What You Need Before Getting a New Kitten

Cats have always been associated with power and mystery. In the olden time, cat was thought to be a witch’s best friend. This is probably because a cat is more intelligent than a dog. In fact, statistics reveal that cats are preferred over dogs as pets.

The reasons for this are not hard to guess. A cat is cleaner and more intelligent than a dog. While a dog needs to be walked and groomed and bathed, cats are quite self-sufficient creatures. They groom themselves with their saliva, use litter boxes and play on their own. Hence, having a cat as a pet can be a great experience.

However, before you bring your new kitten home, it’s important to take care of a few things first:

The new items that you will need:

Litter scoop/litter tray: In case you need to keep your kitten indoors, and then these items are important. Try shopping for a covered litter tray that will help to prevent any spillage.

Cat food: It’s important to know what kind of food is good for your kitten. Generally a balanced diet with all nutrients is a good idea. There are special formulas for your kitten depending on their age.

Pet carrier: A pet carrier is a great asset and makes visits to the vet and boarding kennels convenient and easy.

Collar and tag: Though cats have a great home sense, its better to have a tag and a collar on your cat lest it is lost.

Toys and scratching post: These are a must for your kitten’s health and happiness.

Kittens are as good or bad as children. They have no sense of good and bad and are capable of doing anything. Hence, before bringing your kitten home it’s important to cat proof your home. Take care that you don’t have small items that they can play with and swallow.

Examples are small items such as strings, rubber bands, buttons etc. You also need to take care of plastic bags that may be tempting to your kitten and cause choking (they love plastic bags because they rattle and make such intriguing noises). Keep bottles, pills and other medicines out of reach since kittens have a tendency to spill them and drink or eat the contents.

In the event that you have plants in your house, make sure that they are not harmful to your kitten just in case your new pet tries to eat them as some ornamental plants are poisonous and can cause harm. Hence it is important to examine your indoor garden before your new cat comes in.

Kittens are the stress busters of life and are a great delight to have. However it is important to make sure that they remain safe and happy in their new home. Hence we need to take care of little things that can make a lot of difference in your new kittens comfort!!

Choosing a Cat or Kitten

One of the first things you will need to decide upon once it is sure that you will be adding a feline to your home is that of should I get Kitten or think about a rescue of a full grown Cat from the local shelter.

Kittens are often the best cats to start out with.

With a kitten you are starting with a clean slate and you will have a friend that will quickly bond with you. Kittens are excellent because they don’t have any bad habits yet and you can begin training them your rules right away.

Older cats are often best if you are a low energy person and you don’t have time to constantly be looking after a kitten to ensure they are not getting in any mischief.

Older cats have usually been spayed or neutered, may be declawed and their maintenance is much easier in terms of feeding and vaccinations. Ultimately, it will be up to you to determine if your lifestyle fits a kitten or an older cat.

The How to's of Keeping your Cat Worm Free

Let’s first start with how the indoor cat can get worms. Well, the most common way an indoor cat can get worms is by fleas jumping into your house from the outside. Fleas carry tape worm eggs in their lovely, little black bodies. Your cat grooms itself all day long, and will eat a flea or two here and there.

The cat obviously doesn’t go looking to flea graze off its own body, but ingests the fleas when trying to pick them of itself in the course of grooming. Or a cat will accidentally lap up a flea while licking its coat. The most classic sign of tape worm infestation is the appearance of small white tape worm segments around your cat’s back side or in its litter. As soon as you notice this you should contact your vet to receive strong tape worm medication that will eradicate the worm.

If you think that tape worm medication is poison, which I don’t know if it is or not as of this typing, you can also try herbal remedies. Garlic, black walnut hull and wormwood, are mentioned in many Internet sites as cleansing cat bodies of tape worms.

Do not use these unless you have done your own research first and have determined that it would be safe to administer to your cat. Scientific evidence of the effectiveness of these natural remedies may of course be hard to find, because it is very difficult to profit of off a naturally occurring substance.

