|
|
|
|
SEPTEMBER 2009
|
THIS ISSUE:
|
|
|
Ask The Cat Lady!
Sally Bahner is a member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and has a private feline consulting practice. She is the "Dear Sally" on Tracie Hotchner’s Cat Chat Radio (www.catchatradio.com), found on Sirius, the Martha Stewart Living channel. She is a longtime editor and writer on everything feline.
Q: Dear Sally,
We have a rambunctious kitten who is almost 6 months old. Nellie is a tortie whose biting behavior has escalated. She is very affectionate and gets along well with our elderly dog. What can we do to protect our hands and feet and how can we curb the behavior? She will be spayed soon.
Sue
A: Dear Sue,
If Nellie was an orphan or a singleton, she may not have learned to play properly since cats learn their biting limits from their siblings.
First make sure that you don’t use your hands (or feet) to play with her. One of the worst toys I’ve seen is the glove with bells on the "fingers." Something like that is sure to encourage a cat to use the hand as an object of prey. Always toss a toy for her to pounce on; keep them accessible to deter her when she pounces on your feet. Fishing pole toys offer a great way to burn off energy and nice plush toys give her something to sink her teeth into.
Learn her body language. She’ll probably start to squirm if you’re holding her or her ears will go back or her pupils dilate. If she starts biting while you’re holding her, put her down and walk away. A firm "no" is all right, but punishment is never a good way to gain a cat’s trust. If she’s a good girl, reward her with a treat.
It sounds as if Nellie has a lot of energy to burn off, so if she’s alone all day make some time to play with her in the morning and evening. Cats need a job and she may be bored. Look into clicker training for cats (www.clickertraining.com/cattraining).
Chances are good that the behavior will diminish once she is spayed and as she gets older.
Sally
Guinea Pig Expert!
Whitney Potsus has owned guinea pigs for nearly a decade. She is Vice President of The Critter Connection, Inc., a Durham-based non-profit dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of abandoned and neglected guinea pigs. You can find the rescue on the Web at www.ctguineapigrescue.org. Please direct all your Guinea Pig questions to Whitney.
Q: Dear Whitney,
My guinea pig looks like he may have suffered an injury of some kind, or that he may have an ear or eye infection. He eats just fine, hops around, and squeaks plenty, but one day two weeks ago, he was very quiet. Still eating, resumed squeaking the following day, but now he seems to be favoring his right eye. When he comes toward us, he tilts his head. Our bunnies sometimes play a little rough, and he does sit in a large box of hay most of the day. Could he have been injured? Could his eye just be irritated?
Thanks, Heather
A: Dear Heather,
The head tilt could be symptomatic of three categories of problems. I'll briefly discuss each one, but will say upfront that head tilts should not be regarded with a "wait and see" approach. Prompt veterinary diagnosis is needed; nothing substitutes for a hands-on exam by a vet that specializes in small exotic animals.
Eye problem. Eye problems can be due to injury or a congenital condition (e.g., cataracts, blindness). If he scratched his eye on hay (like a particularly stalky piece), it would interfere with his vision as the cornea tries to heal. Scratched corneas can become infected or ulcerated. When left untreated for very long, you can wind up with messy, expensive problems to treat. Until the eye heals, a guinea pig may tilt its head in favor of the "good eye" so that it can see what's going on. If the problem is due to cataracts or blindness, a guinea pig will acclimate to the condition, which may or may not include some degree of head tilt.
Ear problem. This includes ear mites and ear infections. Infections, when left undiagnosed for too long, can spread into bone and/or brain, making them difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to heal – if they can be healed at all. I've seen a couple of pigs surrendered to our rescue with previously undiagnosed ear infections that spread to the brain in spite of our vets' immediate efforts to treat the infections. The neurological problems are difficult to see and should not be prolonged. The misery of guinea pigs with ear mites and ear infections is palpable, partly because the problems have had several days to set in before most owners can see actual symptoms of discomfort.
Injury. For guinea pigs that are by themselves or living with other guinea pigs, head injuries are rare; although playful guinea pigs can get rambunctious, they don't play so rowdy that if they hit the side of the cage they do any serious damage. However, guinea pigs playing with bunnies is a different affair. Even those of us who love bunnies know that they can be very ornery with their back feet, which are the center of their physical power. If those feet make contact with a guinea pig's head, the consequences range from a concussion to an even more serious injury with long-lasting neurological problems. For this reason, guinea pig experts say that while piggies and bunnies make good neighbors, they don't make good roommates or unsupervised playmates.
Again, all these require a vet's attention. In the cases of infections and mites, catching something early means the cost of a vet visit, drops and antibiotics, and about 10-14 days of treatment. Catching something too late becomes a matter of weeks of treatment, and a couple of hundred dollars or more in vet visits, diagnostics (like X-rays), and, potentially, surgeries.
Hope your little guy starts feeling better quickly with your vet's help.
Whitney
Reptile Man!
Ron Wulff, the Reptile Man, has worked for one of the big retail pet stores for 6 years as a reptile and aquatic specialist. He rescues reptiles and runs www.nopaws.com, dedicating his time to educate people on exotic pets. Direct your exotic pet questions to Reptile Man.
Q: Dear Ron,
I have a Ball Python about three feet long. Sometimes when I feed it, after it kills the mouse and moves it into position to eat it, some of the cage bedding sticks to the mouse. Is there any way to prevent the snake from eating the bedding other than trying to wipe it off as it swallows it?
Phil
A: Phil,
There are two issues to correct at the same time. It is a bad idea to feed the snake in his cage in the first place. The snake should be fed in a smaller container (at his size a rubber or plastic storage tub works) without anything on the bottom that can stick to his food. Not only can the cage bedding be swallowed, but it can stick in the tissue in the snake’s mouth and become infected.
The second issue is feeding the snake live mice. Even though the snake seems to be able to handle killing the mouse, all it needs is one bad day where it leaves the mouse time enough to bite it. A puncture wound from a bite can go unnoticed until it turns into a big abscess.
If you are going to use live mice as a food source, it is recommended that you kill the mouse just prior to feeding the snake and present it to the snake with tongs so it strikes the dead mouse and wraps around it like it thinks it killed it itself. It will be the right smell and have the right body temperature as a live mouse so the snake will react the same. Once the snake is taking the dead mice from the tongs, you can try to switch it with a frozen mouse that you thawed in hot water. If it takes that one you won't have to buy live mice anymore. The frozen mice are cheaper so you will appreciate them more as the snake gets bigger and wants more.
Ron
|
|
|
|
|
|
