Lynxacariasis is caused by the fur mite, Lynxacarus radovskyi and is more commonly reported in cats from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Australia and Fiji, although it is now being recognized in the continental United States, especially Florida. Continue reading
Cross-eyed Siamese Cats
Did you ever wonder why Siamese Cats appear to be cross-eyed? Did you know that it is really a function of the coat color rather than any problem with their eyes. Well, it’s true – the gene that causes the beautiful coat color possibilities in the Siamese and Himalayan also affects their eyes and the “routing” of visual pathways in their brains.
The color variations in Siamese and Himalayan cats are caused by pigment production that varies with temperature. Pigment is produced in areas of greater heat loss, such as the extremities and is absent elsewhere. The Siamese trait therefore represents an imperfect form of albino in which there is some pigment but not a full complement as seen in other breeds.
Siamese cats, because they are deficient in pigment production, lack pigment on the retinas at the back of their eyes and therefore fail to develop normal visual pathways.
These pathways are abnormal in all Siamese cats but vary amongst individuals in degree. As a consequence of this misrouting from the eyes to the brain, a portion of the visual field is opposite of normal or inverted.
Siamese cats have learned to compensate for such misinformation by some brain “rewiring” but all Siamese cats lack binocular vision, the ability to form one picture from two eyes. The visual fields are therefore altered in Siamese cats, and their visual precision is decreased.
Siamese cats often develop a cross-eyed appearance (convergent strabismus) during their third month of life in an effort of their brains to create a complete visual field; abnormal eye position is necessary to optimize visual perception. Although we don’t tend to think of Siamese cats as any real kind of albinos, they do represent an important model of the effects of pigment and the genes that control them.
Complementary Care For Your Pets
Complementary, alternative, holistic, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal therapy, flower essences. do any of these terms sound familiar? If so, you may have tried one of them yourself. Maybe you’ve tried them all.
Lyme Disease from Pet?
Q.My dog has recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease. I was wondering how fatal it is. Can I contract it from him or only from tick bites? Continue reading
Blood Transfusion In Cats
Cats have AB blood groups just as people do, but this matter has traditionally received little attention in feline medicine. When cats require blood transfusions, it has been a common practice to transfuse blood to anemic cats without first cross-matching or blood typing. The risks for transfusion reactions was originally believed to be minimal. Continue reading
Can Cats Cause Conjunctivitis?
Q.For the last year, my daughter has suffered from what appears to be conjunctivitis, sometimes in just one eye and other times in both eyes. Continue reading
Carbohydrates in the Nutrition of the Dog
Carbohydrates are so named because it was originally thought they were complexes of carbon (carbo) and water (hydrate). Carbohydrates are actually composed of combinations of simple sugars and glucose is the most important subunit. More complex carbohydrates can be described as mono-, di-, tri-, oligo-, and poly-saccharides depending upon the number of simple sugars that are incorporated into a longer chain. Polysaccharides are groups containing more than two simple sugars. There is no known minimum dietary requirement for carbohydrates in dogs. They are however, an efficient and cost-effective dietary energy source. Continue reading
Animal Allergies
Allergies to animals can be triggered by breathing (respiratory allergy) or touching (skin allergy).
The most common animal allergy is to cats. People are allergic to the cat’s saliva and dander, not their fur.
When cats lick their fur, they coat the fur with saliva. The saliva dries, breaks off in little pieces (especially when someone pets the cat) and floats into the air, where people breathe it. It makes no difference whether the cat is long-haired or short-haired. It’s possible to be allergic to only one breed of cat. Continue reading
The Treatment of Trauma in Pet Animals Post 4
Useful rubrics might include:
Mind, forsaken feeling (this is the most important)
Fear, alone, of being
Fear, solitude
Anxiety, when alone
Some homeopaths use the “Delusions” rubrics in these cases. I do not, since we are not able to assess delusions in animals, and in their minds, they probably are truly forsaken. Continue reading
The Treatment of Trauma in Pet Animals Post 3
A recent discussion of animal behavior problems delineated 6 “etiologic” categories:
genetic
problems caused during developmental stages
ethogram deviations
disturbed social interactions
disease related behavior
adaptation inabilities Continue reading