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You are here: Home / Life with Cats / New Year’s Resolutions for a Happy and Healthy Cat

New Year’s Resolutions for a Happy and Healthy Cat

By Pawesome Cats | Updated on 17/02/2023

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Every year, humans around the world make New Years’ Resolutions — it’s a tradition that started centuries ago and has continued over time. Resolutions are a promise and commitment that we make to ourselves on the first day of the New Year, often to start doing something good or stop doing something bad. But what about your commitment to ensuring your cat has a happy and healthy life?

Here are a few things you can do to enhance your relationship with the feline in your life and ensure your cat remains happy and healthy throughout the New Year.

Annual Vet Check

Has your cat had a check-up recently? If not, it’s time to book one in. Annual health checks are an important part of keeping your cat healthy. It’s not just about preventative care such as deworming, parasite prevention and vaccinations (although these are important) it’s about spotting problems in the early stages, because early intervention extends your cat’s life.

Microchip Your Cat

Make sure your cat is microchipped – it’s your best chance at being reunited if your cat goes missing. A microchip is no bigger than a grain of rice and is injected underneath your cat’s skin, between her shoulders. Collars and pet ID tags (with a name and phone number) are a good idea for outdoor cats, but they’re not a substitute for a microchip, which is a permanent, implanted identification tag.

Image: Julien GONG Min via Flickr

 

Feed the Best Diet You Can Afford

Learn to read the labels on commercial cat foods so you know exactly what you’re feeding your cat. Cheap kibble and canned cat foods are often bulked out with fillers, carbohydrates and grains that don’t cater to a cat’s specific nutritional needs and may in fact lead to health problems as your cat gets older. Cats need a meat-based protein diet, which is why we feed our cats a raw diet. Consider an Indoor Lifestyle

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The outside world is fraught with dangers for cats, including road traffic, cat fights and the risk of FeLV and FIV, parasites (fleas and ticks), poisons and human predators. As long as you meet all of your cat’s needs, including mental stimulation and exercise, indoor cats can live a life that’s just as happy and fulfilling as an outdoor cat. It’s also a much safer option.

Make Time for Play

Interactive playtime is a wonderful way of strengthening the bond between you and your cat. It also gives your cat a workout – strengthening muscles and keeping weight issues under control. Play is great for channeling energy in the right direction, it stops your cat from getting bored and can help prevent destructive chewing and scratching behaviour. You don’t need expensive cat toys to play with either – once of Charlie’s favourite toys is a scrunched up aluminium foil ball.

Image: Lottie via Flickr

 

Lastly, keep reading all you can about how to care for your cat – there’s a lot to learn but there are many valuable online resources available to help you. As you increase your knowledge about cats; your cat will be the ultimate winner.

What else can you do to help your cat live a happier and healthier life? We’d love to hear your New Year’s Resolutions for your cat.

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Filed Under: Holidays & Celebrations, Life with Cats

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin says

    11/01/2017 at 3:59 am

    Manna and Dexter defintely plan on getting in more play time for 2017. There aren’t too many things they love as much as play time. 🙂 My plan is to get them both to the vet again very soon. They get the care they need, but I could be more regular with it.

    Reply
  2. Deborah Barnes says

    02/01/2017 at 10:21 pm

    Wonderful tips! Happy New Year! May your year take you down whatever journey brings you the most inner peace it can. Be grateful for a new day and be grateful for new opportunities. And most of all, love yourself so you may love others. Purrs from Deb and the Zee/Zoey gang

    Reply
  3. meowmeowmans says

    02/01/2017 at 3:14 am

    Great resolutions! We can definitely play some more with Gracie and Zoe, but otherwise it looks like we’re doing well. Happy New Year, dear pals! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Cathy Keisha says

    01/01/2017 at 2:13 am

    Great post!! Like all blogging cats, TW doesn’t devote as much time to playing with me as she should. Otherwise, she gets checks down the line.

    Reply
  5. Rosa Silva (Cat Lady Confidential) says

    31/12/2016 at 11:52 pm

    These are awesome tips! I really need to spend more time playing with my cat and try some new interactive toys. Have a Happy New Year!

    Reply
  6. mommakatandherbearcat says

    31/12/2016 at 1:52 pm

    These are great. Some I’ve learned the hard way (feeding the best you can afford … and the need for play) and others seem like common sense until you realize that so few people take their cats to the vet on a regular basis.

    Reply
  7. Melissa Lapierre says

    31/12/2016 at 9:44 am

    We’ve got everything covered except for the food part. Mudpie’s diet needs some work…not for lack of trying on my part, though!

    Reply
  8. pilch92 says

    31/12/2016 at 9:35 am

    I definitely need more play time with some of my cats, it is hard with 13.

    Reply
  9. The Swiss Cats says

    31/12/2016 at 4:43 am

    What a wonderful list ! We could use more playtime, more than once a day ! Purrs

    Reply
  10. Three Chatty Cats says

    31/12/2016 at 3:08 am

    I’m happy to report that we do these things! Great list!

    Reply
  11. Brian says

    31/12/2016 at 2:06 am

    We could use some more playtime too but otherwise we are doing good!

    Reply
  12. Caren Gittleman says

    31/12/2016 at 12:39 am

    We love everything on your list! Like Summer I need to make more time with play and one thing I keep saying I will do but haven’t done yet, is have a microchip put in Cody. Dakota has one but Cody doesn’t and I am awful about that!

    Reply
  13. Summer says

    30/12/2016 at 7:58 pm

    My human definitely needs to make more time for play! She plays more with me when we are out of town than at home!

    Reply

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