The most common things we see—especially here in South Louisiana in the spring and summer—is allergic dermatitis. Some people call it atopic dermatitis. It’s all referring to the same thing, in that dogs are allergic to something in their environment, and then their skin becomes inflamed and irritated. Because the skin is inflamed and irritated, often those will be followed by bacterial skin infections. Those are the most common things we see, but to make a little bit more thorough list, you also have parasitic diseases, ticks, mites, and fleas. Those things are also very commonly seen. And, occasionally, we'll see fungal skin conditions. Thankfully, these aren’t as common, as they can be a little tough to cure.

Let's be honest. It's a cat and they're going to rest pretty much whenever they want to rest. We all know the lifestyle of a cat. I think the biggest thing is to avoid stress. Now when we say "rest", my mind immediately thinks sleep. More importantly, though, you should avoid exposing them to stress as much as you can.

If there's a way to give them their own little space where there are no other animals in there harassing them, that's ideal, especially if they don't do well with the dogs or other pets in the house. Keep them separate so they don't have to be traumatized by those kinds of things. I think stress is the bigger enemy there.

It's a good idea to see a veterinarian at the time of diagnosis. During the pregnancy, there's seldom a need for it. Honestly, most of the visits are going to really come into play at the time of delivery or perhaps thereafter when we're caring for the kittens and also maintaining care for the mother.

Not really. The care for a pregnant cat is virtually the same as any other adult cat. One thing that I like to do, however, is to switch the moms-to-be over to kitten food. Yes, of course, I do understand I'm talking about feeding an adult animal kitten food, but the reason why is because kitten foods tend to be higher in fat, higher in protein, higher in calcium. These are all things that they're going to need when they're producing a litter of kittens and very shortly thereafter in order to produce plenty of milk. They're going to need some of those increased nutrients. I typically recommend that pregnant cats eat the kitten food until the litter is weaned.