Fat Cats Die Sooner Morsels When Two Cats Who Got Along, Don’t The Truth(s) About Cats and Water Why Cats Get Stuck in Trees—And How to Get Yours Down If Your Cat Requires Water by Needle The Zoomies: Anything to Be Concerned About? Dear Doctor To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in Subscribe Subscribe to Tufts Catnip Get the next year of TUFTS CATNIP for just $20. And access all of our online content - over 1,000 articles - free of charge. Subscribe today and save 44%. It's like getting 5 months FREE! Already Subscribed? Click Here to Sign In | For ..read more

You’re a two-cat or multi-cat household, and all of your felines do fine together. They don’t mind looking out the same window at the same time and even do some hanging out and playing together. Then one of them goes to the vet. Or both go, or they all spend a couple of days at a boarding facility. When the one cat or the group of cats arrives back home, you might assume there’d be relief at the routine going back to normal, but instead, things turn aggressive between the pets. There’s swatting, maybe biting and scratching. It’s as if the cats never knew each other—even if they were taken for ..read more

People walk plantigrade, meaning that when we take a step the entire sole of the foot reaches the ground, from the toes to the heel. Not so, cats. Their locomotion is digitigrade, which is to say that their heels do not touch the ground. That provides them with both agility and speed, say, when they want to escape a predator or catch their next meal. It’s a more stealth way of ambulating as it’s a relatively quiet movement. To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in Subscribe Subscribe to Tufts Catnip Get the next year of TUFTS CATNIP for just $20. And ac ..read more

Cat urine tends to be significantly more concentrated than dog urine—or human urine. It’s a survival-of-the-species thing. Since cats started out in the desert, their bodies had to evolve in a way that allowed them to get rid of the waste urine carries while holding onto as much water as possible. To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in Subscribe Subscribe to Tufts Catnip Get the next year of TUFTS CATNIP for just $20. And access all of our online content - over 1,000 articles - free of charge. Subscribe today and save 44%. It's like getting 5 months F ..read more

Although everyone knows that leaner is healthier, excess weight in cats continues to creep up. These days, an estimated 61 percent of pet felines are overweight, with the majority of that proportion out-and-out obese. That’s a couple of percentage points higher than it was just six years ago. What can motivate people to feed their pets appropriate-size portions and make sure they engage in some physical activity so that they lose weight or don’t become overweight in the first place? To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in Subscribe Subscribe to Tufts C ..read more

Liver disease, pancreatitis, diabetes, chronic kidney failure. These are among the main illnesses that can keep a cat from drinking enough water by mouth. Sometimes it’s because the condition causes excess urination, and sometimes it’s because the disease zaps the cat of the energy required to drink the fluid her body needs. It’s a more common problem than you might assume. Chronic kidney disease by itself affects more than half of all cats over the age of 10 and close to 70 percent of cats over age 15, according to at least one estimate. To continue reading this article or issue you must be ..read more

It’s untrue that cats are universal water haters. Sure, no cat wants to be unceremoniously dumped in the sink and have water and suds poured all over him willy nilly, but felines’ reputation for being aquaphobic is belied by the facts. Consider that many people think cats can’t swim. But cats in general can swim just fine, and some breeds actually enjoy it. Among them: the Turkish Angora and the Turkish Van. To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in Subscribe Subscribe to Tufts Catnip Get the next year of TUFTS CATNIP for just $20. And access all of our ..read more

Behavioral scientists call them Frenetic Random Activity Periods, but you probably know them as the zoomies. We’ve all seen them. A cat goes from lounging languidly to tearing back and forth with no warning. It’s more common in kittens and other young cats, but many cats never grow out of the behavior completely. What drives it? To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in Subscribe Subscribe to Tufts Catnip Get the next year of TUFTS CATNIP for just $20. And access all of our online content - over 1,000 articles - free of charge. Subscribe today and save 4 ..read more

If you think about the fact that cats tend to jump down from high places rather than climb down, it becomes easier to understand why a cat who has climbed high up a tree may have difficulty descending. They climb in the first place either to chase an animal, escape from one, or simply because they like to climb and be high up. But once they get high enough, they know that jumping carries risk. Cats do survive jumps from extremely high perches but, contrary to popular opinion, not always—and not always without injury. To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sig ..read more

Dogs don’t commonly get asthma, but up to 5 percent of cats do—one in 20. How might you know? If your cat coughs on a fairly regular basis, it could be a sign. People often mistake that for an effort to throw up a hair ball. If your cat coughs a lot, take him to the vet. Other conditions cause coughing, too—heartworm disease, lung worms, laryngeal cancer, heart disease. If asthma is what’s diagnosed (the coughing is often accompanied by wheezing and open-mouthed breathing), there are medicines available to control it. Also: Don’t use scented candles. Vacuum regularly to keep dust and dust mit ..read more