Caring for your kitten

Vaccinations for kittens

Kittens have their first vaccinations at 9 weeks and then have the second injection at 12 weeks old. Ideally allow your kitten a couple of days to settle into their new home before vaccinating. A week after their last injection they will be fully vaccinated and may go outside. However, it may be advisable to keep your kitten inside until they have been neutered. After the primary course of vaccinations a booster is required annually. Kittens are vaccinated against:

Feline enteritis

Feline calici and herpes virus (cat flu)

Feline leukaemia

Kittens can also be vaccinated against Rabies if travelling abroad.

Parasites

Kittens should be wormed every 4 weeks from 8 weeks of age until they are 6 months. Most worms cannot be seen by the naked eye and despite not going outside kittens can commonly be infected through the mother’s milk. Clinical signs of a high worm burden are weight loss/ not putting on weight as they should, skin irritation and vomiting and/ or diarrhoea. Worms can also be transmitted to people and rarely can cause serious disease. Because of this, regular worming is advised as well as good hygiene.

Flea treatment and prevention is based on the circumstances in each home. A large burden of fleas can cause anaemia in young animals. It is recommended to apply flea treatment every 4 weeks to your pet.

Neutering

Both male and female kittens can be neutered from 4 months of age. If you are not planning on breeding we recommend getting them neutered early to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Microchipping

It is currently not a legal requirement to microchip cats. However, it is still recommended so that cats can be reunited with owners if they get lost. Microchipping is regularly done during the second vaccination consult or when they are neutered.

Insurance

It is advisable to get pet insurance when your cat is a kitten as this is the time that some developmental diseases can become apparent. Good quality insurance allows for emergency treatment to be paid for as well as accounting for long term medication. If an animal does not have insurance it can create major limitations in how the vet can diagnose illness and treat your pets, if funds are a problem. It is best to seriously think about these things and what you would do if anything went wrong with your animal’s health.