Cat Grooming and Maintenance

26 May Cat Grooming and Maintenance

The proper care and feeding of your cat is only part of total cat care. There can be ongoing issues throughout the life of your pet like cat fleas, cat clawing problems and cat hairball prevention, among others. Many of these problems can be addressed with the right preventive care and proper cat grooming.

There are several strategies available to cope with some of these cat maintenance issues, and creative cat owners will undoubtedly come up with some of their own unique ideas and solutions for improved cat management.

One of the most common and nerve-wracking problems experienced by cat owners is cat fleas. Indoor cats can still get fleas from grass and other outdoor surfaces transported indoors via shoes, socks and pant legs.

These tiny blood-sucking pests can leave a trail of brown specks on cats coat or cat bedding called flea dirt, which is actually dried blood, often observed when cat grooming and combing the cat. Cat flea infestation can lead to other parasitic infections such as tapeworms, which are ingested flea larvae. Fortunately, recent topical cat flea medicine like Revolution®, prescribed by your veterinarian, can alleviate flea problems in many cases.

Clearing the environment of an active flea infestation requires persistence and determination.

The flea life cycle ranges from a few weeks to a few months, during which a female can lay several hundred eggs. To end the cycle, both adult fleas and eggs must be killed. Simultaneously treating the cat with topical flea-killing medication may give best results.

A properly-timed sequence of flea bombings or fogging of the infested areas can often do the trick. Follow all label instructions and stay away from the misted area until safe return is possible.

Cat claw covers can help protect indoor surfaces.

Nature has provided cats with amazing retractable claws, excellent tools for climbing, fighting, and tearing at prey.

While scratching is a normal cat behaviour to remove dead claw husks, claws can destroy a domestic cat owners home.

Declawing is a controversial procedure, opposed by The Humane Society of the United States and outlawed in some countries.

There are humane alternatives to declawing, including scratching post training, cat grooming routines including cat claw trimming and replaceable plastic cap cat nails.

Train young kittens with these techniques from an early age so they become used to it and don’t object too much.

Every cat will occasionally develop a hairball, but a hairball can create an intestinal blockage, a serious health condition. Although your cat can harmlessly swallow most hair ingested while grooming, hair that stays in the stomach can form a hairball. Ultimately, the cat will hack, retch and vomit the hairball, which may look tube-shaped due to passing up through the esophagus.

The best hairball preventive measures are regular cat grooming, feeding a hairball formula diet, using a hairball product or laxative and discouraging excessive grooming.  Follow these tips and a lifetime of loving care for your cat will become just a matter of routine.