Kitten Guide

• • Kitten - 10 key facts
  • A brief breed guide
  • Cattery guide
  • Dealing with an emergency
  • Essential equipment
  • Feline ailments
  • House or outdoor cat?
  • Housetraining your kitten
  • How vets can help
  • Keeping your kitten healthy
  • Looking out for signs of illness
  • Nursing a sick kitten
  • Playing with your kitten
  • Preventing parasites
  • Responsible ownership
  • Starting a healthy diet
  • Successful grooming
  • Travel advice

Parasites can cause serious illness if not treated. Prevention is relatively simple with regular visits to the vet practice. Remember to take out a pet insurance policy, you may need one if these parasites take hold.

Internal
The two most common internal parasites are tapeworms and roundworms.

You can treat your cat for these with preparations available from your vet.

Worming treatments are also available for another common form of infection, roundworms.

External
Fleas can regularly infect your cat, causing skin irritations and other complications. A variety of preventative treatments are available, these can also deal with lice infestation. Also look out for ticks. If found, remove with tweezers or dab on a special formulation. Mange mites can be easily removed with prescription shampoos.

Cat to human infections
Known as 'zoonoses' they include dermatitis, mange mite, chlamydia, Toxocara and toxoplasmosis. If your cat suffers from any of these, burn bedding and sterilise bowls.