8 Tips on How to Keep Your Cat Healthy Throughout Their Lives

As every cat owner knows, their feline friends find a really special place in their hearts and homes. And as every pet owner knows it's really important to make sure their four-legged friends stay happy and healthy throughout their lives. Pussy cats, if well taken care of, can live to a ripe old age. Knowing what to feed them as they get older, making sure they have regular health checks at the vet as well as giving them loads of love and affection will go down a treat with your feline friend. Below are a few helpful tips on how to make sure lovely pussy cats stays happy and healthy throughout their lives.

Make Sure Kittens Are Vaccinated

If you have just got a little kitten then you have to make sure they are vaccinated against all the nasty infectious feline diseases that are around. Even if you never let a kitten or cat out of the house and choose to have an indoor pet, you still need to have them vaccinated. The reason being that you could inadvertently carry microbes and organisms into your house and as such your cat would be susceptible to catching the bugs and any other nasties.

Make Sure Your Cat is Spayed or Neutered

If you have a female cat, then by having her spayed you reduce the risks of her suffering from quite a few diseases which includes pyometra and mammary gland tumours. Pyometra affects a cat's uterus which as a result gets infected and fills up with pus. This is a very serious condition and would need emergency treatment and surgery.

In cats, mammary tumours are extremely malignant so it is much better to reduce the chances of any forming by having your pet spayed as early as possible which means when she is around 6 months old. Other conditions which can be prevented by having your pet spayed are uterine and ovarian cancer.

When it comes to male cats, having your pet neutered not only means you'll have a much calmer pet around the home and one that will not go "a wandering" or spray all over the place to mark their territory, it will also reduce the risk of them developing any sort of testicular cancers.

Keep An Eye on Your Pet's Teeth

Dental problems are very serious in cats and although it can be quite hard to brush their teeth, that is unless you teach them from a very young age, it is nevertheless, really important to keep a close eye on your pet's teeth. This is important throughout your cat's life and it is worth taking them to the vet on a regular basis to have their teeth checked. If they need be cleaned, this should be done by either a veterinary nurse or the vets themselves.

Make Sure You Keep Fleas at Bay

Fleas can be a real problem to cats and if your pet has them, the chances are they will be suffering with intestinal worms too! A flea infestation can have some very serious consequences to a pussy cat which could see them suffering from secondary bacterial infections as well as bouts of dermatitis. If left untreated a cats will often become extremely anaemic due to the fact the fleas are feasting on their blood and this could prove fatal to your little feline friend.

Make Sure You Worm Your Cat Regularly

It is also very important to regularly worm your pussy cat although if they are serious hunters, then you would need to ask your vet about a worming programme for them. The reason being that your cat may have been wormed, but by feasting on a dead mouse or other small animal they catch, they would very quickly get worms again.

Make Sure You Take Your Cat for Regular Health Checks

It's really important to take you pet to the vet on a regular basis, as mentioned above. However, as they get older, cats will need to be given more health checks because if there is something brewing, the earlier the symptoms are caught and treated, the better. Cats over the age of seven should ideally have a twice yearly health checks with the vet.

Make Sure You Feed a Well Balanced Nutritious Diet

Cat's need to be fed a well balanced, nutritious diet throughout their lives but their needs change as they age which means it's important to feed them the right type of food to suit their age, making sure the level of taurine is correct because cats can't store this important amino acid in their bodies.

Don't Smoke Around Your Pussy Cat

Secondary smoke can be extremely harmful to all pets and this includes cats. If you are a smoker, make sure you don't smoke around your feline friend because just the same as in humans, your cat might just get lung cancer or other respiratory diseases like bronchitis or asthma by breathing in your secondary smoke. The other problem with smoking around a cat is that because they are constantly grooming themselves, they will ingest all the toxic particles that are found in cigarette smoke which settles on their coats and this will make them very ill indeed.

Conclusion

We all like to do right by our pets, making sure they are in a safe, warm environment and fed the right well balanced diet. Pet owners know how important it is to make sure their cats stay healthy which means keeping an eye on them so you notice any changes in their health or behaviour. If anything untoward does seem to be happening you would need to get them to the vet as soon as possible. When a diagnosis is made early enough, your pet stands a much better chance of making a recovery than if an illness is caught later. Knowing your moggy really well also helps when it comes to recognising when things might not be quite right and it's when they are snuggled up on your lap that you can gently check them over.