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If you have ever had a cavity or dental work done, you know it can be uncomfortable and inconvenient. For humans, caring for our teeth is something we do almost automatically. But since cats are unable to brush their own teeth and, like humans, do not have a natural, built-in way to keep teeth clean, it falls on you to maintain your cat's dental health. The best way to ensure the overall dental health of your cat is to establish a timetable for routine dental check ups with your veterinarian. Veterinary research indicates that dental disease, in its various forms, is the number one health issue in feline medicine. About 70 percent of cats over the age of three have some kind of dental problem. Fortunately for your cat, dental disease is preventable!

At about four to six months of age, kittens start losing their baby teeth and form their permanent teeth. An adult cat, after losing all of his baby teeth, should have 30 teeth: canines, incisors, pre-molars and molars. Once your cat has his adult teeth, dental exams should be done regularly. Toothaches and dental problems can be extremely painful and may cause your cat to stop eating or show symptoms of illness. Waiting until this point can often create undue stress and discomfort for your kitty.

Untreated dental problems can also lead to larger systemic problems in your cat, due to oral bacteria entering the blood stream and damaging the kidneys, heart and liver. Specific problems can include:

• Plaque
• Tartar Build-up
• Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions (FORLs) - the feline cavity counterpart
• Lost or Broken Teeth
• Gingivitis
• Periodontal Disease
• Stomatitis
• Oral Cancer

Since cats very rarely get cavities, they are much more prone to gum disease and excessive tartar build-up. Food particles and bacteria collect along the gum line and if ignored, form plaque. When plaque builds up and is not removed promptly, your cat's saliva combines with the plaque to form tartar. Irritating to the gums, the tartar causes an inflammation called gingivitis. Can you see the progression? The two most common dental diseases, gingivitis and periodontitis, can be prevented through the regular removal of plaque. Unfortunately for most cats, while gingivitis is reversible, late stage periodontal disease is not, and can cause further dental problems that most cats find painful. If diagnosed and treated by your veterinarian, it can be slowed or stopped.

Recognizing the signs of dental disease is crucial as part of your cat's overall health. Symptoms may include:

• Decreased appetite or complete loss of appetite
• Drooling
• Bad breath
• Weight loss
• Yellow, brown, or black teeth
• Swollen, red, or bleeding gums
• Blood in the saliva
• Receding gums
• Missing or broken teeth

There are other signs of dental problems that may be more subtle. Your cat may choose softer foods, play with chew toys less and decline crunchy treats. You may also notice your cat chewing on one side of his mouth more than the other. Your cat may chew less in general, causing him to vomit undigested, poorly chewed food. Increased salivation, pawing at or rubbing the face are indicators of oral pain. If you notice any of these signs or think that your cat may be presenting signs of dental disease or oral pain that are not listed here, contact your veterinarian for a complete dental exam. Often the cause of the discomfort and pain can be stopped if not reversed with immediate care.

Dental Procedures

Dental prophylaxis (teeth cleaning and polishing) is the most common dental procedure done on cats. Generally, the process takes about an hour, and your cat can usually go home at the end of the day. Though general anesthesia is required for any kind of veterinary dental work, the risks are minimal. Risks involved with general anesthesia can be minimized if pre-anesthesia screening tests are performed. Once your cat has been anesthetized, the veterinarian performs a complete oral examination and begins cleaning the teeth. Dental radiographs may be taken to asses the extent of any damage. Tartar is removed by hand scaling and through the use of an ultrasonic instrument. After all the tartar and plaque has been removed, the teeth are polished. If any extractions are necessary, they are usually done at this time.

Home Care

Now that your cat has sparkling teeth and improved health, it is important for you to continue at home. Home care is essential to the oral health of your cat and needs to be part of a regular routine.

• Oral Exams: Look for warning signs of gum disease such as bad breath, red and swollen gums, any plaque or tartar around the gum line and pain or bleeding when you touch the gums or mouth. Any discolored, fractured or missing teeth should also be noted. Should you notice any bumps or masses within or around your cat's mouth, call your veterinarian for a check-up.
• Brushing: Brush your cat's teeth at least once a week. There are a number of conventional brushing kits available. The kits generally include a finger brush, a small pet toothbrush and special toothpaste. You should never use human toothpaste as it is too foamy and requires rinsing. By routinely brushing and massaging your cat's teeth and mouth, he should get accustomed to your fingers in and around his mouth. There are also a variety of ways to help your cat enjoy having his teeth brushed. A little tuna juice on the brush goes a long way. Or, make the brushing an integral part of a daily snuggle session. Whichever way works best for your cat, the necessity of brushing his teeth as preventive care cannot be over stated.
• Food Choices: Studies have shown that hard kibbles are slightly better at keeping plaque from accumulating on the teeth. There are also special treats designed specifically for general dental hygiene. Consult your veterinarian about special foods or treats that may be appropriate for your cat.

