Tips and Advice
-
Keep multiple fresh and clean water sources your pet can have access to at all times both indoors and outdoors.
-
​If you have an outdoor cat, consider creating some shade where your cat can rest away from direct sunlight.
-
Consider purchasing a cat cooling pad.
-
Icepacks can be placed under food and water to keep them cool. Be weary of leaving food out for too long as flies may lay eggs in food that has been left out for long periods of time.
-
Brushing your cat regularly can help to remove dead and matted hair which improves airflow to your cats skin.
-
Make sure to close curtains and blinds during the summer if your rooms get particularly hot. Blinds and curtains can block sunlight from entering and thus reduce the temperature.
Litter Trays
Have you ever had your cat going to the toilet in your shower or bathtub? A clean litter tray will let the cat feel comfortable to use it. With more cats in the household more litter trays are required, otherwise if they find the litter trays too dirty they will find other places they consider clean enough to go to toilet. There are multiple options of different sized litter trays that may help your cat to do what he or she needs to do comfortably and possibly in private.
Winter Lighting
During winter with shorter light time hours and if you leave early for work and coming back home in evening after it has gone dark. You will find there are options to have lights on timers so your pet isn't in darkness until you get home. There are timers you can add as an extension to the lamp and it comes on and off for the times you set it for. There are also WIFI Smart light blub you can turn on and off via apps.
Cat Grass
Cats eats grass when they want to bring something up from within their stomach. It is ideal that your cat has access to grass for when he or she needs it. You can get seeds and grow the cat grass yourself. Especially for indoor cats that have not got access to grass. This may also be good for cats that are outdoors where natural grasses are shorter and potentially more difficult for your cat to eat it.
Water
Having several locations for drinking water is ideal for your pet to have access to and with a choose. More so in the summer when it is hot. Having water bowls inside the house as well as outside, if your cat is outdoors is ideal to have fresh water source nearby. There are also various kinds of water fountains, which may be good options. However, not all cats enjoy using fountain with running water. Cleaning the water dishes and fill up with fresh water daily is crucial to avoid the pet getting ill. Fountains require to be cleaned once a week as a minimum and replace the filter frequently as it will have a build up on bacteria that can be harmful for your pet.
Grooming/Brushing
The fur coat on your cat has multiple functions and although generally cats are good at maintaining it well by themselves, but sometime there are things we can do to help them especially those with longer hair. Brushing your cats' fur for 5-10 minutes daily will help to keep it optimal functioning to keep him or her insulated when it is cold or keeping him or hers' body temperature cooler during summer when it is warm.Fur with matted hair can be painful for your cat as it can pull on the skin when moving around.There is a various range of grooming brushes to choose from, and choosing the right depends on the coat of your cat. Use a brush with short and tight bristles works best for short haired cats, as it will catch small hair. For long haired cats using a brush with long bristles with distance between the bristles will untangle dead hair and pull them out avoiding matted lump of fur.
Social & Play
Cats are social beings and although they are solitary animals, they still enjoy company by humans and on occasion from other cats and dogs, however it depends on the individual cat how social he or she wants to be.Kittens are even more social than adult cats and they enjoy playing. Encouraging them to play will help them develop skills for agility movement for when they get older.
All About Food
There is a large range of food choices to pick from for your cat, so what do you choose?
There are various things to bear in mind for what will be the best options for your cat. What age is your cat will have a factor of what kind of food to choose. Kittens will require a denser packed nutrients food source to support their growth up to two years of age. From two to seven of age regular adult food will support a healthy fully functioning adult cat living his or hers best life. From seven years and beyond your cat is considered to be a senior and to support a healthy elderly cats as these usually require more protein to maintain muscle mass and strength.
​
-
Dry food or wet food or both?
Every cat have their own preference whether they want to eat wet or dry food or both. You can test it out, it may also depend on the brand of food they have a preference for.
The domestic house cat is a true carnivore, which means that their gut is designed to digest meat and bone, cartilage. Be aware that a large range of food have added grains and vegetables, which is okay for dogs, but for cats it can be difficult to digest. Grains can be found in both dry food and wet food as part of jelly or gravy. These additives can cause allergic reactions such as blowed stomach, loose faeces and loss of fur can be some of these signs. If your cat experience any of these symptoms please see a vet where they are able to run tests.
​
-
Cooked or raw food?
Majority of food availability is prepared cooked, however recently there has been a rise in companies offering raw food products. This is a more natural way of feeding your cat as usually it is 100% meat without additives. When feeding your cat raw food you may want to consider supplements such as calcium. If you are deciding to offer you cat raw food, choose companies that are making these products than buying raw products for human consumptions in the shop as it has the potential of making your cat ill. There is a risk with offering raw food as it can contain bacteria. However, a good company that produces raw cat food products, will be running regular tests of their products to ensure it is okay for your cats' consumption.
​
-
How to choose the right kind of treats?
As with food there are a vast range of different treats to offer your cat. You may also find grains added to treats, but there are options for 100% meat treats which has been dry frozen.
-
How much food should your cat get?
This depends on several factors. The age of your cat, the sex and the weight are some factors to take into consideration. Generally majority of brands will have a recommendation for how much is ideal to offer your cat of the specific brand as they know the nutritional content. By weighing out the amount will enable you to keep track of your cats' health, whether he or she is loosing or gaining weighted whether they are supposed to or not. This will help you ensure your cat gets the right amount of nutrients to function fully without either getting malnourished or being overweight. If you are concerned please contact your vet.
-
How to feed your cat?
Your cat may be a grazer throughout the day so leaving dry food accessible for the whole day may be an option. Wet food should be eating shortly after offering and if not then it should be binned to avoid flies laying eggs or bacteria making your cat ill. If your cat eats it all in one sitting may be an indications or either being hungry or lack of self control, which will be best to weight out amount otherwise your cat may over eat and then get ill afterwards. If your cat keeps vomiting its food up contact your vet as something else underlaying may be the cause.
​
-
How to present the food?
Depending the size of your cat may depend on how well your cat eats if it is presented in a suitable way. For kittens and small cats dishes placed directly on the ground is good as all cats sort of lays down to eat as this is the comfortable position. However, the bigger and longer legs your cat may have, by raising the the bowl off the ground a bit may help to your cat feeing more comfortable in proportion of its body size. This will allow food to pass smoothly in the digestive system, without temporary blockage by the position the cat may be sitting in when feeding.
You can also use different feeding devices to make feeding time more fun and interesting. Adding dry food biscuits in a ball feeder may be a fun option for your cat to push around until they all out. Or for wet food smear and spread it out on a wet-food feeder, which may help your cat take longer to eat.
​
-
Human foods good or bad?