Pets Best Newsroom

Blog posts Categorized under ‘Cat Health News’

Pet health: Common household toxins

Posted on: November 4th, 2010 by

A small dog sits in a bucket filled with cleaning supplies.
Your pet’s safety should be one of your top priorities. Did you know that there could be pet health dangers lurking in your home?

Another reason pet insurance is a good idea: according to the Pet Poison Helpline, there are several household toxins that you should be aware of to protect your pet.

Keep pet health a priority by keeping household toxins out of the reach of your pets. Here is a list of some common household items that are potentially poisonous to pets.

1. Human medications: Ingestion of human medications can be avoided by ensuring that the medication is kept out of the reach of pets. Human medications should never be given to pets.

2. Other pets’ medications: Pets should never be given medications prescribed for other pets. Dog flea and tick preventatives should never be used on cats as they can be fatal.

3. Household cleaners: Use caution when using chemicals and cleaners around your pets. Make sure pets are not near you when using these products. Keep toilet lids closed, especially if you use an automatic toilet bowl cleaner.

4. Rat & mouse poison: Avoid using rodenticides near pets. The toxins that are fatal to rodents can be fatal to your pets as well. Use live traps as a kinder and safer alternative.

5. Household plants: Avoid having household plants that are toxic to pets. Cats enjoy chewing on plants and can be easily poisoned by toxic plants.

Ingestion of any of these toxins is considered a medical emergency. If you think your pet may have ingested a toxic substance, call the Pet Poison Helpline poison control center at 800-213-6680 and contact your veterinarian immediately.

Treatment options available to cats with Hyperthyroidism

Posted on: October 25th, 2010 by

A cat waiting to have its pet health assessed.
As cats get older, they become more prone to feline health issues. Cat health care, especially in older cats, is important to catch diseases early. Catching a disease in its early stages can add years to your cat’s life.

It’s a good idea to have elderly cats examined every 6 months as opposed to once a year. Pet health can change drastically in just a few months. Having more frequent exams will allow your vet to keep a close eye on your cat’s weight. Common cat weight loss causes include feline hyperthyroidism and diabetes.

Feline hyperthyroidism is a disease that is cause by an overactive thyroid gland. The thyroid gland produces too much of the thyroid hormones. The increase in the thyroid hormone levels can cause weight loss, excessive hunger, increased thirst and even vomiting and diarrhea. When owning a cat, it is a good idea to compare pet insurance and select the best cat insurance for your cat.

There are three choices when it comes to treating hyperthyroidism:

1. The first choice is the administration of a daily medication to regulate the thyroid hormone levels. Additional blood tests will be needed to monitor the thyroid levels of the cat. Based on the bloodwork results, the vet will determine if the thyroid medication needs to be adjusted.

2. A second treatment choice is having the thyroid gland surgically removed. This procedure requires the cat to be in relatively good health in order for them to tolerate the anesthesia.

3. The third choice is having an injection that kills the tissue of the thyroid gland. This is the most costly treatment option and requires a stay in the hospital for several days.

Pet health: “I didn’t know cats could get that” diseases

Posted on: October 13th, 2010 by

A healthy-looking cat sits in a cat bed.
My cat has a bizarre pet health condition– asthma. Other than a cousin I haven’t seen since childhood, he’s the only one—human or animal—I’ve ever known to have it. Yet today, I find myself knowing more about asthma than I ever thought I would.

When I tell people that I give my cat an asthma inhaler by holding a mask over his face, I get a variety of responses. Most are just surprised that you can give a cat an asthma inhaler. Others are sure I have the tamest cat in the world (I don’t), and that he must let me do whatever I want to him (he doesn’t). Then I usually hear something like, “If I tried that with my cat, my eyes would get scratched out.”

We pet lovers sometimes surprise ourselves in the lengths to which we find ourselves going to care for them. We spend hours doing pet insurance comparison shopping, we type the slightest odd behavior into search engines to see if it’s normal, and we become experts in food labels, deciphering which brands have optimum protein-to-carbohydrate ratios.

