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You can find me at @felinefractious discussing coat colors, purebred cats and genetics or @declaweddisabledpurebred where I promote adoptable cats.

The majority of posts here are not written by me but are articles, images and research sources from elsewhere. All of these are sourced appropriately back to the original publishing.

I’m not answering advice questions but feel free to ask me about my cat. If you say stupid shit in my inbox I will be mean.

Read through the #pinned tag for important announcements abd information on the status of asks, reblogs and so forth.

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Agreement of Feline Grimace Scale Scores Between Chatbots and an Expert Rater

The performance of large language models (LLMs) during acute pain assessment in cats has not been evaluated. This study evaluated the agreement of the Feline Grimace Scale (FGS) scoring between four chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude AI, and Perplexity) and an expert veterinarian, including bias and limits of agreement (LoA), and whether bias would be reduced when retested after two months. Fifty cat facial images were scored twice, two months apart, by each chatbot using the FGS (ear position, orbital tightening, muzzle tension, whiskers change and head position). The Bland–Altman method was used to analyze bias and limits of LoA. Chatbots showed positive bias, indicating underestimation of FGS scores. Claude AI presented an acceptable bias (< 0.1) suggesting good agreement after retesting. However, its LoA spanned the FGS threshold for analgesia (0.39). The LoA of ChatGPT did not span the threshold, but presented unacceptable bias (> 0.1). Gemini showed unacceptable bias and LoA spanned the FGS threshold. Perplexity showed unacceptable bias and its LoA spanned the threshold after retesting. Most chatbots showed poor agreement and could have compromised analgesia during testing and/or retesting; pain scoring could be overestimated or underestimated to an extent that would cause overtreatment or undertreatment of pain.

[Image Source]

Grieving the Loss of Your Cat

Shared from the Cornell Feline Health Center.

Losing a cat can be a life-changing event, one that can be as difficult as the loss of a human companion. The pain associated with such a loss can be devastating, whether the loss is sudden or has long been expected. Even when we understand that our cat’s life will end, our response can be significant when this time comes.

Our cats are our companions, and a constant presence in our daily lives. We experience the love they provide, delight in their behavior, and share life events. It’s no surprise that when they are no longer with us, we are often left with a significant void that can impact our daily life.

Grieving is a healthy, natural response to loss. It may be helpful to know that others have shared this experience; however, the process is unique to each person who has loved and lost a feline friend. There is no “normal” timeline for grief. “It takes as long as it takes” may be a useful mantra. Additionally, each experience of loss is unique and may result in a variety of emotions. Whether you are feeling sad, anxious, tired, guilty, or relieved, this is normal. There is no “correct” way to grieve the loss of your cat.

Understanding grief

Grief may be experienced in stages that can include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Not everyone experiences all of these stages, nor are they experienced in a particular order or for any prescribed period of time.

At first, we may find it difficult to believe that our cat is truly gone (denial), and when we acknowledge the reality, we can be angry. “It’s unfair that my cat had this accident or that illness. Other cats who are the same age are fine. Why did mine have to die?”

We bargain by asking “what if?” - type questions, believing that if we had only recognized an illness sooner, given medications on a more precise schedule, or hadn’t let the cat outdoors, s/he would still be with us. Sadness can set in, manifesting as low motivation, crying, or sleep difficulties. This feeling can range in intensity and can ease over time or persist.

Eventually, we accept that our cat is gone. When grieving, we may continue to feel sad while remembering our loss, but we typically regain a sense of normalcy as time passes. We are able to cope with life’s stresses, look to the future, and enjoy our usual activities.

If our daily functioning (such as sleep, eating, ability to perform regular tasks or interact with family and friends) continues to be compromised, we are likely to benefit from professional support.

Grief following euthanasia

The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek euthanatos, which translates as “good death”. The option of euthanasia is often considered to be a compassionate and reasonable alternative to prolonged suffering. Even when euthanasia feels like a kindness, making the decision to euthanize can be very difficult.

When to consult a professional

You deserve all the support that you need following the loss of your cat. For some people, family and friends can provide all needed support. Other people find professional support more useful.

People seek professional grief counseling (with a social worker, psychologist, family therapist, or other provider) for many reasons, including feeling uncomfortable sharing their loss with people they know, not feeling validated in their grief experience, having pre-existing concerns resurface with the loss of their cat, experiencing relational stress following the loss, or becoming concerned about impairments in daily functioning. If one is having trouble sleeping, eating, interacting with friends and family, performing daily tasks, or has any other concerns related to activities of daily living, consultation with a mental health professional can be a helpful support.

