Keep Your Cat Healthy
Cats are amazingly clean animals, they will bathe themselves everyday and are good at not slopping through mud like dogs, but what else do you need to know to keep your cat healthy? What about medicine or other care aspects?
Cat Health, Care and Medicine
If your cats behavior changes suddenly, your first step should always be to contact your veterinarian for a thorough health examination. Cats often hide symptoms of illness until theyre seriously ill. Any change in behavior may be an early indication of a medical problem. Before you ever get a cat, you should find a good feline vet. You’ll want to build a good rapport between your cat and your vet, so that visits become less stressful on your cat, and your vet recognizes behavior that might be unusual for your pet.
A Good Diet
It is common knowledge and generally agreed upon by experts that dogs and cats are meat eaters and have evolved through the ages primarily as meat eaters. Although now “domesticated”, our pet dogs and cats have not evolved rumens along their digestive tracts in order to ferment cellulose and other plant material, nor have their pancreases evolved a way to secrete cellulase to split the cellulose into glucose molecules, nor have dogs and cats become efficient at digesting and assimilating and utilizing plant material as a source of high quality protein.
Herbivores do those sorts of things. Thats how Nature is set up at this time. On the other hand, some plant material such as rice, soybean meal and corn have some, although limited, usefulness in the meat eater’s diet. Corn, wheat, soy, rice and barley are not bad or harmful to dogs and cats. These plant sources are simply not good choices for the foundation of a diet to optimally nourish animals that are, have been, and for the foreseeable future will be meat eaters.
According to Case, Carey and Hirakawa in Canine and Feline Nutrition, page 174, “In general, high-quality animal source proteins provide superior amino acid balances for companion animals, compared with the amino acid balances that are supplied by grain proteins. The protein in grains is not as balanced or available as the protein in high-quality animal sources” By high-quality they are referring to meat, poultry and fish products that are derived mainly from muscle and organ tissue rather than “meat and bone meals”. Some types of animal-derived meals are not considered to be high quality because of the processing they undergo.
Cats have a few special needs that dogs to not have, among other things is a dietary source of a beta amino acid called taurine. And as it happens, the higher the fiber (plant or grain) content of the diet, the higher the level of taurine required in the cat’s diet.
Poisonous Plants
Some very common house plants are poisonous to cats, as well as other animals and humans. Here are a few species I know of, but if you are in doubt about any of your houseplants, either get rid of the plant or keep it where you know your cat can’t get to it. If you suspect that your cat has eaten any of these plants, get him or her to a vet immediately.
Scientific Name Common Name
Aloe barbadensis Amaryllis sp. Anthurium andraeanum Caladium hortulanum Chrysanthemum indicum Clivia miniata Codiaeum variegatum Cyclamen persicum Datura innoxia Dieffenbachia sp. Euphorbia milii Euphorbia pulcherrima Hedera helix Hydrangea macrophylla Kalanchoe daigremontiana Monstera deliciosa Philodendron sp. Rhododendron sp. Solanum pseudocapsicum Aloe Vera, Burn plant Amaryllis Flamingo lily Angels’ wings Chrysanthemums, Mums Kaffir Lily Croton Cyclamen Angel’s Trumpet Dumb cane Crown-of-thorns Poinsettia (yes, it belongs here) English Ivy Hydrangea Devil’s Backbone Ceriman, Swiss-cheese plant Heart leaf philodendron, Philodendron Azalea Jerusalem Cherry
Other Hazards
Draw cords for window blinds can be a hazard for children as well as cats. Many people will cut the loop at the end to prevent a child from accidentally hanging themselves, but cat’s are even more mischievous then children and can get tangled in the cords themselves with disastrous results. Looping the end back up over the top of the window may help keep curious kitties away. Electrical and phone cords are another dangerous problem.
Before getting ANY pet, you should make sure that any cord with power running through it is kept covered, out of reach, or simply unplugged. Other hazardous materials that your pet might find attractive might include rubber bands, paper clips, thumb tacks, broken balloons, and anything else he might get tangled in or choke on. Use a little foresight before getting a new pet, and make sure that your family understands where items like these belong, so they don’t accidentally end up in kitty’s paws.
A Clean Litter Box
People always want to place the litter box in an out-of-the-way spot in order to minimize odor and loose particles of cat litter in the house. So, the litter box ends up in the basement, maybe next to an appliance and/or on a cold cement floor. For obvious reasons, this can be undesirable from your cat’s point of view. If you have a kitten or an older cat, they may not be able to get down a long flight of stairs in time If it’s a new cat, she may not remember where the litter box is if its in an area seldom frequented.
Not to mention the terror your cat may feel if while using the litter box a nearby furnace, washer or dryer suddenly comes on! That may understandably be the last time shell risk it going near such a location. The litter box should be kept in a location that gives your cat some privacy, but is also convenient. If you place the litter box in a closet or a bathroom, be sure the door is wedged open from both sides, to prevent her from accidentally being trapped in or out.
You might even consider cutting a hole in a closet door and adding a swinging door. If the litter box sits on a smooth, slick or cold surface, you might put a small throw rug underneath the litter box. Some cats appreciate being able to scratch around their box. It’s best to have at least one box per cat, especially in a larger home where there’s a greater distance between boxes. And of course, keep the boxes clean
Scratching Post or Cat Tree
Scratching is a normal cat behavior, and one that cats are highly motivated to display, so its unrealistic to try to prevent them from scratching. The best thing you can do is offer your cat a place specifically for scratching, and encourage her to use it. A good cat scratching post that’s tall enough for your cat to stretch out full length against is a good buy, but make sure that it’s sturdy and doesn’t wobble before making your purchase. If your cat is anything like mine, that post will be well used, and should be capable of supporting the full weight of your cat bouncing off it’s side in pursuit of invisible moths, or racing full tilt up it’s length to sky dive from the pinnacle at maximum speed.
Even better then a post however, is a cat climbing tree. They’ll cost you a little bit more, but they offer your cat a greater range of play and entertainment. A good cat tree will have more than one place to perch or sleep, and maybe a hole or two that she can play hide and seek in. There are also cat houses, hammocks, window shelves and even cat sized indoor gyms!
