Kittens are quite small, and may have difficulties getting up stairs when they are very small so you need to choose somewhere that he can easily get to. At first you may need to encourage him to sleep in his bed, as some kittens will doze anywhere when they get tired. When he falls asleep gently move him to his bed, if you have tried this several times and he will not use it voluntarily you might need to move his bed to a corner of a room where he spends more of his time.

You will also need a litter tray and it is better to site this away from the place where your kitten will be fed or he may show a reluctance to use it.
Litter trays with a hood are ideal as these can be put anywhere. Some cat litter will stick to the coat of longhaired cats and it is better to avoid this if you can or you will find it all around the house. It is better not to use disinfectants to wash litter trays but they should be washed with hot water and detergent at least once each week. There is a slight risk that cats that go out may carry the parasite Toxoplasma, the risk is small with kittens. This infection can be a problem if women who are pregnant have any contact with cat faeces so it would be better to were gloves just in case.
There are blood tests to indicate if your cat has had any contact with this parasite, but you could never rely on a negative reading to say that you do not need to take precautions against the disease.

Kittens like to play with toys and it is usually better to get a selection so that they will be less likely to use things that they find around the house. Adventurous individuals will not consider vertical surfaces as a hindrance if they want to investigate something their nails are quite sharp and will damage wall paper and furniture. You will be able to restrict his antics by trimming his nails, when they are blunt he will soon learn that he should spend most of his time on the floor.

Cats like to scratch and should be encouraged to use a proper post before they find a place for themselves. It is much easier to train a kitten to use a scratching post than to try and persuade an adult cat not to try his claws out on the leg of the dining room table. Posts that you can buy are often covered with rope or you can make something and cover it with an old piece of carpet. Try to find a piece that is different from the one on your floors so that your cat can distinguish the place he should use.

Most cats are meticulously clean and will spend part of their day grooming themselves or a companion. It is important, especially if you have a longhaired kitten to get them used to being groomed at least once each week.
Regular grooming stimulates the oil glands in the skin and helps to keep the coat healthy. Cats enjoy being combed and it is a good opportunity to check for fleas and ticks so that they can be detected and treated early. Big cats groom each other to build emotional bonds and it is important for us to satisfy this need in them when they come into our homes.

Use a fine tooth flea comb to go through the whole coat and stop any tangles. If your cat has started to get matted up you may need to work on his coat for a short period each day until you can comb him easily. When your cat starts to moult it is important that he is groomed more frequently to stop him swallowing too much hair. Cats have a rough tongue and cannot get hair out their mouth once they have licked it in. The extra hair can get into a tangle inside his stomach and may cause him to be unwell, but you can avoid this problem with a good comb.

When you first get your kitten home it is better to keep him on the same food that he has been used to. Once he has settled you need to decide whether you want to feed a dried or a moist diet. Cats have specific requirements for some of the animo acids, so it is not possible to feed a vegetarian diet. To grow properly, kittens need a diet high in the animo acid taurine and have a specific requirement for essential fatty acids and the fat soluble vitamins. They need to be fed on a diet designed for kittens for the first eight months if they are to achieve they maximum potential and avoid problems with diarrhoea.

There is more information and useful tips about living with your new kitten, which is included in a practice folder that you will get from the surgery when you come for your first vaccinations.

Cat Flu
Cat flu is more familiar, more traumatic for cats than for us as there are two different sorts either affecting the nasal passages and eyes or causing ulceration on the tongue and damaging the throat. Cat flu can readily become chronic as mucus blocks the sinuses of the head and secondary infections take over. Antibiotics do not have any action against viruses. The drugs we use to treat cat flu stop any bacteria getting established in the damaged tissues of the nasal passages. We get good results by using aromatherapy on some of our patients with cat flu to stop the condition becoming chronic. Cats do not need to be in close contact to catch this disease. It readily spreads when affected animals sneeze or sniff places where other cats have been.

Chlamydia
Feline chlamydia can sometimes be confused with cat flu as it can show similar symptoms although it does tend to cause more inflammation in the eye than on other mucus membranes. Sometimes it is difficult to be certain that you have a problem with this disease. There are laboratory tests available but the organism involved is very fragile and will often not survive long enough outside the body to be detected in the swabs that we take. Treatments for chlamydia involve long courses of antibiotics, for at least six weeks if you want to stop it recurring.

Leukaemia
Feline Leukaemia is serious disease in cats that is responsible for the premature death of more cats than any other infectious agent. Two thirds of the British cat population will come across this infection at some time in their lives. Some animals react to the infection and are not affected by it, but many are and suffer damage to their immune system. Animals with the disease are vulnerable to infections in their mouths, gastro intestinal system and in their lungs. Feline leukaemia is also a major cause of cancer in the feline population. There is a blood test available that we can do at the Surgery to detect this disease. Some animals can remain relatively healthy for months, or even years with this virus, when they do become ill they often deteriorate very quickly and it is difficult to provide any effective treatment.

