Cat Health Guide

When it comes to cat food, you have to ensure it contains all the necessary nutrients and vitamins your cat needs in order to stay healthy.  Personally, I prefer to give my cat homemade food, as it is free of chemicals and preservatives. But well, there are some cases where you may need to feed your cat with pre-made cat food, due to time problems or for convenience.  One of the most trusted brands in this field is Science Diet cat food.

This line of Hills Science Diet cat food has been developed b nutritionists, to ensure it contains all your cat needs. This is the line that offers perhaps the best quality when it comes to nutrition. This company started back in 1939 by Dr. Mark L. Morris and since then they have been bringing the products that are the best for cats and dogs.  The mission of the company has been all this time to help pets reach the fullest potential thanks to good nutrition and healthcare.

They have many variation of food for cats. On this Science Diet cat food review we will take a look at some of the most interesting products Hill’s has to offer:

Hairball Control Food. Inside this line, you can find the “Adult Hairball Control-Dry”, the “adult Hairball Control Light”, both of them coming in a bag package, and in a canned package the “Adult Hairball Control Chicken Entre Minced” and “Adult Hairball Control Seafood Entre Minced”. This line is produced with a precise balanced nutrition to avoid the formation of hairballs.  The amino-acid balance is of great help to reduce cat shedding. It can use for everyday feeding and allows hair to move easier through your cat’s digestive system thanks to the vegetable fiber. 

Adult Indoor Food. Science Diet cat food ingredients in this line are balanced for cats that spent the majority of their lives indoors.  These cats have different nutritional needs that go hand in hand with their lifestyle. As they are more sedentary, the ingredients are combined in such a way that they provide less calories to your cat, avoiding cat overweight problems; it also contains antioxidants to ensure your cat has a healthy immune system.  Inside this line you will find the classic “Adult Indoor”, the “Cat Savory Chicken Entrée Minced”, and also the Seafood variety.

Adult Light Food. This Hill’s Science Diet cat food line is perfect for overweight cats. Like other lines it can be found in bag or with more flavors in canned packaging. It is recommended for cats that are less active, neutered or prone to gaining excess weight. This food line also contains L-Carnitine, to turn excess fat into energy faster. Thanks to its high-fiber content, this food will keep your hungry cat satisfied between meals.

Adult Optimal Care. This may be the most popular line of Science Diet cat food, as it is a “standard cat food line”.  It has been mixed to provide cats the perfect nutrition to keep muscles strong and to provide maximum health to all vital organs. Science Diet, ensures that this cat food contains only highest-quality ingredients.  For this purpose they have worked with 150 veterinarians.  They even offer a 100% guarantee. The Adult Optimal Care food line also offers a lot of variation in presentations and flavors, for example science Diet cat food dry.

Adult Oral Care. This food has been made especially for cats to enhance oral health. It adds a clinically-proven interlocking fiber technology to reduce the appearance of plaques and to help scrub teeth.

Adult Sensitive Skin. Thanks to the formula of this Science Diet cat food line, your cat will have help avoiding dry skin, and itchiness. For this, they add to the food quantities of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, which help replenishing the skin’s essential oils.

Adult Sensitive Stomach. This is yet another special cat food for special cat needs. This one contains high quality protein and gentle fiber to ensure an easy digestion and nutrient absorption.

Science Diet Culinary Creations.  This may be called a “premium line” of Science Diet cat food.  They have different “culinary creations” made for your cat, combining the perfect nutrition balance from all the lines with a delicious taste every cat will love.  They have toasted chicken, baked ocean fish, roasted beef, and baked tuna. If you want to spoil your cat this is the food you can buy!

Kitten and Mature. These are two lines, but we put it together because they are designed for a specific stage in life.  Most of the normal cat food from Science Diet is not suitable for a kitty, so they have made this food that is easier to digest for them and brings additional nutritional value.  Matura Science Diet cat food also ensures aging cats get all the necessary vitamins and nutrients to keep good health.

Nature’s Best. In our modest opinion, this might be the best line Hill Science Diet cat food has to offer.  Why? Simply because it has been made with real fruits, chicken and vegetables, without artificial flavors, preservatives and artificial colors. You can find different flavors in this line such as “Chicken and Brown Rice” and “Ocean Fish and Brown Rice”.

Many cat owners have the belief that the cat grooms itself, and this is partially true.  The cat does groom itself with the help of the tongue, but we need to go beyond that to assure proper hygiene and cat’s health, paying special attention to our cat’s eyes, coat, and ears, tricky places to maintain clean and fresh in any pet.

The frequency of grooming and type of cat grooming will depend greatly on the length of our cat’s hair or coat. The shorter the length of the coat, the easier it would be to groom a cat, and also the less care your cat would need over time.  On the other hand, breeds with longer hair will require grooming more frequently; so for example if a short-haired cat needs care every month, a long-haired cat will need bath and combing more regularly, 3-2 days a week.

