Kittens vs. consumer electronics

My wife & I have a kitten that acts like it's about to fold up. Weak,
very little appetite, lethargic, stunted growth when compared to her
siblings. Barely walks. The vet really couldn't do much in the way
of diagnosis without blood tests, etc. Heres the fun part- This
kitten made a habit, for a while of sleeping on top of the comuter
monitor, assumably for the warmth. Normally, a person wouldn't think
too much about that, but, we have had (2) kittens in the past who have
taken to sleeping on (1) a power supply for a laptop, and (2) a heating
pad (set on low). Both of them developed similar symptoms to this one.
(one died). After 3 such common occurances, we are becoming
convinced that either the heat or some form of electromagnetic
radiation may be to blame. The vets have all poo-poo'd this
immediately. Looking at other discussion groups, I found one post that
stated they had heard that cats would do that as a symptom of feline
leukemia. I'm thinking not. Our other 10 cats are healthy. I'm
curious as to whether the heat may have induced some kind of feline
heat stroke. Does anyone else have any ideas, or have had any
experience with kittens who nap on electronic/electrical apparati and
became ill?
Thanks

"Lurkster" wrote:

My wife & I have a kitten that acts like it's about to fold up.
Weak, very little appetite, lethargic, stunted growth when
compared to her siblings. Barely walks. The vet really
couldn't do much in the way of diagnosis without blood tests, etc.
Heres the fun part- This kitten made a habit, for a while of
sleeping on top of the comuter monitor, assumably for the warmth.
Normally, a person wouldn't think too much about that, but, we
have had (2) kittens in the past who have taken to sleeping on (1)
a power supply for a laptop, and (2) a heating pad (set on low).
Both of them developed similar symptoms to this one. (one died).
After 3 such common occurances, we are becoming convinced that
either the heat or some form of electromagnetic radiation may be
to blame. The vets have all poo-poo'd this immediately.

The simple idea that keeping warm is unhealthy should be pooh-poohed
IMO. Yes, I imagine it could depend on what the electronics radiate.
Being so close to the electronics in a computer monitor might be
suspect. I think that is a very good concern. Good luck.

Sounds to me like it might be a good question for one of the high
technology groups.

Lurkster wrote:
My wife & I have a kitten that acts like it's about to fold up. Weak,

Thanks

You wanna know what I think...

I think you are right on.

I think you're common sense KNOWS what the problem is

yes..even a cell phone has a warning on it.

there is considerable radiation coming from monitors
especially a monitor...

i can believe that a cats chemistry is not suited for this
we get zapped being in front of them, but we don't lay on them
I can't imagine how anemic we would look if we did

go with your gut SEEING THAT THE BIG DOCTOR YOU PAID don't know squat
about it...

but true enough, if you give heat pad when not cold in house, it will
weaken cats circulatory system

Am I glad I read this!

I think the kitten Lurkster describes is the runt of it's litter.
Smaller, weaker, more prone to any passing infection. It's usually
because the runt is born last and its stronger, more assertive siblings
all got a better crack at and head start of their mothers milk. The
first few grammes of an animals milk contain the best of the valuable
antibodies to the common diseases. Runts of a litter always tend to be
sicker and end up costing more in vets fees - that is, if they dont die
in the first few weeks.

A friends cat had a litter and the runt basically was destined to die.
Even when it wasn't able to cope with solid food after the milk dried
up, if anything it would climb inside the food bowl and end up a
bedraggled mess. The first litter that cat had was a litter of only
one, so the lone kitten had the lions share of its mothers milk
(Literally) and didn't even have to compete for it. The kitten grew in
to one hefty cat, humped it's own mother, stole its mothers milk for
the new kittens then one day when I was looking after the house and
cats for my friend, I caught the same cat HUMPING ITS OWN
SISTER/DAUGHTER from the new litter!!!. Brazon it was too, on top of
the Tumble Dryer. If that cat was a person, it'd be doing 10 years now
for some unspeakable sexual offence!

My cat has found an area in the hall way between the kitchen and living
room where there must obviously be a hot pipe under the floor. That
area of the floor is always warm and she loves curling up on the carpet
over the warm spot. Unfortunately, she is short haired and completely
black so I have to be carefull not to trip over her before I put the
light on. There's a way to tell if you've stepped on the cat. An
ear-splitting spine-chilling yowl and the not too pleasant sensation of
teeth sinking in to your ankle!

She decided to lie on the DVD player when I had it on the floor but I
shooed her off because I didn't want fur inside the appliance.

I never thought about E-M Radiation.

I have used a heating pad (on low) on Amber's window seat for several
years. She spends about half of her time there. There is another
heated window seat next to it (for Tiger) but he doesn't use it (he is
long haired).


