Cat Care

Cat care practices are a great way to bond with your kitty. While providing care you will be able to check your feline for possible health issues. Although cats spend about 10% of their time cleaning themselves, they still need our help to keep them in tip top condition. By making daily contact with kitty, cat care practices can be integrated with play time and general petting. Petting will calm your cat before you attend to grooming / cleaning her.

Starting a Cat Care Program

The best time to start this program is while the cat is still a kitten. As kittens they don't object as easily and will see it as normal behavior. Waiting until kitty is full grown may cause her to fight or flee when you try to initiate a cat care program. Whatever schedule you set up, make sure that it is convenient to you and that you will have no interruptions.

Looking After Kitty's Claws

If you have ever tried to clip your kitty’s claws, you will know just how difficult a cat will make it to try to help maintain her claws. She will try to bite you or scratch you with one of her other paws while you try to clip the nails on one paw. Despite all of kitty’s frustration and anger, this is an activity we need to do to help keep our precious feline in tip top condition. Allowing kitty’s claws to get too long can affect her ability to get around. Claws should be trimmed weekly in summer and bi-weekly in winter. By doing the claws first, if your cat resists other cleaning or grooming, the nails won't be as dangerous.

Click here for more information on trimming your cat's claws.

Bathing Your Cat

Have you ever tried to give your kitty a bath? This too can be a difficult task with a lot of protesting. It isn’t necessary to regularly give a cat a bath, but occasionally you may find it necessary to do so. Although it is generally believed that cats hate water, it is possible to bath them. Did you know it is also possible to give your kitten a dry bath?

Click here for more details on bathing your cat.

Grooming

Grooming is very important to cats. They spend a lot of their time licking their fur and getting out dirt from between their toes. Grooming or brushing kitty’s fur is another cat care area that can be both pleasant and yet cause kitty to nip at you. Most brushing will be acceptable to kitty but trying to get tangles out of her fur or trying to help clean up fecal matter stuck to her backside may cause protests from kitty. Short haired cats require different combs and brushes as well as frequency of combing than long haired cats. Long haired cats also tend to get more tangles than short haired cats do.

For grooming / brushing information, click here.

Cleaning Kitty's Face

Occasionally wipe kitty’s face with a damp cloth. It’s like giving your cat a facial. You can also use an old toothbrush to comb kitty's facial hair. At the same time check her eyes and ears for possible problems.

For more details on eye and ear care, click here.

Your Cat's Whiskers

While grooming kitty one thing to never do is to trim your cat’s whiskers around the nose or eyes. These whiskers are used as sensors for determining sizes of openings and locating food. If the whiskers are trimmed, she may get stuck trying to go through or under something because her whiskers gave a wrong signal. If kitty is an outdoor cat and gets stuck, you may not be able to help her get loose. Being stuck will also leave her vulnerable to attacks from other animals or cats.

Dental Care

Dental care is another cat care area. Just like humans, cats can develop dental problems such as plaque, tartar build up, gingivitis, and bad teeth. One thing that will help in dental care is buying tartar controlled snacks. Another way is to start a regular schedule of brushing kitty’s teeth.

For dental care tips and procedures, click here.

Hairballs

If you have a cat, you know that hairballs are one of the unpleasant parts of life that you have to deal with. It seems that whenever kitty does have a hairball, she leaves it on your best furniture or on the carpet in a high traffic area. Did you know there are things you can do to help kitty with her hairballs?

For information on helping kitty with hairballs, click here.

Declawing Your Cat

To declaw or not declaw, that is the question. Although most of the world frowns upon declawing cats, it is an acceptable practice in the United States. If you are trying to decide if you should declaw your kitty, there are a number of things to consider.

Click here for more information.

Leave Cat Care and return to Kitty Cats Guide home page