We want to know if things are normal—if the cat's behavior, schedule, and everything are all the same, there are no changes. If the cat is coming in for a problem, we want to know what has changed and if any environmental changes have occurred, such as changes in the litter, diet, people moving in or out of the house, or other animals coming into the house. Many of those changes can cause behavior problems in cats.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily safer. It's just that you need to discuss the lifestyle of your cat with your veterinarian and decide what the best plan is in terms of vaccines.

I think it's important that you know what to be feeding your kittens, how much water to expect them to drink, how to play with the kitten, how to pick up a kitten, when the next vaccines are due, why we're giving the vaccines, and why it’s important to know when to have your kitten spayed or neutered. Those things I think are good questions to ask your veterinarian.

CBD is a super hot topic right now, and there's a lot of research going into dosing schedules, how effective it is, and when to use it. I wish I had a straightforward answer for you, but certainly, if it's something you strongly are looking into, talk it over with your vet. I think looking at the pros and cons would be very beneficial. There are many different products on the market right now. It’s not regulated very well, so we've got to be extremely cautious about this, especially in sensitive creatures like kitty cats.

The big one that we use here is a medication called Gabapentin. It's safe for almost all cats. It is perfect for arthritis pain, especially in kitties with other underlying disease processes—thyroid, heart, or kidney stuff. There are some nonsteroidals out there that we use too. We use them on a case by case basis, depending on the kitty's overall health. We want to make sure they're healthy before we start those, and we monitor blood work while they're on those sorts of meds to see if we need to take them off it or adjust dosing.