How To Help Your Cat Live Longer

How to help your cat live longer.

by Lisa Tate

Getting a cat is a decision many people make and are very happy with. There is something special about a cat – or even cats, as you can certainly have more than one at a time – that makes them a fantastic pet; they’re loving and make great companions, but they’re also very independent, making them easy to take care of if you work a lot of can’t always be with them, for example.

Because we love our cats so much, it’s important to know what to do to help them live longer and to ensure that long life is a healthy one. The good news is that there are lots of things we can do to achieve this, so read on to find out what some of them are and put them into practice if you haven’t already.

The Right Food

Giving your cat a healthy, well-balanced diet is a crucial part of ensuring they have a long, healthy life – it might even be the most important thing you can do. A cat that eats healthy food full of the right vitamins and nutrients will stay healthier than one that eats poor quality food or even human food. If you’re not sure what food will be best, speak to your vet for some advice; they’ll be able to take your cat’s overall health, size, and other elements into account to help you work out what type of food (and potentially additional vitamins) is right.

It’s very important, of course, that you don’t overfeed your cat if you want to keep them healthy. Although it’s tempting to give them lots of treats as you know it makes them happy, it can also make them incredibly unhealthy, and it could lead to health issues such as:

•   Diabetes
•   Joint problems
•   Heart disease

Keep treats to a minimum and only feed the recommended amount of food every day, and you should be able to avoid this.

Annual Check-Ups

Many people will only go to see their doctor if they think something is wrong, and they might feel the same about vets – they’ll only take their cat if there is an obvious issue. However, this is not the right thing to do for you or for them. It’s actually better to make an annual appointment with the vet for your cat to get checked over. In this way, any conditions that you might not notice until it’s too late to do anything about them or they’re already causing your cat some health issues can be spotted early and dealt with. Plus, your vet can give you useful advice about how best to take care of your cat.

On a related note, it’s wise to get pet insurance too. If anything goes wrong, you can have peace of mind that you can get your cat the help it needs. If you have more than one pet, you can also look at multi pet insurance to save money and keep everyone healthy.

Mental Stimulation

Cats are curious creatures and they can be very intelligent, so it’s crucial you give them plenty of things to do and provide them with mental stimulation for their mental health and overall wellbeing. Although they might not need as much exercise as dogs (or at least not in the same way), they will still need to be active, so if you can pick toys and games that get them moving as well as thinking, that’s the best solution.