Monthly Archives: January 2017

Environmental Enrichment, Review, Uncategorized

Ripple Rug product review

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The Ripple Rug in a configuaration the Test Kitties really like. Look closely at the center opening. You can barely see Emily’s nose. Photo by Weems S. Hutto.

 

Ripple Rug overall rating: 4½ paws

Purpose: Environmental enrichment and territory expansion

Test Kitties: Emily (4 years), ChanChan (5), Pallas (5), Leggo (8), George (10), Sam (17)

The topside of the Ripple Rug

Description: The Ripple Rug® cat activity play mat by Snuggly Cat® provides environmental enrichment and territory expansion by giving kitties a place to explore, hide and scratch. It consists of two needle ribbed polyester carpet sheets, each measuring 35 inches by 47 inches. The bottom rug has a natural rubber anti-slip coating. The underside of the upper carpet uses hook and loop fasteners (think Velcro®), which allows you to position the rug in into a series of caves. It also has 14 holes of varying diameters, 4 larger entrance/exit holes and a series of peep holes.

The underside of the top rug. Note the black hook and loop fasteners that attach to the base.

 


Test Kitties ratings: 5 Paws

The Rainbolt Test Kitties loved this product. It provides new places to explore and hide, as well as playing and scratching opportunities. It wasn’t unusual to see one sitting atop the unit playing footsie with another kitty inside. Re-shape the unit anytime, which gives Kitty perpetually novel places to explore. Toss toys in the crannies so Kitty can “hunt.” I hide treat balls inside. Whenever I refill the food puzzle, I stash it in a new location. They seemed to enjoy the added challenge. They also used it as a scratcher.

I just set it down and Emily begins to explore. Photo by Weems S. Hutto.

 

Safety: 4 paws

The rug and bonding materials are non-toxic. The coating is also nontoxic and made of 60 percent natural rubber. Four of the holes are large enough for a cat to get his head through. Each of the large holes have multiple safety slits that can be expanded. Using scissors or a razor blade, extend the safety slit to allow a full body portal. Trimmed nails will prevent claws from getting caught in the carpet loops.

 

Emily plays footsie with a kitty off-camera

Human rating: 4

Ripple Rug’s limitations are associated with your willingness to arrange it. That said, if you don’t get the cave just right, the cats ignore it. My first configuration attempt flopped in a big way. They simply sat on top of the messily arranged carpet. After they abandoned the failed structure I played with the configuration. It did take experimentation to create an enticing cave system. Once I got it right, the Test Kitties adored it.

Eventually the topside dwellers smush (a little Texas lingo there) the Ripple Rug flat, and you must create a new cavern. So if your cats appear uninterested, keep reworking the structure. They will let you know when you get it right.

Bette is deaf. Ripple Rug provides a safe hiding place for her.

The rugs fold into a 24-inch squares that you can easily store before guests arrive.

Aesthetics: 2 paws. It’s a brown ridged carpet. Not ugly, but certainly not designed to appeal to human aesthetics. Since experts believe cats color vision is limited to gray and blue, appearance doesn’t matter to the cat, but function does. Beauty is, in fact, in the eye of the beholder.
Washable: It stands up well to machine washing on delicate in cold water. I hang it and allow it to air dry. Because of the coloring, you can’t see most stains.
Environmentally friendly: 5 paws. The carpet fibers are made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The manufacturing process melts the bottles and extrudes the plastic into fibers. Every Ripple Rug set contains 24 bottles, 80 percent of which come from New York State.

Einstein enjoys sitting on the Ripple Rug. Scratching it too.

 

Price: 4 paws $46.00 with free shipping from Amazon. (I’d pay it.)  

Get more information from Snuggly Cat.

Disclaimer: Neither the Rainbolt Test Kitties nor Dusty Rainbolt received any compensation for this review, however Snuggly Cat® did send a sample so the Test Kitties could opine. The Test Kitties try a lot of products, most of which are kicked to the curb. We only publish reviews on products that are fun, safe and helpful for our readers and their cats.

About Dusty Rainbolt

Author Dusty Rainbolt is an award-winning veterinary journalist according to her answering machine. She is an associate certified cat behavior consultant and member of International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, as well as past president of the Cat Writers’ Association. Her books, columns, reviews and articles have been honored with more than 50 writing awards including three-time recipient of Friskies Writer of the Year. Her just-released cat behavior book, Cat Scene Investigator: Solve Your Cat’s Litter Box Mystery, is the consummate guide for dealing with a cat who sidesteps his/her appointed toilet. CSI, which provides science-based methods for determining the medical or behavioral causes of feline inappropriate elimination, teaches cat parents to view their cat’s litter box avoidance through the eyes of a detective to determine the cause and, ultimately, the remedy.

