Unlike humans cats cannot tell us when they are not feeling well. They may be miserable and not their usual selves but they cannot tell us exactly what the problem is. Therefore it is our responsibility as cat owners to monitor our cat’s health and do our best to keep our cat healthy and happy.

Prevention is always better than cure so the first stage to ensuring that your cat has a healthy life is to ensure that you feed your cats properly. There has never been such a wide range of specialist cat foods available. You can buy canned, packet, dry food, special foods for kittens , senior cats , food in gravy and food in jelly. Your cat will quickly show you which foods it prefers. An important point to remember is to ensure that your cat has plenty of water available to drink. This is particularly true if your pet favours dry food when it essential that the cat has plenty to drink if it is to avoid kidney problems.

Cats , even the domestic variety are natural hunters and as such still retain the natural instincts of the hunter. Therefore it is important to give your cat the opportunity run around, chase and generally take exercise. If your cat has access to a garden then this should not be too much of a problem as the cat will run around, climb trees and chase naturally. If however, yours is basically a house cat you should get some simple cat toys and equipment to both counteract the cat’s possible boredom and give it an opportunity to exercise.

The two key words for cat owners when it comes to monitoring their pets health is observation and examination. All cat owners should put some time aside each day to spend with their pet. Even older cats become quite playful if their owner spends time with them.

When you are tickling your cat you have a perfect opportunity to check their skin for cuts or abscesses. These are most common if your cat has been involved in a fight with another cat. Abscesses can be very painful for your pet and not always obvious to spot but your cat will let you know if you touch an affected area.

Lethargy or lose of hair can also be signs that all is not well with your cat. If you have any reason to think that your pet has a health problem then you should take it to your local vet because early treatment can often solve the problem before it becomes serious.