Congratulations on your new, furry friend! Having a new pet is an exciting experience, and we understand that you want to give the best care possible for your new friend. Taking care of a new kitten can be overwhelming, which is why we wanted to provide our clients with the best online resources to help care for their new pet. We hope that you find these resources helpful, and please feel free to contact us whenever you want to bring your kitten to our clinic. We look forward to meeting them!
Prevention
Fleas & Ticks Maintaining your pet's quality of life is what we strive to accomplish at CAC, and this begins with prevention. Flea and tick prevention is one of the most helpful (and easiest) steps to ensuring the quality and longevity of your pet. Without consistent flea and tick prevention, animals can develop tick borne diseases (lyme disease being the most common), skin infections, and if severe enough, your pet can suffer from flea anemia. All of this can be avoided by utilizing flea and tick prevention. At CAC, we offer topical and oral prevention as well as collars, but if you prefer more options, you can visit our online pharmacy, VetSource, to find the right prevention for your pet.
|
Intestinal parasites/Heartworm disease Another form of prevention that we believe is crucial to your pet's health is intestinal parasite and heartworm disease prevention. Intestinal parasites can be found in the form of worms- hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and tapeworm. Once infected, your cat can become severely ill, which is why we encourage all patients to bring a stool sample to their wellness exam. By testing the stool sample, we are able to examine whether or not your pet is infected and proceed with the proper treatment.
Another preventative we encourage our clients to utilize is for heartworm disease, which can be transmitted through a mosquito bite. To test your cat for heartworm disease, we examine a blood sample. Once tested, we encourage the consistent use of a preventative. At CAC and through our online pharmacy, we offer oral prevention. |
What to expect with kitten wellness visits and vaccinations
First visit: Usually performed shortly after adoption (about 6-8 weeks of age)
|
Follow-up visit(s): 3-4 weeks after exam (about 9-12 weeks of age until 16 weeks of age)
|
Your growing kitten will need exams and vaccines every three to four weeks until 16 weeks of age. Usually, the last vaccine booster(s) can coincide with surgery if you plan to spay or neuter. Vaccines may be split up if the kitten is especially small, in which case some will be done as tech appointments (exam will not be performed nor charged).
Spay/Neuter
Spay/NeuterWe begin spaying and neutering cats around 4-6 months of age. In order to proceed with the surgery, we require a wellness exam within three months prior to the surgery in order to ensure that your pet is healthy enough to endure anesthetics. On the morning of the surgery, drop-off time for your cat is between 7:45 a.m. to 8:00 a.m, and as long as the surgery goes smoothly, pick-up is later that evening. We make it a priority that your pet is as comfortable as possible during surgery, which is why we always have a technician on staff to aid the doctor during surgery. The technician is with your pet from the moment they walk in the door to the moment they leave.
|
MicrochippingWe are happy to offer microchipping for your pet at any stage of their life. No surgery or anesthetics are necessary, but if you want to have your kitten chipped while being spayed/neuter, we are happy to do so. The microchip is smaller than a grain of rice and is adminstered like a vaccination. If you would like more information about microchipping, you can visit www. homeagain.com.
|
Online resources
We understand that there is more to raising a kitten than vaccines and wellness visits, which is why we wanted to provide you with other online resources. House training, carrier training, and other general kitten obstacles are important, so feel free to browse these external links. We hope that you find them helpful!
|