Martin Marks asked:

Cats need a high-protein diet, rich in fats. They normally eat small meals all through the day. Cats maintain their body weight by sticking to the diet they take in. To keep cats healthy, owners have to ensure that the foods they give to their cats are rich in minerals, protein and vitamins.

In addition, the diet needs to be limited. Increasing the food intake for cats may invite serious health problems.

Necessary Nutrients:

Cat owners need to check, if their pet food offers the following nutrients:

1. Pet food has to contain vital nutrients such as minerals and vitamins. One vital nutrient is Vitamin A and vitamin E, which helps to build resistance against a variety of diseases.

2. Animal protein from poultry, meat, egg sources and fish helps to keep bones sturdy and strong.

3. The diet needs to have accurate balance of fatty acids that nurture the skin and coat health.

4. Taurine, an amino acid, extracted from meat sources such as fish and chicken. This helps in keeping the eyes healthy and preventing heart diseases. Taurine supports fetal growth, development and reproduction in cats.

5. Next, a fiber source such as beet pulp, which maintains the digestive system of cats, is also a necessary nutrient.

Special Dietary Needs for Pregnant or lactating cats:

Pet owners have to take enough care of their pregnant cats. Increase their intake by 50 per cent than their current diets. The owner may give kitten food as a nutritional support to cats at the time of conception.

After the mother cat gives birth to young kittens, gradually increase the intake to 75 per cent. Maintain this diet until the kittens get used to eating canned or dry food. The moment kittens begin eating substitute food, incorporate the normal food again so that the mother cat keeps away from any weight gain.

Avoid Obesity:

Generally, indoor cats do not get the opportunity to exercise as compared to outdoor cats. Due to this, indoor cats fall prey to obesity. To avoid this, pet owners have to allow their cats to exercise in open the way they wish.

Preventing Cats from Developing Hairballs:

Cats take their own time to arrange themselves neatly. They constantly lick their fur and in the process, sometimes swallow hair. If the hairball fails to pass into the intestines, the cat may land in trouble. It may try to eject the hairball. To avoid this, pet owners have to make sure that they supply a nutritional diet to their cats.

What Every Cat Needs:

No matter what food they get to eat, owners need to make available plenty of water for their cats, always. It is advisable to place water at a distance three to five feet from the food.

This prevents the cat from swallowing water hastily. Cats demand comfortable place to eat and prefer to stay away from people around them. Last of all, the cat owners need to take their cats to the veterinarian at regular intervals. This will help in keeping pet cats healthy and happy.

Kate Rieger asked:

Cat urinary tract health care remains one of the top challenges facing caring cat owners. Be on the lookout for the symptoms cats show when they have poor cat urinary tract health or other feline urinary tract disorder(FLUTD).

You or someone you know probably has endured the human version of a urinary tract infection. There is an intense, persistent urge to urinate accompanied by a burning sensation when *********. The urine has a strong odor and there may even be blood in the urine.

In the cat world, these symptoms are very similar except that progressed cases of urinary tract infection in cats can lead to a very painful death. Cats of any age may suffer from the disorder, but older cats are more susceptible. Another similarity to human UTI is that both female and male cats can suffer from poor cat urinary tract health.

In fact, male cats are more susceptible to one condition more so than female cats — urinary stones.

5 Conditions of Poor Cat Urinary Cat Health

1. Incessant licking in the ******* area

2. Blood in the urine

3. Urinary(Bladder) stones also called uroliths

4. Urethral obstruction

5. Death

The only way your cat knows how to deal with an itch or burning sensation in his ******* area is to lick and lick and lick. One clue to a urinary tract infection in cats is that you find urine on the floor, or on tile or in the bathtub — really a blessing because you can see it.

Blood may be visible in the urine. However, if you don’t see any blood that doesn’t mean its not there. A trained eye using a microscope will note if there is blood in the urine.

Urinary stones are a huge reason to alert on changes in your cat’s behavior pointing out urinary tract infections in cats. These stones are mineral crystals formed in the bladder.

