Kato visited our clinic a few weeks ago after an altercation with a local cat. Poor handsome Kato had taken a few hits to his face and had a very swollen cheek and his eye had been scratched too. Because the wound on Kato's face had become infected (as cat bites usually do), he required sedation and surgical drainage of the abscess.

Meet Sasha and Junior. They belong to our Head Nurse Penny. They have just had a very stress free move to their new house. When pets are taken out of their secure environment and brought into a new one with strange smells and noises it can be very stressful. This stress can result in a lot of destructive behaviours such as urinating around the house, scratching and damaging items. And with dogs, excessive barking, digging holes or the desire to escape are more likely. The key to a smooth move is to be prepared.

Mimi is a lively Burmese cat who likes nothing better than to venture out and about in her neighbourhood. Unfortunately for Mimi she had a recurrent and severe herpes infection in her eye. She probably became infected with the virus as a kitten, which can then lie dormant in the eye for years. Any stress can reactivate the virus and this occurred with Mimi.

Thirteen year old Carlton was presented to us with large cancerous growth on his ears and nose. As Carlton has white ears and a pink nose, it makes him more susceptible to have tumours that are due to sun damage. Given the severity of the cancers, it was elected for the lesions on Carlton's nose to be frozen with liquid nitrogen and the tips of Carlton's ears to be removed.

Puddles is a handsome young cat who recently had a day with us at the clinic. He had some rather nasty gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) and some tartar build up on his teeth. He was in need of a dental treatment. The presence of gingivitis is also a sign that he could have FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) so whilst our team was cleaning Puddles' teeth, we took a blood sample from Puddles to test for FIV. FIV is a viral disease that is spread through cat bite wounds. This means any cat that spends any time outside is at risk of contracting the disease.

Sylvester was presented to the clinic after a day of vomiting and not eating. We took a blood test and the results showed nothing abnormal but we discovered he had a lot of faeces in his abdomen so we gave him a laxative enema to help him flush his bowels.

Tiger is a very adventurous fourteen month old cat who belongs to one of our nurses Jess. One weekend Tiger managed to catch a snake and brought it back home for his family while it was still alive! Tiger's family was not terribly impressed! Jess was concerned that Tiger had been bitten by the snake although there were no puncture marks evident.

Nessie is a six month old Scottish Shorthair cat who came in to be spayed by Dr Ele. Nessie had a rough start in life with chronic bowel problems but is now doing much better. Nessie's ovario-hysterectomy was performed under general anaesthetic and she is now recovering well.

Dylan is one of our handsome feline patients, who comes for his check ups to the clinic and stays with us at our cattery - Cats in the City. (Find out more about our cattery at www.catsinthecity.com.au)

Kitten is a beautiful 9 year old ex-stray cat who was brought in by her loving owners after they noticed that she had suddenly gone blind. Kitten was also very thin, despite her very large appetite. Kitten was examined by Dr Trepheena, who also checked her blood pressure and took a blood sample.