How to Take Care of Your Cat

Now that you've gotten your kitten set up at home with everything she needs, you'll have to deal with some of the more complicated parts of how to take care of a cat. For instance, there's cat health care, shedding, and the question of whether or not to declaw – and those are just the beginning. However, there's no need to be worried.

The most important thing is to realize that loving your cat is the biggest step to successfully taking care of her. Do the best you can to make sure she's healthy and happy, and try to learn as much as you can about her, and you'll be able to fill in the blanks as you go. Here's a little bit of information on various cat health care topics to help you get started.

Ever cat sheds, though long haired animals shed a lot more noticeably than cats with shorter hair. While you might think that your cat sheds only when the seasons change, this isn't true. In fact, because most houses are an unchanging temperature, with regular lighting available, indoor cats will shed all year. While this can be inconvenient, it doesn't cause as many problems as you might think.

Cats deal with most of their shedding all by themselves. Because they're constantly cleaning and grooming, they'll be able to control their shedding. However, there's a side effect to cleaning themselves with their tongues. Many cats ingest enough hair to develop hairball problems. These range from merely inconvenient to serious cat health care issue. Large hairballs can block the intestines, preventing elimination in a normal way.

Not sure how to know if your feline friend has hairballs? Most cats cough them up. That means you may find masses of something wet and mysterious on your furniture or floor. Clean them up quickly, so that they don't stain, or damage carpets or upholstery. Hairballs are normal, but can be enough of a problem that some owners feed special hairball reduction formula food to their pets.

Sometimes cats don't manage to hack up their hairballs. In lucky cases, you may find signs of this in the litter box. In less fortunate ones, your cat may act as though he or she is going to cough a hairball up, but get no results. This may happen after eating. If it occurs a lot, or your cat has a sudden loss of appetite, you should take him or her to the vet. A hairball is probably the culprit.

Preventing hairballs is easy enough, thankfully. Just remember to brush and groom your cat on a regular basis. If you start while your kitten's young, chances are that she'll grow to enjoy it, and it can be a real bonding experience. Cats that need more help than just brushing can be treated with hairball remedies, from special food to additives to your cat's dish. Talk to your vet about the best options for your cat.

Declawing is another issue that often comes up for new pet owners who are wondering how to take care of a cat. However, while it used to be a common procedure, it's much more controversial these days. That's because we know more about how declawing is done.

Declawing isn't just a matter of removing or cutting the claws. Because of the anatomy of a cat's paw, the first finger joint must actually be amputated. That's painful, and remains so over a long period of time. If a cat does have this procedure done, anesthesia will be used for the surgery itself, and then your cat will receive pain medication. When you see your pet again, he or she will have heavily bandaged paws, and will be in a lot of pain. However, lots of cats, like many other animals, hide discomfort, so keep that in mind.

Generally, a cat that has been declawed will walk very gingerly for about a week, after which healing will have progressed to the point where things will seem normal. Infection is a danger, so make sure that you change out the usual litter for a box filled with shredded paper. That way, litter granules won't become trapped in the wounds.

Since declawing requires such extensive damage to the paws, cats can suffer problems from the procedure. It's possible for them to associate the pain from scratching in the litter box after declawing with the box itself, and refuse to use it! They can also become very unbalanced for a while.

Because cats are built in such a way that they walk on their toes, removal of the first joint causes them to lose their natural balance. What that means is that your cat's claws are important to his or her ability to balance, stretch, and get effective exercise. Declawing a kitten can throw your pet's body alignment off, and it can take a very long time to get it back. Keep this in mind when you make the decision about whether or not to have your cat declawed as part of the spaying and neutering process. More and more pet owners are choosing to use other methods to reduce scratching.

While discussing declawing and hairballs isn't something most people do every day, they're important aspects of how to care for your cat. Of course, these are just two of the topics you'll need to learn about to give your pet the best possible care. Keep learning and researching to find out more on other topics, and remember to love your cat. Those two things are the keys to a happy, healthy kitten.

Everything cannot be covered in the article above, so for a in depth look at cat care and the training of cats, I highly recommend the ebook “Cat Care Secrets: A Complete Caring And Training Guide For Cat Owners.”. Just click the blue link shown above and grab your copy today.