Obituary, Odd News, Special Days, Uncategorized

The Poe Toaster; Newer isn’t Always Better

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The Poe Toaster was as mysterious at the poet’s death

January 19 is the 208th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth. The revered American suspense author, poet and cat lover is best remembered for “The Black Cat” and “The Raven.” Poe was born in 1809 and died in 1849 at the still-young age of 40. For seven decades, usually sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. on Poe’s birthday, a mysterious man known as the Poe Toaster paid tribute to the author next to Poe’s headstone at Baltimore’s Westminster Hall and Burying Ground. The black-clad gentleman, a character as mysterious as the poet himself, always wore a wide-brimmed hat and white scarf to hide his face, and carried a cane.

The Poe Toaster was first noticed in 1949 (in year of the 100th anniversary of the poet’s death). The morning of January 19 the stranger entered the cemetery and raised a toast of Martell cognac to Poe. At the grave he left the unfinished bottle along with three red roses placed in a distinctive pattern. The Poe Society of Baltimore admits that some details have been kept private so they’ll recognize the real Toaster from the copycats.

A cryptic note left behind in 1993 stated, “The torch will be passed.” That apparently happened. A message left in 1999 announced that the original Toaster had died the previous year and a son had taken over the tradition. Watchers agreed that the Toaster appeared younger. Hopefully the elder Toaster is now sharing Martell with Poe face-to-face.

Then it got weird.

A 2001 note ranted about the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl chances. A note left in 2004 included a diatribe about France’s opposition to the Iraq war. Obviously not the same dignified old Toaster. The son of the Poe Toaster last appeared in January 2009 marking the end of an era.

In 2010, he failed to show. In 2011 four impostors showed up, but unlike the real Poe Toasters, they made no effort to conceal their presence They didn’t give the secret gesture and failed to place the roses in the Toaster’s particular arrangement.

And while the Poe Toaster is to “Quoth the Raven, “’Nevermore,” the Maryland Historical Society could not let the mystery man die with dignity. Last year, they sent out a cattle call for “Baltimore’s Next Poe Toaster.” Competitors auditioned in a public America’s Got Talent–style audition performance. Even though his selection was very public, organizers are keeping his name a secret.

The NextGen Toaster, made his first debut after sunrise on January 16, 2016, three days before Poe’s actual birthday. (Sadly, like national holidays, Poe’s tribute has been moved to the weekend. The dignified expression of respect has evolved into a spectical. Worse still, a tourist trap.) While the new Toaster wore the traditional apparel, he added his own twist by playing Saint Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” on the violin. After he raised the cognac toast and laid the roses, he quoted the Roman poet Martial, “Cineri gloria sera venit”, which means “Glory paid to one’s ashes comes too late.” Then he left.

In a break with the early morning tradition of the original, this year the new faux Poe Toaster will appear at Westminster Hall between 6 and 7 p.m. tonight.

At the time of Poe’s passing, newspapers attributed his death to “congestion of the brain” or “cerebral inflammation”. Today’s doctors speculate he could have succumbed to alcohol poisoning, epilepsy, syphilis, cholera, rabies, brain tumor, carbon monoxide poisoning, mercury poisoning or even murder.

What do you think of the revival of the Poe Toaster?

About Dusty Rainbolt

Author Dusty Rainbolt is an award-winning veterinary journalist according to her answering machine. She is an associate certified cat behavior consultant and member of International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, as well as past president of the Cat Writers’ Association. Her books, columns, reviews and articles have been honored with more than 50 writing awards including three-time recipient of Friskies Writer of the Year. Her just-released cat behavior book, Cat Scene Investigator: Solve Your Cat’s Litter Box Mystery, is the consummate guide for dealing with a cat who sidesteps his/her appointed toilet. CSI, which provides science-based methods for determining the medical or behavioral causes of feline inappropriate elimination, teaches cat parents to view their cat’s litter box avoidance through the eyes of a detective to determine the cause and, ultimately, the remedy.

 

Obituary, Odd News

Notable Animal Deaths in 2016

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We lost many celebrity animals this year.

