Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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Pet Parents Unite! At Blogher Posted: 27 Jul 2009 11:37 AM PDT The biggest and most fantabulous women's blogging conference took place in Chicago over the weekend. And, I was there! Here's a recap of my session, on publishing. Blogher is by far the largest women's blogging network, with outstanding bloggers in so many different areas, it's hard to keep track of them. I've been a Blogher member (which is different than being a Blogher blogger) for at least four years. Since the beginning, anyway. Why? Because Jory, and Elisa, and Lisa are top-notch business women and bloggers, and I count them not only as friends, but as women I admire. While I was there, I got to meet Caroline! Yay! You know Caroline from Romeo the Cat. Seriously, everyone knows Romeo! His blog rocks! Isn't it nice that Romeo allows Caroline to help him write his blog? And, I met Bev, a blogger over at My Fire Hydrant: It's all about the dog. I really like the interviews on her petblog. She was tres' friendly and open. Isn't that how we pet people are? You betcha! All of this pet blogging made me think of Jane, who considers herself the Mommy to two big, black dogs that make me miss my Carmie! Her blog, Mom Generations, is full of good content, some about pets and dogs, other stuff about women and their accomplishments, and other stuff about stuff. And so, all this talk about Mommy bloggers at Blogher, made Caroline and Bev and me (among other petbloggers) think we'd like to see more positive attention given to the pet bloggers cause our pets are our kids. Even those of us who have real kids. I was very anxious to get home to Wabby, and when Carmie was here, she was my baby, just like any kid. So, we're plotting. Something big. Something exciting. Something all pet bloggers can join us in. A uniting of pet bloggers! Watch out world, here we come! Stay tuned!

Ringworm in Cats Posted: 26 Jul 2009 02:01 PM PDT Ringworm is the most common skin disease in cats. It can also infect dogs and people, under some circumstances. If your cat has areas of hair loss around the ears, face, neck or tail ringworm is one of the first things to rule out. The classic lesion is a small circular area of hair loss, however, ringworm can take on several different forms. The skin may appear scaly and in some cases can look inflamed with secondary infections. In severe cases ringworm can be generalized over large parts of the body but these cases are relatively rare. Ringworm is not caused by a worm. It is actually a fungus and there are a variety of different species of fungus that can be implicated. Most healthy adult cats with normal immune systems can ward off ringworm infections and even if they do become infected the immune system can usually mount a successful defense. It is more common in kittens where the immune system is developing or in sick cats where the immune system may be compromised and not able to respond adequately to a challenge.   The most reliable way to diagnose ringworm is by fungal culture. Your veterinarian will take some infected hair or other material from the suspect lesion and attempt to grow the fungus in a suitable medium. There are other ways to diagnose ringworm, too. In some cases a special lamp shined on infected skin will cause some species of fungus to fluoresce however this method is not fool proof and may even give false positive reactions on occasion.   Because this disease is capable of spreading between cats, dogs, and even people, your veterinarian may recommend treatment. Treatment options can range from topically applied creams, to dips, shampoos or even oral anti fungal  medication in certain cases. If you have a ringworm case in your family you should be careful to clean things up pretty well in the house. If you live with elderly family members or others that have compromised immune systems for any reason it would be a good idea to do a thorough house cleaning.   All grooming tools should be washed and soaked in a dilute bleach solution to kill the fungal spores. You may even consider steam cleaning the carpets and damp mopping the floors with a dilute bleach solution.

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