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This month's newsletter will be fairly short, and it will utilize our new newsletter format. We hope you enjoy it! The spleen... The obscure organ that everyone has heard of, and most everyone has, but what does it do? The spleen is a useful organ, but it's also one of [...]

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body, and like most other organs, it performs more than one function. It produces bile, a substance needed to digest and absorb fats; filters the blood to keep the body clear of toxins and harmful substances; and is responsible for a [...]

This month, we will start a series on the function of the major organs of the feline body. Everyone knows that organs can potentially fail as pets age, but what do these organs actually do? What are their daily functions in maintaining health? This month we will start with the [...]

...and maybe bring home a new furry friend! =^_^= Check out Pet Fest at the Adams Center on Saturday, 8/20/16 from 10:00am to 3:00pm. There will be activities, vendors and pet adoptions. Plus, we're bringing Buster the Cat and Taco the Tortoise for a visit, so we hope to see [...]

The summer travel season is here! While we won't all be taking our favorite cat(s) with us on road trips, we should all be taking our feline friends at least once a year for a check-up. And, that does usually involve a car. For some, this is known as “the [...]

June is Adopt-a-Cat Month! Last month we took a look at how feral cats interact so that we can better understand why cats behave the way they do. The important points to remember are: 1.) Even though cats that are raised together can co-exist, they are solitary hunters. 2.) Cats [...]

June is Adopt-a-Cat Month! Missoula is very lucky to have several no-kill shelters that are wonderful at finding new homes for stray and "unwanted" cats. Adopting a new cat can be a rewarding experience for both the cat and his or her new family, especially when the new cat fits [...]

Cats' responses to catnip have long fascinated and entertained us... This month we will take a closer look at the plant that many of our feline friends love so much. "Catnip" is the common name for a perennial herb of the mint family. The plant has many other common names [...]

If you have taken on the rewarding responsibility of caring for a pet, there are going to be medical bills for that pet at some point in time. Even if they are fortunate enough to never have an emergency, a healthy pet will grow old, and as mentioned in previous [...]

Yes, cats do get arthritis, and yes, it can become just as debilitating as it can be in people. Cats are just not as obvious about it. Most cats "suffer in silence", and unlike dogs, they rarely limp until arthritis is fairly advanced or until they sustain an injury to [...]

Welcome to a new year, everyone! We hope everyone and everykitty is safe and well! So far in this series, we have discussed that healthy cats will get old; and this is, of course, natural and is not a type of disease state. However, certain disease states are much more [...]

I have often heard it mentioned that cats have poor kidneys due to the fact that so many cats develop kidney disease. While it is true that kidney failure is a leading cause of death for older cats, it is not true that they have poor kidneys. In fact, the [...]

Too often I hear people comment that their cat is [insert symptom or condition here] because it is old, and old cats just “get that way." While it is true that many disease processes are more likely to occur in an older cat, the cat’s age is not a prerequisite [...]

Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), like FIV discussed last month, is a retrovirus. These viruses insert themselves into the host's DNA and are one of the main reasons that these infections are difficult to treat and have no cure. Of the two viruses, FeLV is the far more contagious disease. Like [...]

This month’s newsletter is dedicated to “Percy”. Percy is a cat that was brought to us by a Good Samaritan after they found him on a hiking trip in the middle of nowhere. He has come a long way in a short time. When he first arrived, he was so [...]