The recent heavy rainfall hasn’t just caused flooding issues in some parts of the country. For pet owners, it also means this is set to be one of the worst tick seasons on record.

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) reports that ticks are thriving thanks to this year’s mild winter and the current wet weather. Plus the AVA warns that the previous years of drought means there is not enough antivenom (a natural product that can only be made during tick season) in stock to cope with this year’s onslaught.

Protect your pet

The recent Advantix Protect the One You Love pet owner survey conducted by Bayer Animal Health has shown that around 30 per cent of pet owners are unaware of paralysis ticks and the risks they pose to their pets.

Cat Diaries is therefore urging pet owners across the east coast of Australia, where paralysis ticks are found, to talk to their vet about the best way to guard against ticks.

‘The holiday season is approaching and many pet owners will be travelling to coastal regions with their pets where paralysis ticks are common. We love our pets and wouldn’t want anything terrible to happen to them, and whilst laboratories are working hard to produce enough antivenom to alleviate the shortage in the next few weeks, it is important to understand the risks and symptoms of tick paralysis and how to prevent your pets falling victim to these dangerous parasites,’ says Dr Bob Rees, Bayer Animal Health Technical Services Veterinarian.

What should you do during tick season?

1.      Prevention is better than cure – repelling ticks before they bite is the key to prevention, so talk to your vet about the best course of action.

2.      Check your pet every day for ticks – the best way is to feel, not look, for ticks. Start in the common places such as the head and neck, but make sure you search everywhere, including the ears, around the eyes, under the collar, between toes, etc. Your pet is also bound to enjoy the extra attention!

3.      Look out for the telltale signs:

• Weakness in the hind legs or staggering, which may be followed by paralysis;
• Vomiting or regurgitation;
• Change in you cat’s meow due to paralysis of the throat and voice box;
• Laboured breathing, which may include a ‘grunting’ sound.

4.      If you are travelling with your pet – check with your vet if you will be travelling to an area where there are paralysis ticks. If so, make sure your pet is treated every two weeks and checked for ticks daily.

5.      If you notice any of the warning signs, take your pet to your vet immediately.

Take the time to protect the one you love!

Image sourced from: about.com

The Aussie summer can be unforgiving – even humans usually find it trying at times and we’re not covered in a layer of fur! Here are a few tips to make sure your cat stays healthy and happy through the coming summer and to keep you aware of any changes that could signal a problem.

Watch for heatstroke

Although more common in dogs, heatstroke can also affect cats, so it’s vital to know the early warning signs. These include:

• Panting;
• Increased body temperature;
• Hyperventilation or breathing difficulties;
• Lethargy;
• Dark-red gums.

If you think your cat has heatstroke, contact your vet immediately – and in the meantime, help lower your cat’s temperature by rubbing her down with a damp cool towel, resting her feet in a tub of cold water and making sure she has plenty to drink.

It’s also important to make sure she is inside in a cool area and not directly in the sun. Wrap a bag of frozen peas in a towel and place it in her bed to create a cool resting spot – the temperature is the most immediate thing you need to change in order to prevent lasting damage.

Sunburn

White or fair-coloured cats are particularly prone to sunburn, but you need to be mindful of it no matter what your cat looks like. Extended exposure to the sun can cause carcinoma (a malignant tumour), especially on the ears and nose, so it’s a good idea to keep them out of the sun, especially during the most intense periods of the day (12-4pm).

Ticks

Ticks are especially bad in summer and can be difficult to detect on a cat, especially one with long hair. Give your cat a daily tick check by feeling around the ears and neck and underside in particular. A tick can be as small as a pinhead or as large as a pea, so be thorough – and keep your cat’s flea and tick treatments up to date.

Held this year on Monday, August 16th, Cupcake Day is the biggest bake-off in the Southern Hemisphere and involves aspiring Masterchefs putting on their aprons, baking up a storm and hosting a cupcake party to raise vital funds for the RSPCA.