A greater awareness of the dangers of dental disease contributes significantly to the early recognition and prevention of dental problems in cats. Since periodontal disease may ultimately have a serious impact on your cat's well-being, routinely checking your cat's teeth and mouth at home, as well as scheduling regular check-ups with your veterinarian, are very important. Recent advances in veterinary dentistry, combined with the cooperative efforts of cat owners, make caring for your cat's oral health an easy and wise decision.

Although there are other ways to get veterinary care for your pet, there are definite advantages to having a regular veterinarian and a regular veterinary hospital.

Regular Veterinary Care Is Important To Your Pet's Overall Health

Your pet has a unique personality and place in your family. Like you, he or she also has a unique medical history. Imagine if you had to give your complete medical history every time you went to the doctor! An up-to-date medical record helps keep your pet's vaccinations up to date, helps with diagnoses and can save valuable time in case of an emergency. Having a regular veterinary hospital is more cost efficient, as tests do not need to be re-run and all previous medical information is noted on his or her record.

Using The Same Veterinary Hospital Ensures Continuity Of Care

By visiting the same veterinary hospital on a regular basis, the veterinarians and staff get to know your pet as an individual and provide continuity of care. If you don't have a regular veterinary hospital, it's best to get one before an emergency arises.

If you have a cat, you ought to have a cat carrier. We've seen people trying to transport their cat in everything from bare hands to pillow cases. Nothing beats a cat carrier when it comes to safety, comfort and convenience—for both you and your cat. Skip those cardboard ones the shelters give you to take your new pet home; they’re not designed for sturdy long-term use. Others to rule out include carriers with no privacy, or ones that don’t clean easily, such as those made of wicker.

Your best bet is a carrier made of hard, high-impact molded plastic that has an open-grid door. Most models have the door at one end, but you may find it easier to deal with your pet if instead, you purchase the kind with the door on the top. These make getting your pet in and out of the carrier much easier.

Another reason to own a carrier - A carrier is an essential piece of any disaster kit, making evacuation easier in the event of an emergency and expanding the possibilities for temporary housing for your pet.

If you own a pet, fleas and ticks are nothing new. In a special video report, Dr. Jim Humphries with the Veterinary News Network and PetDocsOnCall discusses the importance of flea and tick prevention and shares tips on how to keep pesky parasites away from your pet.

A well-behaved dog is the product of teaching him to understand what is expected; you are responsible to teach him what behavior is or is not tolerated. As the owner of a new puppy, training is necessary and mutually beneficial. Young puppies are a veritable behavioral blank slate. If you are able to take advantage of this special time and begin temperament and basic obedience training using gentle, positive reinforcement methods, you are much more likely to end up with a well-behaved, sociable companion for life.

Benefits of early puppy training include:

• Instilling good manners
• Utilizing your puppy's critical socialization period to familiarize him with all kinds of people, animals, and environments
• Getting him used to being handled and touched
• Stimulating his abilities
• Troubleshooting common puppy problems like play-biting, chewing, digging and housebreaking before they become inconvenient dog problems

Obedience Training

The classes to look for should include information and instruction on how to communicate with your puppy. Housetraining, chewing, bite inhibition, off-leash socialization, handling, house manners and often an introduction to basic obedience skills should be part of your puppy's program. Imagine a pre-school for pups!

Once your puppy has become a socialized member of the canine community and is old enough to being learning commands, classes are usually available at a variety of levels. These classes start from the beginning, covering basic commands such as sit, stay, down, come, etc. They help you continue the "conversation" you had begun with your puppy at your first puppy class. By having everyone in your family participate, your puppy learns to accept his place in the family.

