When our cat, Watie, jumps up to get some water from the kitchen
sink, he sometimes leaves behind a little spot of blood on the
counter. I can’t find any injury anywhere.
Q: When our cat, Watie, jumps up to get some water from the kitchen sink, he sometimes leaves behind a little spot of blood on the counter. I can’t find any injury anywhere. He doesn’t have any scratches or scabs. But his skin feels like it has a lot of little granules on it. Is this some kind of skin infection? Why the blood?
A:
Chances are Watie has a big problem with fleas. His rough skin (it feels as though there is sandpaper grit on it) is typical of miliary dermatitis, a reaction where the skin produces extra keratin.
These tiny particles are a normal reaction to skin allergies.
Kitty-cats that carry fleas on their skin will also have small little particles of dried, undigested blood. This “flea dirt” represents minute pieces of undigested blood that these parasites leave behind (yes, fleas are messy little bugs). If any of this flea dirt falls off his skin and onto a wet counter, that dried blood can mix with water and leave fresh-looking blood spots. So it sounds as though Watie needs some treatment for fleas right away.
Q:
But Watie is an inside-only kitty. He never gets out. How can he have a flea problem?
A:
This one is easy. You and I talked about Watie and his housemates, including several other cats that go in and out of the house. Without proper protection against fleas, these kitties easily pick up and carry a few freeloading fleas into the home. Watie and other pets inside the house then become unsuspecting and unwilling hosts to all those outside parasites.
The good news is that this is an easy problem to treat. You don’t have to use an insecticide bomb in the house, nor will you need to call an exterminator. If you use an effective topical monthly flea control product on all the cats, you’ll kill all the fleas in the house over the next few weeks. These medications are so effective that those old-fashioned ways of releasing toxic gas in the house are no longer necessary.
Be sure to talk to your vet about which product will work best for Watie and the others. They’re not all the same, and some are more effective than others. In fact, a few over-the-counter products work so poorly, they really are a waste of time and money. Whatever you do, follow the directions on the label carefully. And soon, Watie won’t have those fleas or the gritty skin any more. And, your counters won’t look like a war-zone after he’s been there.
Q:
Mikey, our 1-year-old lab puppy, has been quiet for about three days now. Normally, he’s into everything, and energy charged. He likes to play rough and crashes into things all the time. But suddenly he stopped playing and since then, he’s been laying around a lot. He’s eating and seems happy otherwise. Could he just be sore from an injury? How long should we wait before taking him to the vet office?
A:
As you can guess, there’s a long list of problems that could cause Mikey’s illness. His depression or lethargy might be the result of an injured back or leg. But puppies usually show some outward sign of pain (crying out or limping).
He’s eating normally, which certainly is a good sign. But it doesn’t mean that all is well internally. He’s a puppy, and he may have eaten something that is slowly moving through his intestinal tract, causing him some discomfort. Small pieces of material (rags or socks, etc) can sometimes take over a week to pass through. And unless they completely obstruct the intestines, their victim’s appetite will remain normal even he has an appetite.
The greater worry here is that Mikey may have some sort of infection. And the question for every pet owner is the same as yours. When is it time to worry and take that furry friend to the doctor?
I think three to five days is enough time to see if this problem can resolve itself. If he had stopped eating, I would have recommended you take him in sooner. In medicine, the rule is to always try for early intervention. Problems become more difficult to treat if they have persisted for a long period of time. I’d recommend a visit to the vet in the next 24 hours to find out what’s bothering him.