If you are interested in hosting a cupcake party, simply head to the Cupcake Day website, register your party and then invite your friends to donate online. It’s free to register, and proceeds go towards assisting the care and protection of Australia’s animals.

If the 16th of August doesn’t work for you, there’s the option of holding your cupcake party at any time during the month of August. And while you won’t need any more persuading (if you’re anything like us) to get on board the cupcake train, how’s this for a bonus: for every $100 you fund raise online, you get an entry into the draw to win 2 Kymco scooters.

Last year, Cupcake Day helped raise $1.1 million to assist in the care and protection of Australia’s animals. This year they aim to top that total and reach the target of $2.5 million! It’s a fun way to help a great organization do their good works and there is the added bonus of winning a great prize – what’s not to love?  So Cat Diaries are betting that the RSPCA will reach their target!

Everyone loves a cupcake, so get involved and unleash your inner sweet tooth. We’re loosening our belts in anticipation…

Image sources: tonibduguid and clevercupcakes

One of the most dangerous threats to a dog’s life is not parvo-virus. It’s not kennel cough, or busy roads, or even cancer. It’s looking irresistible as a puppy in a pet store window…

Over 200,000 cats and dogs are put to sleep in Australia each year, and the vast majority of these are homeless. Of these homeless dogs, many began life as an adorable, big-eyed pup in the pet-store window, just waiting for someone to come along and succumb to their charm.

And what a brilliant marketing ploy! Who can resist the sad eyes and hopefully wagging tail when walking past a pet-store display?

The problem is, while many passers-by are seduced into buying a pup to ‘rescue’ it from the pet store, far fewer are able or willing to maintain the commitment into the dog’s adulthood, resulting in an alarming number being surrendered (or dumped) at animal shelters and pounds. Once in the pound, a dog has an average of just a week to find a new home – if no-one comes to save them in this time, they are put to sleep.

The solution
In order to combat this problem, PETStock animal supplies have teamed up with the lifesaving organisation PetRescue to create a new way to bring a pet home – without the guilt, pressure or situation to induce an impulse-buy.

In an ongoing series of events Australia-wide, PETStock will hold an in-store adoption drive where people looking to adopt a pet can meet their potential new family members in a relaxed and happy environment. The cats and dogs will all be rescue pets (animals that have been rescued from pounds and shelters) and if a family is interested in adopting one they will be required to go home and fill out an online adoption query, to ensure that the best matches are made.

•    To learn more about when the next adoption drive is taking place in your state, visit www.petrescue.com.au

Images by ƒernando and dude seriously productions

In Western Australia recently, a man who didn’t own any pets died, bequeathing his entire estate to the RSPCA.  The proceeds from his three-bedroom home worth more than $250,000 will be put towards saving the lives and ensuring the protection of more animals than would have otherwise been possible.

‘We receive less than four per cent of our funding from the government a year, which I don’t think people realise, and the rest we have to raise ourselves, so these acts of generosity are very much appreciated.’ said Tim Mayne, RSPCA WA’s senior PR manager.

‘This is a wonderful, caring gesture by people who want to help make a difference to the lives of animals and their welfare.’

This isn’t the first case in which a pet-less person has left money or property to support the welfare of animals. Just last year, Sydney dentist Dana Silins left her entire $3 million estate (including property in Fiji and on the Central Coast) to animal welfare groups in order to try and protect the stray cats and dogs she loved so much… but never owned.

‘At her dental surgery she would feed every stray cat that came along, no one would go hungry,’ said Keith Clissold, a former patient of Dr Silins. ‘She didn’t have any family, but everybody knew her.’

Tim Mayne says that without the generosity of people like Dr Silins and other pet-loving citizens, the RSPCA ‘would not be able to care for animals in need without the support of the community.’

Images by kurafire and Kevin Steele

The Secret Cat Campaign is an initiative that utilises information published in a report to the Animal Welfare Science Centre in 2009 entitled Characteristics of Pets Visiting Vets, which indicated that 40 per cent of cat owners are also feeding a cat that does not belong to them.

