Keep your cat health care top of your agenda by regularly cleaning and taking care of your faithful little friend. Keep your pet healthy and happy with regular grooming sessions to ensure its fur is clean. Your grooming ritual can begin in many different ways, but it is recommended that you start with brushing to keep the cat’s fur looking good. Brush your cat’s hair and keep the fur looking clean and healthy, which will in turn prevent hairballs from forming. Once a hairball is formed, many cats struggle to get rid of them. One of the worst case scenarios of a stuck hairball is an intestinal blockage. If your pet does end up with a blockage in the intestines, this can be very dangerous and could be life threatening, so see a vet immediately.
When it comes to cat health care, getting the basics right is crucial, so be sure to groom your cat on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the length of the hair. Skin irritations can be quite common, so be aware of these when brushing and grooming your cat. Always start brushing along the cat’s back and move the comb from the head to the tail to optimise the grooming process. Brush your cat’s coat a couple of times on one side and then do the same for the other so that you get good grooming coverage. Take note of which way your cat’s hair grows and brush in the same direction.
Your cat’s face and paws are two areas that don’t need brushing when it comes to the grooming routine, so be careful to avoid these. If you have a cat that tries to hide when you bring out the brush, there is something else you can use that might be a little more pleasing to him. Say “hello” to the grooming glove, which makes light work of an often difficult task in cat grooming. A good idea to help get your cat used to grooming is to practice on him when he is young so that he learns not to fear the brush and sees it as a relaxing and comforting experience. If you start grooming them when they are young, many cats warm quickly to the idea of grooming and therefore many get older and don’t dread the moment you walk over with a brush as part of the daily cat health care process.
Take time over brushing and grooming your cat so that you can pick up on anything that might not look quite right, such as a poorly paw etc, and it is always worthwhile checking the eyes to ensure they are clear and bright. Check the corners of the eyes as these are hotspots for dirt particles to form and can potentially cause vision problems for your furry friend. When it comes to the ears, it is vital that these are checked on a regular basis to ensure there are no mites or anything that might be obstructing the ear canal. As nearly every animal is prone to some form of dirt build up, the ear is one place that you want to try and make sure it is avoided, because if untreated it can cause ear shrivelling and hearing loss. Ask any pet owner about ear mites and they will no doubt tell you that they can be persistent little creatures and hard to get rid of, so regular cat health checks are essential in the prevention. Of course, the best known way to get rid of pesky ear mites is to keep your cat’s ears exceptionally clean.
If you have a patient cat, you may find that you get the opportunity to examine your cat further and check out any potential health problems before they get worse. Give your cat a tasty treat if he remains perfectly still for you when grooming, as this will show him that he gets a worthy reward next time too. Are you suffering with a problem cat? The trick is not to try too hard to let you groom him, and instead try it on a different day. Cat health care is an important part of any pet owner’s routine, but now you can make it run much more smoothly with getting your cat used to regular grooming – he may even grow to like it!