Coping with loss

There are a number of strategies to help cope with loss, including:

Choosing symbols of remembrance:

Organize a memorial gathering

If cremation was chosen, spread the ashes in a meaningful location

Save fur clippings

Plant a tree or flowers

Create a photo book or video

Make a donation in your cat’s name to an organization with importance to you

There are hundreds of memorializing options that can be found online, including jewelry, urns, garden stones, and other objects. These items are meaningful for some people; others prefer to keep their memories alone. You have to find what resonates with you.

Organizations and other resources

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Pet Loss Support Hotline

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Cat Disease Challenges What Scientists Thought About Coronaviruses

Shared from UC Davis.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have uncovered new details about how a once-deadly coronavirus disease in cats spreads through the immune system. The findings may help scientists better understand long COVID and other long-lasting inflammatory illnesses in people.

The disease, feline infectious peritonitis, or FIP, is caused by a form of feline coronavirus that changes inside some cats. If left untreated, it is almost always fatal. While FIP only affects cats, it shares many features with serious coronavirus-related conditions in humans, including severe inflammation that can damage multiple organs, as well as symptoms that can persist or return.

A broader attack on the immune system

For years, the prevailing belief was that the virus behind FIP infected just one type of immune cell.

“What we found is that it actually infects a much broader range of immune cells, including those that are critical for fighting infection,” said lead author Amir Kol, associate professor with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

The study was published in the journal Veterinary Microbiology.

The researchers examined lymph node samples from cats with naturally occurring FIP. Lymph nodes are key immune system hubs where white blood cells gather and coordinate responses to disease. The team found viral material inside several types of immune cells — including B lymphocytes, which produce antibodies, and T lymphocytes, which help the immune system recognize and eliminate infected cells.

They also found evidence that the virus was actively replicating itself inside these immune cells, rather than simply leaving behind harmless fragments.

Why this matters beyond cats

In people with severe or long-lasting coronavirus illnesses, scientists suspect that the virus may persist in the body or continue to disrupt the immune system. Studying this directly in humans is difficult, because doctors rarely have access to immune tissues such as lymph nodes.

Cats with FIP offer a rare opportunity to study these processes up close.

“This is where cats give us a unique opportunity,” Kol said. “We can directly study infected immune tissues in a naturally occurring coronavirus disease — something that’s very difficult to do in people.”

The researchers also found that traces of the virus could remain in immune cells even after antiviral treatment ended and cats appeared healthy. Because some immune cells can live for years, this lingering infection could help explain long-term immune problems or disease relapse.

A model for long-term coronavirus disease

The findings suggest that FIP may serve as a valuable real-world model for understanding how coronaviruses interact with the immune system over time. Insights gained from cats could help guide future research into chronic inflammation and post-viral syndromes in humans, including long COVID.

By bridging veterinary and human medicine, the study highlights how naturally occurring diseases in animals can help answer critical questions about human health.

Other authors of the study include Aadhavan Balakumar, Patrawin Wanakumjorn, Kazuto Kimura, Ehren McLarty, Katherine Farrell, Terza Brostoff, Jully Pires, Tamar Cohen-Davidyan, Jennifer M. Cassano, Brian Murphy and Krystle Reagan of UC Davis.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the Sock-FIP fund at the Center for Companion Animal Health at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. It was also supported by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Kasetsart University in Thailand.

Media Resources

Previous research finds a new cell therapy that boosts immune recovery in cats with FIP.

via Invasive Species Council

These numbers are staggering! Feral and roaming domestic cats are one of the greatest threats to Australia's native wildlife and, since colonisation, these natural hunters have driven at least 25 native species, like the desert bandicoot and lesser bilby, to extinction, causing more mammal extinctions than any other invasive species or environmental threat. This is often in combination with foxes.

Why? Not only are they highly skilled hunters, but since the decline of Tasmanian devil and dingo populations, there isn’t anything to hold them back.

Australian wildlife evolved without cat-like predators and often have low reproductive rates, making them especially vulnerable to such efficient hunters.

Fire, livestock grazing and land clearing make things worse by creating open hunting grounds where cats can easily target ground-dwelling species.

Unfortunately for so many of our native wildlife, they are the perfect-sized snack.

On average, cats kill 2.92 million mammals, 1.67 million reptiles, 1.09 million birds, 0.26 million frogs and 2.97 million invertebrates every 24 hours. It’s a wildlife emergency!

A single feral cat in the bush can kill around 791 native animals annually, with domestic cats killing an average of 110 when allowed to roam.

Sadly, many of our most vulnerable wildlife continue to fall prey to cats, like numbats or the Western ground parrot, of which only 150 remain.