Michelle Williamson, editor of The Pet Rescuer, PetRescue’s online newsletter, describes the experience that sparked the idea for the campaign in the first place…

‘When this cat showed up on my doorstep and mewed to let me know that she was planning to stay, I was faced with a dilemma. Allow her ex-owners (the people whose house I’d just bought) to take her to our local pound, or keep this belligerent, yet remarkably charming “outdoor” cat and hope that my allergies could be kept in check by drugs and frequent hand washing.’

Semi-owned cats
‘I chose to let her continue to live under the steps of my patio,’ Michelle continues. ‘We’ve since been to the vet together, she now answers to her new name, “Secret Cat”, and she confidently head-butts me while I serve her breakfast and dinner. And she’s given me first-hand experience of the dynamic of the “semi-owned” cat – those cats who would be too feral to be re-homed to a family, but who have someone willing to care for their welfare.’

Thus the Secret Cat campaign was born, which aims to build a community of “secret cat owners” and encourage these big-hearted people to take steps to ensure the health and de-sexing of these wandering moggies. The campaign provides links to low-cost de-sexing, cat rescue organisations and plenty on tips on how to deduce whether your ‘secret cat’ is genuinely homeless or simply a neighbour’s cheeky fur-ball dining out with his feline friends!!

•    For more information, visit www.communitycats.com.au and find out how you can help save a life.

Images by Spamily and ‘Toshio’

I need some help! I recently began temporarily fostering cats, as I love them. The rescue organisation contacted me a few days ago informing me that a one-year-old cat who had been thrown out of a second-storey window needed a quiet temporary home. They asked if I could foster her.

Obviously I accepted and she was brought to me. She was extremely traumatised, understandably, and I have put her in my spare room and given her plenty of food, water and a litter tray, but she hasn’t touched any of them.

I have looked on websites for advice, and they all reinforce my own assumptions – that I have to be patient. The cat is hiding right in the corner of the room, out of sight, and I am avoiding going in there as much as possible (although I am able to observe through the window) as I don’t want to scare her even further.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Am I doing the right thing or should I be trying another approach?

Cat Diaries says…
According to the Cats Protection and Feline Advisory Bureau, helping a traumatised cat takes ‘time, commitment and patience’. The Bureau recommends the following steps:
•    Keep the cat in a kitten pen in a room where she will frequently see you;
•    Don’t try to handle her for the first few days;
•    Spend plenty of time in the room – eating or watching TV, for example – so she gets used to your presence and begins to understand that all people are not threats;
•    Leave a TV or radio playing when you’re out of the room;
•    Gradually start to focus on her, talking gently to her and eventually starting to play with her;
•    Offer titbits to get her to come to you;
•    Be patient!

Our readers say…
This is your chance to help. Other cat lovers invariably have the best advice, so please use the Comment facility below to help our Hong Kong friend and the poor cat.

Image by missannakay

Charities that take that extra step…

The Animal Welfare League

The AWL sprang up in 1958 and now are the second largest animal welfare charity in Australia with volunteers in every state. They take an active role in governments to push forward animal issues with inspectors investigating claims of abuse. Their objectives are similar to the RSPCA and you can also support them by become a Guardian Angel and sponsoring an animal if you can’t care for one yourself. They support pet owners through adoption, boarding, training, lost and found services, an online shop, school programs and more.

They are also the only charity I’ve found to do pet cremations so far. They involve services such as collection of the deceased and return of the ashes to the owner within 7 days.

The Cat Haven

This is a Licensed Charity that is a branch of the Cat Welfare Society Inc. The Cat Haven has grown a lot since 1961 to provide Western Australian cats with cat refuge, sterilisation, lost and found services, pet accessories, boarding services, a veterinary hospital and an Op Shop to support their charity. They are strongest at providing boarding if you cat can’t come on holiday with you!

RSPCA Australia

The RSPCA is an obvious choice as an award winning charity. They do everything from hands on care, policies, approved farming, animal adoption and shelter to promoting awareness from the streets to in the news. You can support them in several ways by donating, supporting campaigns and events, working and/or volunteering, shopping with the RSPCA online, pet insurance, supporting their partners, joining online twitter, myspace and Facebook and most importantly looking after your own pets!

