Your Healthy Kitten
- Vaccinations: It is important to protect your kitten against a variety of preventable diseases, such as upper respiratory viruses, leukemia, and Rabies. We will dis-cuss your kitten’s individual risks to these diseases, and set up a personalized vaccine plan and schedule tailored specifically to them as an individual. Be sure to not take your kitten to areas with other cats until they have completed their series of vaccinations.
- If your kitten has not been tested for feline leukemia virus or feline immunodefi-ciency virus (feline version of HIV), it is very important that you have this done. It is a very simple blood test that will give you peace of mind that your kitten did not get one of these viruses from their mother. These are untreatable viruses that are contagious to other cats and that can adversely affect your kitten throughout their life in a variety of ways.
- Deworming: We will review what your kitten has already received and or recom-mend appropriate deworming now that they are in your home. Over 90% of kit-tens are born with roundworms. Often they are re-infected while with their mom and other kittens, so even if they have been dewormed before, we will want to deworm them again. Please bring a small (all we need is about a sugar cube size) stool sample to your first or second visit. We would like to run a mi-croscopic exam on this to be sure that the puppy is free from the “unusual” par-asites that we don’t get without our basic dewormer. Did you know that a few of the intestinal parasites we see in dogs can spread to people? It is safest to wash your hands after cleaning your kittens litter box to avoid contact.
- Heartworm/intestinal parasite prevention: Once your kitten is free from parasites, we will want to prevent them from getting infected again. This is particularly important in cats that go outdoors; however, about 75% of all potting soil for in-door plants is infected with roundworms. Cats love to play in potting soil! We can send home Revolution, a topical, that can be applied monthly to the skin on the back of your kitten’s neck to prevent heartworm, roundworm, hookworm, fleas, and ear mites.
- Fleas/ticks: We have the perfect weather and conditions here in Southern Oregon for both fleas and ticks! Lucky us! Your kitten may need prevention for one or both, depending on their lifestyle. We will send you home a free sample to try. We recommend Activyl for fleas as we find it to be the safest and most effective product on the market.
- Spay/neuter: We recommend both spaying and neutering at 6 months of age. It is recommended to spay females before their first heat cycle and males before they reach maturity and develop bad habits such as urine spraying.
- Dental care: It is a great time to get your kitten used to having their teeth brushed! We will demonstrate and easy technique for brushing teeth at home, and you can gradually advance to a finger brush (or toothbrush) and toothpaste. Kittens lose their front teeth (incisors) at about 3 months of age and their canines and other teeth at 6 months of age. If they keep some of their baby teeth after their adult teeth have erupted, this can cause crowding. We can usually tell this at their spay or neuter and recommend pulling the retained baby teeth while they are already under anesthesia.
- Grooming: It is also a really great time to handle your kittens feet, get them used to nail trimming, and get them used to things in their ears by gently putting your fingers around them. Some breeds need regular grooming. We can discuss your pet’s specific needs at your visit.
- Toys: Laser pointers, feather toys, balls, and pretend mice make great toys for play-ful kittens. Be sure that any toy you introduce isn’t so small as to be swallowed. Watch that your kitten doesn’t make a toy out of string, plastic bags, or hair ties. For some reason, kittens seem to love these, and they can cause intestinal block-ages.
• (541) 282-9811 • 2428 W Main St # 100, Medford, OR 97501