Purrfecting the art of caring for feline patients
Sleekly disdainful, it is usually they who choose you and not the other way round, unlike any other pet you may have. The purring and the rubbing of their bodies against yours in affection is always their decision and rarely will they bound up when called but give a snooty stare and walk away.
In these days of smaller and compact homes, fewer children in families and adults stressed over the daily rat-race, however, cats as pets are gaining popularity, for they are easy to look after being solitary creatures and in their element when left alone.
Give them food and water and show them that you care and they, in turn, would help relieve stress leading to health benefits by their antics. Once in a way, they would reward you by curling up on your lap and purring with contentment.
In Sri Lanka, when a search is on for the ‘narco-cat’ at the Welikada Prison this week, it is all about cats that we chat as the world celebrates International Feline Day on August 8.
Right cat-care is ever so important, says the Founder of the Pet Vet Clinic & Veterinary Surgeon, Dr. Nalinika Obeyesekere seated in an upstair room of her pet hospital at Narahenpita, preparing to deliver a lecture on cats to mark Feline Day.
Around 50% of the pets brought to Dr. Obeyesekere’s clinic are cats, a majority of the balance being dogs and an ‘assortment’ of rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, horses, tortoises and monkeys.
She is quick to point out that keeping wild animals as pets is illegal in Sri Lanka but her clinic cares for them as someone has to look after them.
Nine street cats, meanwhile, have adopted the clinic as their own and now roam around as masters and mistresses of all they survey.
“Cats are not small dogs, they are unique in their own right,” stresses Dr. Obeyesekere, explaining that veterinary surgeons should be competent in handling cat patients as they have different needs.
“Our mission is to raise the bar in veterinary medicine and keep up with the newest trends. This is why we have been focusing on feline medicine,” she says.
Referring to the two sides of a coin in having a cat as a pet, Dr. Obeyesekere says that cats are solitary and prefer to be on their own. They will be around but not weave around the owner’s legs like dogs do. They are also good hunters and will control rats and cockroaches in a home but the downside would be that the same predatory instincts would make them prey on birds and squirrels and owners should not get upset over this.
She says that cats are prone to cat viral infections and there is a need to vaccinate them against these diseases and not just for rabies. There is a huge deficiency of knowledge with regard to such vaccinations.
Underscoring that no infection including COVID-19 is transmitted from cat to human, only the other way round, she picks up toxoplasmosis (a disease caused by a parasite found in infected cat faeces) and says that like the major campaigns which are promoting handhygiene to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, proper hand-washing with soap and water before eating would keep toxoplasmosis away from humans.
Her call to cat-pet owners is that not only pet species are different from each other, but each pet is different from another.
“We need to identify each pet’s needs and cater to them. As we share space with them in our homes, we need to respect them,” adds Dr. Obeyesekere.