So what other human-like pet health issues can cats suffer from? How about herpes…of the eye! My co-worker and her family were recently adopted by a stray pregnant cat. After the kittens were born, the momma cat started having eye issues that were thought to be caused by a flailing newborn kitten’s claw. Imagine the surprise of my cat-owning-virgin of a co-worker to learn it was herpes.

Since her daughter had suffered from a bout of shingles just last year, this diagnoses sealed the momma cat’s permanent spot in their home!

One day soon, another condition my co-worker’s cat might share with her teenage daughter is acne. Acne in a cat often appears as a dirty chin. But try as you might, the dirt doesn’t seem to come off. This is often harmless and remedied by changing all food dishes to non-porous ones like ceramic, glass, or stainless steel.

Sometimes, however, a secondary bacteria infection or lesions can form. This could be a symptom of other underlying issues, in which case affordable pet insurance will come in handy to get some tests done to help kitty keep that gorgeous complexion and pet health vigor of its youth.

Dr. Jack Stephens called “pet insurance guru” by Veterinary Practice News

Posted on: October 12th, 2010 by

Dr. Jack Stephens, the pioneer of pet insurance in the U.S., sits with his pets.

A recent Veterinary Practice News article paints Pets Best Insurance President Dr. Jack Stephens as an industry guru.

The article, written by Phil Zeltzman, DVM, addressed many concerns veterinarians share when faced with the idea of recommending dog or cat insurance to their clients. Read the full article.

The first concern Zeltzman sheds light on, is the notion that recommending pet health insurance is “inappropriate for vets.”

Dr. Stephens, who founded pet insurance in the U.S. in the early 1980’s disagrees with this stance.

“Nothing that helps clients and pets receive veterinary care is inappropriate,” Dr. Stephens told Veterinary Practice News. “Just as nutritional counseling or providing products for clients is good for the pet, advising about pet health insurance is good and very well may save the life of the patient.”

The next topic Dr. Stephens addressed was the idea that “promoting pet insurance is an unproductive activity.”

In retrospect to what some veterinarians may think, Dr. Stephens argues that promoting cat and dog insurance is productive because it increases client spending power—ultimately, helping to eliminate euthanasia due to cost of care.

“Take, for example, a client who could afford to spend $1,000 for veterinary care. If that pet is insured with an 80 percent plan, [as Pets Best Insurance does] the client can now afford nearly $5,000 with a $100 deductible” and still only pay the $1,000 out-of-pocket.

The next myth Dr. Stephens debunks is the idea that pet insurance increases veterinarians’ paperwork.

“In almost all claims filing there is no more paperwork than veterinarians provide now with a receipt,” Stephens told the source, adding that the actual claim filing is most usually entirely up to the policy holder—not the vet.

For more information on pet insurance, visit www.petsbest.com.

How I learned cat health insurance was a good idea

Posted on: October 8th, 2010 by

A young woman holds a Persian cat.
Many years ago, I met a mysterious Persian cat in the alley next to my apartment in Chicago. His background was a mystery, his age was a mystery, but it was no mystery that he was beautiful, sweet, and staying with me.

After 12 years, I lost him to a mysterious liver disease. The last couple of years were rough, and I was under a lot of stress worrying about him each time his quality of life dipped. Not only was I nervous for him, I was nervous for my bank account. When he finally did pass away, I had a strange sense of hope through my sadness. “How nice it would be,” I thought, “to have a brand new, healthy kitten that I didn’t have to worry about.”

So I got that brand-new kitten. But oh, was I wrong about the rest. I had forgotten that a kitten’s immune system wasn’t fully developed yet. I forgot how they are so small, it would be easy to injure them just because you don’t see them underfoot. I thought I was doing everything right and by the book, but for the first few weeks I had her, it seemed like something was always wrong. After I almost lost her to pneumonia at four months old, an experience that cost me $700, I started looking for pet health insurance for the first time.

I had no idea if I could afford it, but after a bit of comparison shopping I found the best pet insurance for my kitten. It doesn’t take the mystery out of how healthy she may or may not be in the future, but it definitely removed the fear of not knowing if I could afford to treat the pets I love so much.

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