Health

If you’re expecting new bundles of fur arriving at your home soon, it can be very exciting – and perhaps a little daunting too. You shouldn’t need to worry - pregnant cats are usually more than capable of taking care of themselves, although they will still need close care and attention from you during labour. As they often try to sneak away to give birth in private, you’ll need to keep a close eye on them in the last few weeks just in case! Speak to your vet if you have any concerns about pregnancy in cats, or are worried about your cat giving birth. Their advice should help to put your mind at rest. Here are some helpful tips from our Pet Care Team to help you be as prepared as possible for when your cat becomes a new mum. Preparing for the birth During the last two weeks of your cat’s pregnancy, make sure everyone else in the family knows to be calm and quiet around her, and to handle her with care – especially children, who can be understandably excited at the prospect of kittens to play with soon! Try to keep her as calm and inactive as possible during this time, and encourage her to relax in her special maternity bed. Even the snuggliest soft bed might not tempt her however, and some cats will reject your suggested birthing bed for a corner of a cupboard! Just make sure she has some choice on where to give birth and never try to move her from her chosen spot. Have help on hand Your cat’s labour should go smoothly, but it’s useful to have help on hand to keep her calm and in case she runs into any complications. Get hold of your vet's out-of-hours phone number prior to your cat giving birth, as delivery often happens during the night, or they might need an emergency helping hand. If mum does have problems delivering her kittens, you may need to take her into the vet, so make sure that you have access to transport. When you think labour might be approaching, it’s good to get a few things ready in advance, including a clean bowl of warm water, clean towels and cloths, dental floss and disposable gloves, together with a cat carrier and your vet’s details. It’s important to have these things to hand, just in case! If you need to move the kittens away from mum at any time, you’ll need to keep them warm. We recommend using a microwaveable beanie bag instead of a hot water bottle, as their sharp teeth and claws can cause punctures. Know what signs to look out for Impending labour can be tricky to spot. During the first stages of labour, the mum (queen) will become very restless, pace as if she is looking for something, and become very vocal. Contact your vet if you are unsure if labour has started, and keep a close eye on your cat in her final weeks and days of labour to make sure you know when and where she will give birth to her kittens.

Excessive grooming can be a response to changes in your cat’s environment they’re struggling to come to terms with. These are some of the most common causes for cat overgrooming. Your cat is naturally on a mission to keep their coat clean, at times spending up to 50% of their waking time self-grooming. But sometimes their behaviour can take a turn into excessive cat grooming. Find out why this happens and what you can do to help your cat. What is cat overgrooming? Cat overgrooming occurs when your kitty starts grooming excessively – licking their fur so much that it causes skin inflammation, sores or hair loss. In extreme cases a cat might even start to bite areas of skin. Sometimes you will notice your cat overgrooming, or damage to the skin, or a patchy coat, but in other cases you may simply find the evidence of overgrooming such as clumps of hair behind the sofa. What causes excessive cat grooming? The two main causes for overgrooming are behavioural, when the cat starts licking excessively as a form of stress-relief (also known as psychogenic alopecia), and medical, when skin allergies or skin parasites are the main culprit. Excessive cat grooming as a stress-relief mechanism It might not be obvious to you, but the home environment can become very stressful for your cat. The particular stressors for a feline psyche don’t always register on our human scale, but they can cause just as much havoc as one of our work disputes or an urgent last-minute job. The biggest cause of stress for cats is other cats – a multicat household or other cats in the neighbourhood. By nature, cats are solitary creatures and they can find living with other cats very stressful. Often this does not manifest as aggression towards other cats and they may happily snuggle up together at home, but your cat may struggle with the stress and turn to overgrooming.

