How to properly care for your cat after surgery

Thatcher spent 4 days at the vets right before Christmas. He ate FLUFF! The dog had got ahold of a stuffed catnip filled toy and ripped it open. He pulled all the stuffing out and along comes Thatcher who smells the catnip mixed into the stuffing and he ate it!

We first realized the problem when Thatcher vomited stuffing all over the floor. It must have been right after he ate it because it was still white...not even discolored by stomach fluids yet! We didn't even consider that he didn't vomit it all up. *sigh* 

Within 24 hours he started vomiting his food back up. By the next day he was a starting to act lethargic and we called for an appointment later that day. When we got to the vet they X-rayed him and noticed his intestines were sort of balled up in one area.

The veterinarian explained that the intestine normally moves the food through but since something was stuck there, the intestine was gathering up a bit giving it that odd appearance. They were going to have to remove the fluff. 

LONG story short, Thatcher no longer has fluff in him and he came home after 3 nights. So today I wanted to talk about feline surgery after care.

Related reading: Most common cat illnesses.

How to Reduce Cat Hair in the House

Pet hair. It's the bane of every cat owners existence! One of the downfalls of cat ownership is the cat hair you will find absolutely everywhere. It gets  on everything, frequently sticks and can be quite annoying...and embarrassing if you show up somewhere covered in it! So what do you do about all that cat hair? Well, start at the source then work from there! 

Cats lose a certain amount of fur everyday. Sometimes cats will shed more than other times. This is completely normal for a cat though it will vary based on things like the cat's age, health and the season of the year. 

Most Common Cat Illnesses

I've been wanting to write this post about common illnesses cat get but decided it has to start with a disclaimer...so, here it is: Most cats will not get sick at all! I don't want you to look at this list and freak out thinking your cat is going to catch all of these and constantly be at the vets office! He wont.

The majority of time you own a cat it will be perfectly healthy. Things do go wrong though, and we all want to get our cats back to health as soon as possible! Knowing the signs of the most common illnesses and ailments in cats is important to be able to spot the problems quickly! 

Related reading: How to care for your cat after surgery.

Do I really need a cat carrier?

When you have a cat you end up with lots of extra equipment. From cat beds and toys to scratching posts and even towers, there seems to be no end to the stuff they make for cats! Most of it though, you don't really need. You can get buy with one cat bed, a litter box, some bowls, a scratching post, a few toys and a cat carrier. 

When choosing what to buy it might be tempting to skip the cat carrier. After all you probably only need it once a year when you go to the vet and many cats wear collars that can be used with a leash. If your cat is good on a leash then you're probably leaning towards no carrier.