Set Up A Feeding Schedule
To keep up with your kittens appetite, youll want to establish a daily feeding routine. The best way to ensure that youre not under or over-feeding your kitten is to consult with you veterinarian about how much and how often to feed. At 3 to 6 moths of age, most vets recommend feeding your kitten three times a day. Once hes reached six months, you can scale it back to twice a day. Keep stocking your pantry with kitten food until your baby reaches adulthood, 9 to12 months old. In addition, dont forget to keep his water bowl fresh and filled at all times. But hold the milk. Contrary to popular belief, milk is not nutritionally sufficient for kittens and can give them diarrhea.
Get advice on the best way to litterbox train your kitten.
Should I Feed My Cat Her Regular Diet
In order to recover, your sick cat needs to have both food and water. When cats are ill they will often stop eating and drinking, therefore, it is important to monitor your cat’s food and water intake so that you know when intervention is necessary. It is important to separate your ill cat from other pets in the household so you know who is eating the food.
Fresh water should be available at all times. Healthy cats that eat canned food often drink very little because the food contains a high proportion of water. If your cat stops eating, she will need to have additional fluids. Fluids can be administered by mouth using a syringe. Your veterinarian will give you specific instructions on how much and how often to administer fluids. If it is not possible for your cat to be given fluids by mouth, your veterinarian will hospitalize your cat to provide the necessary supportive care.
“Your veterinarian will advise you if there are any foods that you should not offer.”
Encourage your cat to eat small, frequent meals of a palatable, high energy, highly digestible food. Warming food to body temperature often makes it more appealing. Some sick cats can be encouraged to eat more by hand feeding. Your veterinarian will advise you if there are any foods that you should not offer. If your cat cannot be tempted to eat voluntarily, your veterinarian may suggest giving liquid food via a syringe. An alternative is to hospitalize your cat in order to feed her via a feeding tube.
Feeding Your Cat Or Kitten
24th July 2018
The domestic cat is descended from the North African wildcat and remains extremely closely related and very similar to this species in size, shape, behaviour and physiology. Like all cats, the domestic cat is a carnivore and is adapted to a hunting lifestyle. In fact, cats are extremely well-adapted predators and they not only eat meat but in fact have become dependent on a meat diet and actually cannot thrive or survive without meat in their diet.
This is a simple and understandable adaptation for a hunting animal like the cat there is no need for them to have special enzymes or metabolic pathways to digest and convert nutrients in plants to what they need, when it is present already in the animals they prey on!
However, this adaptation to become strict carnivores means that cats have a number of special dietary requirements that do not apply to many other animals , and it means that feeding a properly balanced diet to a cat can be much more challenging.
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Give Your Cat Lots Of Tlc
Improve Quality Of Life For Feral Cats
Caring for feral cats is humane and beneficial for the cats and your community. When feral cats live in a managed colony, nuisance behaviors are fewer, and the cats can coexist more peacefully with their human neighbors. Human caregivers even help feral cats live longer, healthier lives.
The ASPCA estimates that feral cats living on their own without care have an average life span of just 2 years, but feral cats being looked after by a human caretaker can live as long as 10 years.
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How To Care For Your Cat After Neutering Or Spaying
This article was co-authored by Pippa Elliott, MRCVS. Dr. Elliott, BVMS, MRCVS is a veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in veterinary surgery and companion animal practice. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery. She has worked at the same animal clinic in her hometown for over 20 years.There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 20 testimonials and 95% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 571,032 times.
Spay and neuter surgeries are routine operations, but theyre still surgeries. If you’re worried about how to care for your cat after its been spayed or neutered , youve come to the right place. There are several things you can do to help your cat recover from its operation and get back to its healthy, happy feline self.
Can I Keep A Cat Indoors
If you think about the lifestyle of a cat which has access outdoors you will realise that being outdoors brings a huge variety to its life and allows it to use all of its hunting behaviours if it wants to. Of course, there are risks outside for cats, but you need to balance these with the very positive aspects of physical and mental stimulation and an outlet for natural behaviour.Indoors versus outdoors
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Follow These Tips For Giving Your Cat Medication
Invest In A Scratching Post Or Scratcher
To prevent claw marks on your furniture, place a scratcher in a few places around the home. These could be scratching posts, scratching pads or a corrugated cardboard scratcher.
They dont have to be fancy. One of my cats loves scratching on anything made out of corrugated cardboard and this type of scratcher is very inexpensive.
You can also buy a small container of dried catnip to sprinkle on the scratcher to attract your cat. Whenever he uses the scratcher, praise him so he learns to use the scratcher and not the corners of your couch.
For more tips on scratching, see my article: How to Stop Cats From Scratching Furniture.
Cat trees provide a place to nap, play and scratch.
carolynkaye
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How To Care For A New Cat
Last Updated: April 28, 2021References
This article was co-authored by Brian Bourquin, DVM. Brian Bourquin, better known as Dr. B to his clients, is a Veterinarian and the Owner of Boston Veterinary Clinic, a pet health care and veterinary clinic with three locations, South End/Bay Village, the Seaport, and Brookline, Massachusetts. Boston Veterinary Clinic specializes in primary veterinary care, including wellness and preventative care, sick and emergency care, soft-tissue surgery, dentistry. The clinic also provides specialty services in behavior, nutrition, and alternative pain management therapies using acupuncture, and therapeutic laser treatments. Boston Veterinary Clinic is an AAHA accredited hospital and Bostons first Fear Free Certified Clinic. Brian has over 19 years of veterinary experience and earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University.There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 32,831 times.