Australia’s battle against feral cats has been a story of underestimation, plagued by inconsistency and underfunding.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that they were widely recognised as a major threat.

Feral cats were listed as a key threatening process under the national environmental law in 2000. But progress on reducing the threat has been slow. Feral cat control has mostly been sporadic, under-resourced and poorly coordinated. More research is needed to develop consistently effective methods.

The most effective programs have been the eradication of feral cats on islands, including world-heritage-listed Macquarie and Dirk Hartog islands, to create cat-free havens for threatened mammals.

For domestic cats, some states, like the ACT lead the way with mandatory cat registration and containment laws, but others like New South Wales have lagged, creating significant gaps.

A series of national threat abatement plans, the first in 1999, have included promising elements, but have been poorly implemented.

In 2015 a national plan was released, which included some promising elements such as an increase in predator-free havens and island eradication programs, however, the fragmented funding was grossly inadequate for meeting the plan’s objectives, leading to limited progress.

In 2020 a parliamentary inquiry into feral and domestic cats recommended a reset of current policy and planning, including a new iteration of the national plan and a revised Threatened Species Strategy.

A new threat abatement plan was released in 2024. Encouragingly, all state and territory governments (except Queensland) have agreed to jointly implement it.

It includes strategies like island eradication and supporting Indigenous rangers but at least $60 million over the next 4 years is needed to see the ambitious plan come to life for our native species.

Response to Rabies Vaccine in Kittens Under 12 Weeks of Age

We used a prospective observational study to determine whether the administration of rabies vaccine to kittens under 12 weeks of age would induce protective antibody titers. All 10 enrolled kittens had Rapid Fluorescent Focus Inhibition Tests (RFFIT) titers of less than 0.1 IU/mL prior to vaccination, indicating their susceptibility to the rabies virus at approximately 9 weeks of age. All kittens demonstrated a robust immune response to vaccination (i.e. titers > 0.5 IU/mL) on samples collected 28 days after vaccination. These results suggest that, in the absence of maternally derived antibodies (MDAs), kittens approximately 9 weeks of age would be susceptible to the rabies virus but can also have an excellent immune response following vaccination against rabies virus at the time of surgical sterilization.

[Image Source]

Charity Issues Harness Warning Amid Rise in Owners Taking Cats for Walks

Shared from STV News.

A cat charity has warned of a rise in people using harnesses to take their cats outside, preventing the animals’ natural fight or flight response and leading to them feeling stressed and scared.

Almost one in six (15%) cat owners use a harness to take their cat out, according to a survey by Cats Protection, up from 10% a year ago.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: “Taking your cat for a walk on a harness and lead is not recommended. It is likely to be very stressful and scary for them.

“Harnesses can be uncomfortable for cats or allow escape. Most importantly, cat harnesses prevent the flight response and feeling trapped can significantly escalate stress in cats.”

Other findings include a shifting demographic in cat ownership – with those acquiring cats tending to be younger, more affluent owners living in urban areas.

The charity said a new breed of young, affluent pedigree cat owner is replacing the “older cat lady with moggy” stereotype, with one in three 18 to 34-year-olds (31%) now owning a cat.

Ownership among those aged 35 to 54 has declined, and there has been a trend away from cat owners being predominantly female towards a more even split of male and female owners.

There has also been an increasing popularity in pedigree cat ownership, and for the first time, of the cats acquired in the past 12 months, more than half are pedigrees (51%).

The survey found an increasing trend in cat owners turning first to social media for advice when they need it.

And they are more likely to buy a cat than adopt one, including pedigree breeds with known health concerns.

Cats Protection said people looking to acquire cats are increasingly less likely to adopt from welfare charities, and suggested this is because they are increasingly less likely to be able to provide for the shifting demographic.

Rehoming policies that do not favour urban, indoor environments are more likely to be a barrier, and charities are less likely to have the pedigree cats that are increasingly sought after.

The charity suggested its findings show that cat ownership is moving towards being a luxury, with cat acquisition skewing towards higher socio-economic groups, pedigree cats and purchase rather than adoption.

The survey, which involved more than 10,000 participants in the UK, found neutering numbers have fallen to 82%, continuing a downward trend from 88% in 2020. This means that 1.5 million cats (15%) are not neutered.

In England, microchipping has been a legal requirement for all pet cats since June 2024, but younger owners are less likely to have had their cat microchipped.

Younger owners are also significantly more likely to use technology such as GPS trackers for keeping tabs on their cat.

As well as often being bulky and potentially uncomfortable for a cat to wear, these trackers can be easily removed if a cat is stolen, so they are never a good direct replacement for a microchip, the charity said.

