St Francis Hospice for Cats

As the name implies this charity cares for chronically sick, elderly and terminally ill cats, they are not a re-homing centre.

The cats are cared for within the comfort of a home. A vet, who is also a Trustee and visits the Hospice regularly, ensures that the cats receive all medical care to maintain an enjoyable quality of life. All the cats remain in the Hospice for the rest of their lives.

In order to help care for these desperately needy cats, the Hospice relies solely on the generous support from members of the public – whether cat owners or not!

To help meet the costs of caring for these cats they would welcome contributions – no matter how small.  If you can help, you could –

send them a cheque (please make payable to St Francis Hospice)

send them a donation via your bank account, by telephone or internet banking

set up a standing order

subscribe to their newsletter

if you are a UK taxpayer you can give more by using Gift Aid.

donate goods to sell (if you live near enough)

The address of the Hospice is 3 Sapperton Close, Littleover, Derby, DE23 2NX, United Kingdom

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Christmas Fayre – Saturday, 22nd November – 11am – approx. 2pm.  Mickleover Methodist Church, Station Road.

For the Hospice’s fundraising events, they would be very grateful for:

Good quality unwanted gifts and jewellery, donations for the bottle stall, offers of help with fundraising, contributions for the home made cake and produce stall.

Registered charity number: 1062053

Love Cats? You’ll Love This!

If you love cats as much as we do, then you want the best for them. Packed with feline information, stories, videos, tips and the latest ‘cat’ news, this is the ultimate guide to cats.

By joining the free newsletter today, you’ll receive 2 great bonuses that will help you and your cat enjoy life all the more – the 16 page Top Ten Tips for a Healthy Cat and Pamper Your Cat, 103 pages of easy recipes for your cat to enjoy.  Join today, right here, right now.

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If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to pass it on !

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Glossary of Feline Terms A – D

Abscess a painful, puss filled swelling, usually in or under the skin, following a bite or scratch.

Acute  describes a disease that is sudden in onset and typically runs a short course.

Agouti  the colour between the stripes of a tabby cat.  In non-agouti cats there is no contrast, producing a sold (self) coat.

Anoestrus  the period of inactivity in the femaile cat’s reproductive cycle.  See oestrus.

Autoimmune disease  a destructive immunity developed against part if the cat’s own body.

Awn hair  secondary short hair with a slightly thickened tip.

Benign  describes a tumour that is not alignant, recurring, or spreading.

Bicolour  a coat with patches of two colours, one of which is white.  

Biopsy  a sample of tissue taken from a living animal for diagnistic purposes.

Blue  a coat colour ranging from grey to blue-grey.  

Russian Blue

Breed  purebred cats, more or less uniform in colour and structure, as produced and maintained by selective breeding.

Breed standard  a description of the ideal specimen in each breed, set by the national Cat Fancy associations.

Calico  a distinctive patterned coat, usually black and orange but sometimes blue and cream.  The coat pattern is sex-linked and only seen in females.  Also known as tortoiseshell.

Carpal pad  the additional pad on a cat’s foot, part way up the forelegbehind the carpus.

Carpus  the equivalent of a human wrist joint, between the elbow and the toes, which acts like a hinge.

Castration  surgical removal of the testes of a male cat.

Cataract  a permanent opacity in the lens of the eye that interferes with vision.

Cat Fancy  a general term for organised cat showing and breeding.

Catnip / Catmint

Catnip (catmint)

  a perennial plant (Nepeta cataria) whose smell provides mental stimulation for many (not all) cats.

Chronic  describes a disease that is gradual in onset and typically runs a long course.

Classic tabby  a wide-striped or spotted coat pattern.

Cobby  a short, compact body shape, typical of short haired cats, with a round head, broad shoulders and a short tail.

Colourpoint  a variety of Persian cat with a Siamese (pointed) coat pattern.  See Points.