When the stones leave the bladder they travel down the urethra tube to exit the body. The stones become lodged in the urethra and block the passage of urine. This problem occurs more in male cats than females as the male urethra tube is narrower. Smaller stones cause a blockage where the female’s wider urethra allows the smaller crystals to pass through.

This is where time becomes a critical factor. If the stones aren’t dislodged naturally or medically, your cat endures a painful death. You have 72 hours from the onset to deal with the stones. Unfortunately, your cat may not display symptoms for 24 to 48 hours.

Causes

It was once thought that certain minerals in cat food contributed to urinary stones. Bacteria can also lead to poor cat urinary tract health.

Today, veterinarians pay more attention to the ph level of the cat’s urine. Ph is the measurement of the acid or alkaline level of the urine. Veterinarians recommend the ph level be around 6.0 to 6.5.

Prevention

Ask your vet to check the ph level in your cat’s urine.

Place clean, fresh water bowls throughout the house and outdoors so that water is very available to your cats. Provide smaller meals more frequently. Minimize major routine changes.

Make no mistake about it, you can help your cat stick to a simple, natural pet care program that promotes vital cat urinary tract health. There are a number of natural remedies available that are blends of herbs tested and proven to treat painful and chronic urinary tract infection in cats.

Tim Whiston asked:

Feline health is all about maintenance. This article will give you three easy steps for keeping your cat(s) happy and healthy on a long-term basis.

Cats are independent creatures in many ways. If you follow a few simple guidelines your feline friends will enjoy maximum health and a very long life.

Use the information below to formulate your own feline health care plan:

Feline Health Tip #1 Choosing The Right Food

It’s critical that you feed your cats a high quality food product. You might save money by going with a dollar store brand of cat food, but the end result will be poor health and possible even complications.

A quality food will ensure optimal feline health by providing the proper nutrition. A good product like Science Diet, Iams, or Eukanuba will boost your cat’s energy levels, give them a healthy, shiny coat, and support a strong digestive system.

Also, a higher-grade food will not contain the kind of fillers and junk found in low-grade stock. Such byproducts can cause digestion problems and sluggish performance over time.

Feline Health Tip #2 Providing A Cat-Friendly Environment

Feline health experts agree that cats living indoors fulltime live longer than cats that are allowed to go outside frequently. Obviously felines will encounter far fewer hazards in your home than they would when wandering the streets or countryside.

However, cats love being outside. So you may want to allow some outdoors time if you live a safe distance from a busy road and there are no free-roaming, aggressive dogs in your area.

Even cats that live inside can endanger themselves through their tendency to investigate unsafe areas. Go over your home as if you planned to childproof it to avoid problems that arise form curious felines.

Keep cleaning chemicals and other toxic materials locked away. Cats might be attracted to the sweet smell of cleaning solutions.

Also be sure any heating/cooling ducts are protected with the proper grates to prevent cats from getting stuck in the ductwork. And avoid leaving easy access to standing water in kitchen sinks or bathtubs.

Feline Health Tip #3 Cat Maintenance

It’s a good idea to pay close attention to your cat’s eyes, mouth, ears, and feet. Look for any liaisons, discharges, or other signs of injury or illness so you can prevent infection or serious complications resulting from their active lifestyle.

And be aware that cats are vulnerable to a whole range of dental, respiratory, and ear/eye complications. By keeping a close watch on any new developments or major behavioral changes you can stop an illness from becoming too serious.

Any changes in eating or drinking habits should be taken seriously. If a cat becomes disinterested in food or water or becomes unable to use the litter box contact your vet without delay.

These three very simple tips can help you keep your cat(s) happy and healthy for a very long time. These wonderful creatures rely on you to keep them healthy and safe, and diligence in this regard is a small price to pay for the companionship they offer.