• Keep sessions short (around 5-10 minutes) as dogs generally have short attention spans.
• Determine what kind of positive reinforcement training you are going to use and stick with it. If your puppy is not responsive to food, try a favorite toy or enthusiastic verbal praise.
• Consult with a training school or personal trainer (yup, dogs have them too!) to help establish a routine.
• Initiate consistent house rules with other family members. If Mom says "lay down" but Dad says "down", it could cause confusion, thwarting progress.

Ultimately, how much and how well your puppy learns is up to you. Constant attention and positive reinforcement are the keys to success. Helping your puppy become a fun-loving and obedient companion also makes your relationship that much more enjoyable in the long run.

You can learn a lot about the health of your pet from his or her urine. This smelly yellow liquid provides a variety of clues that can help your veterinarian solve the mystery of your pet's health.

Like people, pets should have yellow urine that has a characteristic odor. Most pets develop a pattern and urinate with the same frequency each day.

Changes in frequency of urination, blood in the urine and pain during urination are common signs of infection and/or irritation. Most pet owners are very good at noticing these signs.

Your pet's urine can be collected at home or in the veterinary hospital. The 'free catch' method for collecting urine can be done at home. When walking your dog, slip a plastic bowl or container under his leg when he stops to urinate. To speed up the process, you can feed your dog several ice cubes before leaving for the walk. Free catch does not require intensive labor, money, or time, nor does it upset your pet. There are some disadvantages to the free catch method. The free catch method does not provide sterile urine and may be contaminated by bacteria from the environment. If the urine is not transported immediately to the hospital, some of the tests may yield inaccurate results.

Urine Collection Vial

Your veterinarian or a veterinary technician can obtain a fresh urine sample from your pet by catheterizing the bladder. This collection procedure requires the animal's cooperation and often requires sedation.

Once the urine is obtained, the first thing examined is the sediment. Sediment refers to the cells floating in the urine. An increased number of white blood cells signals inflammation and helps with the diagnosis of a bladder infection. With bladder infections, large numbers of bacteria may also be present.

Urine Sediment of a Dog.
White Blood Cells and Bacteria are Shown

Due to the long length of the urethra, female dogs are more prone to urinary tract infections than male dogs. Diabetic animals have an increased amount of glucose in the urine, which may promote bacterial growth and cause infection.

Animals can form bladder stones due to a genetic condition, if urine flow is decreased or if the bladder wall is irritated. Stones can sometimes be seen on x-rays and they can often be located during ultrasound examination. Surgery is usually required to remove large bladder stones.

X-Ray Showing 2 Bladder Stones

Examination of the urine is also important for diagnosing kidney disease. The specific gravity (of the urine) compares the weight of urine to the weight of water, detecting functional problems with the kidneys. The specific gravity indicates how well the animal is concentrating its urine. If the specific gravity is low (approaching that of water), the kidneys may not be eliminating the body's waste products properly into the urine. Instead of eliminating the waste products into the urine, they accumulate in the blood stream and cause problems.

Various minerals can solidify in urine to form casts and crystals. The presence of calcium oxalate crystals, for example, can be found as a result of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) toxicity. Ammonium biurate crystals are red flags for liver disease. The most commonly found crystals are triple phosphate (magnesium ammonium phosphate) and can signify a bladder infection.

Various Urinary crystals (A) Calcium Oxalate Crystals (B) Uric Acid Crystals
(C) Triple Phosphate Crystals with Amorphous Phosphates (D) Cystine Crystals

The kidney is composed of a series of tubules that aid in making urine. Substances are either absorbed back into the body or excreted in the tubules as urine. If casts are found in the urine, this may indicate a problem with the tubules in the kidney. Casts are solid clumps of protein cells or red and white blood cells. These cells collect in the tubules and are shed sporadically. These casts have a tube-like shape and can be seen under a microscope.

Large Granular Urinary Cast

Red Cell Granular Cast and Numerous Erythrocytes.
Early Stages of Acute Kidney Disease

Urine is so much more than a waste product. Your pet's urine test means a lot for his or her health. It provides many interesting diagnostic clues that help determine what's going on inside your pet!

Stretching out, jumping up on two legs, rolling over for a belly rub - at first glance, those are all natural dog behaviors. But are they yoga poses, too? Some people and their canine companions think so. Yoga for dogs - also known as doga (pronounced DOH-ga) - is popping up everywhere, with yoga centers and fitness clubs across the United States and even in Japan offering yoga classes for people and their pooches.