On the issue of cat harnesses, the report said cats are a territorial species and prefer to be allowed to choose how they roam, rather than planned leisure outings or excursions away from their familiar home.

When a cat does need transporting, such as for a vet visit, a safe and sturdy cat carrier should be used, rather than a cat backpack.

There are 10.2 million pet cats in the UK, with the average number of cats in cat-owning households currently standing at 1.5.

Sarah Elliott, Cats Protection central veterinary officer, said: “In the UK, cat acquisition is increasingly skewing towards pedigree cats and purchase over adoption.

“We therefore need to motivate cat owners to help reverse the increasing popularity of buying and become enthusiastic adopters by championing the moggy, as well as highlighting all the benefits of adoption – including the adoption of pedigree cats from rescue organisations, when they occasionally become available.

“When adopting from Cats Protection, like many other rescue organisations, not only does your pet come neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and with a clean bill of health, but there is also the huge satisfaction of giving a home to a cat the really needs one.”

Indoor Cat Adoption in the UK

Bushy Tail Cat Aid

County Cat Rescue & Sanctuary

Ragdoll Rescue UK

Strawberry Persian + Pedigree Cat Rescue UK

Harness Training

Harness And Leash Training For Cats

How to Teach a Cat to Walk on a Leash [Video]

Leash Training for a Happier, More Confident Cat

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How to Spot Fake Shelters and Give Safely

Shared from Bitdefender

Animal shelters are warning about a cruel twist on online fraud. Scammers create look-alike social media pages, lift photos and videos of sick or abused animals from real rescues, and post urgent pleas for money. These posts are designed to trigger an instant response from kind people—and to siphon donations away from legitimate organizations.

This sits inside a wider wave of “fake rescue” content: staged cruelty or stolen clips engineered to go viral and funnel cash. In 2024, the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) documented 1,022 links to suspected fake rescues across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X in just six weeks, generating 572 million views. About 21% of creators asked viewers to donate, often via PayPal.

What the Instagram animal rescue scam looks like

New or low-history accounts impersonate a real rescue or invent a “shelter.” They post graphic, urgent cases (“closing tomorrow,” “puppies need surgery today”) and steer you to direct payments (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal email) instead of Instagram’s nonprofit tools. Comments may be limited; DMs push for quick payment.

Stolen or staged content. Photos and videos are taken from legitimate rescues—or from the broader “fake rescue” churn. A quick reverse-image search on the most emotional photos often finds them reused elsewhere.

Platforms acknowledge the pattern. For example, Meta lists “charity fraud and scam”—especially urgent appeals that ask for direct payment details—as prohibited. Instagram’s Help Center also warns about donation scams.

Real-life story

Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue (FMAR), a shelter that’s been placing pets in homes for roughly two decades, discovered recently a look-alike social media profile posing as them. The scammers’ page reused FMAR’s photos of sick and injured animals and urged people to donate.

The facility operations manager, Michelle Eastlake, said that one of their Facebook supporters reached out to them after noticing the copycat account was using FMAR’s logo and a nearly identical name.

Read the story, here.

How to check a shelter or animal welfare organization before you donate

Look at how they ask for money. Legitimate charities on Instagram use the built-in Support/Donate tools (which route through PayPal Giving Fund in supported countries) or send you to their official website to give. A bio that lists only personal wallets (PayPal email, Cash App, Venmo, crypto) is a red flag.

Confirm the organization exists. In the US, you can search them on the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization database or Candid/GuideStar. In the UK, check the Charity Commission Register.

Cross-check the account. Is there a real website in the bio? Do they use the same name/handle across platforms? Do older posts show staff, volunteers, local events, and outcomes (before/after stories, adoption updates)? When in doubt, call or email the shelter using contact details on its official site, not the Instagram bio.

Reverse-image search the emotional posts. Take a couple of the most dramatic photos or clips and run a reverse-image search. If the same media appears under different names, locations, or dates, you’re likely looking at a fake.

Use Bitdefender’s free tools as a quick safety net.

Bitdefender Link Checker — Paste the URL from a bio, Story, or post to flag phishing, malware, or look-alike domains before you click.

Bitdefender Scamio (free scam detector) — Paste the text or link from a post or DM (screenshots work too). Scamio highlights pressure tactics, personal-wallet requests, vague details, and other red flags in plain language so you can decide safely. [WARNING: GEN-AI]

What to do if you spot (or fall for) one

Report the account in-app for Impersonation or Fraud/Scam. Instagram also has a dedicated impersonation form.

Dispute the payment with your bank or PayPal and save evidence (screenshots, handles, DMs). The FTC has step-by-step guidance for donation scams.