Nobivac FeLv vaccine protects your kitten from leucaemia. It is simultaneously administered as a separate course with the initial Tricat vaccination course.

The other vaccine that is routinely used on cats is Nobivac Tricat This is the minimal requirement for all cats to stop the getting panleucopaenia and the two types of cat flu and must be used for all cats that are going into boarding catteries.

To get the vaccine to work effectively it is recommended that the course of two injections are started at nine weeks and completed at twelve weeks of age. Neither vaccine will protect animals that are already carrying the virus.

Nobivac Tricat is a live vaccine containing an attenuated strain of the feline panleucopaenia virus and strains of feline viral rhinotracheitis and the Calicivirus. Two injections are used with again an interval of three weeks between the doses. Kittens can have their first injection to complete the course by twelve weeks of age. It is not always that we know the exact age of kittens so we tend to go on size if the exact history is unclear.
Many households can allow their cats access to the outside world with a minimal risk of injury from traffic. Young kittens tend to be cautious when they are first let out and will usually avoid any unfamiliar cats they encounter. Their caution gives them some protection from contacting the diseases from any unvaccinated cats in your area.

Booster doses of this vaccine should be given annually. Because this is a live vaccine it should not be given to pregnant cats. Nobivac Tricat should be given to all cats before they go to boarding catteries. The risk of contacting cat flu where many cats from different areas are kept together is high as the viruses readily spread in enclosed buildings.

If you have a big population of fleas in your house it might be necessary to spray the rooms where the animals go with a product called Acclaim 2000.
This does contain an insecticide, but its main component is a hormone that even in small quantities is enough to stop the larval stages of the fleas being able to moult and change to the adult stage that is so troublesome to your cat. It is better to thoroughly Hoover before the aerosol is used, rooms are treated at floor level paying particular attention to heavy furniture that cannot be moved. One application will last for seven months and will go a long way to break the life cycle of the flea.

There is also a new product called Stronghold. This is a small quantity of fluid that is applied to the back of the neck each month. Stronghold is a systemic product that kills fleas, ear mites and roundworms with one application. It is particularly useful for animals that have several different parasites and those individuals that are difficult to worm.

Cats are carnivorous animals that are adapted to a diet rich in proteins.
Proteins are broken down by the body into smaller units called amino acids. There are twenty of these. They are used to replace damaged cells, allow growth and facilitate bodily functions. Amino acids from the diet that are not needed by the body are converted into urea that is excreted by the kidneys.

When the kidneys are damaged they are no longer able to remove all of these waste products and toxins from the blood. The urine cannot be concentrated properly and too much fluid is lost from the body. We can do a simple blood test to access the degree of damage to the kidneys and decide the best course of treatment.

Often the most useful way that we can help your cat to cope with his disability is to feed a diet that is low in protein and phosphorus. The right kind of proteins in restricted amounts will greatly reduce the work that the kidneys have to do so that urea levels in the blood stream will remain under control. When the kidneys are unable to maintain low phosphorus levels in the blood biochemical changes occur in the renal tubules that result in further destruction of the gland.

Cats with Chronic Renal Failure tend to have poor appetites and will lose weight. Sometimes it is helpful to warm the food a little to make it more tempting. Always ensure a supply of clean water is available, serious damage will occur if your cat is left without water. We like to weigh cats that are having problems with their kidneys regularly so that we can monitor the progress that they are making.

Another approach we use is to improve the mechanisms by which proteins are used within the body so that there are fewer waste amino acids to be converted to urea and excreted. Anabolic steroid injections have been used for a number of years to do this and have not been shown to have adverse side effects when given to our feline patients with renal problems. The drug is injected every four to six weeks, usually with a vitamin B 12 injection to further improve the appetite.

Some cats are presented with a more advanced form of renal failure. We are able to administer fluid therapy when the disease has progressed to give very high blood urea levels and anabolic steroid injections may help to improve the metabolism of your companion and increase his appetite. Sadly sometimes it is difficult to maintain the quality of his life and a decision has to be made as to whether euthanasia would be a better option.

Feline Dental Care.

Cats are particularly prone to gum infection, (gingivitis), which can develop in patients as young as 6 months old. It is virtually impossible to brush a cat's teeth on a daily basis, so you should always budget for a minimum annual dental descale, (at the time of vaccination booster).

Under anaesthesia, we use an ultrasound machine to remove all the food debris and associated tartar from the teeth, followed by a course of antibiotics. Occasionally, even with this annual treatment regime, it still becomes necessary to extract infected teeth on a progressive basis over the years.

Please do not worry how the cat will eat after multiple extractions. We have a number of patients that have had most of their teeth extracted because of persistent root infections that had not responded to long courses of antibiotics. After the extractions, these patients have invariably thrived and have eaten better than ever !!

You may rest assured that I will advise you if and when extractions are necessary and the number required. Those clients who have acted promptly on such advice have always been very happy that they did so, as their cats have always been much better afterwards.

Prompt and thorough dental surgery produces lifelong health and comfort benefits for your cat.

Email:Mr Holmes

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