Tag Archives: citizen science

August 22 is “Take Your Cat to the Vet Day,” but here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, every day is take your cat to the vet day. In the first half of 2025, our veterinarians saw more than 1,300 feline patients. While 74 million pet cats share our homes in the United States, another 30 to 40 million stray cats live in our communities, according to the inaugural issue of the World of the Cat Report produced by Hills Pet Nutrition. “Take Your Cat to the Vet Day” originally began to promote better care for cats, addressing a significant gap in feline healthcare. Cats visit the veterinarian much less often than their canine counterparts--only 40% of cats visit the veterinarian annually, compared to 82% of dogs. In today’s blogpost, I’ll discuss the barriers cat owners face when taking their pet to the veterinarian, new research to help improve feline health that you and your cat can participate in and good news about treatments for feline disease.

The nature versus nurture debate has captivated scientists since the 1800s, when Gregor Mendel cultivated peas in his garden while Charles Darwin explored the world aboard the HMS Beagle. This enduring discussion centers on the relative importance of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) in shaping an individual's traits and behaviors. In my last blogpost, I wrote about genetic mutations in pets. These mutations—like those causing stumpy tails in Manx cats, extra toes in polydactyl cats, or drug sensitivities in pets with the AMC transporter mutation—demonstrate how genetics shape our animals’ appearance and health needs. But what about nurture? How does the environment our pets share with us impact their well-being?