NSAIDs like the ones we humans use, such as Tylenol or Advil, can be very toxic to dogs and cats, especially if, as I said, we're not considering the appropriate dose. You should never give those things to your dog or your cat. NSAIDs prescribed by a veterinarian can be considered.

Aha, yes. The unfortunate answer is yes, they can. There is an injection site tumor called a fibrosarcoma that they can sometimes develop. I have been in practice for 21 years and I think I have seen three in 21 years. Is it common? Obviously, no, it’s not common at all. In fact, there've been a lot of changes to vaccines in probably the last 10 to 12 years or so, and I'm just randomly picking that timeframe, but around there, to where they changed it. It used to be due to what's called the adjuvant, the carrier in the vaccine. They would put an additive in vaccinations to stimulate the immune system and it's thought that a lot of the adjuvants in some of the vaccinations, particularly the old leukemia vaccines, were thought to be the ones to do that. To my knowledge, that adjuvant has been changed or taken out completely. I don't know for certain, but I can tell you that I have not seen a reaction that way in many, many years—it’s probably been double-digit years since I've seen one of those cases, but it is possible, unfortunately.

There are some over-the-counter medications out there, but we have to be extremely cautious because they can cause problems in our kitty friends. There are very few things that we use these sorts of things to treat. Before starting any over-the-counter medications, we recommend consulting with your veterinarian just to make sure that it's safe that we get proper dosing and that we're treating them for the right thing.

It’s good to ask how much food to feed your kitten and how much exercise they need. Especially if you're unfamiliar, ask for good resources. Where's the closest emergency facility in case your regular veterinarian is closed? That's always good to know so you're not scrambling at the last minute. We like to give all that information ahead of time, and we direct people to our website, prestigeanimalhospital.com. We have these client resources for a guide to cat care where they can find all that information. Because it can get overwhelming at the visit, we give them a reference to go back to that summarizes what we discussed.

So preventative care is a pillar of our clinic. This is part of our philosophy—strong, preventative care to just do that, prevent things from happening later in life...to prevent kittens from getting sick, prevent them from transmitting anything to the owner. So some preventative care is fecal testing or poop testing to check for any parasites. Because sometimes you can't see parasites that are worms on the stool. It can be eggs, and these can be zoonotic, or transmissible to people. We get them proper vaccinations to protect them from diseases that are common in cats. We administer blood tests to make sure they weren't born with that with a virus that sometimes some kitty cats can get. We check their heart, their lungs. So, regular veterinary appointments are going to be very important. Do not forget flea and tick control. Cats are very good at hiding fleas, as they groom often.

There are a lot of things to consider with preventive care. Preventive care is actually really good nutrition. You get on a name brand food, like a Purina food or Royal Canin or Hills, and feed them only kitten food up until they're a year—that's preventative medicine because you're getting started out on a clean plane of health.

Second of all, the vaccinations are key to preventative care. They're trying to prevent diseases that we just don't even want to see anymore.

The third would be a flea and tick medication because fleas can come into your house. They can come in on the dog, and ticks can come in. Sometimes cats just go out on porches and windowsills. And so that's also preventative medicine.

And then the other part of preventative medicine is to get your cat spayed or neutered when they get older, or at about six months of age.

Absolutely. First of all, rabies is required by law, so you have to have that one. Feline leukemia is important because once in a while a cat could get out, even though your intention was for them to be inside. And the feline distemper combination, that's upper respiratory, so that can be carried in actually on other clothes. You may have another cat, someone may bring a cat over, you may go over to someone else's house who has a cat who's sneezing. So even though you have an indoor cat, you definitely want to keep your cat up to date on vaccines. Plus sometimes they get groomed or you have to board them, and then they are around other cats that you weren't thinking about originally.

This is a question we get often. And my answer to that is, as a kitten, if they're strictly indoors and they have zero contact from other cats outside, and when I mean zero contact, you don't leave the windows open with a screen, you don't have a screen door where they can go up and maybe another kitten can come out and sneeze and get some respiratory aerosols into their eyes or face, or hiss. They don't go outside to the backyard and back in—they're strictly indoors. Then what we do recommend is get them caught up on their kitten vaccinations, we get them their annual vaccinations, and then we can hold off. If they have any possibility of going outside, regular vaccinations at least annually should be required.

Vaccinations typically in kittens are multiple vaccines known as FERCP, feline leukemia, and rabies, all depending on your cat's lifestyle.

Bring the kitten in right away so we can discuss this. Different ages require them to come at different times. For example, let's say you get a 14-week-old cat. They might not be coming as frequently as that of a 4 or 6-week-old kitten, who we need to see more regularly.