Crossbreed  a cat of mixed parentage – may be either two distinct breeds or types or a mixture of many breeds.

Dew claw  the first toe, on the inside of the paw, not in contact with the ground.  In most cats they are missing from the hind limbs.

Dilute  a pale version of a coat colour, e.g. cream is a diluted colour of red.

Dominant gene  a gene that is always expressed when present.  See also recessive gene.

Double coat  a coat with both guard hairs and down hairs.

Down hair  short, soft, curly secondary hair.

BBC TV – Pedigree Dogs Exposed

Did you see the BBC programme last night about the breeding of pedigree dogs?  (available on BBC iPlayer for 7 days – www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer after that visit www.bbc.co.uk and put ‘pedigree dogs exposed’ into the seach box)

I found it shocking, disturbing and appalling.  Although cats are my favourite animal, I do love dogs, too.  I just couldn’t believe what these breeders get up to.  I can’t tell you all the names that I was calling them and the deep loathing that was growing inside me.  There are some truly distrubing scenes in this film.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with the selective breeding of dogs and cats.  But I thought that these people had got their acts together and worked for the good of the breed.  Not so.  The breeders interviewed, with one exception, came over as cold, hard, brutish and completely lacking in any sort of compassion, and as for the Kennel Club, well words fail me.

This got me thinking about pedigree cat breeders.  I realised that I didn’t know anything about inherited diseases of pedigree cats.  This is probably due to my dislike of this practice.

Anyway, here’s the results of just about an hours research.

PKD – Polycystic Kidney Disease affects Persians (and Persian crosses), Himalayas, Exotic Shorthairs.  At risk are Scottish Fold, British Shorthair and Birmans.  PKD is when multiple cysts develop on both kidneys.  when these cysts start to grow they progressively enlarge the kidney reducing it’s ability to unction properly.

Gangliosidosis GM1 & GM2 affects Persians and Korats.  A progressive brain disease that is caused by a gene defect.  http://www.koratworld.com/gm.html

Glycogen Storage Disease affects Norwegian Forest and Korats.  An inherited metabolic disorder which sees the accumulation of certain substances in various tissues in abnormal amounts.

Breathing difficulties affects Persians because of their flat faces

Hip Dysplasia affects Maine Coon, Devon Rex, Persians, Himalaya.  This is a condition of the hip joint where parts of it are abnormally shaped.  The head of the femur moves out of joint easily.  Overtime degenerative joint disease results.  A painful condition causing lameness, stiffness and an inability to run and jump.  Affects the larger, heavy boned breeds.

Patella Luxation affects Maine Coon, Devon Rex, Abyssinian.  The kneecap moves out of the groove at the bottom of the femur.  Can causes lameness and stiffness.  http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/saortho/chapter_81/81mast.htm

Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects Maine Coon, Scottish Fold, at risk are American Shorthair, Persian, Rex, Ragdoll, British Shorthair.  HCM is a progressive heart disease.

Deafness affects blue eyed, white cats

Lysosomal Storage Disease affects Korat, Siamese.  See Gangliosidosis and Glycogen Storage Disease.

Amyloidosis affects Abyssinian, Oriental, Siamese, Devon Rex, Burmese.  Causes damage to organs by displacement of normal cells.  http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/50300.htm

Achondroplasia / Hypochondroplasia affects Munchkin.  These are genetic disorders that cause dwarfism.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchkin_cat

Osteochondritis affects the Scottish Fold.  This is a painful condition where fragments of cartilage or bone have become loose within a joint leading to pain and inflammation.

 Manx Syndrome as the name implies affects Manx cats.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_cat  http://www.manxcats.com/myths.htm

Well, there you have it.  I’m pleased to say that it’s not nearly as bad as in the dog world.  That really is a horror story.

And, I also have to say, that unlike the dog world, many breeds are not recognised by the top cat societies because there are deemed to be based on an ‘abnormal structure or development’ or on a  ‘genetic disease’.