Considerations in Choosing A New

Cat For Your Home

Caring for a cat brings many years of unconditional companionship, joy and enrichment to our lives. Choosing the right cat for your home is essential to avoid behavioral problems that can make for a rocky relationship with your pet. Whether to adopt a kitten or an adult cat, take in a stray, select a male or a female, or have more than one cat are just a couple of the important questions that need to be asked by each owner before making a decision that will last 15 to 20 years with good luck and calculated care.

Many behavioral problems (not health related) with adult cats stem from improper socialization at a very young age. This should be realized when taking in an abandoned kitten that may not be fully weaned. If possible, a kitten this young should be introduced to adult cats as soon as possible in order to receive socialization skills and discipline that a human can not communicate. Bottle raised kittens have reputations for being aggressive or “scardy cats” toward people and other pets.

All healthy kittens are playful and silly. Their antics are necessary practice for learning hunting skills. Being crepuscular (multiple daily naps) animals, kittens may practice a lot of these future skills at night while you are trying to sleep. This especially true for the first 8-10 months of like when the “Midnight Express” may run through the house 7 nights a week. A cat’s true personality is not well revealed to an owner until full adulthood. While having a kitten can be a lot of fun, some owners may choose to adopt an adult cat with an easy going, calm demeanor and forego the rambunctious kitten stage. Whether to choose a male or female cat is a purely personal preference. Some people’s personalities better mesh with one or the other. Spend time with numerous cats of both sexes to see if you prefer one over another. Males may tend to be a little more social with people and other pets, but this stereotype does not always hold true in old age.

Cats adopted from shelters are usually mixed breeds. If you want to purchase a specific cat breed, be sure to do some research about any health problems and behaviors to which the cat breed may be predisposed. You will also want to get references for a breeder or a breed specific rescue group to be sure they are reputable. Consider the hundreds of thousands of homeless kitties in shelters each year before purchasing a cat just because you like the markings or body shape. HOWEVER, get these cats checked out asap for diseases that come with crowded populations undergoing high stress levels. Feline herpes virus, mycoplasma, Chlamydia, Bordatella bacteria and even H1N1/H1N3 viruses can be found in shelters and rescue center cats. These are picked up on the street and passed around quickly in crowded catteries. A viral screening panel can be performed in cases of chronic sneezing with very little effort by your vet at the SOVG.Two cats can give each other company, but sometimes three or more unrelated cats can lead to conflicts when not raised together as kittens. Cats have strict hierarchies and territories. Introducing a new cat into a multiple cat household can upset the established territorial boundaries. A trial adoption may want to be considered, if possible, to test the cats’ interactions.

Of course, it is most important to be sure that a new cat is healthy. It should have a thorough veterinary examination before taking it home and exposing other pets. The cat’s eyes will be bright and clear, and its coat will be shiny and well groomed. There should be no discharge from the nose, eyes, or ears. Stools should be formed. The doctor will check the cat for intestinal parasites, viral diseases like leukemia, and external parasites like ear mites and ringworm. All vaccinations should be brought up to date. If the medical history is unknown, then vaccinations will be recommended as a safety margin. Shelter cats are generally vaccinated only once and a booster 2-4 weeks later is critical for full immune protection.

Diet:

Some foods should never be fed:

- Onions/garlic can cause an anemia. - Chocolate can result in an “Amphetamine-Like” overdose reaction, and may seizures or death. - More information is available at the National Animal Poison Control Center

@ http://www.aspca.org/

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Cats are routinely fed dry kibbles for convenience and assumed tooth cleaning benefits. Contrary to standard thinking, cats do not chew food like dogs and never get the cleaning affect from commercial kibbles. Since cats drink so little fluid compared to dogs, canned food is far better for their long term kidney and bladder health. It just makes sense to feed a cat their natural diet, which is only small animal prey, and high quality canned food provides this. Raw diets are generally not recommended due to high levels (70%) of samples being found positive for pathogenic bacteria (E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, etc). Mass food production has increased the amount of handling and people involved in raw food production. This is a direct risk to young pets. Kittens have very limited resistance to infections due to incomplete immune system development.

REMEMBER that cats often permanently imprint on the food types fed during their first 6-12 months of life and may refuse to change later. This is important medically for several body systems, including bladders and kidneys. Feeding a variety of foods will allow for diet flexibility for an unknown future that will cover up to 20 years for some cats.

Instead of specific recommendations by brand or company, we suggest the following guidelines: 1) high protein (> 10 g/100 kcal or > 45%ME) and low carb (no set point here, but the lower the better)

2) high quality protein source (meat) not generic brown wrap types. 3) feed a variety of food types starting with kittens and continuing throughout life

(canned and dry, and flavors) so they learn to accept multiple foods through their life 4) feed only meals - at least 2x/day more if possible (no free choice feeding - even for single cat households - this is a poor husbandry choice even if the cat is thin) 5) feed no more than 180-200 kcal/day to the average sized cat (less if they are gaining wt, more if they are too thin), but prevent obesity EARLY

Several available brands of no-grain diets are Innova®. Blue Buffalo®, Wellness® and Evo®. Grains contain carbohydrates which promote dental plaque and diabetes in the cat, since they have no effective means of processing carbohydrates quickly and are really used as filler to cut manufacturing costs and help shape complicated kibble styles, like fish or stars. Feeding canned food with little or no grain is THE BEST WAY OF HELPING your cat’s urinary, pancreatic, heart and musculoskeletal health. Kibbles are helpful as daytime snacks. These may be needed as an Rx diet for certain medical conditions later in life. If they are not recognized as food, they will not be accepted later. Two resources helpful to owners are Pets Naturally in Studio City and Petsdirect.com

Also, promoting water intake by using distilled water (neutral pH aka “sweet water”) or a high quality carbon filter will generally DOUBLE water intake. SoCal ground water is slightly alkaline and tastes bitter to cats that have sensitive taste buds. Organic debris and dust will also settle in bowls and lead to a foul moldy taste over 12 hours. This can be prevented when the bowl is scrubbed twice daily and distilled water purchased at the grocery store. A dedicated cat brush will cost a dollar but save hundreds in medical costs during later life.