Cats Overall Health
You can maintain your cats overall health in two important ways:
(1) schedule an annual preventive visit with your veterinarian (including an examination and any necessary vaccinations) and other visits as needed.
(2) perform weekly at home examinations.
Do a thorough nose-to-tail checkup followed by a special treat. Be gentle and patient, and your cat will look forward to this routine. Call your veterinarian if you detect any abnormalities during these regular checks. Start with the head. Are your cat’s ears clean
and pink? Do they give off an unpleasant odor? Are there mites or debris appearing as a black, waxy mess inside the ears? Are the eyes bright, clear, equal in size and shape, and free of discharge? Are the gums pink and the teeth clean? Has tartar appeared along the gum line? Is your cat’s breath offensive?
Don’t check a cat’s nose to see if it’s cold and damp—contrary to myth, this is not a sign of health.
Proceed to a neck-to-tail inspection. Feel your cat’s body for lumps, bumps, puffiness, sores, and any irregularities. Also look for flea dirt (which resembles black pepper and turns red when wet), scratches, and parasites. Be sure to check behind the ears, between the toes, and down the entire length of the tail.
Complete your ritual with a good brushing. It’s important to brush your cat daily to remove as much loose hair as possible and prevent mats from forming. Remember that you will try your cat’s patience if you try to do a week’s worth of brushing or combing at one sitting.
When cats groom themselves, they ingest a great deal of hair, which is often vomited out as hairballs. If your cat brings up hair, talk to your veterinarian to evaluate the situation and find out about hairball remedies.
Keeping your cat’s claws clipped is an important part of grooming. If not kept at the proper length, a cat’s claws can actually grow into the paw pads, so attend to the claws regularly. If you have never trimmed a cat’s claws, have your veterinarian show you how. Briefly, you should snip off just the sharp tip (about an eighth of an inch) of each claw. Do not clip into the pink section of the nail, where a blood vessel and nerve endings reside. You can use a human nail clipper or buy a special one at any pet supply store.
Some people believe declawing is the only way to address inappropriate scratching. However, it can be a painful procedure for your cat and is almost always unnecessary.
Cats can be easily trained to scratch only in appropriate areas, such as well-placed scratching posts. Different cats prefer different types of scratching material, so you may need to try a few different types of posts or pads until your cat finds one she likes.
All cat owners should have at least one book on cat care (recommended by their veterinarians) that includes a section on emergency first aid. Home care alone is not appropriate in most cases of serious illness or injury; there are some emergency procedures that could keep your pet relatively comfortable on the way to the veterinarian. Familiarize yourself with emergency procedures before an emergency happens, and be sure you know the location and phone number of the nearest emergency veterinary clinic.
Never give your cat any medications, including aspirin, without the advice of your veterinarian. Many common human drugs (like acetaminophen are toxic to cats and can cause death