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Paws & Claws

Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas. She lives in Blacksburg now, and answers local pet owners' questions every week in The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com.

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We just adopted a kitten from a free "giveaway" at the local grocery store. It is a sweet little kitten and has settled in well except for one thing: It does not seem to know how to use a litter box. Any suggestions?

This kitten may have left its mother before she had trained it to use a litter box. Provided your kitten is young enough, training it should not be too difficult.

Initially, provide a litter box that is easy for the kitten to get in and out of; a fine, sandy-type of litter is probably the easiest for the kitten to use and not more than 2 inches deep to start. Show the kitten where the box is and make sure the box is readily accessible. Ideally, there should be one litter box on each floor of the house.

Put the kitten in the box after each meal and whenever it wakes up. Sometimes it helps to scratch at the litter with its paw. Scoop the litter daily, but do not change it completely because it is important for the litter to have the smell of the kitten. Offer lavish praise when your kitten uses the box correctly. Usually it takes only a day or so for a kitten to get the idea.

If the kitten is a little slow about using the litter, shut it in the bathroom with a litter box and its bed whenever you go out and at night.

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I have a 20-year-old cat and also one of about 14 or 15. How much longer should I expect them to live?

Some cats do live to 20-plus years, and there are reports of a few reaching 30 years, but this is rare.

The care given to your cats, their lifestyle and the amount and type of food fed all contribute to a cat's longevity. It is not unusual for cats to live until 15 to 18 years of age. Our past four cats were all geriatrics, averaging 18 years when they died. They were all indoor/outdoor cats, although cats that are strictly indoor cats are more likely to live longer because there is no risk of being hit by a car, predators, poisoning or getting lost. Some breeds of cat appear to be more long lived than others, and as a general rule, ordinary cats tend to live longer than purebred cats.

Exercise is important for a cat's well-being. Overfeeding should be avoided because obesity in cats can lead to a number of problems, such as diabetes, as well as some other digestive upsets that can curtail their life.

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Why does my dog go round and round in circles before lying down? She also digs up her blankets from her tidy bed so that they are all scrunched up.

Most dogs will circle two or three times before they lie down either in their bed or on the floor. This is probably an inherited trait from the time when dogs were making themselves a comfortable bed in long grass. Scrabbling up the bedding is something that most dogs do and probably has the same origins as the circling. At one time it was thought that this was to remove any nearby snakes in the grass.

Periodically, a sleeping dog will wake and circle again before lying down again and going back to sleep. This second bout of circling is to restore the circulation to the side that has been laid on. It has been alleged that most dogs like to sleep with their heads facing north. It has been suggested that by aligning their body with the Earth's magnetic field it slows the heart rate, while their circulation and metabolism improve.

Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas and has taught at Texas A&M University. She lives with her veterinarian husband and two cats in Blacksburg. If you have a question, please write to her in care of The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 540, Christiansburg, VA 24068, or send an e-mail to bowen508@verizon.net.