Cats

Our recommendations for keeping your cat/kitten healthy

Rhodes Vets is proud to be a Cat Friendly Clinic.

We will always provide the best quality care for your cat, providing a stress-free and professional environment. Please see below for our advice for you as a cat owner:

Vaccinations

Primary Vaccination Course

The initial vaccination course for kittens consists of 2 injections given 3 weeks apart. The second injection must be given at 12 weeks old or above, therefore the course is normally started at 9 weeks or older. We prefer you to have your kitten for at least a week before starting vaccinations, to ensure that he or she has a chance to settle in with you and is not incubating any illnesses.

The vaccination course includes a full health check with the vet and lots of advice about caring for your new arrival! We are happy to offer this health check free of charge as soon as you have got your kitten, to help give you peace of mind that everything is as it should be and then continue with the vaccination itself the following week.

Your kitten is not fully covered by his/her vaccinations until 7 days after his/her second injection. Before this time, we advise you keep your kitten indoors. He/she will be fine with other fully vaccinated cats in your household.

The vaccinations provide protection against feline enteritis, and feline rhinotracheitis and calicivirus (the most dangerous and potentially fatal of all the cat flu viruses). Vaccination against feline leukaemia is also available; we recommend vaccination against this killer disease. The vaccine can be given at the same time as the flu/enteritis vaccines.

After the primary vaccination course has been given, we will issue a certificate containing a record of your kitten’s vaccinations. Please keep your own record of when the annual booster is due – we try to send out booster reminder cards but inevitably a few do not reach their destination.

Our full kitten vaccination course includes:

  • 2 vaccination injections (3-4 weeks apart)
  • Full health check by a qualified veterinary surgeon
  • 4 weeks free insurance with Petplan (cover effective immediately)

Annual Boosters

A yearly booster is important for maintaining your pet's protection against the diseases mentioned above. The cost of a booster injection covers the cost of vaccination and a ‘nose to tail’ health check by a fully qualified Veterinary Surgeon. They will also listen to your pet’s heart and lungs and examine their abdomen. With older animals any signs of mobility problems, e.g. arthritis, is also checked. They will discuss their findings with you and explain any action they feel needs to be taken. A yearly booster vaccination also gives you the chance to discuss any concerns you may have about your pet’s health or behaviour.

Flea and Worm Control

Virtually all kittens are infected with worms at birth, mostly transmitted via their mother’s milk. Regular worming is essential. If your kitten/cat has not been wormed since you have had him/her, please contact us for advice. If we see your cat regularly, (e.g. for his/her yearly check-up and booster vaccination), you will not need to see the veterinary surgeon before purchasing prescription wormers.

Effective flea control is also available only on prescription; if we have seen your cat within the last 12 months you do not need to see a veterinary surgeon to purchase this.

Our nurses are happy to provide free of charge monthly check-ups for kittens, to weigh them and administer appropriate worming treatment. They can also advise about toilet training, behaviour, diet and exercise.

We find the most effective and convenient method for flea and worm control is a monthly spot on product which combines the two and also covers ear mites and skin mites. You can only get this from a veterinary surgery. Please contact us for more information about this product. We can supply a range of different products to suit individual needs, including tablets and spot on treatments, products to treat the house for fleas and treatments for ticks and for pets travelling abroad.

We regularly see evidence in the surgery that using non-prescription products to try and treat worms and fleas, such as those from pet shops or supermarkets, doesn’t work well and can be even dangerous. Prescription products from us are much better and safer. In order to prescribe these products your cat has to have been seen by one of our vets within 12 months. Check-ups with a vet to prescribe these products are usually offered FREE OF CHARGE, unless your pet has another problem they need to see the vet about.

Please visit this website www.itsajungle.co.uk for more information on parasites.

Diet

A large part of your kitten’s diet should be a kitten-specific food. These differ from adult cat food in that the balance of proteins, vitamins and minerals is designed for growth. Kitten food should be fed until your cat is fully grown (this varies between individuals). We recommend and stock the highest quality foods (e.g. Hills, Royal Canin), as providing the best nutrition for your kitten is very important. Complete, dried diets are very good for cats as crunching on the dried food helps keep teeth from tartar. We recommend senior food for cats over 8 years old.

Neutering

We recommend neutering any cats not intended for breeding use. This can be done from 4 months of age onwards. Apart from preventing an increase in the ever-enlarging unwanted kitten population, it will discourage your cat from wandering too far. This will reduce the chances of your cat being involved in a road traffic accident, and will also reduce territorial behaviour (i.e. fighting with other cats) and therefore the risks of your cat developing fight abscesses or contracting feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) from other cats. In male cats, early neutering decreases territorial urine spraying and diminishes the strong smell of tom cat urine. There is no upper age limit for neutering a healthy cat.

Dental

Pets benefit from regular dental hygiene just like we do. Dental disease is the most common disease seen in veterinary practice. 85% of cats and dogs will have some form of dental disease by the age of 3.

We offer free dental check-ups with a Veterinary Nurse to help you maintain good oral health for your pet throughout their life, including post-operative checks after any dental procedure. We also have a wide range of food, toothpastes and dental products available.

Dental problems are common in older cats, so it is advisable to start on a programme of routine brushing as soon as possible; for more information, please contact one of our practices.

Insurance

We strongly advise that you insure your kitten. Currently, PetPlan are offering 4 weeks’ free insurance to healthy kittens aged from 6 weeks to 12 months old, at their first vaccination, after which you will be given the option to continue insurance at the normal rate. Please ask the reception staff for a free insurance certificate when your kitten has his/her first vaccination. He/she will be covered immediately for illness or injury.

Adult cats (over 12 months and up to 10 years old) can still enjoy 4 weeks free insurance from PetPlan, click on this link to take advantage of this offer.
 

Microchipping

At Rhodes Vets we have always been enthusiastic supporters of microchipping all pets. We frequently have lost and stray pets handed in to our surgeries, which we are able to reunite with their distraught owners because we can trace them from the microchip. If they were not chipped, we would often have no way of knowing where to start looking for their home. We have seen tragic cases where pets are lost and have not been microchipped because ‘they never go outside’ but a door was accidently left open and they escaped, or ‘they never go off the lead’ but the collar broke and they ran away. With no microchip they are anonymous. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you and your pet!

Don’t run the risk of your pet getting lost without a microchip and having to be rehomed, or worse! We can implant a microchip, and register your pet’s details immediately online with the database, for just £12.50. This can be done alongside your pet’s vaccination, or neutering, or in a nurse clinic. Microchipping is free as part of our Pet Health Club. Call the surgery today and book your pet in for a microchip. Give yourself peace of mind.
 

The Veterinary Expert

With so much conflicting (and let’s face it scary) information on the internet, it’s always hard to tell what is true and false. Click on this link to find articles on various pet conditions and general information. This website has been set up to give information to pet owners and all information is written by Veterinary experts.

Useful Links