Category Archives: Cat Care Tips

Cat Care Tips, Medical & Health Care

Safety and Protection Checklist for Cats

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Cats are curious animals, and because of it, they can get themselves into trouble at times. This list of dos and don’ts will help you be a more responsible guardian of your cat, and help to keep your cat safe from harm; free from unnecessary injury and accidents; free from unnecessary disease and suffering; and keep your cat as healthy and happy as possible!

Some Don’ts

DON’T leave your cat unattended in your car. NEVER leave a cat inside a car on a warm or hot day, not even for one minute.

DON’T let your cat roam free in the neighborhood.

DON’T re-home or give your cat away. Always try to keep your cat even when life requires making unexpected changes or facing unexpected challenges. If you must re-home your cat, be sure to screen and interview the potential adopters in person for their experience and history with cats; learn everything about them and meet all family members that live in the home; check their work/landlord/school/personal references; and visit their home in advance to make sure the cat will have a safe and loving environment to live. Here is a list of tips for preparing to adopt a cat.

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Cat Care Tips, Elderly Cat Care, Medical & Health Care

Treating Your Cat’s Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) – A Helpful Guide

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Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is relatively common in mature, senior and geriatric cats. This year, my 17-year-old cat Marcel was diagnosed with advanced, late-stage chronic kidney disease. In a short period of time, I scrambled to learn everything possible about the disease and how to treat it. Had I known before what I quickly learned, about providing the best possible treatment options and support for early and late-stage CKD, I could have possibly prolonged Marcel’s life and quality of life significantly. But the motto, too little too late, applied in my personal journey. The application of my new valuable knowledge came just too late to save him. But it’s not too late to help your cat and provide you with what I wish I had known months earlier. This guide is an effort to give owners of CKD cats the best, most valuable resources possible, in the shortest time possible. CKD is a very manageable disease in cats, but it’s critical to catch it early in order to manage it and prolong your cat’s life. Getting a diagnosis as soon as possible, as early in the disease, will give you more time to apply all the best treatments available to help your cat. Here is the most valuable and useful information and guidance I can provide you and your CKD cat, all in one page with links to some of the best resources and support available today. May your cat live a long, healthy, and comfortable life with CKD with much more quality time spent with you! 

Chronic kidney disease in cats is not a life sentence, but if it is properly treated, your cat can live a long and happy life. So let’s begin. 

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Cat Care Tips

What are the Safest Cat Food Bowls?

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Believe it or not, shopping for a safe cat food bowl is an important decision, and one that can make a huge difference to the health of your cat, especially over time. Here I will share my research on the safest cat food bowls to use.

Decisions about bowl size and shape are less important than the material of the bowl. Material really does matter and there are real reasons why to avoid certain materials like plastic, and very good reasons why to choose safe materials like glass and stainless steel.

The safest materials for cat food bowls are glass, stainless steel, and some ceramics. Avoid plastic altogether. And here’s why.

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Cat Care Tips, Medical & Health Care

How to Determine Your Cat’s Age in Cat Years

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Ever been curious how old your cat is in cat years versus human years? Well, there’s no absolute or reliable scientific calculation for determining exactly how old your cat is in cat years, but there are good calculations that come close to estimating your cat’s approximate age. So here’s how to determine your cat’s age in cat years.

What Factors Determine How a Cat Ages?

There are many factors that go into a cat’s aging and lifespan including how well they have been cared for, whether they are indoor or outdoor cats, their daily diet and quality of food, whether they have received good veterinary care and annual wellness exams, whether chronic diseases and short-term illnesses have been treated in a timely manner, if they have received good dental care, the environmental stresses they have been subjected to, and their genetic predisposition to disease. Continue reading How to Determine Your Cat’s Age in Cat Years →

Cat Care Tips, Medical & Health Care

Preventing Lower Urinary Tract Problems in Cats

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Lower urinary tract problems in cats can be life threatening, are extremely painful, and need immediate attention and treatment by a veterinarian. Preventing lower urinary tract problems in cats is critical for your cat’s health.

Urinary crystals can quickly turn into kidney stones, and kidney stones are deadly in a short period of time, so never wait or postpone seeing your veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment. Your vet will determine if there are underlying medical conditions causing the symptoms through conducting a urinalysis, culture and cystoscopy and a complete medical review. If your cat is visiting the litter box repeatedly in a short period of time, straining in the box and sitting in the box trying to urinate, or urinating outside the litter box, it’s time to visit your vet.

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Cat Care Tips, Medical & Health Care

Preventing and Treating Fleas in Cats – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Summer is a favorite season for picnics in the park, enjoying the seashore, and dining al fresco—but with warm summer temperatures also come the fleas! Fleas can wreak havoc on cats causing discomfort, severe skin conditions, allergic reactions, parasites (tape worms), anemia and even death in the worst cases, if left untreated. So it’s important to protect your cat from fleas, but it’s also important to know the dangers of some flea control products on the market today. In this article, you’ll become knowledgeable about the different flea treatment options, some of the health consequences associated with them, and you’ll learn ways to provide your cat with the safest possible flea treatments and precautions available. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly on preventing and treating fleas in cats.