Learning to comb your cat is essential if you want to take care of your cat’s grooming. This should be done with a gently movement from front to back.  Some cat owners assure that it is best to talk to your cat to keep it calm and relaxed throughout the combing session. You can find combs for cats at your nearest pet store or cat grooming supplies store. A good comb is one of the best cat grooming tools you can use to ensure hygiene in your cat.  The goal of combing is to avoid cat shedding and knots in the coat.  Once knots form, they will be hard to untie, and in some cases you will need to cut the hair.

There are different types of cat grooming combs in the market, and you should know which ones are the best to use in your cat. For long-haired cats the best types of combs for cats are “greyhound combs”.  These are perfect because they have an anti-static material that makes it easier to groom your cat. If you have been at a cat show, you may have seen them, they are always carried by owners to keep the cats looking good. The greyhound combs for cats can also be found with different thickness of teeth, in the case of long-haired cats, it is better to use the comb with combinations of fine/coarse teeth. For close-coated coated, the best option is to use a rubber curry brush.

Once a mat is formed, you’ll need to either cut the hair or work the mat until it is gone.  The first way is the more practical and quicker method, but it is better to avoid it because due to the closeness of the mat to the skin, you could end up cutting your cat!  There are special combs for cat grooming that serve to “dissolve” these mats. You should comb and comb repeatedly until it gets loose.  This requires patience, and again must be done gently to avoid hurting our cat.

Another part of cat grooming, is bathing your cat. You may have heard that cats do not like water, and well…this is true. Cat grooming experts always advice that you get your cat used to bath from a young age.  If a kitty gets accustomed to bathing and grooming, you will have less problems later on.

To bathe your cat, you need to use special shampoo for cats.  There are many brands in the market, and you should look for the one that better works in cleaning your cat.  For varied reasons this may vary from cat to cat. A great tip to make cat bathing easier is to apply mild eye drops in the eye of the cat; this will prevent the eyes from making contact with soap.  Let me tell you, if this happens, you are assured complete madness!

For cats that have greasy coat, a de-greaser is needed.  Using a de-greaser such as Fast Orange is actually very easy; you just need to spread the products throughout the coat and then just rinse it. From there a successful bath is a matter of patience and appropriate rinsing. You need to rinse very well making sure that your cat is free of shampoo. After rinsing your cat, you’ll need to dry using a towel. Try to do your best to dry your cat using a towel, and once you finish let the cat dry completely inside the house in a warm room to avoid any cat health problem. Blow dryers are not necessary, but I have found them to be pretty useful in the case of long-haired cats.  Remember to be careful though, and keep the blow dryer at a safe distance.

Cleaning the Eyes of the Cat

Yet another aspect of grooming a cat, is cleaning the eyes. Eye matter can be formed on the area below the eyes, this matter is a glue-like substance that forms because of tearing.  This substance is easily formed in cats with big eyes.  To take care of it, you’ll need a soft washcloth soaked in tepid water. Grab the cloth and wipe the substance very gently, taking extra care in not making contact with the eye directly.  You may need to hold the head of your cat, but remember to also do it gently and talking with soft voice. Wipe a second time with other area of the cloth to completely remove the eye matter.

Hiring a Cat Grooming Service

Cat grooming services can be of great help to help you with the whole process laid out in this mini cat grooming guide, freeing you of this sometimes time-consuming task. Choosing a good grooming professional is important, making sure that the person in charge of your cat has patience and puts love in what they do.  It is recommended to watch the person groom your cat at least a couple of times to see it all goes like you expect it. Cat grooming costs will vary according to your area of residence and demand of the services. Professional cat grooming can be in some areas very expensive.

Cat Insurance is an important topic when it comes to cat health.  As owners we not only need to provide our cats with food, shelter and care, but we also have to prepared to give them the necessary health care throughout their life, and especially in cases of emergency.  If you live on the United Kingdom, you should know that there are many options for cat insurance in UK. There are around 80 companies that offer you this kind of insurance.

Cat health insurance in the UK has become quickly popular.  The reason for this is that veterinary costs and medical costs are quickly rising. The application of new technology and treatments in the cat health field has improved the veterinary services, but at the same time this same improvement has elevated the costs.  If your cat has been healthy all the time you have had it, then you don’t know that the costs of treatment are almost equal to the costs of treating a human being!  In the UK nowadays if you want to ensure your cat is safe and healthy despite any emergency, you need cat health insurance.

Let’s take a look at average prices for cat treatments in the UK: If your cat gets a bone broken, the total costs for treatment can sum up to £1,000, bladder problems up to £600, kidney disease £400 and Chronic arthritis £500 per year just to name a few.  Of course, if you give your cat proper nutrition, exercise and care, it is very probable you won’t have to face any of these problems, but, just like with humans, you never know.  In this sense cat insurance also works to bring owners a sense of security, and it has two sides: on one side you want to pay for coverage f any disease or accident, on the other side you don’t want anything happening to your cat.  Sounds like a bet? It is a bet in a strange kind of way, and it is a personal decision that you’ll have to make.