Cleaves M. Bennett MD FACP asked:


Last year at about this time the New England Journal of Medicine published an article entitled “Options for slowing the growth of health care costs”. In table 1 there are listed 12 options for cost savings, ranked from highest to lowest potential. The NEJM is one of the most influential and respected medical journals in the world. If you Google the lead author, James J. Mongan, M.D., you get 736 entries. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Partners HealthCare, the Medical Group Practice associated with Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also Professor of Health Care Policy and Professor of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. There is probably no more distinguished and respected doctor in the country. Yet not only did he not come up with any practical, doable solution to the Health Care Financial Crisis, he did not even correctly identify the real origins of the problem.

 

Rising Medical Care Costs are the consequence of:

 

Most adults, and now some children as young as 8 years of age, must visit their doctors regularly (every 6 months or more) to check for risk factors (such as high blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol) for developing illnesses such arteriosclerosis, heart disease and stroke. If present they usually must be treated with one or more medications. Direct to consumer ads encourage patients to “ask your Doctor” for the most expensive brand name drugs in preference to generics. This marketing works! There are screening tests of body fluids, X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs for early detection of various problems, including many cancers. This practice of preventive medicine began in the latter half of the 20th century and has added a huge and growing cost burden to the health care system. The insurance industry believes it is cost effective in terms of sickness prevention and so monitors doctors to make certain they follow “best practices” with respect to screening for and treating all risk factors with medications. They usually do not stress lifestyle and dietary factors and patients usually do not bring this subject up. Unlike medications for actual diseases such as infections, anemia or stomach ulcers, treating risk factors involves regular doctor visits and taking medication everyday for the rest of your life, even though you may have no symptoms and are not actually sick. Big Pharma has responded to this growing opportunity with many 100’s of new and expensive medications which they market extensively to the consumer on TV and in print media. Marketing is much more effective than most people realize. Marketing has made Lipitor, just one of several cholesterol lowering drugs, the best selling drug in history, with annual sales of $12 billion. Lipitor doesn’t cure anything and it doesn’t really help all that many people. An antibiotic for a bladder infection usually cures 98% of patients in 7-10 days. Lipitor taken for 5 years has been shown to benefit (ie prevent heart attacks or stroke) in only 1% of high risk patients. After 5 years they have no solid evidence that Lipitor is doing more good than harm. (Pfizer’s marketing division could give lessons to Nike, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, GM and Starbucks.) Taking these “preventive” medications does not actually prevent but only delays the onset of the multiple diseases associated with aging. Most people over 60 have one or more chronic medical problems for which they must see, not just their primary care doctor but one or more specialists as well. In the last 40 years we have developed an amazingly effective, complex and ever more expensive technology and expertise to deal with these complex medical problems. The availability of, the need for and the cost of this technology and expertise is rising rapidly. Kidney dialysis units are full 24/7 and they’re not being built fast enough to keep up with demand. A specialist in Memphis can manipulate a robot in Peoria via closed circuit TV to remove an adrenal gland tumor… well you get my point. Lung, heart, kidney, liver and bone marrow transplants are now commonplace, limited only by availability of healthy organs. (If you’re too ugly, they’re now doing face transplants!) With Bush gone, stem cell therapy is being developed aggressively. Recently ABC News reported success at regenerating an entire rat heart with stem cells, which then began beating to the wondering eyes of the media. (This is indeed good news for our ex-VP **** Cheney!) This means that more elderly patients will primarily depend on specialist(s) care rather than primary care. This will drive up the costs more quickly. David Walker, former head of the GAO has predicted with great certainty that the United States of America will go bankrupt in approximately 2020 due to the expense of millions of baby boomers becoming eligible for Medicare. Adding the Medicare drug benefit brought the bankruptcy date back to 2017. (By bankruptcy he meant most of the Federal Government, including the Pentagon, would be forced to close its doors. During the current economic downturn, the expanding demands on Medicaid and SCHIP may bring that bankruptcy sooner.) Even if we could afford it, providing everyone from an early age with Health Insurance would not solve the problem. Two famous bad examples: Baby Boomer numero uno, Bill Clinton has already had his first heart attack before he even turned 60. You can only imagine how much his acute and now follow up care is costing the taxpayers. Tim Russert from “Meet the Press” on TV, had fine insurance and treatable risk factors, went to his doctor faithfully and took his pills. Yet he dropped dead of a heart attack at age 58. (His dying saved his health insurance company a bundle.) It should be apparent that with respect to Health Insurance and care we Americans are grossly over using the system. The doctors and all their magic technology can barely keep up. And the “not keeping up” problem is going to get much worse as the 78 million Baby Boomers become eligible for Medicare. Health Insurance for Americans is so costly for the same reasons that flood insurance is so expensive in New Orleans and hurricane insurance in South Florida. Cost is based on risk and Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Aetna, Humana, Unicare, Cigna, Anthem, Carefirst and Kaiser are very good at calculating risk. In fact they are so good it’s giving them a giant headache of miserable public relations. Let’s look at the problem of pre-existing medical conditions. The public and the politicians all want them covered, with no exclusions. Hey that’s only fair. People who are already sick need their health care expenses paid for now! But think about it for a minute and apply some common sense. Say you own a nice home, cost you 300 grand, well furnished in a nice neighborhood. The mortgage is pretty steep, you’ve got a couple of teenagers, and you and the wife have nice cars. So to cut expenses you didn’t buy home owners insurance. One day there is a grease fire in the kitchen, it spreads to the curtains, then the wooden cabinets and throwing pans of water is not working. Thinking quickly you call State Farm. Hello! Do you really think they are going to sell you fire insurance on the spot when the Fire Department is already on the way?  Well, that is what many are expecting from the Blues and all the rest of them. That is turning healthcare “insurance” into a healthcare entitlement. Unless you are on a public program such as Medicare or Medicaid that is just not going to happen. Payment levels from Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP (state children’s health insurance program) are not acceptable to many doctors. If you are a new Medicare enrollee with several chronic medical problems, good luck in finding a doctor who will take on your case. Medicaid payments to doctors are even worse. The large doctor group in LA of which I was a partner did not accept any Medicaid or SCHIP patients. Brave New World: many doctors don’t take care of old people or poor people any longer. Hippocrates and my grandfather are rolling over in their graves.

