Taking my dog in to the vet for a checkup, 2 split nails and shots. We have a 6 year old cat as well and I’ve never really thought about it but does she need to go in as frequently as a dog? She doesn’t get shots as frequently as far as I know.
She’s healthy and happy otherwise.
Most places require rabies shots either yearly or every 3 years. Although most evidence is that once a cat is vaccinated against rabies, its immunity will last longer than 3 years, and may last its entire lifetime.
My cat goes once a year whether he likes it or not.
He’s always had a problem with slight chubbiness. Not fat, just a little soft around the middle. in 2009 we were extremely proud of ourselves for found a food that kept him satisfied but allowed him to lose the 2 pounds the vet wanted him to lose. Patting ourselves on the back and everything. Until his June checkup when we found out he’d lost weight because he had 3 teeth that needed to come out. His lower left canine was one of the rotten teeth and the vet could wiggle it with his finger. The poor cat wasn’t eating much because he was in pain - but we had no outward signs that he was not healthy and happy. When they extracted the teeth it turned out he had a small abcess that probably would have given us all a lot of problems sooner rather than later.
Cats are very stoic about things being wrong - things that are correctable (and cheaper) when caught early.
I see nothing wrong with a once a year check up. I would definitely get one for a cat at least every five years. Maybe a good compromise would be three years.
I just took my cats in for their vaccinations and such - tho’ I’m kind of not sure why, as they’re both inside cats only, so not much risk of being exposed to anything. (I’m also breaking the law; they’re not registered with my city as required. I might get around to that. Or I might not.)
I do hope to harness-train them, so that they can go outside with us on the harness. Our previous cat did that, and she loved being outside. They’d like to be outside, sure, but not without a harness and lead.
I guess I figure that I drag my own sorry butt to the doctor once per year, they can at least go every couple of years or so. And I do appreciate that it’ll help keep us on top of things, too - cats are very good at not letting you know that they’re hurting.
How do you know/judge that?
This. Her teeth could be rotting out (or any one of dozens of conditions) and you might not even notice until well after it has developed into something serious.
Cats are good at hiding things that are wrong. Vets are good at finding them. My cats go in once a year whether (I think) they need it or not.
I get postcards from the vet (no, not from his vacation!) telling me when my (indoor) cat needs booster shots. He has to go in anyway when we run out of flea medication, they won’t just hand over more without our bringing him in for a yearly exam.
This is the reason to take cats in as often as dogs. By the time cats do start to show any discomfort-caused behavior it will have been effecting them for some time.
When I was very young and broke my cats didn’t get to the vet regularly but now it’s once a year for check-ups/shots (yes, boosters can be every three years) but the shots are the least of my concerns since mine are indoor cats. Especially when they get a bit older there are lots of things you might never notice since they are so stoic - ingrown nails, bad teeth, ear wax/mites, constipation - and I actually handle my cats quite a lot and don’t always notice things the vet finds because I don’t probe like a vet does.
I lost a cat when he was **only four **- I wasn’t taking him to the vet regularly and he just died in the middle of the night. When I took him (his body) to the vet to handle cremation I learned that he most probably died from cardio-myopathy (sp?) which could have been treated. I know someone who had a cat with the same problem and treated her sucessfully for many years. I felt terrible about that knowing that just a little effort and expense on my part could have prevented his death. Now I’m as religious about check-ups for my young ‘healthy’ cat as for my elderly diabetic cat.
Our cat is 15, and has been to the vet just once. He turned into Devil Cat, and bit several people. After that, we don’t take him, and he seems as healthy as can be.
Being 100% indoor helps keep him safe (I hope). If he went outside, I would feel differently.
Does your area recommend feline distemper vaccinations? Reading the description, it sounds like it might be transmittable to indoor cats if an infected cat craps or pees in your yard and you unknowingly track some in on your shoes, or if you manage to let infected fleas in.
When I owned ferrets, they were susceptible to canine distemper (different disease from the feline version) and the virus could be brought into the home in this manner. Even though they were indoor-only pets, my husband works as a letter carrier, so he’s exposed to a lot of different yards and dogs, and we couldn’t imagine not getting them vaccinated as a result.
Cats are good at hiding illness until it’s too late. This is much more of a problem with older cats rather than younger, but things like diabetes can sneak up on them at an early age. It’s so cheap to get bloodwork done and a checkup, like under $300 or so, why not do it every year?
