A cat can only be healthy if it has a healthy diet to eat. Many cat owners give their cat anything to eat without thinking about what their body needs to live. Being knowledgeable on the subject makes it easier to give a cat the proper foods. Keep reading for cat diet based tips.
Before acquiring a cat, be sure that you have the wherewithal to take care of all necessary vet care. Cats reproduce at an alarming rate, and spaying or neutering is essential to keeping cat population under control. Check spay, neuter and vaccination costs and packages with local vets and clinics and be sure you can afford to give your cat proper medical care.
For a healthier, happier cat choose plain litter over scented litter. Cats like nice, clean, clumping cat litter. Scoop your cats litter box daily and change it completely every three days or so. When you change the box, wash it out with water and dish soap. Don’t waste your money on liners as cats tend to destroy them.
A great toy for your cat is a laser pointer. Cats love to chase the laser around and try to catch it. This will help you give your cat some exercise, while your cat is having fun at the same time. It will also help to fine-tune their hunting skills.
Cats are hunters by nature. They love to chase mice and other small animals and insects. Buying little fuzzy mice filled with catnip and batting them around with your cat is a great idea. Your cat will feel as though they are really hunting prey. This will also help you to connect with your cat better.
Do not feed your cat any kind of human food that contains bones in it. If you are giving your cat chicken or fish, be sure to remove the bones beforehand to prevent a choking hazard. Chop the food that you serve into small bits to make it easier to digest for your cat.
A cat generally spends quite a bit of time grooming itself. Hairballs are very common for long-haired cats. If you’ve got a cat with this issue, get it special types of food. Some cat food brands have formulations to prevent or reduce hairballs, which will make life easier for your cat and you.
A proper diet for male cats will help prevent kidney problems that cause them to pass crystals with their urine. It is painful for your cat to pass these crystals and the cost to have this treated by a vet is high. Choose a cat food low in magnesium. Just as in the grocery store, take the time to read the labels. Fish is often high in magnesium compared to chicken.
Consider those expensive cat litter boxes. There are cat litter boxes now that allow you to have minimal interaction with them. This can be great for anyone who is tired of cleaning a litter box. But be careful, as they may not work as easily as they claim to. If you can, make sure there is a return policy and don’t lose the receipt. You may find you prefer the old-fashioned style!
Give cat box liners a try. These may not work for everyone, but they can be helpful if they work for you. Line the litter box with one of these liners, and then put cat litter in as usual. If it works correctly, you should be able to gather the liner and dispose of the litter. Unfortunately, sometimes cats just scratch the liner to pieces as they are doing their business.
Give your cat a water fountain. When cats are in the wild they tend to prefer water that is running when they are thirsty, this applies to cats at home. Streaming water is your best bet. You may have noticed that a dripping sink faucet quickly attracts their attention. A drinking fountain is a more environmentally-friendly way to allow them to drink naturally.
If you’ve just met a cat, don’t look at them in their eyes. Cats do not like being stared at by people they don’t know. That’s why they are more comfortable if you are not looking at them. They are more likely to approach you that way, and more likely to kindly regard you in the future.
It may be time to take your cat to see the vet if it begins urinating more frequently and in places besides its litter box. This could be a sign that your cat has a urinary infection or another health condition. Take the cat to the vet if it stops using the litter-box and let the vet diagnose the problem.
If you have more than one cat, you need more than one litter box. Ideally, each cat should have its own box. This prevents the box from becoming overfilled or crowded. An unappealing shared litter box sometimes causes cats to take their bathroom business elsewhere in your house. As you can imagine, this can be quite a nasty surprise!
You can use certain scents to discourage your cat from going into certain areas of your home. Aloe gel, citrus peels, and citrus juices smell wonderful to us, but cats don’t feel the same way. Soak a cotton ball in one of these liquids, then place it on top of a piece of foil to prevent the liquid from staining your surface. Place the foil and cotton ball near the off-limits area.
If your cat has been scratching things that they should not have, do not think of declawing them as a good way to deal with the issue. While this surgical procedure would stop them from causing any more damage, it is a very painful procedure and it is pretty difficult to recover from.
When a cat eats right, their bodies will be healthy. The cat doesn’t have the same food requirements as a human, therefore it can’t eat the same things. Your cat deserves to eat what’s suited for it’s boy. Stick to the contents from this article and you can make sure it gets this.
