Kitties’ note: Mama’s been having kind of a rough day today, and she said the only way she could manage to help us write our column was if we had a happy question to answer. And lucky for us, in the wee hours of the morning, this letter came through!

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

I found two beautiful kittens on the side of a highway. It took me nearly an hour to get them in my car. When I got them home one was very nervous and the other jumped right into my lap! Now it seems they’ve grown to adore me … well, so I think. Every night they sleep with me. They constantly lick me. Not just that; they are always following me, walking under my feet. When I walk in the door they act if they havent seen me in weeks! I wake up to them licking and purring in my ear. What does this mean?

~ Stephanie

Thomas and Dahlia are completely smitten with one another.

Siouxsie: Well, Stephanie, what it means is that you’ve got two kittens that are absolutely, madly, blissfully in love with you.

Thomas: All these behaviors are things that cats do with their mothers. Apparently you rescued them so young that they’ve imprinted on you as their mother and/or as a sibling.

Dahlia: Sleeping together helps kittens keep warm and helps them feel safe in a great, big world. And the fact that they’re sleeping with you says they see you as a protector and a friend, too.

Siouxsie: You did a wonderful thing by rescuing these kittens, because they certainly would have died if it hadn’t been for you. I tend to believe that on some level they know you saved their lives.

Thomas: Now, there’s one behavior you might want to try to modify a bit, and that would be the walking-under-your-feet thing. That could be a problem if, say, you injure your leg and are having trouble walking, and they keep darting back and forth and under your feet when you’re already in pain and don’t have as much control over your movements.

Dahlia: If there’s a specific time when they are most likely to walk under your feet — perhaps when you’re making their meals — you might want to carry a toy or two with you and toss the toys, one at a time, as far away as you can.

Souxsie: They’re kittens, so they’ll chase anything that moves.

Thomas: If practiced regularly, toy-tossing could help them “forget” to walk under your feet after a while.

Dahlia: This technique can also help if they get into the unfortunate habit of dashing for the door as soon as you open it.

Siouxsie: Otherwise, just relax and bask in the love that your two little refugees are giving you.

Thomas: We’d be remiss if we didn’t put out a little reminder on the importance of proper veterinary care, including making sure your kittens are spayed or neutered before they reach sexual maturity.

Dahlia: What you do now to ensure their good health — from vetting to feeding the highest-quality food you can afford to give them to providing exercise and intellectual stimulation — will result in many happy years with your sweet babies.

Siouxsie: Good luck, Stephanie, and please write back if we can answer any questions you have about keeping your kittens healthy.

Thomas: If you’ve read this far, you’re going to get an extra-special treat. We want to spread some smiles and make you melt from the cuteness, so here’s a video of Dahlia and me gettin’ our groom on.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

My cat, Lily, is about 3 years old. When my daughter got her as a kitten she was flea-ridden. We had her bathed and cleaned up. But since then, she constantly cleans herself to the point where she has scabs and a couple of almost bare patches by her back end. She doesn’t have fleas any more. She eats Iams hairball formula cat food seeing as she has long hair. She’s very affectionate and cuddly, and I can’t see any way she could be stressed. Could her over-grooming be a hangover from wanting to be clean because of when she was so flea ridden? And is there any way I can stop this behavior?

~ Susan

Siouxsie: Susan, the first step to solving this problem is to bring Lily to the vet and have her skin condition checked out by a professional. Once you’ve got a diagnosis and some professional counsel, you’ll have the tools you need to treat her condition effectively. And here are some tips that might also help.

Thomas: A lot of vets believe that a severe flea infestation can result in allergic reactions that continue after the fleas are gone. This is particularly true for cats that have a high sensitivity to the toxins in fleas’ bites.

Feline miliary dermatitis. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Siouxsie: One thing you should ask yourself is, “Am I sure Lily doesn’t have any fleas?” Cats are really good at grooming away the occasional flea, but even one bite can cause a ferocious allergic reaction. If you’ve kept up on your flea prevention, you can be pretty sure she’s clean.

Thomas: If you’ve been seeing black specks where she sleeps or sits, touch them with a damp paper towel. If you see a rust color, those black specks are flea poop.

Dahlia: But if your vet checks her out and doesn’t find any fleas, it’s time to consider other causes for her condition.

Siouxsie: Dr. Richard Pitcairn says in his book Natural Health for Dogs & Cats that about a third of all allergies are causes by substances in food. The reason for this is because a lot of the stuff in cat food is really not stuff we’re designed to eat.

Thomas: Corn and wheat, for example, are often used in dry cat foods, and as obligate carnivores (we have to eat meat to stay alive), our bodies just can’t tolerate that stuff for a long time and stay healthy.

