Ensuring that your feline companion is healthy is crucial for its happiness and wellbeing throughout its life. Our pet cats provide us with love and affection, keep our laps warm and greet us when we get home from work. Therefore, the least you can do for your furry companion is to keep it happy and healthy. Here are some tips to keep your cat fit and content throughout its life.
Diet is Critical
Like us, cats rely on a balanced and nutritional diet to maintain a healthy weight and keep fit into their old age. When picking a diet for your cat to follow, make sure you find high-quality food and check the ingredients list.
Cats are naturally carnivorous animals, so it is best to find high-protein foods for them to eat. This means the foundation of your cat’s diet should be meat, and you should avoid feeding them too much dry food. Dry food is often carb-heavy. Carbohydrates can be problematic for felines if they overeat them and lead to health complications like obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Finding food that high protein and nutritionally balanced is relatively easy nowadays, thanks to the internet. For example, Time for Paws offers a range of healthy cat foods and treats that can help promote health and longevity in your companion.
Hydration Must Not be Overlooked
Plenty of water is as vital for a cat as a healthy diet. Typically, a wild feline would get much of its hydration from killing its prey, meaning that they naturally have relatively low thirst levels. Unfortunately, this can cause problems for domesticated cats as they can often develop urinary issues as a result.
Canned or wet foods can be a great help in this regard, as they provide some much-needed hydration to your companion. Also, giving your cat plenty of water bowls around the house or investing in a feline-friendly water fountain could provide them with some encouragement to drink more.
Groom Your Cat Regularly
Giving your pet a daily brush will help reduce the number of hairballs that can block the digestive system of felines. Cats are famously clean animals and spend large portions of the day grooming themselves and others. By brushing your cat, you can dislodge some of the loose hair in its coat, which will prevent it from ending up in its mouth and intestinal tract.
It can be challenging to get a cat to cooperate with grooming, however. The key to building the routine is to get your pet to associate the brushing with positive events. For example, you could brush your cat before its meals, which will build an association between the brushing and the reward of food.
Treat Your Pet for Parasites
Your cat can only be so happy if it is constantly scratching at flea bites. The problem runs deeper than simple discomfort from fleas and ticks, however. Making sure that your pet is pest-free is essential for looking after their health. Additionally, preventative treatments for internal parasites is just as important, if not more so, than looking out for external ones. Things like heartworms in cats can significantly impact their wellbeing, so it is crucial to take steps to avoid this.
While treatments for fleas and ticks exist, unfortunately, there is no known cure for heartworms. Therefore, preventative treatments are vital. These treatments are easy to administer and are highly effective. If you are unsure about whether you should use oral, topical or injectable treatments, then speak to your local vet about the best choice for your cat.
If You Have an Indoor Cat, Clean the Litter box
As previously mentioned, cats are very clean animals. They also have a keen sense of smell, meaning they will likely not be best pleased if their litter box is anything less than sparkling clean.
Giving your cat’s litter box a daily scoop to remove any waste and regularly changing the litter can help your pet’s relationship with their loo. Additionally, when you remove the litter, it is good to scrub the box down with some detergent to prevent undesirable smells. Cleaning isn’t just for their benefit, as it will help you maintain a cleaner, odor-free home.
Regularly checking the litter box has the additional benefit of allowing you to pick up any issues your companion might have quickly. If there are any abnormalities with your cat’s urine or stool, you should ring your vet right away. Also, if your cat suddenly stops using its toilet, even though you have made every effort to keep it clean, this can be a sign of internal issues such as infections.
Neuters and Spays Improve Lives
Getting your cat’s reproductive organs removed can have a significant impact on its wellbeing.
In females, performing spays can drastically reduce the incidence of breast tumors and uterine infections. For male cats, removing their testes will prevent testicular cancer and will make issues with their prostates less likely later on. They are also much less likely to develop the undesirable behavior of spraying once neutered.
Additionally, if you have an indoor cat, then neutering or spaying can have another benefit – it will make them less likely to attempt to escape.
Play With Your Cat
Cats can often act very independently, leading to people believing they don’t relish the opportunity to play with us. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Our feline companions love to play games that can help them exercise and reduce boredom in their lives. Engaging your cat with regular play sessions will help them raise their heart rate and keep them active, which is essential for their health. Additionally, it will help to improve your bond with your pet, ensuring that they are content during their life.
The Takeaway
In conclusion, ensuring that your cat is healthy is an important way of giving them a long, happy and fulfilling life. Ensuring that their diet is balanced and nutritious, that you keep them and their environment clean and that you keep them physically active are all necessary to keep your feline friend in top condition.
