Our pets can sometimes be as close to us as members of our family, that’s why cat owners will want to know as much as they can about cat health. The following are the major things to know about caring for your cat in a loving way:
DIET: Cat health is strongly affected by what your pet eats. Obesity is a major factor in heart disease particularly as you cat gets older. Choose a pet food for your cat that is right for it’s age but feed it regularly. Consistency is the key to a well-fed pet.
GROOMING: Longhaired cats should be groomed regularly for optimum cat health. Use a pet brush and groom no less than once a week.
LITTER: The litter box can be a danger to both cat health and human health if it isn’t cleaned regularly. Change your pet’s letter no less than once every four days and keep a small dish of baking soda near the litter area.
ELDERLY CATS: Some diseases occur because your pet gets older. These can be labeled elderly cat health problems. As cats age their kidneys and eyesight fail and may need special diets.
SCRATCHING: Scratching is a major cat health concern because if a cat scratches regularly it is often a sign of other problems. If your cat is scratching an area a lot try a delousing product and then take your pet to the vet.
BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS: Many cat health problems relate to difficult or uncommon behavior. Listlessness can be a symptom of depression. Strange aggression is sometimes caused by hormone imbalances.
DECLAWING: Choosing to declaw can be a major factor in Cat health. If you choose to declaw your pet it is important to remember to keep them inside at all times.
PARASITES: Parasites like ringworm, heart worm and rabies can greatly affect cat health. Blood in a cat’s stool or uncommon appetite are common signs of parasites.
STRESS: Stressful situations like moving, travelling, natural disasters or even changes in the family can affect cat health. To minimize the effects of stress on your pet, purchase a tranquilizer for distance travelling and have a place in your home where your cat can escape if there are busy changes in the house.
POISON: Part of managing cat health is making sure dangerous poisons like antifreeze are inaccessible to your pet. Some plants are fatal to cats so make sure to raise your plants and lock your toxins.
MOUTH: Cat’s often have mouth diseases and this can impact cat health. Cat’s are just as prone to gingivitis as humans and cats can also develop. For problems like rodents ulcer or bad breath, brush your cat’s teeth with a small child’s toothbrush.
INDOORS/OUTDOORS: One of the greatest factors in determining cat health is whether you cat goes out of doors. Cars, children, other animals and toxins are all dangerous and should be avoided by keeping your cat indoors.
Cat health is an issue that concerns us all and hopefully this article has provided you with information that will make your cat’s life safer and healthier.
For more more information about cat health please visit http://www.1health-center.com/articles/How-to-Make-Your-Pets-Healthier-and-Happier.php
Tags: cat health, cats, health, healthy cat, healthy pet, pet health
So you want to purchase a dog or cat. There is something you should know before you take the leap. House pets are to be taken care of like your very own children; it is natural that they become part of the family. All animals have wants, needs and health issues just like human beings. You really have to be prepared because there are many things you need to care for your pets in order to keep them happy and healthy. In regards to pet health, you have to realize that it can be costly for veterinarian visits, so you may want to consider pet health insurance.
Health insurance for our pets is an option growing in attractiveness to many owners of our canine and feline friends, especially because most consider their pet a full-fledged family member. More policies have been sold in the last year and a half than in the last 20 years, with the average monthly cost being between $9 and $25.
Some newer policies cover regular check-ups and routine care. You may not consider this to be a benefit seeing that the routine care that is covered usually costs less than the insurance premiums. Economically, pet insurance that covers unexpected, expensive health care costs make better sense. You have to as yourself some pretty grave pet health questions. For instance, if you had to pay out of your own pocket, would you seek treatment of internal injuries from an accident? Would you pay for needed cancer treatment or treatment for other diseases? What if your dog has hip dysplasia? Odds are, your pet will never need such care, but if he does, you might welcome the coverage when faced with a $5,000 bill. Other pet health questions to ask: Would I be able to afford a sequence of treatments that might add up that high? Would I feel forced to euthanize my pet if I could not come up with the money to pay? To some it is not an option.