Dahlia: A lot of “hairball formula” foods have additional plant-based fiber ingredients, which is how they’re supposed to keep hairballs moving through the digestive tract rather than being hacked up by your cat.

Siouxsie: But really, the best way to keep Lily from getting hairballs is to groom her regularly. Long-haired cats need to be brushed at least twice a week; Persians and other fine-haired cats should be brushed daily.

Thomas: This article gives instructions for grooming a long-haired cat. A groomer can show you the tools you need and the process of proper brushing and combing.

Dahlia: Anyway, back to the food issue. We’d recommend that you try feeding Lily a product that has meats you don’t usually find in cat foods such as venison, rabbit, or duck. (Chicken, beef, turkey, and seafood, on the other hand, are very commonly used.)

Siouxsie: Thomas has a very sensitive stomach, and his food sensitivity was causing him a lot of discomfort due to diarrhea and cramping. After a lot of experimentation, Mama found some dry food and wet food that he can eat, enjoy, and not have the runs.

Thomas: It does take time to find the right foods for a cat with allergies or food sensitivities, so if you go this route, be patient.

Dahlia: Other things that commonly cause skin allergies include chlorine and other contaminants in water, household cleaning chemicals (including air fresheners), outgassing of formaldehyde from furniture or newly installed carpets, cigarette smoke, synthetic carpet and upholstery, plastic dishes, and even the soaps or lotions you humans use on your own bodies!

Siouxsie: So the best thing you can do to help Lily stay itch-free is to minimize the chemical load in your environment. Give her water filtered through one of those charcoal-filter pitchers. Use natural and scent-free laundry products. Get rid of chemical air fresheners. Make sure you have plenty of fresh air in your house when you bring in new furniture or new carpets. Don’t smoke indoors.

Thomas: And be sure to give her the highest-quality food you can afford. When it comes to pet food, you do get what you pay for. For the record, the foods Mama found that work for me are Blue Buffalo Healthy Living kibble and Evo venison gooshy food. Boy, it feels great not to have the runs and a sore bum anymore!

Dahlia: Ewwww, Thomas! TMI! …. Anyway, Siouxsie and I like those foods too!

Siouxsie: We don’t think you’ll need hairball formula food as long as you groom Lily regularly. She’ll be healthier on a diet that includes canned foods as well as kibble.

Thomas: Your vet will be able to give you other advice that will help clear up Lily’s skin. If she has a secondary bacterial infection, your vet may prescribe a short course of antibiotics as well.

Dahlia: Good luck to you and Lily both!

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

I have a 15-year-old cat, Midnight, who is constantly licking and sort of biting herself. She even has a couple of bald spots on her skin. And for the last month she has insisted on laying on my chest. Sometimes I see her just staring into space, like a person who daydreams. Also, she all of a sudden may shake . Can you tell me what might be wrong with her?

~Phyllis

Siouxsie: Well, Phyllis, what you’ve described is pretty vague, so we can only give you some ideas about what it might be. However, the person you really need to talk to is your vet.

Thomas: Especially for senior cats, regular vet visits are crucial. And here’s why.

This chart shows cat ages in terms of the human lifespan. Notice, too, that outdoor cats age a lot more quickly than indoor cats.

Siouxsie: The chart only goes up to 14, but for every year of age after that, most sources recommend adding two human years for every cat year.

Thomas: As is the case with humans, health problems associated with aging can crop up pretty quickly, and regular checkups are the best way to detect these problems before they become life-threatening.

Dahlia: Some vets recommend “senior cat” visits every six months, while others will suggest you stick with annual visits and come in more frequently if you have a concern about your elderly feline’s health.

Siouxsie: There are a lot of factors that will ultimately determine whether a cat will be more or less healthy as she ages. Genetics, environment, nutrition, and stress level are key among these. For example, I’m 14, but aside from a few white furs in my gorgeous black coat and a few aches and pains, you’d never know.

Thomas: But even though Siouxsie’s a very healthy cat, Mama takes her in for checkups once a year. And this summer when she suddenly lost about half a pound, Mama took her in again (Doctor Jim gave her a physical and she didn’t have any symptoms of serious illness, but he told Mama to keep an eye on her weight).

Dahlia: She takes Thomas and me for annual checkups, too. We hate them!

Siouxsie: So, with that said, Phyllis, your cat’s problem could be something as simple as fleas, which cause chewing and biting at the skin because that’s the way we groom them out and because those little suckers itch!

Thomas: It could be an allergy to flea bites or something in the environment, which would also cause excessive grooming, or it could be ringworm (if the spots are round).

Dahlia: Or she could be chronically stressed. Usually with stress grooming, you’ll see the naked spots on the abdomen or in mirror-image strips on the forelegs or the back.