This was our experience, too - we took our 14 year old cat in for the first time since her kitten vaccinations when she started limping - the vet did a thorough work-up, and she has arthritis and nothing else. Teeth, liver, kidneys, weight, everything fine. She has also been an indoor kitty (fenced backyard now, too), and was on dry food only until the vet recommended that we add in moist food now that she’s an old kitty. Now I give them wet food with dry crunchies to brush their teeth after they’re done.
So, in closing, take your cat in for check-ups as often as you feel necessary. Indoor moggies are pretty damned healthy, though.
My healthly cat’s annual exam costs about 65.00 (Boston area) - he’s on the three-year vaccine rotation which costs 26.00. For me, this is a small price to pay for the peace-of-mind that I get from knowing his health status (so far, very good). If you can afford it, and I realize some people can’t, why wouldn’t you provide basic check-ups assuming you want to keep your kitty alive and healthy for a long time to come?
My older, diabetic cat - well yes, blood and urine tests are expensive and the insulin and syringes aren’t cheap either but treating a cat once he’s sick - that’s an entirely different topic.
This is really an IMHO thing since we can’t otherwise observe your cat to see if there is anything wrong, and even then, were not qualified vets. That said, I am of the opinion you should let your wallet decide.
If your cat had some kind of horrible cancer, dental problem, etc. requiring horrendously expensive drugs and lots of expensive vet visits that wasn’t physically obvious from looking at the cat, would you be able to afford that treatment? If not, then I have always been of the opinion that there is no advantage to knowing the cat has these issues. Other than the legally required rabies shot and licensing, I think you could drop your vet treatment bills to near zero if you had to. Of course, the declarations from cat lovers that I am worse than Hitler for saying this are sure to follow…
I, however, am currently employed and can afford the roughly $200/year it costs for the cat and dog to get the piece of mind they are fine, but I have certainly posted many a bitchy thread about my vet overmedicating the animals and giving me all kinds of crap that isn’t necessary for our animals. For example, I have yet to have anyone explain why some vets in San Diego push very expensive heartworm medication when we have near zero mosquitoes in this area, and the animals in question are indoors. I suspect the answer is mortgage and car payments more than animal health.
By the way, I should add that our last cat had a 100% clean bill of health at age 13 from our vet and randomly died one morning 2 weeks later, so even a veterinary exam is no guarantee of anything in the long run. This was a totally indoor cat if that matters.
Our cat is 17. He has a heart condition. A vet found it when he was two, and he’s been on meds since he was three. Without them, he would have been dead a decade ago.
Chuck - it reminds me of my dear Asa who died at age four, probably had a heart condition but he hadn’t been to the vet since his neutering so I didn’t know. I would’ve gladly treated him (not so hard) but I was naive at the time, meaning that I didn’t appreciate how much regular vet care can make a difference.
BTW, my elderly, diabetic cat just turned 18! and is doing great. He’s been diabetic for 6 years. It may be totally unrelated that his good health has somerhing to do with regular vet care early on (there were some teeth issues and an infection or two when he was younger) but I credit his good health and longevity to a combination of good genes, good diet and regular vet care.
The experiences of others and the ages of the cats who’ve died early or survived into their teens tells you nothing about YOUR cat. Genetics, contracted diseases, environmental issues, etc., affect the health of the cat. I take my three cats to the vet for an annual exam and to get the vaccinations recommended by the vet. (My vet cares for cats only and I trust her implicitly.) My cats are strictly indoor cats, so my vet takes that into consideration. I don’t know if it varies by state, but here in Florida, rabies vaccination is required by law, and the vet issues a certificate to prove the cat has been vaccinated. Although mine are indoor cats, we’ve had two of our cats escape to the outdoors; they didn’t wander away and returned after a few minutes, but in that few minutes they could have picked up a mosquito bite, flea, or tick. One of my cats badly needed a teeth cleaning, and the vet had to remove two teeth that were too far gone. The other two cats haven’t had any dental issues. A few of our neighbors’ out door cats visit, and even though we don’t let them inside, we’ve had trouble with fleas; one of our cats has an allergic reaction to fleas. Also, one of our cats had tape worms – how she got them I don’t know, but the vet gave her meds to get rid of them. So, bottom line is: get your beloved pet an annual physical to detect any signs of disease and to get appropriate vaccinations. As in humans, preventing problems is a lot less trouble and cheaper than diagnosing and treating problems!