 

A couple of weeks ago I listed the celebrities, scientists and cool people who died in 2016.We lost not only human celebrities, we also said goodbye to numerous animal superstars. From lonely  tropical frogs to wetsuit-clad penguins, here’s the list of last year’s notable animal deaths.

  • January 22. Sarah, the world’s fastest land mammal according to National Geographic Magazine, was euthanized at the age of 15 “due to a diminishing quality of life.” Sarah lived at the Cincinnati Zoo.
  • March 29. Baxter was the former first dog of Maine. He died from cancer at age 11. In 2008 the Jack Russell terrier was adopted by Lauren LePage, the daughter of future Maine governor Paul LePage.
Scooter’s record of the World’s Oldest Living Cat never made it to the record book. He died at the age of 30.
  • April 8. Scooter held the title “The World’s Oldest Living Cat: according to Guinness World Records, for a very brief time. Born March 26, 1986, during the Reagan administration, the 30-year-old Siamese owned by Gail Floyd of Mansfield, TX, was confirmed Oldest Kitty by Guinness on April 8, 2016. However, Scooter lost his title even before Guinness made it official. A Guinness record holder must be confirmed with a veterinarian’s letter and the paperwork processed before they formalize the title. The process usually takes around 12 weeks. By the time Guinness completed the formalities, poor Scooter had passed away. Thirty cat years equals around 136 human years. Prior to Scooter’s short reign, Corduroy, a 27-year-old Maine Coon from Sisters, Oregon held the record. With Scooter’s passing, the crown returned to Corduroy.
  • May 6. Pierre was known as the penguin who sported a miniature wetsuit. The quirky African penguin had a lot in common with American Idol hottie, Chris Daughtry. Pierre was bald; more accurately, he had bald spots. Pierre, who lived at the California Academy of Science in San Francisco, lost patches of feathers. Keepers tried warming him with a heat lamp and treating him for hypothyroidism. Finally biologist Pam Schalle helped design a vest-shaped neoprene wetsuit to protect him from the bitter cold. Like the sexy bald guys, Sean Connery, Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis, being follically challenged didn’t interfere with his love life. Pierre shared a nest with his girlfriend, Homey. They made a dozen little ones together.  In mid-2016, vets diagnosed Pierre with kidney failure. He died at 33.
Naked Pierre looked dapper in his neoprene wetsuit.
  • May 28. Harambe was a 17-year-old Western lowland silverback gorilla living at the Cincinnati Zoo. Zookeepers shot and killed him after a three-year-old boy snuck past fences and barricades before falling 15 feet into the gorilla enclosure. Fearing for the boy’s life, zoo officials dispatched Harambe the day after his 17th birthday. The parents were not charged.
  • June 7. Bretagne, was a search dog who hunted for survivors at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terror attacks brought down the World Trade Center Twin Towers. She also looked for victims in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan. The Golden Retriever was the longest surviving 9/11 search dog. She was euthanized at the age of 16 due to kidney failure.
  • July 3. Arturo, a polar bear who lived in the Medoza Zoological Park in Argentina died at the age of 31.
  • August 18. Machali, a Bengal tiger, was known as the Queen Mother of Tigers. At the time of her passing wild life experts believed she was the world’s oldest tigress surviving in the wild. She lived in India’s Ranthambore National Park. In August 2016, she became critically ill and died at the age of 20.
  • August 27. Big Lobi, a 22-pound Massachusetts lobster, appeared destined for someone’s dinner plate. When Chris and David Schmidt saw the 50-year-old lobster for sale at the Chatham Fish Pier Market in Chatham, MA, they bought his freedom for $210. Sadly, two days after the brothers released Big Lobi, a fisherman found him dead. By the size of Big Lobi, experts estimated the giant crustacean survived 50 trips around the sun.
Toughie was the World’s Loneliest Frog
  • September 26. Toughie was the last known surviving Rabb’s fringe-limbed tree frog. Scientists believe that with Toughie’s passing, Rabb’s frogs officially moved to the extinct column. Known as the “Loneliest Frog on Earth,” conservationists captured Toughie in 2005 during a Panamanian expedition to rescue endangered amphibian species from a deadly chytrid fungus. They transported Toughie and “several dozen” Rabb’s frogs and tadpoles” to the Atlanta Botantical Garden in Georgia. Toughie made tadpoles with one of the rescued females, but none of the little ones survived. After Toughie’s girlfriend croaked, that left only Toughie and another male at Zoo Atlanta. Veterinarians euthanized the second to the last Rabb’s frog on February 17, 2012, due to illness. Toughie died quietly in his enclosure at the estimated age of 12.
  • October. Granny (also known as J2 to marine biologists), went missing after October 12. Whale researchers believe she was 105 years old. In January 2017, the Center for Whale Research announced the likely demise of the longest living known orca.
  • October 16. Jia Jia, a female giant panda, was the world’s oldest captive panda. A resident of Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, caretakers made the difficult choice to euthanize Jia Jia because she had become lethargic and stopped eating. She suffered from arthritis, high blood pressure and cataracts. Jai Jai’s 38 years translated into about 114 in human years.
  • October 17. Pedals was a New Jersey black bear who became a sensation after videos of him walking upright like a human appeared on the internet. Pedals was killed by a hunter.
  • November 14. Mahpiya Ska, also known as White Cloud, was a rare albino American bison who lived at the National Buffalo and Cultural Center in Jamestown, ND. Native Americans believed the 19-year-old animal was sacred.
  • December 28. 2016 was a bad year for pandas. Pan Pan was a male giant panda who lived at the Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre in Chengdu, China. After Jia Jia’s death in October, 31-year-old Pan Pan became the oldest giant panda in captivity, at least for a couple of months. He died six months after being diagnosed with cancer.
  • December 30. Sutter Brown, California Governor’s Pembroke Welsh Corgi, died from cancer at the age of 13.

