The 1-800-KITTY-DR phone rings in Cornell University's Feline Health Center and veterinarian Fiona Hickford is on the line, ready to answer questions for a consultation fee.

• "My 13-year-old cat has just been diagnosed with feline infectious peritonitis, but she's been an indoor cat for years. How could she get an infectious disease without contacting other cats?"
• "Our daughter's cat is dying of kidney disease. Could Bonkers get a kidney transplant?"
• "I heard that cats get cancer from vaccinations. How can I reduce the risk?"
• "My husband is allergic to cats but I want one. How about a hairless Sphynx?"

"Many of the questions I can answer, myself," says Hickford (who provides the answers at the end of this article). "Fortunately, when I'm stumped, I can draw on the expertise of more than 140 faculty members, both clinicians and research scientists, in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Their specialties range from dermatology, oncology, nutrition and virology to cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, ophthalmology, animal dentistry and much, much more. If they can't help, probably no one can."

Her service, the first (and still the only) telephone-based feline veterinary consultation in the United States, has resolved thousands of cat questions since it started in 1989. Known formally as the Dr. Louis J. Camuti Memorial Feline Consultation and Diagnostic Service, KITTY-DR is named for the late New York veterinarian who was the first in Manhattan to make house calls for feline patients.

Frank DiMeo/ Cornell University Photography

Behind the scenes at the Dr. Louis J. Camuti Memorial Feline Consultation and Diagnostic Service are, from left, Kathy Mospan, who answers the phone: Fiona Hickford, the KITTY-DR; Dr. Mew, the only cat in the Feline Health Center; and James R. Richards, director of the center in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.

After Camuti (Cornell Ag 1916) died in 1981 on the way back from his last house call, grateful former clients and friends established an endowment that helps support the consultation service. Other funding comes from fees charged to answer questions and make diagnoses.

"About two-thirds of our calls are from cat owners and cat breeders, and they are charged $35 per call, payable by major credit card," says James R. Richards, the veterinarian who heads the Feline Health Center. Some uncomplicated questions that can be answered by visiting the center's information-filled web site http://web.vet.cornell.edu/Public/FHC/FelineHealth.html or by reading one of the center's brochures often are resolved at no charge, Richards notes. Consultations for nonprofit animal shelters also are free, and veterinarians who are members of the Feline Health Center receive discounts for consultations.

The KITTY-DR staff is on duty 15 hours a week, from 9 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern time, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The service is not set up to answer questions by e-mail, and KITTY-DR is not a hotline for emergencies, which should always be handled by local veterinary clinics, according to Richards.

"We're not here to supplant the care that only your veterinarian can give," Richards says. "Obviously we can't examine a cat by telephone, although people sometimes want us to listen to sounds their kitty is making. We are a consultation service and we can expand on the information from your home veterinarian, but we're not a substitute for hands-on veterinary care."

The Feline Health Center is staffed by seven humans plus Dr. Mew, a dignified domestic shorthair who shares Richards' office. Established in 1974, the center has a three-prong mission to improve the health and well-being of cats: to educate veterinarians and cat owners about feline health, to aid veterinarians when new or unknown feline diseases occur and to find ways, through research, to prevent and cure diseases of cats.

Research studies sponsored by the Feline Health Center include studies of pulmonary thromboembolism (obstruction of blood vessels in the lungs with blood clots) in cats, the possible role of the microorganism Nanobacterium sanguineum in kidney stones and the transmission of feline upper respiratory disease in animal shelters.

The program also sponsors the Cornell Feline Health Center Fellowship, which enables exceptional veterinarians who have completed residency programs in small-animal medicine to conduct research and to serve for one year, as Hickford is doing, as the KITTY-DR.

Here's what KITTY-DR Hickford says about some common cat questions:

• "Feline infectious peritonitis, or FIP, is a relatively rare-- but almost always fatal -- disease that we usually see among young cats in overcrowded environments. However, some cats can carry the coronavirus, without clinical signs of FIP, all their lives. If the coronavirus mutates it can cause FIP, even though the animal has been away from other cats for years. Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment for FIP once it fully develops, except to keep the cat comfortable for as long as possible."
• "To be a suitable candidate for a kidney transplant, a cat needs to be otherwise healthy with no heart disease, feline leukemia or feline immunodeficiency virus and no history of renal infection. Kidney transplants now are performed at a few major veterinary hospitals, such as the one at Cornell. Keep in mind that a kidney transplant in a pet requires a long-term commitment from the owners. For instance, the cat will need immunosuppressant drugs every day for the rest of its life, to prevent rejection of the new kidney, and there will be frequent monitoring and blood tests. The cost is usually between $4,000 and $8,000, but the good news is that you will get two cats for the price of one: You will adopt the donor cat that gives up one of its kidneys, and the donor cat is ready to come home with you before the transplant patient is released from the hospital."
• "A cancerous tumor at the site of a shot, which we call vaccine-associated feline sarcoma, is very rare but it can be serious. To reduce the risk, ask your veterinarian to give only the vaccinations that are necessary for your cat. If your cat stays indoors and never contacts other cats, it probably doesn't need feline leukemia vaccine. The vaccines can be administered in a part of the body where cancer -- if it does occur -- can be more easily treated. Watch for any lump at the vaccination site that doesn't go away after six to eight weeks, and if you see anything suspicious, get back to your veterinarian."
• "Allergies to cats aren't caused by cat fur but rather by allergen proteins in the cat's saliva. Every time a cat grooms itself -- even a hairless breed like a Sphynx -- it spreads the allergens over its body. The allergens are carried through the air on tiny particles of dander. Meticulous housekeeping can help somewhat, but no breed of cat is truly allergy-proof."