Emergency Cat Care

What are the warning signs that my cat needs to see a vet?

Kitties can be very reluctant to show signs of illness. What do kitties do most of the time anyway? They seem to sleep. So, if you find that your cat is sleeping more, drinking more water, doesn't want to eat, just seems off, that's the best time to take it in. It's better to be a little bit overly cautious than wait too long.

What is the best way to transport my injured cat to the vet?

I think I personally would rather put up with an unhappy dog than an unhappy or hurt cat because kitties will turn into little spaghetti noodles with claws all everywhere and teeth. So if your cat's hurt, you need to protect yourself, protect the kitty. Go ahead, put a large towel around it, grab that kitty up, put it into a cardboard box. You can even put the cat into a pillowcase, close the top up; you now have a great safe way of moving that cat around if you can't find your carrier.

What medical supplies should I keep at home for my cat?

Since Pets have really become a part of the family. The same first aid kit that you have with the family you can also use for your dog or you can use for your cat. There are things that you may need to add to make it a bit more pet friendly to. You may want tp have something like a styptic pencil to stop some bleeding. Muzzle material, your pet will never think of biting you but when its hurt you may need to put a muzzle on it. A great ideal to go to your local chapel of the American Red Cross and take a pet first aid course.

What do I do if my cat swallows poison?

Kitties are usually more fastidious than dogs on eating things. But there are certain house plants that you may have--lillies, ivy- these things can be toxic and a cat just thinks this is fun and starts to chew on it. So if you know that your pet has swallowed some type of poison, the best idea is to get your pet into your veterinarian, get into the emergency clinic as soon as you can and take the offending substance with you- the bottle with you, the plant with you- so the veterinarian can see what it was.If you can't make it there right away, have by your phone the number for the animal poison control center. Great number to have.

What household poisons pose the biggest threat to my cat?

Household poisons that cats can commonly ingest can be everything from house plants, there's also certain types of cleaning products that you may be using; some of the pine-scented or pine-based products. The kitties are walking on that, they can ingest that by licking their paws. Things that you can be putting in to your kitchen to clean, all of these things can be possibly toxic. Sometimes it's hard to tell, so you may have to look in his little mouth to see if there's ulcerations there, look at his little paws, those can be signs of getting things away.

What is "Feline Leukemia Virus" or "FeLV"?

Feline Leukemia Virus is a very nasty virus. It is a virus that can be spread through oral transmission -- cats grooming each other -- or it can be exposed through from being in labor -- a mother can be infected with FeLV like this. Feline Leukemia Virus is a disease that there is a vaccine for, thankfully, so it's a very good idea if you have a cat that's going to be out roaming the neighborhood, to get it vaccinated. How frequently to vaccinate your cat against FeLV is going to be up to you and your veterinarian.

What is "Feline Immunodeficiency Virus" or "FIV"?

"FIV" or "Feline Immunodeficiency Virus" is very similar to "HIV" in people; though it's not transmissible to people and human aids is not transmissible to cats. Basically, it's the same virus. It's a virus that a cat can get often from those deep bites. So one of the best ways to keep your cats from getting this is to keep it indoors so it's not going to be getting into fights. There are vaccines available now.