How often do you take a cat to the vet? The answer is, that it depends on your cat’s age- from kittens, adult cats, and senior cats. Let’s find out the answer for each phase of their lives.
Kitten
Kittens should have a regular check-up every three weeks to one month for the first 16 weeks of their lives. Not only can your vet help you determine the sex of your cat if you’re curious and struggling to find out, but your kitten will get vaccinations during this time. These vaccines can will help prevent infectious diseases and other illnesses.
Kittens can easily get parasites, therefore your vet may also ask for a stool sample for possible deworming.
Adult Cat
You may seek their advice for a good cleaning solution for cleaning your cat’s ears. If you want to know how often do you take a cat to the vet, for healthy adult cats it should be once a year. Adult cats are those between 1 to 7 years of age. An annual visit will cover physical examinations, update on vaccines, stool sample to check for parasites, and other tests necessary. Both indoor and outdoor cats require vaccines against rabies and distemper.
Elderly Cat
Cats ages 7 and up are already senior or elderly cats. At this stage of your cat’s life, they should have 2-3 visits to the vet per year. But add more vet visits for cats ages 10 and up. Having additional visits means there’s a higher possibility of detecting medical conditions. Early detection of medical problems is important for senior cats to give them appropriate care and treatment. Moreover, cats are known to be secretive about their pain. The common health issues for an elderly cat are obesity, kidney, and liver problems.
Tips In Taking Your Cat To The Vet
Before you pay a visit to your vet, there are things you can do to make this task easy and comfortable for your cat.
- Schedule the appointment at the quietest time of the day. Your cat may feel uncomfortable when there are other pets or people around them. You can ask your vet for the best appointment time where there’s less noise and crowd.
- Consider fear-free vet clinics or clinics exclusive to cats. If your cat does not like going to the vet, you can try fear free vet clinic or clinic for cats only. Fear-free clinics have techniques to make the check-ups and procedures as calm and less stressful as possible.
- Make sure your cat is in a comfortable bag or carrier. It should have enough space. You can also bring toys and treats inside with them to give them a sense of comfort and familiarity.
Final Words: How Often Do You Take A Cat To The Vet
A regular visit to the vet is important for many reasons. Your vet can detect issues such as dental disease, skin problems, and more. Check-ups are also necessary to update your cat’s vaccinations.
Note that there are instances when you need to bring your cat to the vet immediately. For instance, if your cat is peeing blood, searching the internet is not the best thing to do. Peeing blood is a sign that you need to bring your cat to your vet for a check-up.
