Raise your hand if you thought that this post would be about the disease “cat scratch fever.” Or, if you’re as old as me, you might think it would be about the putrid song with that name by the unbearable Ted Nugent (though “Journey to the Center of the Mind” by the Amboy Dukes is a classic; that’s Ted on lead guitar if you’re too young to remember them).
You’re all wrong. But this is about a musical kind of cat scratching.
I am delighted to report that our snuggle-bunny Grady is home at Tabby’s Place, and made it through his surgery with flying colors - or, better yet, flying tabby stripes.
Cats are subject to many of the same diseases as humans, but there are a number of diseases that are unique (or almost so) to cats. At Tabby’s Place we have seen just about every cat disease imaginable (and, frankly, some that are unimaginable). I am going to use this blog to discuss some of these “weird cat diseases.”
Weird Cat Disease #1 is feline vestibular syndrome, a disease whose symptoms can be particularly frightening.
That jolly old song may not have been written for March, but I’ve been singing it ever since a certain white kitten arrived at Tabby’s Place…and, as of this past weekend, he’s got a forever family singing his praises, too.
No, I’m not posting about granola.
“Crunchy” just so happens to have been the Tabby’s Place nickname for a rather darling cat, Esmeralda. Our vet bestowed the nickname on this fluffy girl upon seeing her crumpled-over ears. (An Executive Director who shall not be named, whose name rhymes with Zonathan, unsuccessfully lobbied to keep “Crunchy” as Esmeralda’s real name. ;))
Why are mice afraid of cats? Silly question you’re thinking. It’s because cats will eat them (with great joy, I might add). But is that fear genetic or learned? The answer is not at all obvious, since many mothers teach their young to hunt. And this is not simply an academic question, since we often have fears that hold us back needlessly. What if we could learn to control fear.
Researchers at the The Sakano Laboratory at the Universoity of Tokyo have made some amazing strides in understanding the biological origins of fear, using mice and cats.
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