In one week alone, eight cats were injured after falling from high rises when warming weather in 2015 resulted in more people leaving their windows open. In fact, cats fall from windows so often that veterinarians have given it a name: “High-Rise Syndrome.”
Topics: Cat Safety, pet safety tips, Summer Pet Safety Tips, Cats Falling, High Rise Syndrome, Feline High Rise Syndrome, Falling Cats, High Rise Syndrome in Cats, Cats Falling from Heights, Cats, Blog
When it comes time to lighting up your (beautifully) carved creations, it’s best if you opt for an alternative to traditional or tea light candles.
Not only will options like a powered flameless candle likely last longer than a regular candle, but you’ll also avoid the potential for your pet to burn themselves or the house while walking past or investigating your pumpkins. Carved pumpkins do smell good!!
Topics: Dog Safety, Cat Safety, pet safety, holiday pet safety tips, Dog, Blog, Burns, Cat
Topics: Cat Safety, Microchip, 4th of July, Blog, Outdoor cats, Indoor cats, Cat Collars
Yard work. Some of you love doing it and some get others to do it for them. Whichever it is, it's a good idea to keep your pets inside.
Power tool culprits: lawn mowers, weed whackers, hedge trimmers. AND the projectiles they fling about, like rocks, sticks and other debris.
Topics: Dog Safety, Cat Safety, pet safety tips, Summer Pet Safety Tips, Garden
Though you likely wouldn’t put the words “cat” and “bath” together in the same sentence (unless it also included the word “never!”), bathing a cat can be done — some actually like it, and sometimes it's a necessity.
Since most cats, in most situations, are quite fastidious in their grooming practices there aren’t many reasons why you’d need to bathe your cat. However, there are a few scenarios where you might find yourself needing to do so.
Ringworm — This is actually a fungus, rather than a worm. Depending on the severity of your cat’s case, and some other factors, your vet may prescribe medicated baths.Topics: Cat Safety, Flea Allergies, flea shampoo, Cats, Obesity, Blog, Arthritis in cats, Cat Tips, Giving a cat a bath, Ringworm, How to bathe a cat
It’s likely not “news” to you that cats like warm places. However, what you may not realize or think about on a regular basis this time of year is that often, for cats that spend any amount of time outdoors, those warm places involve your and your neighbor’s cars and trucks.
Topics: Cat Safety, Cats, Cat Emergency, Blog, Winter pet hazards, DIY cat shelter
Topics: Cat Health, Dog Safety, Dog Health, Cat Safety, pet safety tips, pet safety, Plants Poisonous for Cats, holiday pet safety tips, Poison control, Christmas pet hazards, Poinsettias, Plants Poisonous for Dogs, Cyclamen
Liquid potpourris typically contain two substances that can be toxic to your pets - essential oils and cationic detergents. Whether or not they're specifically listed on the label, they're almost always present, albeit in varying concentrations.
While the essential oil component of the liquid potpourris can cause problems for your pets (depending on the type and concentration of the essential oil), typically it’s the cationic detergents that cause the bigger problems.
The cationic detergents present in liquid potpourri can cause severe ulceration and chemical burns to the surfaces within your pet's mouth and along their digestive tract. They can cause similar problems if they come into contact with their skin or their eyes, too.
As you might imagine, burns within your pet’s mouth, or anywhere along their digestive tract, can be extremely painful. This pain often causes affected pets to go off their food, and this, in turn, can lead to a whole other set of problems. Of particular concern, especially if your cat is overweight or obese, is the development of hepatic lipidosis.
If the concentration of the detergents within the potpourri is high enough, and the burns sustained severe enough, your pet could wind up with a perforated ulcer, or hole, in their esophagus. This carries a very poor prognosis for survival, sometimes even in spite of appropriate and timely treatment.
Topics: Cat Health, Dog Safety, Cat Safety, pet poison control, Hepatic Lipidosis, Pet emergency, Cationic detergents, Do not induce vomiting, Liquid Potpourri
From cuts on paws from those that break to gastrointestinal obstruction from those that get ingested, ornaments and other Christmas tree decorations pose a wide array of hazards to your pets. It’s this scope of problems and the prevalence of such decorations in homes this time of year that make Christmas tree decorations the 'poster children' for Day 6 of our The 12 Days of Christmas: Pet Hazards Series.
Read MoreTopics: Cat Health, Dog Safety, Dog Health, Cat Safety, pet safety tips, pet safety, holiday pet safety tips, String, Dog Booties, Christmas pet hazards, Pet emergency, To pull or not to pull, Cats and string, Bandages, Use of bandages, Septic peritonitis
Topics: Cat Health, Cat Safety, pet safety tips, pet safety, toxicity in cats, Lilies, Tiger Lily, Lily Toxicity in Cats, Stargazer Lily, Lily Flowers, Rubrum Lily, Plants Poisonous for Cats, pet poison control, Poison control, Poison control for cats, Christmas pet hazards, Flowers
Please do not ask emergency or other specific medical questions about your pets in the blog comments. As an online informational resource, Preventive Vet is unable to and does not provide specific medical advice or counseling. A thorough physical exam, patient history, and an established veterinary-patient-client relationship is required to provide specific medical advice. If you are worried that your pet is having an emergency or if you have specific medical questions related to your pet’s current or chronic medical conditions, please contact or visit your veterinarian, an animal-specific poison control hotline, or your local emergency veterinary care center.
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