I would make sure he is properly dewormed. He might be better of with one of the many nutritional additives for skin and coat that are available on the market. Step two, if you and your vet feel there is a need to investigate further, is to perform blood tests to make sure there is nothing wrong with internal organs and to rule out possible ectoparasites or fungal diseases etc.

Fighting
Dear Vet. My nine year old male cat and the 2 year old male cat next door hate each other. The hate each other so much, my cat has lost a fang tooth, one of his back toes and had to have surgery on his third eyelid. Don't get me wrong, he also gives as good as he gets! We now work on a rota system with the people from next door, when our cat is out - their cat is in etc. I spoke to a nurse at our local practice, who suggested spraying each cat with water if they ventured onto the other cats territory and to place them both in cat baskets next to each other over a period of weeks until they both calmed down.
So far, so good they don't go crazy when they are next to each other now - but we are still scared to let them out in case they both attack each other. Do you have any suggestions of anything else we should be doing? We are also using Feliway to calm both cats down. Any help would be appreciated.

It seems to me you have taken all the recommended and advisable steps and precautions. I don’t really have any further suggestions.

Diarrhea
My cat is about 5-7 years old (she was a stray) and we get on famously. We now have an 8 month old baby and I have been very careful to preserve her place of importance even with the new addition. A couple times we have accidentally locked her out of her litter closet and she responded by defecating in a potted tree or bringing her stools out of the litter box and leaving them in the hall just outside her litter closet. This seemed a situational problem. Today, however, we found diarrhea outside her box and she seems sleepy and more affectionate than usual (she seems to want lots of attention when she doesn't feel well or has had some sort of stress). She also smells horrible, I actually thought that one of the strays that frequent our neighbourhood sprayed her because it has that sort of scent and usually she is a very clean putty. Do cats get colds that will pass in a few days or is this something I should always see a vet about? Thanks very much.

A spell of diarrhea doesn’t need to cause trouble. But if she seems sleepy because of it I would advice you to ask your vet to have a look at her, even if it’s just one of those mild infections that will pass in a day or two. To see or not to see the vet… It’s always difficult (or sometimes even dangerous) to answer that question with yes or no. I usually respond ‘when in doubt, ask someone to have a look at your pet, rather on one or two occasions when not needed then the opposite’.

Nose infection
Our male tabby had a nose infection 2 months ago. He had a slight fever & had stopped eating. We had a series of tests done, all of which came back negative & with the help of some antibiotics the problem appeared to be clearing up.
However it was never fully cured, & he has started to deteriorate again. His nose is blocked, he doesn't eat & has lost about 2 kilos in weight. He is a little dehydrated & has a few ulcers on the roof of his mouth. His pupils are also permanently dilated. We have tried everything we can think of & are getting desperate. Many thanks for your help.

I think most vets would test for FeLV, FIV and FIP. These are virus diseases that will, in short, cause malfunction of the immune system. Maybe he has already been tested for these viruses but even if he has there is nothing wrong with an additional test / re-testing.
What else could we be dealing with? A tumour in the nose (uncommon) or a polyp or similar? Or a foreign body (usually grass)? A rhinoscopy (looking up the nose with an endoscopy) could be very helpful in making a diagnosis. A problem is that a cat has a small nose.
Worth mentioning is that feline flu is sometimes very time consuming until it has cleared completely. Cats that are vaccinated do sometimes get symptoms if infected but these cats don’t get as ill and tend to get well quicker.
We were later informed a tumour (melanoma) was found.

Calling
My Birman female had her first litter in February unfortunately the first one got stuck and I had to take her to the Vet. The vet delivered the kitten but it was dead, a second kitten was also born dead. The vet then had to operate to deliver the remaining kitten which was fine. All was ok after that and the kitten has now gone to a new home. I would like to know how long to leave my cat before I breed from her again. Also as she seems to be calling continually, which is driving my husband mad, I have asked the vet for some Perlutex. The vet feels however that she may have had some hormonal problems with the delivery and it would probably be better not to put her on tablets. I appreciate your advice and any suggestions you may have to keep both hubby sane and the cat in peak condition. Thanking you.

To the best of my knowledge there is no scientific data suggesting the next delivery would be less problematic or less risky if you leave her be for a longer time.
I do know many people that avoid putting breeding queens on ‘the pill’ just in case… but in a case like this I certainly wouldn’t hesitate, I would definitely use the tablets. You and your husband must have quality of life as well!

