Keeping Your Feline Healthy

Whether your pet lives indoors or outdoors, creating a clean and healthy environment is important to your pet's health and well-being. Taking care of your pet's health and vaccinations will help you and your pet live a healthy and happy life together. Be sure to consult your veterinarian for any questions about your pet's needs.

Veterinary Care: Have your cat or kitten examined by your veterinarian twice a year and receive the appropriate vaccines needed for its lifestyle. Cats age at 5-7 years for every human year, so this is equivalent to you seeing your doctor every 3 years. Most indoor cats need to be vaccinated for rabies and feline distemper every 1-3 years along with receiving a monthly heartworm preventative. Cats that go outside also need to be vaccinated for feline leukemia and frequently need flea preventative as well. A blood and/or urine sample may be needed every 6-12 months to look for health problems especially in older cats. Your cat also needs a fecal parasite exam performed yearly to check for intestinal parasites, some of which can be passed to humans through contact with the stool.
 
Spaying and neutering is essential to prevent unwanted litters and urine spraying. Male cats that have not been neutered develop very strong smelling urine and mark their home with it. Female cats come into heat every 3 weeks and will often urine mark as well when they are in heat in addition to crying incessantly.

Nutrition: Feed a good quality age appropriate dry and canned food. Kittens need higher protein and calorie levels than adult cats so give them a food that is formulated for kittens such as Science Diet Kitten Formula.  Adult cats should be fed food formulated for adults such as the Science Diet Oral Care or Hairball Formulas. Give some canned food (at least 1 TBS or ¼ small can) 1-2 times a day. This extra moisture helps prevent urinary disease and constipation. It also allows your cat or kitten to become accustomed to canned foods. At some point in time your cat may need to be on medication, many of which can be hidden in canned food, rather than given as a pill directly.

Give your cat attention!   Most cats enjoy playing with laser pointers (avoid shining directly into their eyes). Fishing pole type string toys can also entertain cats (and humans!) Do not leave string type toys out where cats can reach them when not in use as some cats will chew and swallow the string, causing an intestinal blockage.  Enrich your cat’s environment with multilevel furniture like cat condominiums and cat trees.  Allow access to closed windows to look outside. Bird feeder views are particularly fun for cats. Some families also build outdoor enclosures for their indoor cats to enjoy safely. These enclosures need to have roofs as some cats and wildlife can crawl over the walls and into or out of the enclosure.
 
Weight Control: Keep your cat at a healthy weight. Obesity is common in indoor cats. Reducing calories and increasing activity helps avoid excessive weight gain.  Inactive cats can be encouraged to move by placing their food in Kong type toys that they have to bat to make kibble come out, or by placing food bowls at the top of cat condos. Some diets that are labeled “light” are still too high in calories for middle aged cats. Talk to us for a customized weight management plan for your cat if weight becomes an issue.