Our cat's veterinarian wears several different hats; he/she is our cat's family doctor, dentist, and optometrist. As a fellow cat owner I know how expensive your vet bill can get overtime after just some simple routine checkups and necessary vaccines. However, taking your cat to the vet for a yearly check-up may help to reduce a potentially high vet bill in addition to alerting you of any health problems your cat may be experiencing.
Just as with human health issues, many cat health problems have clear specific symptoms. Since our cats can't verbalize their discomfort, these symptoms help to alert cat owners of their cat's illness and that their cat may require a visit to the vets. Major signs such as your cat not eating are hard to miss, but with our busy lives filled with work, preparing meals for ourselves and our families, social events and bills, a symptom like your cat not regularly grooming can get overlooked.
One of several benefits of your cat's annual examine is that your veterinarian will not only do a physical examination, but will also ask questions about your cat's activity level, litter and eating habits. These questions give you a chance to think about your cat's daily behaviors and sometimes reveal a health issue; these questions may also reveal a health problem that was simply concluded as either a behavior problem or just one of your cat's personality traits. For example, a cat that is urinating outside of their litter, we might see this as a behavior problem, when in fact it is a symptom of urinary tract infection. Another example is a cat who sleeps all the time and still looks tired even after sleeping, yes every cat owner knows that cats love to sleep, however your cat excessive sleeping may not just be a cat who loves to sleep but could be a sign of diabetes.
Yearly checkups can help detect a cat health problem in the earlier stages. Early detection can decrease the negative impact of the illness and the cost associate with treating that illness. Depending on the disease, as a result of early detection, your vet may be able to prescribe a medication that will quickly treat the problem, however if left untreated could become a more severe problem that requires more intensive expensive treatments.
Also if an illness is left undetected and your cat later requires emergency services, this can be both traumatic and expensive for cats, and depending on the procedure, almost double what you would pay at your regular vets.
Please note that as important as the annual check up is, an observant cat owner who notices changes in their cat's behavior is priceless. Some illnesses simply cannot wait until the yearly check-up such as; feline kidney disease, and therefore requires an observant owner to notice symptoms that their cat may be exhibiting. A yearly check up and an observant cat owner is a winning combination when it comes to keeping your feline friend healthy.
Kerry-Ann and her husband have been cat owners for over twenty years. They have two beautiful healthy cats, ages 18 and 2. They are also the creators of http://www.cat-health-101.com, Feel free to follow them on twitter, they enjoy tweeting with fellow pet owners.http://twitter.com/#!/cathealth101
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