10. One more important point: just as the demand is rising exponentially, the resources are shrinking. There is a critical shortage of nurses. (2 large groups of Americans don’t go into nursing: men and white people). We are importing nurses from all over the world with higher salaries, thus exporting our healthcare crisis to other countries. Many emergency rooms and trauma centers are closing down because too many patients without insurance go there, leading to hospital bankruptcies. (www.emreportcard.org/) At City and County Hospital ERs (which can’t close by law) unless you are having a cardiac arrest, the wait to see a doctor may be several days. Bring along a lot of change because the only food you’re likely to get is out of vending machines. (Be warned, it sure ain’t health food.)

11. Finally, let’s get real about just what legislation is possible given the power of medical lobbyists. Big Pharma for starters. They managed to get Medicare Part D (the drug benefit) passed with no provision for bargaining for best prices. Medicare pays retail and most of the newest (thus most expensive) drugs are covered. Do you really think that Big Pharma, Big AMA (and all the other doctor groups) big Health Insurance (Blue Cross, Aetna, Humana, Cigna, PacifiCare, etc) and Big Hospitals are going to go along with making the whole healthcare system non-profit? Keep in mind: these guys own Congress.

12. Okay, let’s dream for a minute. The year is 2012. Congress and the Obama administration have passed comprehensive health care reform legislation. Every single citizen and legal immigrant in America is now covered by health insurance. Liberals are ecstatic and conservatives are cowed or grudgingly accepting of the new reality. You live in Los Angeles. One morning you awake with a splitting headache, and a fever of 103. Your urine is cloudy and bloody and painful to pass. You call your doctor and after a 25 minute wait listening to ghastly Musak, the recorded voice of the receptionist advises you to go the St Edwards Hospital emergency room. Reality sets in. The line to see their ER doctor starts in Bakersfield.

 Remember when a McDonald’s hamburger was 25 cents and you could hold it in one hand?  Now McDonalds has a burger,  introduced in Tokyo, Japan that has 4 patties – one for each chamber of your heart!