Do kittens teeth? All kittens go through a teething process – it’s a natural part of growing up. But whilst some kittens deal with teething well, others may need a little reassurance from you. Whatever the case, rest assured that teething is completely normal. Keep reading to find out more about the process of kitten teething. When do kittens start teething? Just like humans, kittens do not have visible teeth when they are born. Your kitten’s 26 ‘baby teeth’ only start to appear at around three weeks of age. Once the baby teeth start to break through and pierce the gums you may start to see your kitten behaving differently – for example, they might begin to chew things. Don’t worry, this is completely normal. By about six weeks of age most kittens will have grown all of their ‘milk teeth’ (or ‘baby teeth’). If your kitten hasn’t grown all of their teeth by this stage, don’t worry. Not all kittens’ teeth grow at the same rate. However, if there are a number of teeth missing once your kitten reaches nine or ten weeks, you may want to contact your vet to check everything is okay. At around six months of age most cats should have lost their baby teeth to make way for their adult teeth. As the baby teeth are slowly replaced by 30 adult teeth, this is when the majority of kitten teething issues begin. The new teeth that are beginning to poke through will replace the baby teeth and will be the final set of teeth your cat will have, so it’s particularly important to take care of them. If you find your kitten’s baby teeth on the floor during this time, don't worry – kitten tooth loss a natural part of the growing-up process. Kitten teething symptoms When your kitten is teething, they may be experiencing some discomfort. The most obvious signs of dental discomfort are: • Your cat has started to eat less. If they are chewing slower than usual, or more tentatively, it could be a sign their gums are hurting. It may be a good idea to pay a visit to your vet, just to be on the safe side, particularly if they also lose weight. • Urgency to chew. Another sign that your kitten is teething is excessive chewing. If your cat or kitten is chewing everything in sight including its bed, your furniture and its toys it may be a sign that teething has begun. • Inflamed or sore gums. As their adult teeth erupt, kittens may experience mild gingivitis, which can lead to inflamed gums and bad breath. If this is down to teeth erupting, it will usually resolve itself. • Other signs of dental discomfort are drooling, bleeding gums, and pawing at the mouth. These can also be signs of other dental conditions, so see a vet for a check-up. • Increased irritability. This is most likely due to sore gums and a sign that your kitten is teething.

Keeping your cat at a healthy weight is important for their wellbeing. But sometimes it is difficult to tell what that ideal weight should be. Discover an easy, step-by-step tool to check your cat’s current and ideal size. Cats come in all shapes and sizes so it’s sometimes tricky to determine whether yours is the right weight or not – after all, you love them regardless of any extra pounds! But size does matter when it comes to health, and excess weight on your cat can cause problems. So, what is a healthy cat weight? What is the average cat weight? The ideal cat weight varies from breed to breed. According to Web MD, the average cat weight is about 10 pounds, but while smaller breeds can be happy and healthy while weighting as little as 5 pounds, larger breeds such as the Maine Coon can be 20 pounds and happy. This is where cat weight charts and body condition tools come in handy for checking the healthy cat weight for your pet. Why is keeping a healthy weight for a cat important? A healthy cat is a happy cat, and one much less prone to illness and health problems. If your cat is overweight, they may not live as long as their healthy counterparts, and they’ll be less able to enjoy themselves when they’re exercising and playing, because of potential joint problems.

Your cat is having kittens – what wonderful news! Amongst all of the excitement, remember that your cat may need extra care, comfort and affection when pregnant. The Purina Pet Care team have given some of their tops tips on caring for a pregnant cat, to make sure both mum and her litter are as happy and healthy as possible.

Complications are rare in cat pregnancies, but can occasionally happen. To help your cat bring bundles of fur into the world with ease, the Purina Pet Care team share their advice on how to spot warning signs early on. It’s so exciting when your cat is expecting, and as a loving pet owner we understand that you might worry and want to give extra tender loving care to your pet at this time. Luckily as cats are usually more than capable of looking after themselves, you shouldn’t have anything to be concerned about. Several symptoms could signal a problem with your cat’s pregnancy. If you notice any of these, contact your vet immediately:She loses interest in her food. A drop in appetite can occur just prior to delivery, but she should be bright and well in every other way throughout her term. She is visibly distressed, agitated, crying more than usual, or is noticeably licking her vulval area without producing any kittens. You see any abnormal, bad-smelling vaginal discharge or bleeding at any point in her pregnancy or labour. She goes to the toilet more often, passes blood or squats without producing pee. These could signal a uterine infection, which could potentially affect her kittens if left untreated.