If you’re looking for a shelter or want to adopt you can find the closest one to you or decide from home on Adopt a Pet which is regularly updated with the animals in the homes.

Most of all, remember this unmissable event! The RSPCA Million Purrs perhaps deserves an article of its own on Cat Diaries. The dogs version attracts around 60,000 people and 25,000 dogs who all walk to fund raise, get exercise and a lot of fun and socialising. You will be able to register on 15th of February 2010.
There are other events to keep an eye out for such as cupcake day. All you have to do is buy and eat cupcakes in aid of the charity. Sounds simple enough!

Images by Binaryape.

Just like in humans there are several physical symptoms that may point towards your cat suffering from a stroke:

Mobility and loss of balance: Loss of balance, stumbling or slow movements are very typical in cats that suffered from a stroke. Your cat may appear drunk or may avoid jumping and running.

Head tilting: After having suffered from a stroke your cat may have difficulties moving its head to one side or the other. It will appear drunk and confused, keeping its head tilted to one side. It will be uncoordinated, falling and bumping into things. These are the clearest symptoms that your cat has suffered a stroke. Immediate attention is necessary so you should try to get an emergency appointment with your vet.

Mismatched Pupils: A stroke can cause one of your cat’s pupils to be more dilated than the other.

Eating: Strokes often compromise facial muscles and nerves, affecting your cat’s ability to eat or swallow.

Vomiting: As a result of compromised facial or throat muscles and nerves your cat may often choke and gag on things and may throw up.

Weight loss: Weight loss is a direct result of loss of appetite and vomiting. There can be many reasons for weight loss in cats, so don’t panic and assume the worst just because your darling suddenly lost a few inches around the waist…

Lack of Energy: As a result of the weight loss, loss of appetite and vomiting, your cat will be abnormally inactive and exhausted and shunning contact with humans and other animals. It will hide and sleep extensively more than usual.

Brain Function: Depending upon the extent of damage to its brain cells, you may notice a change in its personality, as in your cat appearing to be obviously disoriented and confused or frightened. Also you may notice that your cat sleeps way more during the day than usually.

Bathroom Habits: A stroke can also affect a cat’s abdominal muscles or the nerves. Your cat may struggle to have a bowel movement or it may urinate without realising.

Feline strokes are quite rare. But if your cat exhibits any of the symptoms above, especially confusion, head tilting and loss of balance and mobility, see your vet.

It does not make sense to treat your cat but not your house. During the flea cycle, because of the time it takes for a flea to hatch up to the point where they can lay eggs themselves, only about 5-10% of fleas are actually living on your little darling. The rest of the crew is living in your house and yard, in your carpet, in bedding and toys. You have to treat the cat and your house at the same time to break the cycle.

Your number one weapon in your fight against fleas are the vacuum and the washing machine. Vacuum the entire house very thoroughly, paying particular attention to dark cracks and crevices in the floor where fleas and larvae could hide to avoid the sunlight. And don’t forget those corners and spots in the house where your darling likes to sleep or play. Wash all bedding and toys and hang them in the sun to dry. Buy insecticide containing IGR, which stands for Insect Growth Regulator. In short, it is birth control for fleas, it stops them from developing into maturity so they cannot lay eggs. Don’t forget to spray the backyard as well, fleas are very adaptable and can survive in sandy pits or on trees. You can use the same insecticide you used in the house or buy flea bombs or foggers.
There are many flea products out there for your cat, but I would suggest you talk to your vet or vet nurse about which one is most suitable.

It is quite normal to see a few new fleas emerging during the next few days after your cleaning. These fleas were in pupae stage during the insecticide treatment and were protected by their watertight cocoon. To get rid of these, and any other fleas that managed to escape your efforts so far, continue vacuuming regularly after the initial treatment, wash bedding and pets often and keep your cat away from other pets as to avoid re-infection.

Do you have any flea tips?