Helpful Pet Care Tips For Dog & Cat Owners

Today, our Rock Hill vets are sharing pet care tips that can help you provide your cat or dog with the highest quality of life possible. Every pet owner wants the best for their pet, and it’s our goal to help however we can at Catawba Animal Clinic!

Tips For Taking Care of Your Pet

We all love our pets, and it is important that we provide them with the quality care they deserve and make sure all of their needs are being met. Here, our vets at Catawba Animal Clinic share a list of tips that can help you take care of your furry animal companion.

Bring Your Pet For Routine Exams

A healthy adult cat or dog should see their vet once a year for a routine wellness exam (pet checkup) to make sure they don’t have any illnesses or diseases or catch them early when they are easier to treat. Young or senior pets and animals that have an underlying medical issue may have to see their veterinarian more frequently, read more about dog symptoms and treatment.

At these veterinary appointments, your vet will assess your pet’s overall health, make sure their vaccinations are up to date, recommend preventive care products, and inform you of your furry friend’s nutritional and exercise requirements. These visits provide your pet with their best chance at lifelong optimal health.

Provide Your Cat or Dog With a Healthy Diet

There are many benefits to providing your pet with a diet that contains all of the nutrients they need to be healthy, such as strengthening their immune system, helping their coat stay shiny, keeping your pet’s skin healthy, maintaining their intestinal health, increasing your animal’s mental acuity, keeping their muscles and joints in optimal health, and more.

If you aren’t sure what type of food to feed your pet ask your veterinarian, they will be able to recommend the types of food that will be best for your cat or dog.

Help Your Pet Maintain a Healthy Weight

Obesity can shorten your pet’s lifespan, and just a few extra pounds on your cat or dog’s waistline can increase their risk of various diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and more. When you bring your cat or dog in for their routine exam, your vet will be able to weigh your pet and inform you what their ideal weight should be.

Your vet can tell you how many calories your furry friend should be consuming every day, so you will be able to know how much you should be feeding your pet at every meal. In addition to this, you also need to provide your cat or dog with enough exercise every day to help them maintain a healthy weight.

Keep Vaccinations Up to Date

Another important thing you need to do to keep your pet healthy is ensuring their core vaccinations are provided on schedule and kept up to date. Vaccines help protect your cat or dog from a range of serious often life-threatening diseases and illnesses, and some vaccinations such as the rabies vaccine are mandatory by law in most states.

The exact vaccination schedule for your cat or dog will depend on the health of your pet and where you live but generally, they should start receiving their first round of shots when they are 6 to 8 weeks old. Ask your vet which vaccinations your pet needs and when you should be bringing them in for their vaccines.

Get Your Furry Friend Spayed or Neutered

Having your cat or dog fixed doesn’t just prevent the birth of unwanted litters, these common procedures also prevent a range of dangerous conditions and some undesirable behaviors including roaming, territory marking, howling, scooting, and animal aggression. Your veterinarian will be able to inform you how old they think your pet should be to get spayed or neutered.

Care for Your Pet’s Teeth

Like people, cats and dogs are at risk of getting various dental conditions such as periodontal disease and tooth decay if they aren’t provided with proper dental care. This is why it’s very important to keep your cat or dog’s teeth and gums clean by brushing their teeth, providing them with dental chews or treats, and bringing them to the vet annually for regular oral health exams and hygiene cleanings.

Keep Your Cat or Dog Well Groomed

Make sure you are keeping up with their grooming requirements to prevent painful knots, mats, and skin conditions. Each breed of cat and dog has its own set of needs for how often they need to be groomed, pet’s with longer fur need to be groomed more regularly than shorter-haired breeds. Grooming can include brushing, bathing, nail trims, and more. We suggest writing down in your schedule or calendar how often you should be grooming your animal friend, your veterinarian can inform you of your pet’s unique needs and recommend the best tools to use.

If you have a stubborn pet, are uncomfortable performing certain tasks (such as hair cuts or nail trimmings), your animal has tough Knotts, or if you just want your cat or dog to look their absolute best, bring them to Catawba Animal Clinic for a professional grooming session. Our vets are equipped with the tools and training they need to groom the most anxious pets and perform the grossest tasks (including anal gland expressions and shampooing for pets sprayed by skunks), we can help your pet put their best paw forward.

Always Supervise Your Pet

While you may think you are doing your pet a favor by letting them roam unsupervised, it’s best to always keep an eye on them and know where they are. By monitoring your pet you can keep them from getting into car accidents, fights with other cats or dogs, being taken, predation, consuming harmful substances (ex. poisons, toxic plants, dangerous foods), prevent them from being exposed to serious contagions, and more.

If you have a cat you may want to keep them as an indoor companion, or if you have a dog you can keep them on a leash, in a fenced back yard, or supervised at a dog park.