The competition of cat insurance on the UK has prompted companies to offer more than just basic health cover. Insurance companies are always aware of the current need of customers, and the new developments in alternative medicine.  So, as part of their plans, some companies include these alternative treatments fully covered, or at a fraction of the price.  They also offer some other interesting features inside the UK cat insurance plans such as:

• Coverage of the advertisement in a newspaper in the case your cat goes missing.
• Telephone information services and a dedicated line for customers for support all the year, the 24 hours of the day.
• Coverage of cat’s health service outside the UK.
• Quarantine costs in case you lose the travel papers.

These extra benefits may vary according to each company.  Given the wide array of options of cat insurance in the UK, it would be a good idea to ask all the necessary questions to the insurance companies you find interesting.  A little research can save you headaches in the future! It is important to know what is included and what is not included in the plan of your choice.  Most companies give you two basic option of cat health insurance plans: a full plan that covers the health care costs of your pet throughout their entire lives, and a time-limited plan that offers the same coverage but only for a small period of time, being 12 months the most common.

Keep in mind that full plans offer a limit per year; this limit can be regarding the money spent on treatments, or “covered”, or a limit regarding that times a certain treatment is given.  So let me say to you: there is no perfect “cat health insurance plan”, every one of them will have its flaws, and you’ll have to make your choice based on what you think is better to dispose.

If you are worried about the prices of cat health insurance in UK, you should also know that there are cheap cat insurance options.  Many cat owners stay away from cat insurance thinking that it will cost too much money.  As a matter of fact, these days you can find basic health insurance plans for as little as £4 – £5 a month!  To get these low fees, your cat will have to follow some requisites, and they will depend on factors such as the age of your cat, your area of residence, the breed of your cat and the type of coverage you want to choose.  Since you are on the Internet right now, you can find many sites online that will give you quotes according to your requirements.

As cat owners, we are always checking the health of our beloved cat.  What happens if our cat gets sick? What happens if there is some emergency with my cat? These are questions that pop in our minds more often than not. A cheap cat insurance plan might be the best aid we get to  feel more safe in regards of our cat’s health; thanks to one of these plans, we know that we have a support in case of any emergency.

With so many offers and the cheapest cat insurance companies, it is practically impossible not to find a plan that best suits our needs. This type of pet insurance has become widely offered in USA, Canada and even the UK; I’m sure many people around the World are coming to realize about its importance. Before deciding on a company you should know that having insurance for cats comes with some pros and some cons, worth evaluating.

What are the main advantages of the best insurance for cats?

• Financial protection. The costs of cat health care can be quite high if we don’t have an insurance plan. Like all health insurance plans, they offer discounts and coverage on many types of conditions or accidents.
• We are covered in the case of an emergency or sudden injury. One of the biggest fears cat owners have, is having to face a cat health issue and not being able to pay for unexpected costs, including doctors, treatment and medicine.
• Benefits in the case of death. This is handled differently according to each cat insurance company. In some cases they help you with all the main things involved once your cat is dead, others even often burial services and even special coffins for cats.
• Support for certain chronic conditions your cat may suffer. Cats like us can be victims of a series of conditions that will require support throughout all their lives, some examples are diabetes or arthritis.

These are the greatest advantages that you have to take into account when deciding whether is good or not to acquire a cheap cat insurance plan.  Of course, you can pay for a plan, and never have to use it. Which is the ideal thing! But then again you’ll be paying for something you don’t use… This is a personal decision and there is no wrong or right.

Well, besides these advantages of cat health insurance, there are some extra benefits that you may get on the insurance plan you choose (if you are interested in one of these, be sure to ask about them with the cat insurance company of your choice).

• Coverage of additional therapeutic treatment, such as massage therapy, chiropractic and physiotherapy, essentials in the recovery of our cat’s health after an accident.
• Coverage of ads placed on a newspaper in case of a missing cat.
• 24 hour support in case you have questions about the coverage of oyur affordable cat insurance.
• Reimbursement in the case your cat needs emergency intervention on holidays. Typically, doctors and animal hospitals charge you an extra fee on these days.
• Coverage of cat health insurance outside your country of residence. This is specially useful if you are constantly traveling with your cat.

Main Cat Insurance Plans

Let’s take a look at the main plans offered by cheap cat insurance companies:

• Full-life Insurance. This is the most expensive option, and something you perhaps don’t want to choose if you want a non-expensive option. With a full life insurance, your cat health problems will be covered for the entire life of your cat or kitten. You should know though, that there is a an annual limit of money to spend on this plan. Other option for a full life plan offers a limit of occurrences for certain treatments and interventions.
• Time-limited insurance. This is the best option if you want to save money on cat insurance- It covers illnesses and accident for a limited period, usually a year. This may prove very useful in the case of some treatments that are only limited to a period of tim, until your cat’s recovery.

If you are interested in an affordable cat insurance plan, it is important that you select it as soon as possible.  Many owners wait until it is too late and the insurance won’t cover the illness your cat is currently having. This could end up seriously hurting your wallet, because vet expenses -like all medical expenses- tend to be really high.

Be sure however to read all you need to before selecting a plan.  Insurance tends to be tricky sometimes and we could end up regretting not reading the agreement before signing it. If you want to find a cheap cat insurance plan, I would recommend you to opt for the time-limited plan, choose an affordable excess, and take advantage of any discounts you may find with certain credit cards or even by signing up online.