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Halitosis and weight loss in a cat

Lab Animal volume 39, pages 169–170 (2010)Cite this article

We carried out a study assessing the effects of Nepeta cataria (catnip) on cat behavior. The study was approved by the Internal Committee for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the Graduate Program of Neuroethology at University of Veracruz, following the Official Mexican Standard NOM-062-ZOO-1999 (Technical Specifications for the Production, Care and Use of Laboratory Animals). In this study, pet owners brought their cats to the university, where we exposed the animals to dry commercial catnip (Whisker City, Pacific Coast Distributing, Phoenix, AZ) for 10 min and video-recorded their behavior. All the owners were familiar with the effects of catnip, and none expressed concerns about the nature of the study.

Most owners fed their cats a commercial dry pellet feed only, but a few owners also gave wet (canned) cat food once a day as a reward. Five weeks into the study, we noted that a 5-y-old female cat was no longer responding to catnip and had halitosis. The owner had also noted the foul breath as well as a progressive weight loss in the cat over the past few weeks. The cat refused to eat dry food, waiting until she was given wet food to eat at night.

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Figure 1: Mouth of a female cat with progressive weight loss and halitosis.
Figure 2: Impression smear cytology of a biopsy sample from the oral mass shown in Figure 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Neurobiología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Genaro A. Coria-Avila &  Jorge Manzo

  2. Consultorio Veterinario, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    José L. González-Hernández

  3. Laboratorio Clínico Veterinario, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Juan B. Rosales-Raya

  4. Posgrado en Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    María Luisa Aguirre-Manzo,  Tamara Cibrian-Llanderal,  Deissy Herrera-Covarrubias &  Luz Teresa Espin-Iturbe

Authors
  1. Genaro A. Coria-Avila
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  2. José L. González-Hernández
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  3. Juan B. Rosales-Raya
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  4. María Luisa Aguirre-Manzo
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  5. Tamara Cibrian-Llanderal
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  6. Deissy Herrera-Covarrubias
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  7. Luz Teresa Espin-Iturbe
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  8. Jorge Manzo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Genaro A. Coria-Avila.

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Coria-Avila, G., González-Hernández, J., Rosales-Raya, J. et al. Halitosis and weight loss in a cat. Lab Anim 39, 169–170 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0610-169

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