Bringing home a new cat can be exciting and overwhelming. There is so much to buy and do to get ready. Your new cat may be frightened and confused as she enters a new living space, but you can help to ease her transition by getting everything ready, taking good care of your cat, and considering any special needs she might have before you welcome her into your home for the first time.
Keeping Your Cat Healthy
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Visit The Veterinary Regularly
All cats require veterinary visits. A vet can conduct a number of examinations on your cat and help to diagnose its problems. Cats are known to disguise when it comes to disease. You may not know when your cat is sick or not. This is the reason why you should take it to a vet for regular checkups. A veterinarian is well-trained on how to look for these signs. He or she can perform blood, urine and fecal tests in your cat. This can help you cat to live longer.
Cat Care Step : Feeding
Maintain your veterinarian-recommended diet and portion size for your feline. Choose a schedule for feeding your cat each day, and stick to this routine as much as possible.
Encourage your kitty to stay hydrated by changing the water bowls daily or using a water fountain type of bowl, since cats adore running water.
Treats are great but use them sparingly in lieu of plenty of attention and pets.
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Invest In A Good Carrier
Carriers are essential for vet visits, travel, or in case you ever need to leave your home in an emergency. They come in many sizes and price ranges. Look for one that gives your cat enough room to fit comfortably with some room on each side to move around.
For large cats, find a large or extra-large carrier or a dog carrier.
To learn more about choosing a carrier, see my article: Best Cat Carriers.
Do I Need A Professional Groomer
Because longhair cats need regular grooming , you might want to consult your budget before answering this question. But even if you have the means to bring your longhair cat to a professional groomer weekly, you should still have grooming tools on hand at home — and know how to use them. You never know when your cat might get into something that needs to be combed out right away or when she might need a touch-up between trips to the groomer.
The main advantages of a professional groomer are training, skill, and experience. A good groomer can get your cat’s coat looking spiffy quickly and humanely, with a minimum amount of trauma. Really bad mats and tangles can be dealt with at home, but if you’ve never done that sort of thing before, you run the risk of injuring your cat — an injury that will probably need veterinary attention. Such grooming problems are probably best left to the professionals, too.
Even folks who learn to wield a slicker brush and metal comb with a good amount of expertise will turn to a professional groomer from time to time. It could be for a bad mat or tangle, during a particularly heavy period of shedding, or just to get the full treatment so that Tabby looks her best.
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First Thing First Trap Neuter Return
According to Humane Society, tens of millions of homeless cats live in the USA alone. Thats a lot of cats! Lets say half of them are girls that will give birth to 3-5 kittens. The shocking fact is that a cat can have babies 5 times a year! Even if they bring kittens into this world only once a year that is still a lot of newborn babies to care for.
To stop that from happening, the rational thing to do is to trap, neuter and return those stray and feral cats. Dont have the financial means or a way to take them to the vet? Try finding someone that can do it for you. If nobody in your area is available, animal rescue groups will help you out.
When I was growing up, we were feeding lots of ferals. I think it was up to 15 kitties at one point. I was a youngster then, and I didnt know better. But today, Id make sure to spay and neuter those felines. They were breeding like crazy and it gets out of hand pretty quickly.
Learn from our mistakes and do trap, neuter, return strays and ferals that are roaming around your place.
Physical And Mental Development
Between the ages of 7 and 9, your cat is much like a middle-aged person. He might start to show his age in subtle ways, such as becoming a bit mellower, or you may not notice a change at all. Cognitively, hes as sharp as ever, and physically, he is likely enjoying good health thanks to your great care. While hes clearly no longer a kitten, your cat is the same fun feline youve come to love.
While smaller cats can age more gracefully than larger cats, the differences are far less pronounced than they are among various breeds of dogs.
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What Should I Look For In A Rescue Organisation
Although all homing/rescue organisations may mean well, not all do well for cats. In countries such as the UK, there is strong charity support for our animals, and thousands are rescued, saved and rehomed to a very high quality. Many of the organisations involved are highly professional and have taken on board the mental and physical health needs of their cats in the way theyre cared for. Sadly, however, there are some rescues or sanctuaries where cats are still kept in inappropriate conditions.
A homing/rescue organisation should:
- Only take in the number of cats it can care for properly
- Ensure that cats which are ill or injured have appropriate veterinary care
- Ensure that the cats are not at risk of catching other diseases while they are in the facility
- Ensure that cats are not stressed by the conditions they are kept in or, by the proximity of other cats or dogs. This can lead to behaviour problems and a reduced ability to fight disease as well as increasing the shedding of viruses.
- Ensure the cats are kept in such a way that they can relax and exhibit normal behaviour so that the right homes can be found for them
- Aim to match cats to owners with the aim of long-term harmonious relationships
- Ensure that every effort is made to find suitable homes as quickly as possible for the cats in their care
Once you have decided that you want a cat or kitten, click here to find out the questions to ask and what to look for in choosing your particular pet.