At Charlottesville Cat Care Clinic, we help keep your cat healthy at each stage of life. The preventive care services we offer at our cat hospital include yearly exams or twice-a-year exams for senior cats or cats with chronic health problems. During these exams, our veterinarian, Dr. Maire Mahanes, and our veterinary team give your cat a thorough checkup. We check your cat’s ears, eyes, mouth, heart, lungs, abdomen, paws, joints, nails skin for any signs of potential health issues that might require additional treatment or diagnostic testing.
If your cat has been exhibiting any symptoms that concern you, we will discuss these with you and look for possible causes. If we detect any abnormalities during routine physicals. Our veterinary team can conduct blood work, take X-rays and do other diagnostic work in house. We can also provide you with specialist referrals when needed.
Vaccinations to Keep Your Cat Healthy
Cats require routine vaccinations to protect them from diseases that can be life-threatening or cause serious health problems. At Charlottesville Cat Care Clinic, we administer feline rabies vaccines to all our patients and Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) vaccines for our outdoor patients under 10 years of age each year. We also administer FVRCP vaccines, which protect cats from feline viral rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, and panleukopenia every 3 years. Since cats have a higher risk of developing severe reactions to vaccines at the injection site, including carcinomas, we minimize this by giving non-adjuvanted versions of the rabies and FeLV vaccines. These versions do not contain potential irritants that adjuvanted vaccines do, which lowers the risk of adverse reactions. For the FVRCP vaccines, we use an intranasal product rather than an injection to avoid this risk altogether.
What You Can Do for Your Cat
You can do a lot at home to keep your cat healthy. Giving cats dental treats instead of fatty treats, for example, helps protect their teeth and gums while also lowering the risk of weight gain. Keeping cats active by playing with them and giving them cat trees or other objects to explore and climb on is another important part of making sure they stay happy and healthy. Although cats are highly independent, remember that they do need regular attention and affection. If you have a senior cat, using glucosamine can help them maintain healthy joints and lower the risk of arthritis.
If it is time for your cat’s next physical exam, please contact Charlottesville Cat Care Clinic at (434) 975-2287 for an appointment.