Did I leave any significant 2016 animal deaths off of the list? Please tell me in the comments below.

Feline Health

Research Offers Hope for Cats and People with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

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Spot lost his fight with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy just one month first showing symptoms.

 

Early drug trial shows promise as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy treatment

According to researchers at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), there’s promise on the horizon for kitties struggling with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). HCM is an inherited disease that causes the heart walls to thicken with potentially fatal consequences. The thickening of the ventricle (pump muscle), interferes with the flow of blood. This can cause the heart to beat too rapidly, too slowly or irregularly. The heart muscle can suffer from oxygen starvation that may cause heart cells to die.

In many HCM cases, fluid may accumulate in the lung causing rapid or labored breathing, open-mouthed breathing, or lethargy. Many HCM cats appear to be perfectly healthy with no observable symptoms. In some cats, the first hint of a problem is sudden death.

HCM occurs in one in 500 humans. It’s also the most commonly diagnosed cardiac disease in kitties, affecting a staggering one in seven cats. HCM is more prevalent in some cat breeds including Maine Coons and Ragdolls.

lack of treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Cats

Currently there is no cure or therapy that can change the course of the HCM. Veterinarians can only treat the symptoms with medications that are used to prevent blood clots, improve blood flow, control heart rate and reduce fluid accumulation in the lungs. According to the study, septal myectomy, a surgery that removes the portion of the septum obstructing the flow of blood from the left ventricle, can improve the symptoms and heart function, but it’s invasive, expensive and can only be performed by a specialist.

The heartbreak of cardiomyopathy

MeiMei, a white and brown tabby was rescued off the street by Brooklyn cat behavior consultant, Beth Adelman. When MeiMei was around 3 years, she was diagnosed with HCM. Adelman and their veterinary cardiologist treated the disease as aggressively as possible. “She took all the medications that humans take. The disease progressively got worse,” Adelman said. While medication treated MeiMei’s symptoms, it couldn’t halt the progression of the disease. Still, MeiMei survived a miraculous six years.

MYK-461 gives cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy like Spot hope.

 

Spot wasn’t as lucky, The Siamese-mix suddenly began displaying signs of illness when he was a few weeks shy of one year. An echocardiogram confirmed her vet’s fear; Spot suffered from an advanced case of HCM. Like Adelman, Spot’s owner also treated the disease aggressively as possible, however Spot lost his struggle only one month later.

Hope on the horizon

Now that we’re all depressed about the bad news; here’s the good news. In a breakthrough “proof of concept” trial involving five HCM cats, researchers found that the drug MYK-461 eliminated left-ventricle obstruction in all the test kitties. The study, supported by a National Institute of Health grant, was published December 14, 2016  in the scientific journal PLOSONE. This novel drug is the first in its class and actually addresses the functional changes that occur in human and feline HCM, rather than simply reducing the symptoms.

