At Carriage Crossing Animal Hospital, we want to give your kitten a healthy start. Cats can live for twenty years with protection from infection, good nutrition, and other preventative care. Their first visit to our veterinary hospital needs to cover a lot of testing and treatments. Let’s try to break that down into four ways this visit protects your kitten.

1) Exam and History

At your kitten’s first visit, our doctor starts by asking questions about signs of illness. We will also ask you where your kitten came from and how you are managing his care. We want to discuss their care at home now and your plans for their future. Our veterinarian will examine your kitten carefully, looking for signs of disease. They will also look for signs of fear, anxiety, and stress, and for signs of poor nutrition. Through all this, we prevent stress by feeding a steady stream of kitten food and giving frequent breaks. We also check for a microchip and try to get an adorable photo. By finding signs of disease early, we can intervene for the best outcome. We offer a complimentary insurance trial at your first visit because it is the perfect time to start pet insurance to help spread costs out over time.

2) Parasite testing and prevention

Fecal parasites are common in kittens and can be a risk to their health and to the rest of your household. We need to both test your kitten’s poop, and give them medications to prevent and treat parasites at their first visit. This is because no one test finds all parasites, and no one medication treats all parasites. Together this approach keeps parasites out of your home. Don’t forget to bring a sample to your first visit! 

3) Nutrition and behaviour recommendations

As part of our exam, we will check if their current diet is complete and balanced for your kitten’s growth, and recommend a daily feeding amount in cups or grams. We will let you know your kitten’s fear, anxiety and stress level during their visit and discuss ways to lower it at future visits. Giving your kitten confidence building experiences with new people, places and animals to continue their socialization is an important goal we will discuss. We even help you start training your kitten for cooperative care including nail trims and brushing. 

4) Disease testing and prevention

Leukemia is a serious infection a kitten can catch from their mother, so we need to test them as part of their first visit. This test requires a small blood test and usually also includes testing for another virus, FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus). Once we know they are negative on this test for leukemia, we need to protect them with a leukemia vaccine. The other vaccines your kitten needs are FRCP (feline rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, panleukopenia), and rabies. We will schedule return visits for booster vaccines to ensure there are no gaps in their protection. You will have lots of questions and we will have lots of information to share with you which is why it is great our team is going to see you frequently as your kitten grows.

If you have not scheduled your kitten’s first vet visit yet, now is the perfect time to book.