Warn others and consider logging the case with BBB Scam Tracker to help surface patterns.

What to do if your organization is impersonated

Your goals: get the fake taken down, cut off the money flow, and warn your community.

Collect evidence. Screenshot profiles, posts, Stories, DMs, bios, payment handles, and the profile URL. Note dates and usernames.

Report to Instagram. Use the in-app Report tool (Impersonation or Scam/Fraud). If your media or logo were stolen, also file copyright and trademark reports.

Warn supporters everywhere. Post an alert on your website, pin a post, add a Story Highlight (“Imposter Alert”), and email your list. List your official accounts and approved donation paths.

Notify authorities. File an online report for online/economic fraud (use your country’s channel; in Denmark, politi.dk).

Here is the original post, you’ll need to contact the organization directly if you’re interested.

They showed up in my Facebook feed, I have no affiliation with the rescue. Apparently they’re having a difficult time placing them due to the outdoor cat culture in the UK, none of the applicants are willing to keep them indoors thus far.

[Image Source]

Declawing in Cat is Associated With Neuroplastic Sensitization and Long-term Painful Afflictions

Abstract

Declawing of pet cats is widely believed to cause chronic pain and negatively impact animal welfare, leading to bans in many jurisdictions. However, little is known on how post-declaw pain develops and affects feline well-being. Existing data often fail to account for other sources of chronic pain, such as osteoarthritis (OA), which affects most aging cats. Here, the aim was to distinguish chronic post-declaw pain from OA-related pain. A secondary analysis of eight studies on feline OA was conducted, comparing somatosensory, biomechanical and functional assessments between healthy control cats, declawed OA (DOA) cats, and non-declawed OA (NDOA) cats. DOA cats exhibited significant somatosensory alterations (hyperalgesia and allodynia) and greater biomechanical (worse in heavier cats) and functional impairments, compared to NDOA cats. The alterations were not dependent on the number of declawed paws (two forelimbs vs. four paws). This alarming phenotype was associated with objective nervous conduction abnormalities indicative of worsened axonopathy in DOA cats. Our findings highlight the impact of chronic post-declaw pain and support the need to develop therapeutic strategies to alleviate chronic pain in DOA cats and highlights the pertinence of establishing a global ban of this elective procedure.

Introduction

Elective feline onychectomy, commonly known as declawing, involves the surgical amputation of the distal phalanx (P3) of all digits on a cat’s forelimbs, or on both forelimbs and hindlimbs. The procedure is most performed to prevent damage to household items and reduce the risk of injury to humans. In a 1991 survey, only 2% of 276 owners of declawed cats expressed dissatisfaction due to guilt over the procedure. However, ethical concerns about animal welfare have led to bans on onychectomy in many jurisdictions, including most of Canada and Western Europe. Notably, the procedure remains legal in most of the United States and parts of Canada. In 2001, it was estimated that nearly 25% of American cats were declawed while a 2014 survey of veterinarians (with nearly 3,500 respondents) reported that 72.7% performed onychectomy at least occasionnally. While some veterinarians consider onychectomy a last-resort alternative to relinquishment or euthanasia the purported benefits of the procedure for cats remain largely unsubstantiated.

Like other surgical procedures, onychectomy can lead to both short-term and long-term adverse effects. One early retrospective study reported a perioperative complication rate of 50% at a veterinary teaching institution8 with the most common complications being pain, lameness, infection and hemorrhage. Acute postoperative lameness may persist for over 12 days despite opioid analgesia.

The long-term complications of onychectomy are less understood. The most reported issue is the presence of remnant P3 bone fragments, detected radiographically in 52.5–62.8% of declawed cats and linked to back pain. Additional long-term complications include persistent or intermittent lameness, pain on paw palpation, nail regrowth, P2 protrusion, reluctance to jump and behavioral changes such as aggression and house soiling (with occurrence of 1.7–32.6%). Onychectomy has also been implicated in flexor tendon contracture in four cats and in the development of osteosarcoma in a retained P3 fragment in one case. Some complications, such as lameness, remnant P3 fragments, and nail regrowth, have been reported to be reversible with additional surgery. However, much of evidence for chronic complications stems from surveys and retrospective studies, often lacking thorough, objective clinical evaluations, making causation difficult to establish.

