Common Health Issues of Cats

If you have never had a cat or other pet before, it might come as a surprise to you to find out that they sometimes become ill. Some illnesses are hereditary and some are acquired, but most are avoidable and all are insurable. You can have your cat inoculated against the most prevalent diseases and you can take out insurance against vet's fees.

However, besides diseases, there are other things that can go wrong like injury from fights and worms, fleas and ticks. Worms are easy to cope with. The most common cat worms are tapeworms, round worms and hookworms. Cats will get worms because they eat carrion and wild meat. The easiest method to inhibit worms is to give your cat a tablet every six months. Worms are serious and must be taken care of or they can kill your cat.

Cats do a great deal of grooming and this means that they end up consuming a lot of fur. This fur forms fur balls in their stomachs. Usually a cat will make itself sick by eating grass to cough them up, but they may pass into the guts where they may form blockages. This can become damaging if they do not go through the cat.

If your cat goes off its food, is constipated or has a painful stomach (does not like to get tickled), it could be a blockage and you ought to take your cat to the vet. You can help your cat out by grooming it regularly to remove loose hair. Most cats like to get groomed with a soft brush or a velvet glove.

Cats suffer from urinary tract infections (UTI's) just like humans do. However, in humans it mostly affects women, it cats it mostly affects Toms. You can suspect a UTI if your cat's urine smells very strong or if it has trouble urinating. If you notice either of these issues you have to take it to the vet for tablets.

What people call feline distemper is not actually distemper - it is panleukopenia which is not even related to canine distemper. It is just as lethal though and not a lot of cats survive it, although it can take years to actually kill your cat. The safest way of protecting your cat against panleukopenia is to have it vaccinated against panleukopenia when it is a kitten.

Panleukopenia is extremely contagious, so if your cat has it, you must keep it isolated until it dies or have it put down. Panleukopenia is not perilous to humans, but you may carry the virus around with you and even pass it on to your friends' cats - something that they will not thank you for.

In general, the more time your cat spends out of doors, the more often you ought to take it to the vets for a check up. Once or two times a year should be enough. At the check up, you can have your cat checked for parasites, fleas ticks, lesions, infections and panleukopenia and you can pick up your anti-worm tablet at the same time.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with the canine distemper vaccination. If you want to know more, please visit our site at Distemper Vaccines
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/common-health-issues-of-cats-2244742.html