Over 75% of our cats and dogs have passed middle age and are entering their “golden years”.

To call a cat old, one mustn’t consider chronological age, but rather physiological condition. Biological and chronological aging are not inexorably linked. Aging begins when the body’s systems start to slow down — when cells deteriorate faster than the body can repair them.

We think of it as a progressive decline in mental and physical functioning and appearance which is accompanied by an increase in susceptibility to chronic diseases. This is caused primarily by three factors: Genetic inheritance, declining hormone levels and oxidative stress.

Chronic renal failure, also known as kidney failure, is one of the most common conditions affecting older cats. In fact one out of every five cats over fifteen years of age suffers from it. The disease is essentially characterized by a gradual decrease in the ability of kidneys to purify the blood and remove waste products from it. The disease usually has a slow insidious course and is usually irreversible unless a specific cause for the kidney failure is identified and treated (that often include tumors, infections and polycystic disease of the kidneys). In most cases though a cause is not identified and the usual course of the ailment is a slow terminal progression.

A common parasite that affects cats are ear mites, also known as Otodectes cynotis. These are small, crab-like creatures that infect the ears of animals, namely cats who spend time outdoors. Ear mites can be uncomfortable and itchy, but since they are easy to see, are easily diagnosed. If your cat has ear mites, it will look like there is oily black dirt in his ear. The mites feed on tissue and debris and live on the surface of the ear canal.

In the movies, cats love a bowl of cold milk. In the real world, giving a cat milk can do more harm than good.

While milk might seem like a natural choice for your cat, the truth is that cow’s milk offers no nutritional value for cats, and it can cause digestive problems in many. The reason is that most cats develop intolerance to lactose shortly after they are weaned. This means that they are unable to digest the sugars that occur naturally in milk. This causes problems that include diarrhea and other unpleasant digestive problems.

Understanding more about your cat’s basic nature will often help you solve cat behavior problems. Domestic cats are descendants of wild relatives and therefore many instinctive traits carry over as part of their nature. This can become quite frustrating when you are trying to raise a well-behaved domestic cat!

Consider that cats are hunters by nature. In the wild, most of the smaller cat species subside on hunting small rodents. They are typically solitary, nocturnal animals that catch their own food to feed only themselves. Therefore, stalking and pouncing on small prey is a common behavior of cats in the wild.

If you have just been told that you have a diabetic cat, you may be afraid of what the future holds for your pet. The good news is that diabetes is not a death sentence for cats. Your cat may live a long and happy life with diabetes. All this requires is for you to care for your cat and provide the pet health supplies that he or she needs. The following information may help you understand what you need to do for your diabetic cat.

Obesity is the most common health problem for cats. A cat is considered obese if it weighs 20% more than its optimal weight and if the extra weight is a result of the accumulation of fat. If a cat is anywhere from 1 to 19% heavier than its ideal body weight, then it is considered overweight and not obese. In order for a cat to maintain good health and have a long and happy life, the cat must maintain a healthy weight.

Determining If A Cat Is Overweight Or Obese

Cats naturally look for a place that they can dig and bury their waste. Of course, you want the place they find to be the litter box! That said, there are several tips to follow when training cats to use the litter box and ensure that it is the only place they’ll want to go.

Make sure you place the litter box in a separate room from their eating or sleeping area. Cats are clean animals and typically associate their litter box with a dirty area. If the litter box is near the eating or sleeping area, they may naturally want to find a bathroom place that is farther away.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your cat had kittens? Just the thought of having so many kittens underfoot would be enough reason for true cat lovers to swoon.

If your cat is pregnant, here are a few important facts that you should know:

- The average length of pregnancy for cats is 63 to 65 days long. However, it may appear to be a shorter period, because your cat will probably have already been pregnant for 3 to 4 weeks before you first notice the changes to her physique.

Spraying is also referred to as marking behavior. There can be many reasons for this behavior; most of the time spraying is related to sexual maturity. Neutering or spaying your cat will solve the problem of spraying in most cases. If the animal has already been neutered or spayed, preventing your cat from spraying in the house will depend on finding out the root cause of the behavior.

One reason your cat might be spraying in the house is due to something new in the environment. A cat will often spray new items in the house to mark its territory even if they are neutered. These behaviors are deeply a part of their nature and some cats hold on to these instincts more than others.