One major challenge in assessing the long-term effects of onychectomy is the high prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) in aging cats. In Western countries, OA affects 25.6% of adult cats rising to over 60% in cats aged six years or older and over 90% in those aged 12 years or older. As a leading cause of chronic pain and mobility impairment in adult cats OA-related pain may confound the assessment of post-onychectomy pain. While one study reported increased back pain and behavioral issues in age-matched declawed/non-declawed cats – particularly when an inadequate surgical technique was used – interactions between OA and onychectomy have not been thoroughly investigated. In 2022, the American Veterinary Medical Association Animal Welfare Division issued a policy on declawing concluding that “conflicting scientific evidence exists regarding the implications of declawing”. Given the growing pet cat population in North America, (approximately 74 million in the U.S. in 2024 and 8.5 million in Canada in 2022), and their role as family members it is critical to understand the potential neuroplastic changes induced by onychectomy.

Recent advancements in pain transmission and nociceptive processing research, both in healthy and pathological states, have provided valuable insights. Over the past decade, the Groupe de recherche en pharmacologie animale du Québec (GREPAQ) has developed and validated several methods to study OA-related pain and impairment in cats through behavioral analysis and systems neurobiology. These include kinetic podobarometric gait analysis (PGA) using a sensitive walkway mattress a standardized functional assessment scale named the Montreal Instrument for Cat Arthritis Testing, for use by Veterinarians (MI-CAT(V)) and quantitative sensory testing (QST) to assess sensory alterations. These tools have been shown to differentiate OA-affected cats from healthy controls (specificity), detect responses to treatment (sensitivity), and produce reliable results (reproducibility and repeatability). Additionally, nerve conduction studies can provide objective evidence of distal nerve dysfunction following onychectomy.

In this secondary analysis, we hypothesized that these validated methods could be used to assess long-term post-onychectomy pain, with declawed OA (DOA) cats exhibiting more severe dysfunction than non-declawed OA (NDOA) cats. The main objectives of this study were to compare three populations of cats, assessed over a decade, i.e., DOA, NDOA, and healthy, non-declawed control (HC) cats, based on biomechanical impairment (PGA), MI-CAT(V) scores, QST results, and nerve conduction abnormalities in a subgroup of cats.

via Ottawa and Valley Lost Pet Network

UPDATE: August 14, 2025.

This is a map of deceased cats we are aware of for June, July and up to August 14 of this year. It is compiled from the Kanata area as that is the most problematic. Due to the information we were given there were 12 coyote attacks, one hawk attack, 8 hit by cars, and 6 unknown. Please reconsider letting your cats roam if you do so 🥲

Sadly once again we feel the need to post this as a reminder of the dangers of letting your cats roam. We are seeing a high number of deceased cats on the page particularly in the #BARRHAVEN and #KANATA areas. If you know your neighbours with outdoor cats in these areas please advise them the juvenile coyotes are learning to hunt in this particularly high prey area. We are also getting information about foxes with cats in their mouths.

This is not criticism as we realize accidents happen and we are also aware that not all cats are happy being kept inside and can develop behavioural and physical conditions. Try to see it from our perspective, it's not only alarming but very distressing to have so many posts being moved to our Rainbow Bridge album and seeing photos of cats that have been killed on the road or attacked by wildlife come through messenger. It isn't easy to open that message to see a mangled cat, it is heartbreaking and emotionally draining. Our admins spend countless hours trying to help reunite pets, we don't want to see so many of them deceased in our PM's.

THERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN GIVE YOUR CAT THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. They can be safely secured with a good harness and leash and let outside under supervision and also taken for walks. There are also many models of outdoor catios online that can enable them to enjoy the outdoors but also stay safe. They range from high end to very easy low cost enclosures using scrap lumber and chicken wire. Here is a link to some models. https://catiospaces.com/

***Please DO NOT send deceased photos to the page directly in PM's but email them to [email protected]. Thank you.

[Image Source]

Effect of Prazosin on Recurrent Urethral Obstruction in Cats

Shared from Clinician’s Brief.

The Research

Feline recurrent urethral obstruction (rUO) affects 11% to 58% of cats. Prazosin, an alpha-1–adrenoceptor antagonist, is commonly used to prevent rUO despite lack of supporting veterinary clinical studies. Prazosin has been recommended to reduce risk for recurrence because of its potential action as a urethral smooth muscle relaxant; however, administration following urethral obstruction may cause increased patient stress from pill administration and adverse effects (eg, hypotension, lethargy, GI upset, ptyalism).

The objective of this study was to determine whether prazosin administration decreased the rate of feline rUO both prior to and within 14 days of discharge. Observational surveys were completed by clinicians who self-reported that they always or never prescribe prazosin. Development of rUO was compared in 302 (78%) cats administered and 86 (22%) cats not administered prazosin. There was no significant association between prazosin administration and risk for rUO prior to discharge; however, within 14 days following discharge, the cumulative rate of reobstruction was significantly higher in cats treated with prazosin (73 [24%]) compared with cats not treated with prazosin (11 [13%]).