Siouxsie: As for the shaking, we’re not sure whether you mean that her skin twitches and ripples, or if she actually has spasms of body shaking. These could mean very different things.

Thomas: Ultimately, Phyllis, you’re only going to get the answer to your question by taking Midnight to the vet for a physical exam. If something seems “off” to the vet, he or she may recommend blood tests, a urine test, or other diagnostics. The vet can also tell you how to monitor your cat’s health and behavior to detect early signs of any potential illness.

Dahlia: After her vet visit, you’ll know what is — or isn’t — wrong with Midnight, and even if nothing major is going on, you’ll have peace of mind from the knowledge that you had her checked by a professional.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

I have a 4-month-old kitten who has recently started to drag her butt across the floor after she uses the litterbox. It doesn’t happen every time, but it’s not a pleasant thing to have poop streaks all over the carpet! I did web searches on this situation and found out that it could be due to worms or gland problems, but my kitten just had a vet checkup a month ago and there was nothing wrong with her.

What might be the cause of this? Could it be she feels cleaner wiping her dirty butt on the carpet or that she somehow likes the feeling of it?

~Shermayne

Siouxsie: Well, Shermayne, we have a lot of compassion for you. Butt-wiping on the floor is very unpleasant, not just for you but for us too! But we think we may have a couple of ideas for you.

Thomas: As you saw in your searches, when a cat wipes its butt on the floor it can be a sign of worms (they itch!) or anal gland problems. But there are a couple of other issues that can cause a cat to use your carpet as toilet paper.

Dahlia: If your cat has long hair, she may be getting poop on the hair around her butt, which she may choose to wipe off on your carpet.

Siouxsie: This is especially true if she has diarrhea. Even short-haired cats that have diarrhea can get poop on their behind.

Thomas: I’m afraid I’m one of those cats that’s prone to diarrhea. I have a very sensitive stomach, and if the food I eat irritates me even a little bit, well, the results can be pretty embarrassing.

Dahlia: It’s OK, Thomas. You know we all love you and Mama’s never going to lose patience with you. In fact, she’s trying really hard to find foods that your tummy will tolerate.

Siouxsie: So, Shermayne, the first step is to see if your kitten is having diarrhea. You should be able to see this pretty clearly from her litterbox leavings.

Thomas: If she is having the runs, does this happen after she eats a certain kind of food? If, for example, she’s fine when you feed her chicken-flavored cat food but she gets the runs after she eats tuna-flavored food, try eliminating the problem food from her diet.

Dahlia: Cats can also get diarrhea from taking antibiotics for infections. Because good digestion involves bacteria that live in the intestines, the antibiotics that kill the germs can also kill those “good bacteria.”

Siouxsie: A good way to help a cat with the runs is to give them a teaspoon of plain, non-fat yogurt. That’ll help replenish those good bacteria and get her tummy back on track.

Thomas: If your kitten has long hair, try keeping the fur around her bottom trimmed short. Be very careful if you do this yourself because you don’t want to poke her! If you don’t feel comfortable trimming her fur, ask a groomer to do it for you.

Dahlia: Make sure to keep your litterbox very clean. If she’s stepping in old poop or it’s getting on her bottom when she goes to do her business, she’s going to want to get it off somehow! We recommend scooping poop and pee clumps (if you use clumping litter) at least twice a day.

Siouxsie: If possible, you may want to keep your litterbox away from carpeted areas. If you do move her box, though, do so gradually so she’ll be able to find it and won’t have a bad reaction to having her toilet suddenly moved.

Thomas: If you can’t put your litterbox anywhere else, consider getting some plastic carpet runners and putting them under the litterbox. We’d recommend getting a carpet runner a couple of feet wider and longer than the box.

Dahlia: An extra bonus of using plastic carpet runners is that it’ll be a lot easier for you to clean up any litter that scatters out of the box.

Siouxsie: And keep in mind, Shermayne, that it’s still possible your baby could have worms. Many kittens do have roundworms (they get them from their mothers) and unless you adopted her from a shelter, the odds are good that your kitten wasn’t dewormed before you got her.

Thomas: Did your vet test a fecal sample the last time you were there? If not, you might want to have that done. If your kitten does have worms, your vet will give her a medication that will eliminate them very quickly.

Dahlia: Finally, you might want some tips on how to get those nasty stains out of your carpets!

Siouxsie: We recommend that you buy an enzyme cleaner such as Nature’s Miracle or Anti-Icky-Poo, which will completely remove the stains and odors if used as directed.

Thomas: Ordinary carpet cleaners aren’t as effective as products designed specifically for removing pet stains and odors, and sometimes they can even set in the stains rather than getting rid of them!

Dahlia: We hope these tips will help you help your kitten stop making messes on your rug. Please let us know how things turn out!