something...good one bug down. Sandy was digging behind my night stand...I took a look, and that bug was trapped but flopping around. I left Sandy to his work.


Sparky was sitting on the bed watching...Cat Tv. She had a dead June Bug beside her, but she was more interested in the other cats. On closer inspection, her bug was HUGE. About 3 cm long and laying on it's back. I had to get a picture (I tend to exaggerate, so I needed proof on how big this bug was!!) When I looked at the picture later on my computer, I noticed it had RED GLOWING EYES! No wonder sparky didn't eat it. Bits did eat it though, lol.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic desease that is found mostly in cats but can infect humans and other animals as well. It is passed from mother cat to kitten, by eating infected meat or from infected faeces. Mostly however, it is contacted by a cat after eating an infected mouse or rat.

Pregnant women are warned NOT to change the kitty litter box if possible. Or to was their hands VERY well after changing the litter. Toxoplasmosis can cause fetal death in the first trimester.

Sparky MIGHT have been infected with Toxoplasmosis as a kitten, but there were no tests on this parasite. I did contact the vet who treated the mother cats and kittens before they were sent to the pet store, but they said no other cats were sick and nothing was reported back to them.

An few interesting facts about toxoplasmosis...

it seems to change the behavior on the infected host. Infected mice and rats are less fearful of cats. Some some of the infected rats seek out cat-urine-marked areas!

it's considered to be the third leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More that 60 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. Some syptoms would be a flu like illness, low-grade
encephalitis. The person may become very ill if they have a compromised immune system, such as with HIV/AIDS or chemotherapy patients.

it was once thought that toxoplasmosis might cause schizophrenia in humans. Haloperidol, an anti-psychotic used for treating schizophrenia, can actuallystop the growth of Toxoplasma in cell cultures.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Double Paws

One of the cutest things about Sparky is her Double Paws, or, polydactyly. Double paws... extra toes, is a genetic mutation, but is actually very common in house cats. Sparky has 6 toes on each of her back paws and 6 on each of her front.

A Canadian cat called Tiger was recognised by Guinness World Records as having the highest number of toes on a cat, with 27 toes. Tiger beats Sparky by 3 toes! Actually sparky has a toe on her front paw that is halfway split in 2, but it only counts as 1.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Sparky's history


I've been wanting to start this blog for a while now, and I am so happy I've finally gotten around to it.


I have a cat...her name is Princess, but I call her Sparky. We adopted her when she was 6 weeks old, from a pet store. We didn't plan on adopting a kitten, we were just "Looking". But this kitten separated herself from the other kittens in her litter and meowed at us through the glass. Myself and my 3 daughters believe she was asking us to take her home.
2 days later she had her first Grand mal seizure. At first it was hard to tell what was happening, she was so tiny and seizures in cats that young is very very rare.


We took her home and she was fine for a few days. She would follow me everywhere and sit on my laptop. Then she had another seizure. She was so sick she was hospitalized for 4 days...day and night. We would have to transfer her to the all night vet hospital every night, and bring her back every morning.
After this second seizure she had a permanent shake in her head. She had smaller Petit mal seizeures and lots of head shaking over the next couple of weeks.
We discovered during this time that Sparky would purr very loud and kneed on a certain green baby blanket we owned. We nicknamed this "Lovey baby". For lovey Baby to work she would need someone to look at while she purred and kneeded. She would pick someone(Usually me) and meow at us until we followed her to the green blanket. Then she would do her thing.
At 9 weeks, I brought her back to the vet to get spade. My regular vet was away so there was a new vet who was unfamiliar with us. She said she would not operate on my cat because her head shaking was actually seizuring!! She took some blood tests and sent us home.
The next day, Sparky had another Grand Mal seizure. This time the new vet put her on phenobarbital. I would give her this pink liquid medicine twice a day. Almost immediately we saw results. The shaking nealy disappeared. Lovey baby episodes also increased to at least 3 a day.
I never did ger her spade. Some vets believe she may not make it through the operation. My regular vet is divided. Since she has out lived her life expectancy and is a healthy 3 year old cat, she is just fine the way she is. She does go into "heat" regularily. When in heat you can pat her and scratch her back (you CANNOT attempt this at any other time, with the exception of lovey baby times). We have to spend a few days of all night howling however, and my 2 neutered male cats follow her around watching her oddly.