How to spot situations where you to make an appointment with your vet
Check your cat daily for changes in its health. Look at it's eyes, ears, inside the mouth, its coat and entire body. If it isn’t looking the same as it did yesterday, evaluate to see if you can correct the problem or if you need to phone the vet. Can you feel any lump or abscessed spot? Are they grooming themselves normally? Do they exhibit pain when touched by you? Is there a thick discharge from their eyes? Conjunctivitis, or an inflamed eye, is very common. Your vet will prescribe eye drops. Any eye problem should be seen by the vet to prevent permanent damage to your cat's vision. Is there a crusty discharge from their ears or can you see small black mites inside? Are your cats scratching themselves more than usual? Are their teeth and gums a normal color? Are they eating normally and using the litter box on a regular basis? Are they vomiting a lot or do they have diarrhea? Hairballs are fairly normal and you can see the lump of compacted hair in the vomit. Just clean it up and consider changing your cat's food to one that controls hairballs. For these less serious problems, make an appointment with your vet and explain the situation. These are relatively minor problems with relatively easy solutions. If your cat is having an asthma attack Stay with your cat and reassure it. You can try lightly tapping on its chest just behind the front legs. Prevent this by avoiding smokiness, aerosol products and litter boxes with hoods. Keep your rugs vacuumed.
Vomiting once or twice can be treated at home. Remove all food for 24 hours. Then try cooked rice in small amounts. If the vomiting continues, bring your cat to the vet. Remember, hairballs are not the same as vomit. If you think the problem is contagious, you may want to isolate the affected cat from your other pets by putting it in a safe room with its litter box, food and water. If your cat has become dehydrated, use an ear syringe or hypodermic casing to slowly let water into its mouth, between the tongue and cheek. Give a few drops and then wait until the cat swallows before you give more. If your cat has diarrhea, take its food away for 24 hours. If the cat isn't drinking, give fluids as in the previous paragraph. If your cat has constipation, stir a scant teaspoon of cooking oil into the cat's moist food. If your cat isn't eating, make an appointment with the vet as there may be a dental problem with painful teeth. In the meantime, try warming the cat's moist food and offering it by hand in very small quantities. Other problems common to cats For these problems, get your vet's advice---- abscesses, asthma, viruses (FIP--feline immune virus, FeLV--feline leukemia virus and FIP--feline infectious peritonitis), upper respiratory infections, urological problems including urinary tract disease and kidney disease, heart disease,
Fleas are the most common skin parasite of cats in this country, especially in warm and humid areas. If you live in such an area, give the proper treatment before you suspect fleas. There are many choices exclusively for cats---collars, powders, shampoos or sprays. A good medicine that's easy for you to administer only needs you to place a few drops on the scruff of the cat's neck. Ticks are likely to bite your cat especially if they go out in high grass. Don't pull the tick off. Rather kill it with a tick product and then remove when the tick is dead. Ear mites are fairly common, too. Use the vet's recommended ear drops for at least three weeks, so as to kill the eggs also. If you see roundworms or tapeworms in your cat's stool, deworm the cat right away and then keep the treatment up every three months. You may also spot lice and/or ringworm fungus on the cat's fur. Infections Infections are fairly common in cats. Persistent licking in one area can lead to irritated skin, leading to inflamed patches and abscesses. Outdoor non-neutered males often get into fights and the resulting wound can also become abscessed. If the spot is small, apply warm salty water on a wash cloth. White cats can get sunburned causing dermatitis, or inflamed skin, around the tips and edges of their ears. These can become cancerous. Dental problems A sudden change in the amount your cats eats could mean a mouth ulcer or a tooth ache. Tooth and gum problems can result in a need for cleaning by your vet. When the gums get red and inflamed, it means there are pockets in the edge of the gums where food has gotten trapped and caused an infection. This means the cat will have to have lab work and an EKG to determine it's level of health and then be put under general anesthesia to have its teeth cleaned. Prevention by brushing the cat's teeth regularly is often a better solution. Other signs of tooth problems would be drooling or having bad breath. However, drooling could also mean your cat has been bitten by something rabid. This will affect its nervous system, cause sudden changes in its behavior and will probably result in its death unless you can get your cat to the vet immediately. Any outdoor cat needs vaccinations for rabies. Diseases Kidney disease is fairly common in older cats. Urinary disease is also fairly common, especially in overweight male cats. Diabetes is also fairly common in overweight cats. These and other serious problems can be diagnosed only in the cat’s blood, urine or stool, so it’s smart to keep your cat's lab work up to date. Complications of obesity Obesity can lead to diabetes and joint disease. Try to put an end to weight gain as soon as it becomes obvious to you. Change your cat's diet and control the amounts it eats by putting out less food. Do not put them on a fast. Best is to put a harness on the cat and start taking them for walks. Start slowly. Don't overdo it. You want to keep it a positive activity. If the pink areas on the cat (around the ears, eyes and mouth) get a darker red, you've overdone it. Turn around and walk home more slowly. I haven't paid attention to my own advice. One of my cats, Zorro, is very overweight. He had an eating problem when he was young. He would gobble all the food he could and then drink lots of water. He turned around from the food dish and urped it all up like a girl with bulimia. I fed him smaller quantities, twice a day, separately in a different room from the other cats until he learned not to eat too quickly. He was a scrawny little kitten then but had a huge neck. Now, he's grown into his neck, as they say. You can see images of Zorro by clicking on my page, Order cards and prints. |
How to Spot Serious Situations
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