Data from this study combined with data from selected prior prospective studies showed that cats given prazosin (24%) were more likely to develop rUO than cats not given prazosin (13%). The only significant associations identified with risk for rUO were subjective difficulty performing catheterization and perception of a gritty urethra during catheterization.

The cause of prazosin’s lack of efficacy is likely multifactorial. The distal 63% to 72% of the feline urethra is composed of striated muscle, which is not relaxed by alpha-1–adrenoceptor blockade.4 Most urethral obstructions occur in the distal urethra where prazosin has no pharmacologic effect. Evidence that urethral spasms contribute to rUO in cats is lacking; treatment with urethral muscle relaxants may thus be ineffective.

The results of this study suggest that routine use of prazosin for prevention of rUO should be discouraged.

The Takeaways

Key pearls to put into practice:

Prazosin is ineffective at decreasing risk for rUO and may increase risk for recurrence.

Prazosin may increase patient stress, increase treatment costs, and cause adverse effects.

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Setting Cats Up for Success Includes ‘Gaslighting’ Them

Shared from AVMA

By Christine Won

Imagine you are an introvert, meeting someone for the first time, and they hand you your favorite candy bar. They’re wearing your favorite band’s T-shirt and they smell like your favorite cologne.

Dr. M. Leanne Lilly calls for similar groundwork when introducing cats in a “demilitarized zone”—a place of peace and safety where cats can smell and hear each other, with positive reinforcements to set them up for success.

“Because I can make the other cat smell like you without you touching the cat. So we get the cat’s nose to lie to them: You snuggled that cat earlier; you just don’t remember it,” said Dr. Lilly, a clinical associate professor and section head of behavioral medicine at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I’m gaslighting cats for a living,” she joked, drawing laughter from the audience during her session, “Fighting Felines—Managing Inter-Cat Aggression Problems,” Friday at AVMA Convention 2025, which took place in conjunction with the 40th World Veterinary Association Congress in Washington, D.C.

Affective Aggression Types

Addressing affective aggression between cats starts with understanding it, Dr. Lilly said. She defined affective aggression as “distance-increasing behavior backed by the threat of harm” and covered different motivations and management approaches for aggression by type:

Play related

Pain related

Fear related

Territorial

Redirected

Social stress

Effectively managing affective aggression, also known as reactive aggression, depends on understanding the context, body language, and environmental factors that may trigger the behavior, she said.

For example, with play-related aggression, providing a safe, alternative target like motorized toys can help redirect unwanted attention. Dr. Lilly also advised ending play sessions with something the cats can swallow, because play is “abbreviated predatory behavior.”

“Imagine if all your play was hanging out in your fake kitchen, and you never got to pretend to eat those cookies you pretend baked, but you also never got to eat real cookies—that could be kind of frustrating,” she said. “So we want to make sure we’re not increasing stress by increasing frustration.”

One idea would be to put a bell on the aggressor cat, so the “stalked” cat can identify where they are.

“Don’t put bells on your target kitties,” she added, getting a few chuckles. “That tells the aggressor where to find their prey or inappropriate play target, and that’s not helpful.”

Dr. Lilly encouraged avoiding reprimands or punitive disciplinary measures, as that may promote fear and aggression both toward the owner and potentially between the cats.

With pain-related aggression, identifying and treating the source of pain is necessary and may fully resolve the issues. Similarly, redirected aggression would require identifying and addressing the original target.

In other circumstances, while hissing is often associated with fear-related aggression, yowling is a classic sign of territorial aggression, directed at “noncommunal cats at the edge of their territory,” Dr. Lilly said. The point to remember here is that it is the cat that decides who is in their community.

“It doesn’t matter how many cats are in the home, the cat decides if you are a household cat—just like you can have people who live in your apartment building, but they are not your family,” she said.

Tailoring Treatments

Once the type of aggression is identified, treatment and management can be tailored to become more effective.

If a stray or a squirrel outside the window is causing territorial or redirected aggression, applying a window film as a visual block may be a simple solution. To help alleviate social stress, providing sufficient space and resources is recommended to enable safe-access spots and allow for better “timesharing.”

Dr. Lilly shared clients’ stories, as well as some videos of behavior-modification exercises.

Because the first interaction between cats is predictive of their outcome, Dr. Lilly advises starting with scent exchanges. The goal is enthusiastic participation and positive emotional response, she said, so look for that “question-mark tail” or a curious chirp.

One way to easily transfer scents between cats is to use a washcloth. But if they are grooming off the other cat’s scent right away, it may be an indication to slow down.