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

In article .com,
says...
My wife & I have a kitten that acts like it's about to fold up. Weak,
very little appetite, lethargic, stunted growth when compared to her
siblings. Barely walks. The vet really couldn't do much in the way
of diagnosis without blood tests, etc. Heres the fun part- This
kitten made a habit, for a while of sleeping on top of the comuter
monitor, assumably for the warmth. Normally, a person wouldn't think
too much about that, but, we have had (2) kittens in the past who have
taken to sleeping on (1) a power supply for a laptop, and (2) a heating
pad (set on low). Both of them developed similar symptoms to this one.
(one died). After 3 such common occurances, we are becoming
convinced that either the heat or some form of electromagnetic
radiation may be to blame. The vets have all poo-poo'd this
immediately. Looking at other discussion groups, I found one post that
stated they had heard that cats would do that as a symptom of feline
leukemia. I'm thinking not. Our other 10 cats are healthy. I'm
curious as to whether the heat may have induced some kind of feline
heat stroke. Does anyone else have any ideas, or have had any
experience with kittens who nap on electronic/electrical apparati and
became ill?
Thanks

Electro magnetism does do some interesting things to living tissue.
Mostly it cooks it. Depending upon the power level and wavelength the
length of time varies.

In article ,
lid says...
"Lurkster" wrote:

My wife & I have a kitten that acts like it's about to fold up.
Weak, very little appetite, lethargic, stunted growth when
compared to her siblings. Barely walks. The vet really
couldn't do much in the way of diagnosis without blood tests, etc.
Heres the fun part- This kitten made a habit, for a while of
sleeping on top of the comuter monitor, assumably for the warmth.
Normally, a person wouldn't think too much about that, but, we
have had (2) kittens in the past who have taken to sleeping on (1)
a power supply for a laptop, and (2) a heating pad (set on low).
Both of them developed similar symptoms to this one. (one died).
After 3 such common occurances, we are becoming convinced that
either the heat or some form of electromagnetic radiation may be
to blame. The vets have all poo-poo'd this immediately.

The simple idea that keeping warm is unhealthy should be pooh-poohed
IMO. Yes, I imagine it could depend on what the electronics radiate.
Being so close to the electronics in a computer monitor might be
suspect. I think that is a very good concern. Good luck.

Sounds to me like it might be a good question for one of the high
technology groups.

The front area of a CRT is lead coated to block X-Ray and other
emissions, but the back part is not.

So in addition to strong EM fields that cat probably got a pretty high
X-Ray dose.

Vigilias wrote:
Am I glad I read this!

I think the kitten Lurkster describes is the runt of it's litter.
Smaller, weaker, more prone to any passing infection. It's usually
because the runt is born last and its stronger, more assertive siblings
all got a better crack at and head start of their mothers milk. The
first few grammes of an animals milk contain the best of the valuable
antibodies to the common diseases. Runts of a litter always tend to be
sicker and end up costing more in vets fees - that is, if they dont die
in the first few weeks.


With good help from day one, a runt does not have to be any different
from any other cat. No more prone to infection or sickly, etc.

If you are there when the kittens are born, it isn't very hard to
remove some of the larger kittens for a short time and give the runt a
chance at the good milk. And from then on, supplement with kitten milk,
and also rotate the kittens to give the run a chance at the mother's
milk.

Many years ago, my mom's cat chewed through a screen window, spent the
night in the garage with a farm cat, and produced 8 kittens. She was
only 7 pounds, and she didn't have enough milk for 8 kittens. It was
obvious right away that 3 of them were smaller. So, we rotated them to
give them all a chance at her milk, and we started supplementing from
day one. We kept the smallest of the 3 runts, a really ugly looking
kitten. The others went quickly, but nobody wanted him. Until he had
stayed with us awhile, and I found myself hooked. I was only 14 at the
time, and I decided I would spend my paper route money to get him
neutered if my dad would let me keep him.

He died last May, a week and a half before his 19th birthday. He was
very healthy all his life. He had one minor respiratory infection when
he was 9 years old, easily cleared up with meds. And he had an abcess
when he was 17. Somebody else swatted him in the butt. And that was it
until his liver failed last May.

He was a healthy 9 lb cat.

If we, as their caretakers, step in and take care of the kittens when
they are born, there is no reason that a runt can't live a healthy
normal life. Nobody would have thought Maynard was a runt if they
looked at him. Not as an adult. He just needed some extra supplementing
as a kitten and a little help to get his share of mother's milk.


As far as monitors, I do not know. None of my cats have hung out on the
monitor. Fiona spent years sleeping on the tv and vcr and lived to be
18, but I don't know how those compare to computers and monitors.

---MIKE--- wrote:
I have used a heating pad (on low) on Amber's window seat for several
years. She spends about half of her time there. There is another
heated window seat next to it (for Tiger) but he doesn't use it (he is
long haired).

you forgot to mention you made your cat bald with this
we've been over this!

nothing is free, it's a trade off

heating pads are for sore backs etc..

turn the thermostat up to 70
and let the cat curl up on a couch

Asshole Barry wrote-

you forgot to mention you made your
cat bald with this we've been over this!

She was NOT bald - just lost some hair on her belly which was probably
not from the heating pad.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')