Once you have considered these questions it will help you decide if you are going to purchase pet insurance. Deciding to purchase a health insurance policy for your pet may not be an easy decision. In many cases, preexisting medical conditions are typically excluded from coverage. Many companies that sell the policies in the past have gone out of business leaving policyholders hanging. If you decide to purchase a policy, make sure you are familiar with the fine print explaining what is covered and what is not. Gather all the information you can before making a final decision. Also before purchasing a policy make sure it is accepted by your local veterinarian or veterinarians. Be sure to review what veterinary procedures and supplies are covered. Pet health policies are similar to human insurance policies; annual premiums, deductibles, and different coverage plans based on what the owner chooses. Plans are based on breeds, age, pre-existing conditions and in some cases, lifestyle of the pet (i.e. indoor vs. outdoor cat).
Most companies start policies at age 6-8 weeks, some have no age limit, and of the others I researched, one had a limit of 27 years, others had a limit of 8 years of age (if the animal was insured when less than 8 years, coverage would continue beyond 8 years). The current overall average for annual deductibles is around $100.00. The policy costs vary, depending on the animal and the different packages that owners can choose. Some packages are comprehensive, including such things as: annual checkups and vaccinations, routine care, preventive medications (like heartworm preventive supplements) and spay/neuter surgeries. Other plans cover only accident and illness. Most plans offer immediate coverage for accident claims, and 30 days for illness claims on new policies. Additional pets are usually covered at a reduced rate after the first policy-holding pet.
So you thought the hardest part to purchasing a pet was going to be choosing the one you would take home! Well now you know that being owning a pet has all the responsibilities of having a baby. It is important that people understand before becoming pet owners there is more to it than keeping their fur flea free, purchasing treats and pet products, like collars and toys and catering to the nutrition diet or diets of your puppies or kittens. There can be serious ramifications if you take pet ownership lightly.
© Copyright PetHealthAndSupplies.com, All Rights Reserved.
Teresa Schahczinski is a frequent contributor to Pet Health and Supples. For more tips on maintaing
your pet’s health visit Pet Health and Supplies
Before we talk about using the essential oils, we first should define what is an essential oil in the first place.
An essential oil is a bioavailable nutritive liquid. This liquid is derived from flowers, plants, trees, etc., through a special distillation process. Essential oils (when left in their purest, non-diluted state with no synthetics added) have a 100% kill factor on harmful viruses, bacteria, funguses, mold and tumors.*
The key to using an essential oil in the ways I will describe here though is to make sure you 1) know your source 2) because you’ll want the oils derived from certified organic plants not grown with pesticides in order to have the full effect of the oil.
Aromatherapy is often a word you’ll find associated with the essential oils. The phrase was first “coined” by French chemist Dr. Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, Ph.D., in 1920. One day while he was working in his laboratory he had an accident that caused a third-degree thermal burn to his arm and hand. His immediate reaction was to plunge his arm into what he thought was a vat of water but rather it was a vat of lavender oil. So, he continued to use the lavender oil to treat his burn which eventually healed completely and left absolutely no scar!
Now please keep in mind that most of the essential oils on the market today have synthetics added to them as they’re basically made for the cosmetic industry and are not nutritional. However, there are some excellent therapeutic grade oils on the market that are pure, unadulterated oils that can be used internally, topically and inhaled as powerful immune system builders.
While these essential oils for the most part have been created with humans in mind, many people are using these essential oils in their pet care successfully, and I’m one of them.
The essential oils work synergistically with the body to maintain, help, repair, and renew it right down to our DNA. The “oil” from the plants is similar to our blood and immune system so they work very harmoniously within our bodies. They go in and oxygenate and detoxify our blood simulatenously and create an environment where pathogens cannot live! Even more exciting is when the oils are either directly inhaled or diffused (using a cold air diffuser) they will cross the blood-brain barrier and clean out the petrochemicals. Due to their adaptagenic qualities they go into our blood streams, cells, etc., and seek out where they are needed like little therapeutic agents.
