Background and Goals Cats have become the most popular pet in the United States, yet statistics about veterinary care for cats remain troubling. 1 Although most owners consider their cats to be family members, cats are substantially underserved, compared with dogs. In 2006, owners took their dogs to veterinarians more than twice as often as cats, averaging 2.3 times/year, compared with 1.1 times/year for cats, and significantly more dogs (58%) than cats (28%) were seen by a veterinarian one or more times/year. 2 Cat owners often express a belief that cats 'do not need medical care'. Two reasons for this misconception are that signs of illness are often difficult to detect, and cats are perceived to be self-sufficient. 2 One role of the veterinarian is to develop a partnership with cat owners that will pave the way for a lifelong health care plan. These guidelines aim to outline an evidence-based life stage wellness program to aid the veterinary medical team in delivering the best comprehensive care for cats. Specific goals are to provide:
Sex Education in the 21st CenturyControversies about the proper content of schoolbased sex education continue, but in some fundamental sense they have been matched by-perhaps even overtaken by-other pressing realities. For example, there are increasing demands that school resources be dedicated to teaching the basics of reading, writing, and math and to upgrading the attention given to science education. Many communities find that meeting these legitimate demands places substantial pressure on school hours and budgets, often at the expense of such areas as art and physical education as well as health education, which often includes sex education. Moreover, limited budgets can also decrease the amount of training made available to sex education teachers.This situation is particularly distressing because during the last decade, increasing numbers of programs have become available that can help teens delay having sex, increase their use of contraception when they do have sex, and potentially help reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy. Some of these programs are based in schools, some are in community settings, and some span both. [1][2][3]
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