More than half the cats in the United States are not at their ideal body weight. Obesity is a common concern and can result in health issues such as diabetes, joint disease, and stress on internal organs. At the same time, underweight cats may be more prone to illness as well. One way to determine if your cat is at the ideal weight is to monitor its body condition score (BCS).
BCS is a way to visually evaluate your cat’s …
Basics of Pregnancy and Birth in the Cat
Once a cat has been successfully mated, it takes up to two weeks for the fertilized egg to reach and implant itself in the uterine wall. Pregnancy takes an average of 63 days.
To check if your queen is indeed pregnant, feel her abdomen for “lumps,” which are the individual fetuses, from three to four weeks after pregnancy. Your veterinarian can do an ultrasound within two weeks of pregnancy. The individual heartbeats …
Another item found on the information panel of a pet food label is the feeding guidelines. These tell pet owners how much to feed based on their pet’s body weight and life stage. This amount can be highly variable from one brand of pet food to another. A key difference between high-quality and low-quality pet foods is the digestibility of the product. This is the amount of nutrients in the food that the animal is able to break down and …
Commercial pet foods are an easy and convenient way to feed your dog or cat. Deciding what to feed can be difficult for some pet owners. There are some general items to consider when selecting a food that is right for a particular companion animal. When choosing a pet food, read the label before buying. The items on the label can be confusing, but it becomes much easier to make the right pet food choice when you know what to …
The guaranteed analysis can be found on the information panel of a pet food label. This portion of the label provides the nutrient composition of the diet. It is required to include the minimum percentage of crude protein and crude fat as well as the maximum percentage of crude fiber and moisture. The “crude” term indicates that the methods for determining nutrient concentrations provide a rough estimate of quantity; it does not refer to the quality of the nutrients themselves. …
One of the most important items to look for on the information panel is the “Nutritional Adequacy Statement.” This statement provides the guarantee that the pet food is complete and balanced for the animal for which it is intended. All commercial pet foods are required to be nutritionally complete and balanced. By being complete, it means all the nutrients that are required by the animal to meet its daily needs are included in adequate amounts; balanced means that the nutrients …
Having a pet to talk to and touch can be a great benefit to children in child care, especially shy youngsters. Children can learn responsibility by caring for a pet and may enjoy watching animals play and eat. Having a pet in your child care program takes thought and planning. Before you go out and buy a snake or a rabbit, be ready to ensure children are safe and healthy around the pet and the pet is treated gently and …
Introduction
Why does my kitten need so many shots? Does my cat need to be vaccinated every year? These common questions about vaccinations don’t necessarily have easy answers. Deciding what vaccines to get, when to get them, and how often to booster them depends on a number of different variables, including how safe and effective the vaccine is, what your cat’s chances of getting the disease is and how serious the disease is. In this article, we’ll offer some guidelines …