Feline partial facial paralysis
Hello Doctor. Yesterday, I noticed my 3 year old DLH blinking only with his right eye. The left side of his face would not move at all. He can use his third eyelid, but it appears that the whole left side of his face is paralysed. I tickled the hair in his ear, nothing. I think he can still see out of the eye though. He has been a very healthy cat. There are no toxic substances in our home he could've gotten into. I checked inside his mouth for possible chemical burns or ulcers, nothing. There are no swellings anywhere on his face. I was a veterinary tech. for 6 years and really never saw anything like it before, unless it was say an elderly 'stroke' patient. This condition does not seem to be bothering him. He is still eating, drinking and playing. I'm very concerned about this apparent paralysis. Can you give me any possible ideas of what could be causing this? Any idea where the Vet would start looking should I take him in? Thank you for your time.

Facial paralysis is very rare in cats, I agree. A look in the literature supports our views (that it is rare) and also offers guidance; the most common causes of damage to cranial nerve VII (the nerve giving signals to the muscles of the face) are trauma, middle ear infection or a tumour creating a pressure on the nerve. Your cat is young so the last alternative is the least likely.
If your cat isn’t better already I would advice you to go see your vet. An ear inspection is what we need.

Chasing tail
My cat is ages 12 and in good health. Recently he has started chasing his tale a lot. Is this something to worry about?

I wouldn’t worry as long as he seems healthy (nothing wrong with the tail?). Enjoy the show!

Smell…
I hate to ask you this question because I went to your website and all the questions were from cat lover's. Not that I don't like cats, but I don't own one. My question is this: Around the outside of my house smells horribly like cat urine, I have tried mothballs (someone told me that they don't like the scent), and that didn't work. Any suggestions? Is there another scent that cats do not like? Help, please, it's embarrassing! Not to mention disgusting.

As always a hot topic, where do the cats go to do their daily needs, or whose cat was it?
Every now and then I see articles in daily newspapers stating that if this and that plant is grown in the garden cats are less likely to go there. Sorry, don’t know if it’s true.
However, if a circus is visiting town, try to get some lion dung. It’s supposed to be a proven fact that cats will understand the dung is from a very big cat, and thus avoid the place. I haven’t seen a circus for years…
Are there any surfers out there who have any good ideas?

Aggressive
We bought two cats in November of last year. One is Siamese and one is an oriental. The Siamese has settled down extremely well but we do not know what to do with our Oriental Tulip.
She is two years old female house cat. Since we have had her she has had a bad limp on her two back legs. They seem to bend outwards. The limp seems to come and go. Also she has never once purred or miaowed since we got her, but occasionally makes strangulated squeaks at the birds! Otherwise she seems to be quite healthy.

However she can be very aggressive and most days hisses and tries to scratch us. She seems terrified of us moving about and often sits with one paw in the air ready to strike! She won't take treats from us and we cannot get near her to get her to pick her up or catch her. If she sees us she just flees. Strangely though she always crawls into bed on a night and this does not seem to bother her. When we purchased her she had been drugged with homeopathic liquid so we did not realise she was so difficult to get hold of. We are worried in case we are doing something wrong to cause her to be so scared.
Could there be any medical reason for this behaviour? And how do we catch her to take her to the vets when we can't get close enough to throw a towel over her let alone put her in a box? Thank you

I’m afraid it’s impossible to comment on any possible medical reasons for this behaviour. And I must say that I haven’t found anything wrong with most cats that I’ve examined with a similar history, it just seemed to be in their nature. A point is that just because a vet doesn’t find anything wrong doesn’t mean there isn’t anything wrong… Just a few thoughts: is this cat suffering from pain in the hip or back? Or was it born in the wild? Those cats often seem to be semi-wild for the rest of their life.
One important thing to point out is that there are people about that specialise in feline behaviour. Maybe such a person could offer help.

Breath and sleepy
I’m worried about my cat...she is nearly 3 years old and has recently (last month or so) had the WORST breath! Also, she has had a slightly wet (with clear fluid) nose. Also, in the last 2 days or so she has been extremely loving which is NOT her style.... Normally she attacks me which doesn't bother me because it's kind of a game.... Along with the affection, she has started sleeping all day and night and she hasn't wanted to go out much... I have a feeling that this is some sort of cold.... But I want to find out more about the bad breath because I have heard that it can be a symptom of heart problems or something else serious... Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

Usually the breath problem is a symptom of the cat’s (or dog’s) urgent need of a dental clean up. Cats tend to be worse of with their dental health if they have a kidney problem. There is no connection between halitosis and cardiac disease. If she has a runny nose and seems to be tired, I think you should call your vet for an appointment.

