“Stud tail”

sound somewhat sexy, but the condition itself certainly isn’t. Cats possess a preen gland, a sebaceous gland at the base of the tail. If th...

Skip the carbs

Humans require (and like!) carbohydrates in the form of sugars and starches, but cats have no such requirement. This is worth noting when yo...

Patch baldness

common in breeds that are normally thin haired in that part of the body, such as the Siamese.

The vague category of semistrays

One of the old Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons was about a cat with several owners. There are indeed such cats around, unusually unneuter...

Why not just say “baldness”?

The technical term for baldness is alopecia, and cats are subject to a form of it, though a very different form than the human male-pattern ...

The gum test

pink gums, and if the gums are pale, that may be a sign of severe problems, such as anemia or internal bleeding. One condition that does n...

Purina’s nonprofit

The Ralston Purina company (now called Nestlé Purina PetCare) is noted as a maker of pet food, but the company also established a nonprofit k...