The first doga class started in New York City in 2002. Yoga instructor Suzi Teitelman started incorporating her dog Coali into her regular yoga routine.

"As a yoga instructor and practitioner, I was often on my yoga mat, and Coali started to join me," Teitelman said. "Before long we were doing the poses together, and I was creating a new class. Coali and I started teaching Doga all over New York City in 2002, and now it is all over the world."

Teitelman now teaches doga in Florida and maintains a website to help spread the word about yoga for dogs. Since then, classes have sprung up from California and Texas to Maryland and New York. There's even a doga association in Japan.

Suzi Teitelman and Coali practice doga.

Dogs and yoga might seem at first an unlikely combination, but the two are a natural fit, in a way. One of the most basic yoga poses is "downward facing dog", after all. In doga, owners and their canine companions practice together; sometimes, an owner will help his or her pet get into a pose, while other times, the dog will become part of the owner's pose. For example, in the "chair pose", the dog stands on his or her hind legs with the front paws in the air while the owner supports the dog. In the "savasana relaxation" pose, a dog lies on his or her back and has his or her belly rubbed.

Okay, so that last one isn't very different than the usual tummy rub your dog gets while lying on the living room floor. But some doga classes also include light massage and acupressure for dogs, and the overall result is a lot of direct human-to-dog contact. Doga practitioners say it is more about bonding with your pet than exercising and increasing flexibility (though those are plusses). Sessions typically start with owner and dog sitting together, perfectly still, and breathing together. Doga teachers and practitioners have reported that a good doga session calms down hyper pets and greatly relaxes both pets and their people. Other benefits for dogs include better sleep and stronger muscles.

"You will find that both you and your pet become more peaceful, more loving, more connected to each other," Teitelman said. "The more you practice doga, the more you find that you need it and want to stretch and relax, and bond together with your pet. I find that many dogs become better behaved and listen more to their owners."

Suzi Teitelman and her dog Roxy bond through doga.

For novice dog yogis (dogis, perhaps?), Teitelman recommends starting out with a pose called the "sacred kneel." Teitelman describes it like this: "Sitting on your heels, have your dog sit and face you. Take a moment to connect with your dog through massage, positive words, and get into your long deep inhales and exhales. Allow the dog to feel you breathe and feel your calming energy. The dog picks up on your energy through your touch and breath, so stay peaceful through all the poses. Carefully move deeper into the pose by gently and lovingly lifting the paws of the dog into the air. Either hold their paws to help them balance, or place the dog's paws on your shoulders. Hold and breathe for 5-10 breaths."

Doga hasn't made to every yoga studio in the country yet, but for budding dogis and their people, there's the book "Doga: Yoga for Dogs", a handy introduction to dog yoga. Of course, you could always just watch what your dog does and follow his or her lead - they've been doing their own sort of yoga for years.

On July 30, Procter & Gamble Pet Care division expanded its July 25 pet food recall to include additional veterinary formulas and some specialized Eukanuba dry pet food products as a precautionary measure. The original recall, just five days earlier, involved Iams feline renal dry food formulas. Although no illnesses have been reported, the possibility of salmonella contamination prompted P&G to recall the following dry pet food brands:

-- Iams Veterinary Dry Formulas: All dry sizes and varieties, “Best Buy” dates: 01Jul10 - 01Dec11; All UPC Codes

-- Eukanuba Naturally Wild: All dry sizes and varieties, “Best Buy” dates: 01Jul10 - 01Dec11; All UPC Codes

-- Eukanuba Pure: All dry sizes and varieties, “Best Buy” dates: 01Jul10 - 01Dec11; All UPC Codes

-- Eukanuba Custom Care Sensitive Skin: All dry sizes, “Best Buy” dates: 01Jul10 - 01Dec11; All UPC Codes

These products are manufactured in one specialized facility where testing by the Food and Drug Administration detected salmonella. As a precaution, P&G is recalling the products voluntarily in cooperation with the FDA. The contamination is limited to this facility, but affects all the products listed above.

Consumers who purchased the specific dry pet foods listed should discard them. People handling dry pet food can become infected with salmonella, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after touching the products or containers. Salmonella can also be transferred to surfaces in contact with the products.

Pets infected with salmonella may have decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Left untreated, pets may become lethargic and develop diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. Even healthy pets can become carriers and infect other animals or humans.

Consumers may receive product refunds by calling Procter & Gamble toll-free at 877-340-8823.