Does Your Cat Have Fleas?

To check whether your cat has fleas, you can run a flea comb through your cat’s fur pressing along the skin to check for adult fleas or flea feces and eggs. These will look like little specks of salt and pepper or tiny black and white grains in the fur. The white grains are flea eggs, and the black grains are flea feces. If you have found and removed some grains on your flea comb, rub the grains onto a piece of white paper and if the grains turn a reddish-brown color, you know you have a flea problem.

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Cat Care Tips, Elderly Cat Care, Medical & Health Care

How to Provide the Best Care for Your Senior Cat

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Getting older is a normal, natural part of life for all of us. Today domestic cats are living longer than they ever did in the past—thanks to improved nutrition and better food, improved medical care, and more people keeping their cats indoors. But advancing age does not necessarily mean automatic degeneration. And aging does not necessarily mean inevitable disease. Many cats do grow old remaining relatively healthy into their geriatric years, while other cats in their senior years develop chronic or degenerative diseases. And know that even cats that do develop chronic diseases can live well into their late geriatric years—or 20+ years old—given excellent care and attention.

Never assume that changes in your older cat are simply due to “old age,” then write it off as normal aging for them. Most likely there is an underlying medical condition that is causing the changes you are observing in your cat’s behavior or physical appearance. That should always be the first consideration. The main thing is to give your cat the healthiest and best quality of life possible—by watching them closely, noticing any changes that take place, then getting them to a veterinarian to get the medical help they need.

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Cat Care Tips, Medical & Health Care

How to Afford the Cost of Veterinary Care

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When you adopt a cat, you aren’t thinking about the day when your cat may become ill, or get injured, or need emergency care. But cats do get sick and sometimes do require expensive diagnostic tests and emergency care. You may be faced with veterinary expenses far beyond what you can afford, or need unexpected medical care that you didn’t anticipate and don’t know how you’re going to pay for it. Of course, you want to make the best decision for your cat, regardless of the cost, but how to pay for it? Here’s how to afford the cost of veterinary care.

I have been in this situation countless times with our many rescue cats. So often, I have needed to pony up and pay for complicated dental care, full-mouth extractions, multi-day emergency hospitalizations, or treating kidney failure to the tune of thousands of dollars—and I had no idea how we were going to pay for it.

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Cat Care Tips

10 Important Considerations in Preparing to Adopt a Cat

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Adopting a kitten or adult cat is a long-term responsibility and commitment. It’s a decision you want to give careful thought to and be prepared for, not one to take lightly or impulsively. Owning a cat is a large financial and emotional responsibility lasting anywhere from 14 to 22 years, typically. Your cat will depend on you for its health, happiness, safety and well-being, so here are 10 important considerations in preparing to adopt a cat.

Renting Your Home? Check with Your Landlord First

If you live in an apartment or rental property be sure to confirm with your landlord beforehand that cats are allowed and know whether a pet deposit is required. Avoid adopting a cat and bringing it home, only to find out the landlord does not accept pets.

Lifetime of Costs

Adopting a new cat is exciting, but the reality is there is a lifetime of expenses associated with caring for a cat. Be aware of and ready to commit to spending money for regular weekly expenses like buying quality cat food and litter, but also for annual routine veterinary care and unexpected veterinary emergencies.  Annual checkups are highly recommended to keep your cat healthy and address any medical problems as they arise. During an annual checkup, your veterinarian can determine if your cat has oral disease or needs dental surgery or cleaning, which is important for good oral and overall health. But if your cat gets sick, he will need to see a veterinarian for medical care. As cats age and get older health problems can arise, so it’s important to be prepared for when that time comes. Like people, cats get sick and sometimes develop chronic illnesses as they age, which is why annual checkups are so important and can address medical problems before they get worse.

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Cat Care Tips

8 Tips to Make Travel and Vet Visits Less Stressful For Your Cat

Do you dread taking your cat to the vet because it’s so stressful? Does your cat run at the first sight of their carrier, then valiantly and determinedly resist going inside by muscling their way out? You’re not alone. Cats fear change, and many associate their carrier with negative experiences—like going to the vet’s office, car travel, or a bad memory associated with the car. Some cats become so stressed seeing a carrier or being inside of one—they immediately urinate,  meow loudly, drool excessively, and some even vomit. It’s that traumatic for them. It’s enough to make a cat parent’s blood pressure skyrocket!

But what if you could transform your cat’s negative association into a positive experience? Here’s a step-by-step process for making your cat carrier a more inviting, welcoming and non-threatening place, and your cat’s trip to the vet a far more enjoyable, less stressful experience.

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