National Cat Health Month (Feb 23)
Did you know February is National Cat Health Month in the States? Its worth a mention in the UK too as a few charities are using this month to highlight the health benefits of neutering / spaying your cats. Always worth thinking and talking about.
In the UK there has been a 25% rise in unwanted kittens during 2022! The RSPCA gives a figure of over 100 reports of abandoned / unwanted animals PER DAY believe it or not. Whats the best way to reduce the number of unwanted cats? Have your cats spayed / neutered and they cannot reproduce - its that simple.
Cats Protection recommends that cats should be neutered from four months of age, but while 9.3 million cats are neutered, 1.3 million remain unneutered. ** You can find more stats from Cats Protection here: https://www.cats.org.uk/mediacentre/facts-figures
Neutering is an operation to prevent female cats from getting pregnant and male cats from making females pregnant. Although cats can be neutered at any age, Cats Protection recommends that kittens are neutered at four months old or younger. Sue explains: “Some of the best advice we can give to owners who are worried about their financial situation is to neuter their cat, it’s a simple step to ensure you don’t end up with a cat going through a difficult and expensive pregnancy and then several kittens to pay for as well.”
Cat owners may be eligible for support through Cats Protection’s means-tested neutering scheme. The average cost of neutering a cat ranges from £80 to £150. To see if you are eligible, you can call Cats Protection’s neutering helpline (Mon-Fri 9.30am-1pm) on 03000 12 12 12
Other than talking about spaying / neutering your cat - its worth shining a light on all types of health conditions your cats may encounter. There are MANY… Its likely you will be lucky and experience a happy healthy kitty for the majority of their lives, but ALWAYS beneficial to register them with a local vet in order to keep up with vaccinations, check ups and with regular flea and worming treatments.
icatcare.org have an entire section of their website dedicated to cat health conditions with bags of info and advice - you can find their A-Z here: https://icatcare.org/advice/?per_page=12&categories=health-conditions
Remember while this whole month is National Cat Health Month, we also have a few special individual days during Feb too:
FEB 14th - Pet Theft Awareness Day (and of course Valentines Day!)
FEB 20th - Love Your Pet Day
FEB 28th - World Spay Day
Check our socials for more info each date and share the love by liking and sharing our posts to keep your fellow cat lovers informed
