Tony’s Practice
Total Veterinary Care
Dr Tony Hanegraaf BVSc
Dr Peter Harry BVSc
12 Anslow Street, Woodend 3442
Phone 5427 4344 Fax 5427 4355
HEALTH CARE FOR YOUR KITTEN
This health care leaflet is designed to be a summary of some of the important health care
issues for your kitten. Please feel free to ask for more detail on any of these subjects.
VACCINATIONS
These are very important and protect your kitten against three infectious and potentially fatal
diseases: Feline enteritis, Cat ‘Flu’ and Feline Leukaemia.
Kittens are vaccinated at 6-8, 12-14 and 16-18 weeks of age to give them their full immunity
and then once every 12 months to maintain this immunity throughout life.
WORMING (Intestinal/Gut)
Kittens are commonly born with worms which have been transferred from their mothers. So
general hygiene and regularly cleaning up their droppings is important and we need to regularly
dose them for worms, especially while they are young.
Kittens should be wormed:
Every 2 weeks until they are 12 weeks old
Then every month until they are 6 months old
Then every 3 months throughout life
Worming preparations are calculated on bodyweight so feel free to use our scales to keep track
of your kitten’s weight.
We recommend and stock Drontal tablets, kitten worming syrup or Revolution Spot on.
HEARTWORM
Many areas around Melbourne have significant heartworm problems in dogs and unfortunately
we are now seeing local cases of this dangerous parasite, which is spread by mosquitoes.
This is a very rare problem in cats in our area.
For those who are concerned, prevention is by far the best approach to this problem and
thankfully relatively simple. There are two products available, Heartguard FX and Revolution.
The latter help control fleas and most worms as well. Each involves a monthly application (a
beef snack or a spot-on respectively) which ‘housecleans’ your cat each month killing any baby
heartworm that may have been acquired in the last month.
FEEDING
Kittens in their growth phase require a special diet which differs from that of adults. It is
particularly important for their growing bones. Your kitten is going to need kitten or growth style
diets for 6 months. Ask us what is right for your kitten.
Kittens should have smaller meals more often, as a guide:
6-12 weeks old 3-4 feeds daily
3-6 months old 2-3 feeds daily
6 months and adult 2 feeds daily
As a starting point for your kitten’s diet we recommend using a good quality prepared pet food
that is complete and balanced for this stage of life and made out of high quality ingredients,
such as Whiskas Advance Formula. This can be supplemented with small amounts of fresh
food and table scraps (no cooked or small bones, please) and a ready supply of fresh water.
DENTAL CARE
Teeth cleaning and gum massage is very important and is probably best achieved by supplying
the appropriate things to chew on! Raw chicken wings and necks and raw rabbit bones are
excellent, Whiskas Dentabits are also useful. Good habits start early in your kittens life. For
cats with problem teeth there is even a specific dental diet to encourage oral health.
DESEXING
If you are not planning to breed from your pet, desexing is recommended as it makes for a
more amenable pet and certainly reduces the likelihood of many unwanted behaviours, some
serious diseases and obviously unwanted kittens.
The desexing procedure is a day surgery involving a general anaesthetic and surgical removal
of the uterus and ovaries or testicles, as appropriate.
We recommend that this is done around 5-6 months of age.
IDENTIFICATION/REGISTRATION
Your kitten should be registered with the local council by the time they are 6 months old. Some
councils offer discounted registration for desexed animals.
A tag is supplied for their collar but we suggest more permanent identification is desirable. The
best is a microchip which is implanted under the skin of your kitten by injection and registered
for life with a central registry. In addition pet tags with your phone number on them are a good
idea for quick returns of wandering kittens.
BATHING
Kittens generally do not require much bathing, however if this becomes desirable make sure
you use a mild cat shampoo such as Episoothe or Allergroom. Cat skins are very different to
ours. Unless really, really required do not bathe more than once a week.
FLEAS
Fleas always somehow seem to find their bothersome way onto our cats and are a major
source of skin problems. They come from a cat’s environment where dogs and cats have
previously been and flea eggs have been deposited which then hatch over a period of time and
jump onto the next passing ‘meal ticket’ (dog or cat, occasionally us!)
Fortunately, there are now some excellent flea control products available which are safe and
effective and easy to use. They come in a variety of forms, spot-ons, such as Frontline and
Revolution, that provide a month’s protection against fleas and are water resistant. There are
also flea egg killers that stop the eggs hatching in the house, kennel, bedding and provide very
good environmental control, such as Program Injection, which lasts 6 months. These products
are generally used in combination with the above to give the best flea control.
SOCIALISATION AND TRAINING
Kittenhood is a critical time for socialization (particularly between 10 to 20 weeks). While we
need to be aware of potential health issues (vaccinations, etc) and do this in a controlled way to
minimize risk, we do need our kittens to experience lots of new situations, especially people
and other animals in this period.
Training such as toileting and come to their name can start as soon as you acquire your kitten.
They are incredibly responsive (and willful) as youngsters. Make sure there is plenty of praise.
Positive reinforcement of good behaviours achieves much better results than the old fashioned
punishing routine.
Brief fun lessons (5-10 minutes) tend to be more rewarding and keep a young kitten’s attention.
Doing this at least twice a day is a good habit to form, for you and your kitten for the rest of
their life.
TOILETTNG
A litter tray should be provided for your kitten and changed daily. The tray should be
somewhere private and quiet as cats are fastidiously clean. Your cat may refuse to use the
tray if it is dirty. If you have more than one cat, providing at least one tray each is advisable.
Any accidents should be cleaned up with an enzymatic cleaner such as Bio-Zet and then traces
of smell elimated using Back to Nature spray.
ENVIRONMENT
At home kitten obviously needs somewhere comfortable to sleep, and importantly, during day
or night access to somewhere that is out of the weather so we do not get too hot or cold.
Access to drinking water is obviously required 24 hours a day. We also need to keep those
bright little minds active and we should supply a good range of toys such as Cat Kongs, cat
treats, balls, scratching poles which we can rotate over a period of a week, so they are ‘fresh’.
Out and about we a cat harness (cruiser) if required. A cat box is a good idea for car travel too.
NB: Puppies have no road sense!
NATIVE FAUNA
Domestic cats can be predators of native birds, reptiles and mammals as well as vermin.
Suggestions to minimize this are: keeping them inside permanently or at least at nights,
building a cat aviary or floppy fenced area for outside time, using at least 3 bells on opposing
sides of the collar and/or a ‘Liberator’ collar.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR
If your kitten appears listless, lethargic or off their food it is of concern. Likewise if they have
vomiting or diarrhoea that is severe or persists longer that 12 hours. We are happy to and
indeed much prefer to answer a concerned call from a kitten owner rather than wait too long.
Copyright Animal Hospitals of Australia 2000