When reinforcing with high value treats during these exchanges, Dr. Lilly suggested giving enough treats so the cats do not have to compete and providing choice, so they can enjoy treats next to each other or farther apart if they choose.

It is preferable to keep these exercises shorter in duration with more frequency, rather than one long interaction.

Another key behavior modification is teaching cats to move away from each other to interrupt before any aggression can occur. She calls it “going to your corners,” like in boxing rings, because that has a more positive and fun connotation than “timeouts.”

“If the client is only feeling frustrated, we’re not going to get good adherence,” Dr. Lilly said. “So, I actually try to make sure that we’re doing things that are slightly fun for the client, while I’m trying to convince the cats that they are also fun for each other.”

While not all interactions may rise to the level of aggression, tension may still exist.

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Fire Island Has Gone to the Cats

Shared from bioGraphic

by Ramin Skibba

On New York’s Fire Island, a small, sand-colored shorebird called the piping plover is fighting for survival after a scourge of feral felines took over its island home.

Long and narrow, at only half a kilometer (0.3 miles) wide, Fire Island runs parallel to the southern coast of Long Island, New York, and helps buffer inland areas from the full brunt of the sea. Fire Island is connected to the larger landmass by a pair of bridges, and the island’s beaches and wilderness, including its rare forest of American holly trees, draw numerous tourists every year.

“We have the only federally designated wilderness area in the state of New York,” says Jordan Raphael, a National Park Service ranger and biologist on Fire Island. “We have unique habitats that are relatively pristine, and you have this island that’s so close to New York City. It’s really one of a kind.”

Despite this, Fire Island’s piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) have had a rough couple decades. In the 2010s, the species was struggling from the impacts of increased tourism development and a series of storms; only 20-something nesting pairs remained on the island. The birds largely escaped the wrath of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, even though the storm literally cut their island home into pieces. But even that already precarious existence took an unexpected turn in 2015 when the birds’ top predators—red foxes—were hit by a highly contagious skin disease called sarcoptic mange.

Also known as canine scabies, this nasty mite-borne disease is often lethal for wild canids. Because piping plovers nest on the ground, foxes often go after their eggs and their chicks, which Raphael describes as cotton balls on toothpicks. “I don’t want to say we celebrated the decline of the fox population, but we saw the benefit of that for the piping plover population,” Raphael says.

Yet what might have been a boon for the birds instead kicked off a cascade of ecosystem changes with dire consequences. Christy Wails, a wildlife researcher at Virginia Tech, tracked this transformation as it unfolded.

Using a network of trail cameras, Wails and her colleagues watched how the island’s ecosystem has evolved over the past decade, and how other predatory species, such as raccoons and opossums, responded to the sudden dearth of foxes. Ultimately, they found that feral cats were quick to fill the void, as they do in other places where there is a sudden power vacuum caused by the loss of top predators. And now, Wails says, piping plovers are being lost to the claws of cats at a rate that far exceeds what they suffered in the island’s fox era.

So now people have to figure out what to do with all those cats.

Wails says the cats probably migrated to the island by multiple means. Some may have strolled across the bridges that connect Fire Island to Long Island, while others possibly crossed in winter when parts of a nearby bay froze over. Or maybe they swam across. But the most likely explanation, Wails says, is that people brought cats to the island that then escaped into the wild and spread.

While conducting surveys on Fire Island, Wails and her team encountered cats that had had their ear tips removed. Animal control officers commonly snip a cat’s ear after its been part of a trap, neuter, and release (TNR) program. TNR programs help limit feral cat populations, but Wails says that effort alone won’t be enough to solve Fire Island’s cat problem.

“There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that TNR operations don’t fully prevent cats from going elsewhere; they don’t prevent the spread of diseases; and they don’t entirely prevent breeding” in the population, she says, since it’s logistically and financially impossible to catch every single cat and kitten. Plus, operating a TNR on federally protected parkland is prohibited. Realistically, Wails says, the cats have to be removed.

Raphael and the National Park Service, meanwhile, are trying their best to keep the feral cats out of Fire Island’s prime wilderness areas while focusing on bolstering plover habitat. The birds benefit most when they can access open, sparsely vegetated dunes, as that gives them a good vantage to detect predators and people who might accidentally disturb their nests.

Visitors to Fire Island might not even notice piping plovers. Small and well camouflaged, these birds blend easily into the shoreline scenery. But ecologists, conservationists, and land managers all agree on their importance. “For these beach-nesting shorebirds, their presence … signifies the health of [the] ecosystem,” says Michelle Stantial, a quantitative ecologist at the U.S.-based Four Peaks Environmental Science and Data Solutions who has studied the piping plover population in nearby New Jersey.