“This is an exciting discovery for both animals and humans,” Associate Professor Joshua Stern. He is chief of Cardiology Service at the UC Davis Veterinary hospital. “The positive result in these five cats shows that MYK-461 is viable for use in cats as a possible option to halt or slow the progression of HCM.”

“There has been little to no progress in advancing the treatment of HCM in humans or animals for many years,” Dr. Stern said. “This study brings new hope for cats and people.”

With such promising results, UC Davis researchers hope to conduct a clinical trial in the near future, which could determine if MYK-461 has the potential to become the accepted protocol for the care of cats with HCM.

Have you lost a human or feline friend to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? Tell me about them in the comments below.

About Dusty Rainbolt

Author Dusty Rainbolt is an award-winning veterinary journalist according to her answering machine. She is an associate certified cat behavior consultant and member of International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, as well as past president of the Cat Writers’ Association. Her books, columns, reviews and articles have been honored with more than 50 writing awards including three-time recipient of Friskies Writer of the Year. Her just-released cat behavior book, Cat Scene Investigator: Solve Your Cat’s Litter Box Mystery, is the consummate guide for dealing with a cat who sidesteps his/her appointed toilet. CSI, which provides science-based methods for determining the medical or behavioral causes of feline inappropriate elimination, teaches cat parents to view their cat’s litter box avoidance through the eyes of a detective to determine the cause and, ultimately, the remedy.

 

Feline Health, Special Days, Taking cat to vet, Uncategorized

Only 2 New Year’s Resolutions for Cat Owners

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January 2 is Happy Mew Year for Cats Day. Since kitties aren’t interested in getting plastered on Mew Year’s Eve unless the intoxicant is catnip, we’ll skip ahead to the New Year’s resolutions. After all, you want your Fluffy to have a happy and healthy 2017 and 2018 and, well, you get the message. Because you control the the car keys, you are responsible for Mew Year’s Resolution follow-through. Unfortunately, when it comes to resolutions, humans have short attention spans. So let’s limit them to two doable items.

Resolution #1 Take kitty to the vet regularly

For best results, your kitty should see his vet twice a year. I know dragging your cat to the veterinary hospital is stressful for both of you. Even if your kitty is a strictly inside cat, he still needs regular wellness exams to help him stay healthy. Annual vet visits won’t do the trick any longer. After all, once a year is like a human going to the doctor every seven years. A lot can happen in 365 days. Also because kitties are vulnerable to larger predators, they mask signs of illness until they are too sick to hide them any longer. A checkup by his vet gives you a better chance to catch potential health problems while they are preventable or treatable.

According to the Catalyst Council, most cases of diabetes could be prevented if overweight kitties are placed on a proper diet. Also, dental disease affects 68% of all cats over the age of three. Ouch.

Make notes between visits and ask your vet about your observations and concerns:

  • Fluffy’s dropping food when he eats.
  • He doesn’t sleep with me on the bed any longer.
  • He has a funny cough.
  • He has runny poo.

Resolution 2. Teach Fluffy to love his carrier

One excuse cat owners give for not taking their kitties to vet is because the catching and transporting process is too stressful for the feline and his family. If Fluffy has always feared his carrier as the vet transport device, change the way he looks at it. Buy a different style carrier; a two-door model works best.

Leave the carrier left out in open in the room where Fluffy likes to hang out. Place his favorite blanket inside so he can sneak in and take a nap. From time to time, toss some of his favorite treats in the carrier. Once he looks at the carrier as his personal hideaway, take him on rides around the block and give him treats. Watch this Catalyst Council video to learn other ways to help your cat get over its fear of the carrier.

Making your cat like his carrier and taking him to the vet once or twice a year helps assure your kitty will “Live Long and Pros-purr.”

About Dusty Rainbolt

Author Dusty Rainbolt is an award-winning veterinary journalist according to her answering machine. She is an associate certified cat behavior consultant and member of International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, as well as past president of the Cat Writers’ Association. Her books, columns, reviews and articles have been honored with more than 50 writing awards including three-time recipient of Friskies Writer of the Year. Her just-released cat behavior book, Cat Scene Investigator: Solve Your Cat’s Litter Box Mystery, is the consummate guide for dealing with a cat who sidesteps his/her appointed toilet. CSI, which provides science-based methods for determining the medical or behavioral causes of feline inappropriate elimination, teaches cat parents to view their cat’s litter box avoidance through the eyes of a detective to determine the cause and, ultimately, the remedy.