Product Description: The experts reveal how to interpret and understand your cat's symptoms and what steps to take to ensure its health.
This comprehensive and practical book is designed to assist cat owners in understanding their pets' bodies and health based on signs and symptoms of disease, and in determining the most common medical problems that might cause particular symptoms. Adopting the "decision chart" format from popular symptom guides for human ailments, such as the American Medical Association's Guide to Your Family's Symptoms and Take Care of Yourself, five leading veterinarians have designed a user-friendly chart system that will guide a pet owner from noting the symptom and observing the cat's behavior to understanding the associated signs of an illness, the possible conditions, and the best steps to take. Filled with more than 150 charts in an easy-to-follow two-color format and medical drawings, The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Cat's Symptoms is the indispensable reference for cat owners. It not only considers the problems of sick and injured pets, but also addresses the needs of healthy animals. It has all the information a cat owner needs:
¸ What a healthy cat should look like ¸ Flow charts to the 200 most common symptoms ¸ Behavioral issues, such as spraying and clawing ¸ Emergency first aid, including transporting an injured cat ¸ A glossary of veterinary diagnostic tests and medical terms
With this unique combination of medical information and advice, plus an innovative chart system, The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Cat's Symptoms will ensure that your cat really does have nine lives.
Amazon.com Review: It's a lot easier for the layperson to tell when a fellow human is feeling poorly than it is to understand the inner workings of a cat. For one thing, people use words to tell you what hurts and when it started. And for another thing, we, as fellow people, have a little insight into what's healthy human behavior and what isn't. When the toddler cries and then vomits lunch, we sense something's not right, even if the child can't verbalize the problem. But when your cat brings up a hairball, does that mean she is ill? When your cat meows, it's hard to know if it means "Hey, pet me," or "I feel rotten."
To know when cats are acting oddly, you need to know what normal is. The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Cat's Symptoms starts off describing a healthy cat body, from skin, hair, eyes, ears, and teeth to the inner workings of the cardiovascular, digestive, urinary, respiratory, and musculoskeletal systems. This picture of feline health is followed by a chapter on how to keep those systems healthy, with advice on choosing a veterinarian, plus vaccinations, spaying and neutering, nutrition, and litter boxes.
Part 2 does an excellent job of covering accidents, medical emergencies, and diseases that could threaten your cat. This section discusses broken bones, burns, and poisoning; conditions such as hypoglycemia, pneumonia, seizures, and pyometra; as well as infectious and parasitic diseases. For each, it tells you what to look for in your cat and when to dash off to the veterinary hospital for emergency treatment. There's a chapter on feline first aid, as well.
And if you suspect your kitty isn't up to snuff but aren't sure? Part 3 is where you can ensure that your cat's behavior is normal, with more than 130 common feline symptoms and flow charts explaining how to interpret them. Associated signs, possible conditions, and recommended actions are listed for each symptom. Perhaps your cat is showing signs of depressed appetite, with difficulty breathing and possibly coughing as well. These could be signs of cardiac disease, pneumonia, or even lung cancer, and a trip to the emergency clinic for x-rays is strongly suggested. On the other hand, maybe your cat is eating wool. The chart says this condition (termed Wool Eater, a form of compulsive behavior) is not unusual for Siamese cats, but could lead to vomiting or intestinal obstruction; the recommended action is to put the wool out of kitty's reach, and maybe see a veterinarian for behavior-modification medication. Symptoms such as depression and lethargy are treated in depth, as are diarrhea, gagging, lameness, nasal discharge, and various sorts of vomiting.
With appendices that list congenital defects and disorders, poisonous household products, and a glossary of veterinary medical terms, this is a remarkably useful reference for anyone who loves cats. --Stephanie Gold
Basic Guide, Helpful for Quick Reference I was pleased with the covering of information about normal cat behavior and normal cat functions--so as to better determine such with my own cats. However, the book is not comprehensive in its covering of abnormalites of feline health. I do like that it lists little icons next to various symptoms and diseases referring to the urgency of the situation. This book is a nice base covering of information to know about your cats in general, and for several problems that might arise over their life span.
Good overall book. This book really helped us out because we thought our cat was not only crazy, but also sick. Sick and crazy is a bad combo. Turned out she just had allergies and typical cat spaz behavior. The book goes in depth to let you know what is going on with your pet so you don't have to shell out the big bucks to a vet. If you do have to go to a vet for something you can help them pinpoint the problem much quicker if you have done some research using the book beforehand. Worth the money if you own cats.
ONE OF THE BEST IF YOU NEED HELP FOR YOUR CAT BUDDY . I read everything I could find at the local library concerning diagnosis of symptoms displayed by my cat. The technical books in the library were useless because of the plethora of technical terms that the average layman like me hasn't a clue on the meaning of. Also, the organization, or should I say lack of organization, of the other books made them tedious to follow. Many references and cross-references ad infinitum. I had to tease out answers to simple questions and, even then, didn't fully understand the points they were trying to make. I've had cats for most of my life and thought I was an expert, but I was stumped and worried about my little friend's symptomatic behavior. I needed help, and fast.
Five minutes with the guide to symptoms by Garvey, et al, answered my immediate question and led to a quick solution. The book is filled with well rendered drawings that illustrate and complement the text. The people who put this book together obviously know cats intimately and understand cat behavior. The writing is easy to understand and to the point. It also explains the "whys" behind the facts. The table at the back is both comprehensive and easy for the average reader to understand. This is a book to be USED, not just read.
No book is perfect but this one comes close and gave me what I needed. ....I'm totally satisfied with it.
Good, but! This is exactly what we expected it to be: A very helpful listing of symptoms/signs your pet could be displaying and what to make of it. One major drawback of the volume is a political one: We are happy to live in a country decidedly more civilized where the surgical removal of a cat's claws is simply illegal. We could have well done without any advice regarding this disgusting notion: I mean if you are fonder of your furniture than of a living (pet or no) animal, then please get more furniture, not more pets...
Excellent reference. Contains much valuable information. The unique chart form in the second half of this book provides cat ownerns with an invaluable quick reference when a cat is ailing. My cats, like most, often do not complain when they are not feeling well, and I must figure out what's wrong. This is an excellent, helpful guide.
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