The outdoor cat is exposed to a whole range of worms. They can get tape worms by coming in contact with the fecal matter of another cat. And this is extremely easy to do, a cat simply has to accidentally step in some, and then lick its paws to ingest some of the eggs of the tape worm. It is very easy for this to happen. That is why you should keep your cat away from areas inhabited by feral cats, because they will most likely have fleas which carry tapeworm eggs, and they will have tape worm larvae in their fecal matter.

Another way in which cats come in contact with worms is by eating other animals, like mice, shrews, squirrels, birds, and chipmunks. The roundworm for instance can be consumed by a cat when they eat the flesh of one of the aforementioned creatures.

Roundworms can be transmitted to humans from cats. So if you have children be sure to keep them away from any cat you suspect of being infected. And always keep your kids away from cat litter boxes. The roundworm is a very, very resilient creature infecting both flesh and intestines. They are not killed easily, thorough research needs to be done for the effective treatment of a cat when it is known to have a ringworm infestation.

If you trust your vet, then take their advice, and put your pet on a course of de-worming medication.

Cats in general can also get two other types of worms, hook worms and whip worms. These two types of worms are a bit rarer and more difficult to find with the naked eye. That is why you should always have a fecal sample from your cat examined.

The whip worm is a freak of nature, its eggs can survive freezing temperatures and remain in soil for many years. That is why you need to manage worms in your cats pro-actively. Worms have life cycles like no other creature, they infect flesh and intestines and can actually go dormant for long periods of time within the cat.

Some worms even awakening during pregnancy just to infect kittens. These are sophisticated parasites and should be taken seriously. Dispose of your cat waste properly so we can all keep worms away from our cats.

To read about how to properly protect your cat from serious illnesses visit this cat health insurance site to read about the most reliable cat insurance available.

German Shepard Common Health Problems

You can expect health issues with pretty much any pet you bring home and while a small percentage of pets ever do develop health problems you should still know how to recognize the signs of German Shepherd health problems if you are a German Shepherd owner. Your vet and your breeder will give you the information you need to figure out if you are dealing with normal German Shepherd behavior or potential health problems. It is always important to be able to recognize the warning signs.

One of the common health issues of larger dogs like German Shepherds is a dysplasia of the hip or the elbow joint that can result in severe pain and difficulty walking for your pet. If you notice that your German Shepherd is starting to have difficulty moving around then it may be time to get them to the vet for a check up.

Another common German Shepherd health problem is epilepsy. Basically the brain goes into a spasm for several reasons and your dog will go into convulsions and seizures. This can usually start around the age of one year and can be taken care of in conjunction with your vet through diet and medication. It is terrifying to see your pet go through a seizure so make sure you contact the vet immediately if this happens and for your sake and the animal’s sake do not panic because even in a state of seizure a dog needs you to be there for it.

German Shepherds can sometimes develop eye problems as well, ranging from cataracts to eyelid issues. The eyelids may develop incorrectly or eyelashes may start forming too close to the eye causing irritation. Any of these eye conditions can be corrected with surgery so if your pet is developing eye problems make sure you take them to the vet.

In some cases there are dog breeds that can develop the blood condition known as Von Willebrand’s Disease or VWD. VWD is like hemophilia in humans, in that the dog’s blood does not clot as it should and the dog will bleed profusely even with the smallest injury.

This is one of the more serious German Shepherd health problems and if you notice your pet with nose bleeds for no apparent reason or if you begin to notice your German Shepherd’s gums bleeding then it could be VWD and you need to get your pet to the vet as soon as possible for evaluation and treatment.

As a responsible pet owner it is up to you to make sure that you keep track of your pet’s health and that you stay in contact with your vet and your breeder so that you will be able to tell when symptoms may arise.

Your pet looks to you for its care and health and if you begin to notice health issues with your German Shepherd then you need to make an appointment to get your dog checked out by the vet as soon as possible.

Jan Ryan participates in charitable functions for local animal rescue groups and volunteers at local animal clinics. This article is another great resource for German Shepherd care information. This article will tell you when you may need to get emergency care for your German Shepherd.