Keeping Your Cat Healthy While You Are on the Move

If you’re an active traveler and also a pet owner, you understandably worry about the health of your pets while you’re away. Even if you find a top-quality pet sitter, you want to be sure you do your job on a daily basis to ensure that your furry little friends are in good shape while you’re gone.

Cats require less work that dogs do in some respects. Cat sitters don’t have to go on walks, for example. But they do need to monitor the cats’ conditions and make sure they’re given the right food and care. Let’s take a look at some essentials for both taking care of your kitty while you’re together, and things that you can ask of your cat sitter.

Tips for regular cat care

To prevent problems from building up in the first place, you should make a checklist of regular care tips for your cat:

1. Visit the vet regularly. Cats can’t tell you verbally when they have a problem. Mark your calendar at least once a year for visits to a vet who specializes in feline health. And obviously, if your cat starts making noise or changing its bathroom habits, you should have it checked out.
2. Do a DNA test. You never know what kinds of things your cat might be predisposed towards. Just like humans, cats have a genetic makeup that can tell you a lot about their individual genetic makeup. Taking a DNA test for cats can give you a lot of insight into how best to care for your cat.
3. Consider spaying or neutering. Unless you have a vested interest in producing and selling kittens, you should consider spaying or neutering your cat. Doing this can actually help prevent numerous diseases related to the reproductive system.
4. Read up on dietary needs. The Internet is a great resource for all manner of information these days. Find some reputable cat health sites and do some research on exactly what nutrients will keep your cat in top shape.
5. Don’t neglect grooming. Cats might not shed as much as some dogs do, but this doesn’t mean they don’t require grooming. Cats can also accumulate dead fur on their coats, so you should help them feel fresh and clean on a regular basis.

Advice for cat sitters

If you’re an avid traveler, you will have to develop a routine for leaving your cat with a trusted individual. As you search for the right person for the job, keep the following points in mind:

1. Learn cues for body language and relay them to the sitter. If your cat has regular habits that tend to indicate particular things about its health level, you should make note of them and relay them to the sitter. This will help the sitter take preventative action before major problems develop.
2. Make note about dietary and other needs. Every cat is unique, after all, and you may be so used to your cat’s behavior that you simply manage it by rote. But if you’re going to be leaving the cat with a new person on a regular basis, you should make a list of dietary, medical, and other needs that it might have. If your cat has any individual quirks that require attention, make note of them.
3. Look for the right sitter. You understandably worry about who will watch your cat, just as you would a babysitter, so the process of finding one should be similar. Try to find a sitter that has experience watching other people’s cats and you trust will be attentive to your cat’s needs. Ideally, you should find someone through a mutual contact whose opinion you trust. But there are also local sites you can look at that will rate sitters appropriately.
4. Get referrals from unknown sitters. If you do end up with a sitter that is new, ask him or her for referrals from previous owners. Again, think about the type of process that you would go through for a babysitter, a new employee, or any other person you trust with an important task.
5. Be sure to note the cat’s routine. Cats like predictability in their lives, just like humans do. So make note of feeding times, times to clean the litter box, etc, and this will help ensure that your cat feels comfortable while you are gone. It is when things become unexpected that cats get nervous and start displaying odd behavior. Also make sure that the environment stays clean so the cat doesn’t accidentally take an odd piece of furniture for a second litter box.

Keep your environment sound

In general, if you take efforts to keep your cat healthy and keep its environment as regular as you would when you are home, it should be in good shape while you travel. Be sure to keep a checklist on hand, though, and go through it regularly so that you don’t neglect any major care points. Your cat and your sitters will be grateful for your efforts.