Drooling
My cat is about 10 yrs old he's a lively cat that goes out but today he has had symptoms of having a lot of saliva drooling from his mouth and at times just vomiting saliva he has also started to cough he has lost his appetite as well. Any ideas? Many thanks

Cats tend to be drooling when they feel sick. We are probably dealing with a stomach upset. Since there is a cough as well… a visit to your vet wouldn’t be wrong.

Teeth
Hello. I have a 2 year old cat that seems healthy and happy. Today I found one of her teeth on the floor. Is it normal for cats to loose teeth? Should I be concerned?

A good idea would be to ask your vet to check your cat’s teeth. Sometimes cats need to have their teeth cleaned, although usually they are slightly older when this is called upon.

First heat
How hold is a female cat when she goes into her first heat?

They are usually 8-12 months.

Blood in stool
I have a 7 month old tabby cat who was part of a rescue litter. I got him when he was 7 weeks old. Twice I had to have him treated with ALBON because he had bloody diarrhea. There were no parasites detected in the stool samples that were done but the medicine did clear up the problem. Tonight I noticed that again he was having bloody diarrhea so I put him again on ALBON. Also he has had two respiratory infections in the past 2 months. I have 2 dogs and 2 other cats all of who are healthy. He is in indoor cat. Is there anything that I should have my vet test him for besides parasites that could be causing these problems? He eats well and is playful. Thank you for the advice

The most common reason young cats have diarrhea or blood in stools is greedy eating. They eat more than they can handle! So apart from other treatments mentioned, don’t forget to give less food for the nearest days / week.

Fleabites
I just moved into an apartment and my roommate used to have cats. Apparently they used to sleep in what is currently my bed. I am now unfortunately covered in fleabites. We bombed the room, and washed everything, but could they be living on me? Also, how long will the bites take to heal and stop itching? Do you have any suggestion on what would help the itching? This is so embarrassing and uncomfortable. Please help or refer me. Thanks.

The fleas shouldn’t be able to reproduce from your blood. That doesn’t make the bites less uncomfortable or less embarrassing to guests. When / if you spray the apartment the adult fleas will die. The problem is that it is very difficult to kill the eggs. Any pet store / vet clinic should have products designed for these matters. Use them and vacuum the apartment on an extra regular basis.
I’m afraid that I can’t give you any advice on the human medicine side of this matter, that would be trespassing. Ask your doctor.

‘Overgrooming’
I have an 8 year old Abyssinian cat. Since she was very young she has suffered from "eating herself". I think its probably called overgrooming! Trips to the vet always end in a cortisone injection, which works very quickly. However, as she has got older the incidences have become more frequent. In the last year they have occurred every 3 or 4 months and now it is happening again and its only 6 weeks since our last visit. Is there anything else that can be done. I have tried to think of everything, which could start her off but cannot work out what it can be. She just seems to start licking and scratching till she gets a raw patch and then starts somewhere else. As they seem to be getting closer, I am worried that we will end up going every week for an injection. She does not seem to have any side effects but it cannot be good for her to keep having them? Please help I am so worried! Thank you very much.

A skin problem, responding to steroids but the cat needs treatment more frequently. A worrying scenario for both owners and vet, I can assure you. I’m afraid it’s impossible to say what causes these problems (the cause of the allergic reaction). Is it the food? It is said that food allergy is a lot more common among cats than in the canine species. Usually the cat has been on the diet given for years. Your cat could also be allergic to something in its surroundings, ex pollen or dust mites, but usually this causes asthma in the feline species. Worth mentioning is clomipramine which has anxiolytic properties (cause blocking of the reuptake of serotonin) which makes it useful in treating stereotypic conditions.
So my advice is go see a dermatologist!

Hi! We recently bought a black male persian cat. The problem is we think he has been dyed black, as when we bath him the water always turns black and he's started to go brown, is there any possible way that you could dye a cat? Or is he just very dirty? And more importantly will he have any skin conditions because of the stupid person who did this?

The things you hear of in this profession....
I suppose one could use normal hair dye without causing any great damage... especially if it's done only once.
I've not bumped into this problem before so I can't say for sure.
Best of luck with your new cat, black or brown.