"It's a reality that indoor cats get out all the time," says Susan Little, president of the Winn

Feline Foundation and a feline specialist in Ottawa. "At least indoor-outdoor cats have some street smarts; these guys don't. Many indoor-only cats are overweight; they're not in shape to get away from predators, or cars. If they do wind up at a shelter, without a microchip they likely will never be recovered."

Statistics support what Little says; fewer than 10 per cent of cats who land in shelters are ever reclaimed. The reclamation rate for dogs is twice to five times as high, according to Bob Rohde, president of the Dumb Friends League in Denver.

Last year, when Mary Williamson's cats were evacuated as a wildfire changed direction and headed toward her California home, she was told the pets were dropped at a particular evacuation centre by firefighters. As it turned out, this was not true. Within a few hours, however, Williamson got a cell phone call from another facility where her cats turned up and were scanned for microchips. Because Williamson's contact information was up to date, she quickly recovered her pets.

There's no verifiable data, but most experts in the industry agree that anywhere from fewer than 10 per cent to 15 per cent of all cats have a microchip.

A microchip is a permanent form of identification. It's the size of a grain of rice and easily injected under the skin at a veterinary clinic or shelter. The chip is encoded with ID information which can be matched with information in databases provided by pet owners. The information can be easily updated.

The veterinarian charges for implanting the chip, and there is an annual enrolment charge.

To learn more about microchipping your pet, go to the Canadian Kennel Club website (www.ckc.ca), the Winn Feline Foundation (www.winnfelinehealth.org/) or Google "pet microchip Canada."

Q: We decided to take Suzie, our 18-year-old cat, to a feline-only veterinarian. She used a tiny cuff around one of the cat's paws. Two readings indicated high blood pressure, so the vet prescribed Norvasc. At our cat's age, does this make sense?

M.A.M.,

Las Vegas, Nev.

A: Colleen Currigan, a feline practitioner in Chicago, says taking blood pressure in cats is a fairly new procedure.

"In cats, high blood pressure is secondary to another disease process," Currigan says. "Cats with high blood pressure may be hyperthyroid and/or have kidney disease. Left untreated, the kidney insufficiency may worsen, and also high blood pressure may cause a stroke or even blindness (a retinal detachment). Definitely, now that we can diagnose high blood pressure, it's something that should be treated. There's little risk to treating high blood pressure, even in an 18-year-old cat compared to the risk of not treating."

The American Association of Feline Practitioners Senior Care Guidelines concur with your vet, suggesting blood pressure checks for all senior cats.

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Steve Dale welcomes questions from readers. Personal replies cannot be provided, but he will answer those of general interest in his column. Write to Steve Dale at Tribune Media Services,2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114,Buffalo, N.Y. 14207. Email petworld@aol.com

Source: canada.com