June 2025

Cats are Perfect; Treatment for FIP; Misinterpretation of Cats; Product Spotlight CBDCat Health

Cats are Perfect

We already knew this, but now there’s scientific proof! This fun article from Scientific American asserts that cats are the evolutionary pinnacle of perfection. While dogs have tried a multitude of configurations (wolf, coyote, jackal, dingo, and 23 kinds of foxes), all cats—from tiny to huge—are essentially the same. My mammalogy professor was fond of saying that if you “undress a cat” of any size, you find the same animal underneath. Sure, there are minor variations (cheetahs’ non-retractable claws, for example) but the structure and function of your pet cat is essentially identical to a Siberian tiger.

So far, the article is not pay-walled, so enjoy! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cats-are-perfect-an-evolutionary-biologist-explains-why1/

Treatment for FIP

For decades, FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) has been a death sentence for cats. But in the last few years, new treatments have become available. They’re not 100% (is anything?), but these are very promising.

This article summarizes recent research on intravenous remdesivir (an antiviral drug), oral GS-441524, or both. (J Vet Intern Med. 2025;39(1):e17249. doi:10.1111/jvim.17249) [GS-441524 is a metabolite of remdesivir; they appear to have equivalent effects.] Not surprisingly, sicker cats were more likely to die, but interestingly, those who had been treated with corticosteroids also had higher mortality.

In the 88% of cats who survived, a few needed treatment adjustments or re-treatment, but this is an astounding figure and worthy of new hope for this terrible disease.

BTW, the only true thing about the name “Feline Infectious Peritonitis” is that it occurs in felines. It is not particularly infectious, nor is it always peritonitis. It is associated with the very common coronavirus, but only a few cats develop the full-blown disease. When I was in practice, back in the Dark Ages, testing for coronavirus was included on a standard blood panel. About 40% of my patients tested positive, but thankfully I don’t think I saw more than a dozen cases of fulminant FIP. None of them survived, so these new treatments are a welcome development!

Very sick cat with wet (effusive) FIP: fluid-filled abdomen, poor haircoat, and weight loss.

GS-441524 is available in the US through Stokes Pharmacy and a few other FDA-approved sources. Legitimate products will require a prescription from your veterinarian. Avoid black market products.

Misinterpreting Cats?

Thirty cats in Japan (where they LOVE cats!) were given a sniff test of three test tubes. One contained a swab of the scent of their own person, one had a swab from a stranger, and one was unscented. The cats were uninterested in the blank, but sniffed the stranger odor twice as long as the scent of their guardian. The researchers stopped short of claiming cats can identify their people by scent (too much of an anthropomorphic assumption, I guess) but that’s the lesson we can take from this.

The media, however, went off the rails. Here’s one headline: “Your Cat Can Smell the Difference Between You and a Stranger and They Prefer the Stranger.” Well, no. They clearly recognized their guardian’s scent. They spent more time sniffing the stranger because it was a new odor that they were exploring in detail. More time sniffing doesn’t indicate a “preference.” It indicates curiosity. Geez. [Miyairi Y, Kimura Y, Masuda K, Uchiyama H (2025) Behavioral responses of domestic cats to human odor. PLoS One 20(5): e0324016. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324016] Here’s a link to the full study.

Product Spotlight

There are so many splendid products out there for our cats, I’m going to try to highlight one of my favorites in each newsletter. For this section I am choosing products with which I have no financial affiliation, though I personally know and respect the company and its people, and have worked with them over the years. Please comment and let me know if this is helpful. I always want to give you what you need!

CBD for Cats - CBDCat Health

Oh, CBD… thy name is confusion! CBD stands for cannabidiol, and if you’re like me and grew up in the 60s and 70s, you are very familiar with the “canna-” part of that name. Yes, it comes from cannabis, aka marijuana and a thousand other terms. The cannabis plant makes many useful compounds besides THC (the part that produces the “high”). It turns out that all mammals, and most other animals right down to leeches, have a signaling system that works between cells called the endocannabinoid system. The similarity between this animal system and the plant forms is why cannabis can affect animals at all.

There are many cannabinoids, CBD being just one. There is a CBG, a CBN, and more than a hundred others. CBD, though, has been shown to have pain-relieving and anxiety-soothing effects, making them potentially valuable for helping our cats.

Now, I haven’t had the greatest luck with CBD products. I was very enthusiastic about one company, but suddenly their products changed—and not for the better. It was obvious just by looking at the new bottle that something had gone dreadfully wrong, and I cut ties with the company immediately.

Over the years I’ve tried a few other products here and there. Now I’ve found a company that I think does a really great job with CBD.

It’s CBDDog Health, and of course they have products for cats, too. I’ve tried several of their dog products—yes, on myself—I wouldn’t recommend anything to you that I wasn’t SURE about! I especially like the skin salve and the Calm and Clarity liquids. Calm has a specific cat formula; and Clarity has mushroom extracts that are super-beneficial for the brain and immune systems. You can give in food or by mouth, but Calm can also be applied by rubbing into the skin of the ears, because the oil will penetrate the skin (though it takes longer to work).

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I just got to Denver via Grand Teton National Park, where we camp for two weeks every summer. I’m here to get my second knee replacement (next week!). Please send good vibes! Here’s a photo taken from my favorite spot at the Potholes.

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Don’t forget there are many ways to work with me directly! There’s a Nutritional Supplement Consultation; a brief consultation through Vetster; or a comprehensive consultation including records review! (And you can always comment here, too!)