Who said cats and dogs don’t mix?
The photograph of the dogs and cats sharing the fireside on the Rhyme and Reason Page (OUR CATS, 22 April) was of Marianne Brett’s pets. Marianne’s name was omitted, in error. Please keep your contributions coming in for both Rhyme & Reason and the Cheshire Cat page.
MRSA
I was speaking to veterinary surgeon, Trevor Turner, at the Bedford & District Cat Club show on 23 April. We discussed MRSA and animals, following a recent case in which MRSA was found, post operatively, in a dog. The source of infection, in this particular instance, is still unclear.
The infection is most likely to affect susceptible individuals (long term sick, elderly or immuno-compromised) – so those caring for both humans and animals in these circumstances, need to be especially vigilant. The importance of meticulous hygiene and regular hand washing cannot be overstressed. Trevor said breeders and cattery owners should not be complacent and that they should try to be ‘cleaner than ever’ to help to reduce the risk of infection.
In the national press, recent opinions suggest that MRSA may take 40 years to disappear!
BSAVA strongly advocates “the responsible use of anti- bacterial agents to minimise the development of resistant species and strains of all bacterial pathogens particularly those with zoonotic potential. High-risk individuals (long-term sick, elderly or patients with a poor immune system for example) may need to take extra care and seek advice from their veterinary surgeon and doctor.”
Judges’ memoirs
OUR CATS would very much like to hear from judges who are willing to share their memories with readers. In addition, any judges who have not already featured in our judges ‘Spotlight’ series and would be willing to do so, please contact me.
Show features
Once again, may I make a plea to Show Managers and Clubs to please inform me, IN ADVANCE, if they intend to submit their own show features to OUR CATS? This gives me the opportunity to (a) plan forthcoming issues; (b) promote the feature and (c) avoid two photographers turning up on the day.
Novice Breeders Advice Group Seminar
The NBA Seminar will be held on 14 May at BUCKINGHAMSHIRE CHILTERNS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, CHALFONT ST GILES, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. Guest speaker is Dr Susan Little, from Canada’s Winn Foundation. Dr Susan will be speaking in the morning on “Selected Inherited Diseases of the Cat”, the lecture will cover inherited diseases of interest to cat breeders, such as polycystic kidney disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and hip dysplasia.
This will cover the nature of each disease, advances in diagnostics, and genetic counselling for breeders dealing with control of these diseases in catteries. In the afternoon, Dr Susan will talk about “Early Age Neutering”, followed later by an update on Feline Infectious Peritonitis.
Other speakers include Vicky Halls (Cat Behaviour Counsellor) and Dr Susan Dawson (Liverpool University). Vicky will present “Early Socialisation, and Monitoring Breed Predispositions for Behavioural Problems”. Dr Dawson will cover the subject of ‘Fading Kittens’. Finally at 6.00pm, Pet Plan will be talking to breeders about changes to their kitten policies.
If you would like a last minute ticket, please contact Mrs Loder Tel:- 07092 359421 Email:-Info@NBACatClub.co.uk or Mrs Owen Tel:-0870 0425019 Email:- Marcia@NBACatClub.co.uk
Shropshire critique
In Mrs Di Brown’s Shropshire critique (OUR CATS 22 April) the critiques for ‘Kitten female’ should have been headed ‘Chocolate Point Siamese Kitten Female’. This was a typographical error during production and not Mrs Brown’s.
BSAVA Congress
BSAVA’s Congress Chairman, Ed Hall, reporting on the recent 2005 BSAVA Congress said: “When asked for his overall impression at the end of Congress, one delegate commented, “I would like to be able to say that Congress 2005 was as good as last year - but in fact it was better!” This was definitely echoed in the opinions of many delegates, exhibitors and speakers.
Congress 2005 was indeed a very good year. The Scientific Programme remains the backbone of Congress and once again was an unqualified success.” OUR CATS hopes to bring you more news from Congress, in the next issue.
Need advice? See FAB
In 2005, an estimated 600,000 people from around the world will turn to the Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB), a charity dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of cats, for on-line feline advice. Since the relaunch of the FAB website www.fabcats.org in April 2004 the number of on-line visitors has increased five fold. On average 43,000 people from 119 countries use www.fabcats.org every month.
“Our knowledge of cats is fast evolving and we want everyone to be able to use this knowledge for the benefits of cats. Improving the look and ease of use of the website is helping us reach more people than ever,” said Chief Executive of FAB, Claire Bessant. “With almost 300 pages of feline information and advice it is a truly global resource for those who work with, care for, or just love cats. ”
The latest developments in feline medicine can be found on www.fabcats.org as well as detailed information sheets on everything from poisoning and diarrhoea to feline infectious peritonitis. FAB funded veterinary school lecturers and residents share unusual case histories on the site. There is information on choosing a cattery and all the FAB Listed catteries. Full details of the charity’s many publications and conferences can be found. The site carries the very popular FAB Felix Cat Purrsonality Report and gives details of events underway, such as the Cattery of the Year Competition.
In 2005 the most popular health pages on www.fabcats.org were on ringworm, renal failure, cat ’flu, liver disease and hyperthyroidism.
For more information contact FAB, Taeselbury, High Street, Wiltshire SP3 6LD, telephone 0870 742 2278
Prevention better than cure
I hope readers enjoy our massive ‘Prevention is better than Cure’ feature inside this issue. There is certainly plenty of sound advice included in a wealth of reading matter!
