A fight with another cat sent Rex, our two-year-old male cat, to the veterinarian for an extensive repair job on his tail.  The veterinarian said she has been seeing a lot of cat bites lately.  She didn't go into detail and I wonder if there is some reason for more cat fights?

The spring breeding season is behind the fighting.   Female cats are seasonally polyestrus.  This means that they begin coming into heat in the spring.  If they are not bred or spayed, they will continue to come into heat through the summer.  It is significant that most of the cats we spay in spring are in heat.  The breeding season stirs up turf wars in all outdoor cats, but especially in un-neutered males.  They guard their territories and fight over the females.  We also see spayed females and neutered males with wounds because they are also territorial or may have inadvertently crossed into a male's territory and found themselves in a fight before they could leave.

If your cat goes outdoors, you need to observe it closely this time of year and examine it frequently for wounds.  A cat's hair often can hide a small abscess which can make the animal quite sick before it's noticed.   Be sure your pet is eating and drinking each day.  Also, run your hands over its coat to feel for injuries and the soft swollen spots that indicate an abscess.   You can clean small scratches with soap and water or peroxide, but most abscesses need veterinary care.

This information, prepared as a public service by the Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association, answers problems Rhode Island veterinarians currently are seeing in their practices, as well as new developments in animal care.