You might be thinking, well but I don’t have any petrochemicals in my brain or blood and even if I do, my pets don’t. Think again. Dr. David Stewart, PhD, wrote in his article Essential Oils for Things That Bug You Around the House the following “Among the many chemicals in our industrial environment that get into our systems and make us sick are the pesticides we use in our homes. We use them because we they are toxic to the creatures that bug us, but they are also toxic to us. Sometimes the toxicity is immediately apparent: we get a headache, get sick or feel nausea from the fumes or other contact.
Sometimes the toxicity is subtle and can accumulate resulting in chronic complaints and disorder (including allergies, cancer and miscarriages) that can be serious and even deadly over time. Sometimes we even put poisons on our pets to deal with ticks and fleas, not realizing that these substances are not healthy for us nor our animals.”
Pesticides normally include some kind of petrochemical. Meaning if we don’t take responsibilty for our health and the health of our pets, we can become sicker and sicker through the use of all these pesticides, herbacides, and chemical cleaning products in our homes. What affects us can affect our pets even faster and more readily because they are lying on our chemically cleaned floors and in our chemically treated and fertilized yards.
There is hope though! By using therapeutic grade essential oils, we can eliminate much (if not all) of the poisons from our homes and in our bodies -and that includes our pets too! While I can’t go into depth in one single article I can leave you with some links to follow up on and a few of the essential oils you may want to get immediately to start implementing the change in your lives and the lives in your pets.
When using therapeutic grade oils, you can use them “neat” (undiluted) on skin, inhaled, or even internally with some oils. To apply any to your pets, you may choose to diffuse them in a diffuser until your pets become more used to the oils. With cats it is always a good idea to err on the side of caution and either diffuse them or apply diluted to their hind feet (using more mixing oil than essential oil) or tips of their ears. I only use one brand of oil and do not use any others. I know my source and these oils and trust them. Do your homework before embarking on the oils for your pets, especially your cats.
Lavender oil has so many uses benefits including the one at the beginning of this article: for burns, cuts, scrapes, sunburns it is an all-purpose oil. Add to that the calming effect and wonderful smell, you can’t go wrong with this oil. It can be used on bee stings and insect bites also and is a good oil (when diluted with a organic mixing oil such as olive or almond) for cleaning your dog and cats ears (VERY diluted on a cat!). When you use any of the oils (neat or straight undiluted) the oils act an insect repellant. When you mix them with water they act as a natural pesticide. This oil is a good repellant to chiggers, fleas, flies, mosquitoes, and ticks!
Peppermint oil: this oil is great for relieving doggy flatulence (and human!), diarrhea, indigestion, as an anti-inflammatory, and can reduce fevers. You can also use it before or during a workout to boost your mood and reduce fatigue -I do daily! Oh and the best part -it can curb your appetite! This oil is also good at getting rid of the following bugs: Ants, aphids, beetles, catepillars, fleas, flies, lice, moths, plant lice, and spiders.
There are many many more oils to help you for nearly every single medical protocol for you and your pets. Here are some articles you can read along with Dr. Stewart’s above which can all be found on my dog’s blog Bark ‘N’ Blog (see bio):
“Aromatherapy Research and Education: What is AFNOR?”
“How Do Essential Oils Work?”
“The Healing Power of a Rose”
“Important Facts Regarding Toxins in our Environment”
*All information presented here is intended for educational purposes only. It is not provided in order to diagnose, prescribe or treat any disease, illness or injured condition of the body or pets and the author, publisher, and contributors accept no responsibility for such use. Anyone suffering or their pets from any disease, illness or injury should consult with their physician or veterinarian.
Originally published for Suite101.com Holistic Pet Care Topic
DISCLAIMER: The only essential oils we use and refer to in ALL articles are Young Living Essential Oils. We DO NOT use any others and would not state what we do about using essential oils on any other brands
About the Author:
Kim Bloomer is a natural pet care educator helping pet owners learn to care for their pets through natural, holistic means. Disease prevention is her goal to help pet owners lower their pet care costs and extend the lives of their pets. Visit her website Aspenbloom Pet Care and her dog’s blog barkin’ about natural pet care from a canine perspective Bark ‘N’ Blog