When it comes to living with a cat allergen sensitivity, it’s not easy, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Some of the practices and advice you may find suggested online aren’t feline-friendly and can negatively affect your relationship with your cat. For example, bathing your cat can be a really stressful experience, for both of you. Although bathing will lower the levels of allergens present on your cat's hair, the effect is short-lived with the levels returning to baseline within 24 hours of bathing. Similarly, keeping a cat outside, particularly one that has been used to living indoors or keeping them restricted to a certain part of the house, can also result in increased levels of stress for them. Love finds a way and there are safe, easy and feline-friendly steps you can take to help manage cat allergens in your home, while also maintaining your close bond with your cat. Our homes should be our sanctuary, but for 1 in 5 of us who are sensitive to cat allergens¹,², the home environment isn’t always so safe and relaxing.

Social behaviour has changed andon average, people are now spending around 90% of their time indoors. With this in mind, there’s also many of the allergens that cause sensitivities inside our homes alongside us. Our indoor environments are often poorly ventilated, causing humidity to rise and creating ideal conditions for mould and house dust mites to thrive in our soft furnishings and bedding. And as a nation of pet lovers, our pets are often living indoors too, which can also add to the allergens we contend with. Our homes should be our sanctuary, but for 1 in 5 of us who are sensitive to cat allergens¹,², the home environment isn't always so safe and relaxing.

The most common worms in cats are roundworms and tapeworms. Neither of them are good for your cat – they can cause everything from lethargy to a change in bowl habits, as well as weight loss and other symptoms. Luckily, it’s easy to keep an eye out for the symptoms of worms in cats. If you know the most common signs, you can take your cat to the vet for treatment in good time. What are cat worms and how can my cat catch them? Roundworms (Toxocara cati and Toxascaris leonina) are the most common intestinal parasites in kittens and cats. They are long, white and look like spaghetti. Eggs from these cat worms are passed in the faeces and can live for months or years in the soil. Cats can become infected in three main ways: • Ingestion of eggs directly from contaminated soil e.g. by licking them off their feet • Consumption of a rodent who has previously eaten worm eggs from the environment • Ingestion by kittens of worm larvae in their mother’s milk (Toxocara cati only). The vast majority of new-born kittens are infected with roundworms by this route. Another type of cat worms your cat could be infected by are Tapeworms (Dipylidium caninum and Taenia taeniaeformis). Tapeworms are long, flat and composed of many segments which contain eggs. The segments are regularly shed in faeces and resemble grains of rice which can sometimes be seen crawling around a cat’s anus or on their bed. To complete their lifecycle, tapeworms require an intermediate host to eat their eggs from the environment. Cats then become infected by consuming the intermediate host. Intermediate hosts include fleas and rodents. For this reason, if your cat is diagnosed with fleas, they will probably need treatment for tapeworms and vice versa. In addition, if they hunt and eats rodents, they will also require tapeworm treatment. You can find out more about tapeworms in cats with our easy guide. What are the most common symptoms of worms in cats? Weight loss and a distended stomach Cats who have worms often still have a good appetite, but you may notice that despite eating a normal amount, they are losing weight. If your cat is losing weight for any reason it’s time for a trip to the vet, but if it is accompanied by a ‘distended’ stomach – i.e. a stomach that looks bloated – it may be a symptom of worms. Coarse fur Another symptom of worms in cats is a change in their fur condition. Their fur may become coarse and rough, and lack its usual lustre. This is particularly a symptom of worms if it is accompanied by a distended stomach.

Abscesses can affect any cat at any point in their life. So, if you’ve got a feline in the family, the chances are that one day you might have a cat abscess on your hands and your pet will rely on your help to get them back to their normal, happy self. Keep reading to find out what you need to know about cat abscesses, what to do when they burst, and how to know when it’s time to contact the vet for help. What are cat abscesses? A cat abscess appears when the body is fighting off a localised bacterial infection. It forms as a pocket of pus, which consists of bacteria and white blood cells. Most often, abscesses are associated with an infected wound or scratch, and they appear as a lump under the skin. Other types are cat tooth abscesses and internal abscesses, which are less often seen. What are the signs of a cat abscess? Swelling is the most obvious sign of a cat abscess, but it’s not usually the first symptom to appear. Initially your cat might be lethargic, have a fever or not eat as much as usual. As the abscess develops over the next few days, other symptoms might become apparent, including:

A cat’s health and well-being throughout their life are impacted by body condition. Maintaining an ideal body condition is vital to help reduce the chances of your cat developing weight related conditions that can be both painful and life shortening. The chart below will help you to identify what the ideal body condition should look and feel like for a cat. Underfed 1. Ribs visible on shorthaired cats; no palpable fat; severe abdominal tuck; lumbar vertebrae and wing of ilia easily palpated. 2. Shared characteristics of BCS 1 and 3. 3. Ribs easily palpable with minimal fat covering; lumbar vertebrae obvious; obvious waist behind ribs; minimal abdominal fat. 4. Shared characteristics of BCS 3 and 5. Ideal 5. Well-proportioned; observe waist behind ribs; ribs palpable with slight fat covering; abdominal fat pad minimal. Overfed 6. Shared characteristics of BCS 5 and 7. 7. Ribs not easily palpated with moderate fat covering; waist poorly discernible; obvious rounding of abdomen; moderate abdominal fat pad. 8. Shared characteristics of BCS 7 and 9. 9. Ribs not palpable under heavy fat cover; heavy fat deposits over lumbar area, face and limbs; distention of abdomen with no waist; extensive abdominal fat deposits. Your cat should be well proportioned with an obvious waist, palpable ribs with a slight fat covering, and a minimal abdominal fat pad which shouldn’t be hanging down. Obesity in cats is the number one health problem they face today, so maintaining an ideal body condition can reduce a variety of health issues such as heart and breathing issues, diabetes, skin problems and heat stress, as well as increased stress on the body’s skeleton, ligaments and tendons which can lead to arthritis. Just like humans, the main reason for obesity in cats is excess calories and little or no exercise. If your cat needs to lose weight here are some tips to help her reach her ideal weight. • Cut out all human scraps that your family may be feeding your cat. • Limit the treats you’re feeding your cat. These are often excess calories eaten on top of an already fully balanced diet. Excess treats may also make her lose her appetite for nutritionally balanced food. Remember that the caloric intake from treats should not exceed 10% of a cat’s total daily caloric requirement. If you give your cat treats, you should reduce the amount of food you give her accordingly. • Reduce your cat’s caloric intake by feeding less and by feeding a weight management food that has reduced calories. Also measure your pet’s food. Without measuring it’s easy to overfeed. • Introduce extra activity and play into her daily routine which isn’t always easy with a cat but try dangling a piece of string in front of her or roll a ping pong ball across the floor. • Feed multiple times a day. If you have a cat that can monitor their own feeding you can measure out their daily intake and pop it down in the morning for them. If they choose to eat their daily allowance in one intake then try spreading it out across the day – this will make them feel more satisfied and fuller and also encourages them to get up and move to their bowl.

It’s really important that kittens are fed a specific formula designed just for them up until they are one year of age. Kittens grow at a phenomenal rate and have triple the energy levels of an adult cat. To support this growth and energy levels kittens need all the fat, fatty acids and most vitamins that adult cats need, as well as a lot more protein to provide the energy for their growing bodies. Purina ONE Kitten Food has 46g of protein per cup. Kittens also will benefit from DHA which is a nutrient found in mother’s milk, which helps vision and brain development. Because of their high energy levels, it makes it harder for kittens to get enough calories in just one feed, so that’s why it’s really important to feed them 3-4 times per day, or if possible allow them to free feed. Here are some other kitten feeding tips: • Where you feed your kitten is also important. Place your kitten’s food and water dishes away from foot traffic and noise in a place that is comfortable and easy for her to reach • Once you have chosen a suitable place, don’t change the location unless it is absolutely necessary. A plastic mat under the dish makes cleanup easier too. • Above all, always keep clean, fresh water available. If you have two cats, keep their bowls a reasonable distance apart to avoid confrontation or bullying. This is especially important when you’re feeding a kitten and older cat together. • Kittens are creatures of habit so establish a routine so that your kitten is fed at the same times each day. Use your kitten’s name when feeding her. This can help to reinforce her name while associating you with a pleasant activity. • A cat’s digestion is easily upset when you change her food, so it’s best not to change their food around too often. They’re not like us – they don’t get bored of eating the same food every day. • If you do change theirdiet- whether it’s canned or dry or between different brands- ensure it’s done slowly by still feeding their old food and increasing the amount of the new food over a period of at least five days so she can adjust. Don’t be surprised if her tummy gets upset in the beginning.