Maintaining a healthy kitten

Vaccinations are vital to reinforce your kitten’s natural defenses and protect them against a range of contagious, sometimes fatal, diseases.

The recommended kitten vaccinations protect against diseases including:

• Feline leukemia – weakens the immune system and dramatically increases vulnerability to infections.
• Feline calicivirus (FCV) – highly contagious and a major cause of respiratory infections. This condition is transmitted by direct contact with eyes or nose of infected cats or contact of contaminated objects, such as bowls or toys.
• Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) – an often fatal viral disease that causes vomiting. A cat may also experience diarrhea, but this is not always present.
• Feline herpes virus (FHV-1) – a key cause of upper respiratory signs and eye disease.
• Rabies virus (RV) – transmitted by saliva of an infected animal and can be introduced beneath the skin from bite wounds. (The rabies vaccine is required by law in the US.)

There are also other vaccinations that your kitten may need. Your vet can advise what’s best for them.

It’s really important that your kitten has the right vaccinations at the right age to ensure their health and well-being as they grow. Your vet will be able to assess the risks your kitten faces and create a detailed kitten vaccination schedule to suit them and their needs.

The ideal age for your kitten’s first vaccination is when they’re between six and nine weeks. Check with your kitten’s previous caretaker, as they may already have had their first vaccination by the time you bring them home.

Your kitten’s vaccinations will be most effective if they have booster vaccinations at specific times. To maintain the cat’s immunity through adulthood, vaccines are repeated once every 1-3 years, depending on individual circumstances and vaccine type.

Your kitten may have some of these common symptoms after their vaccinations:

• Mild fever.
• Less interest in food or activity.
• Discomfort or swelling where they were vaccinated.
• Mild sneezing or coughing.

If these symptoms last for more than a day or two, it’s important to contact your vet.

You should also contact your vet immediately if your kitten has less common side effects. These can include:

• Vomiting or diarrhea.
• Itchy skin.
• Swelling around the face, neck, and mouth.
• Difficulty breathing or severe coughing.

Between around four and eight weeks, kittens are ready to move on from their mother's milk diet and can be weaned. Dry food can be mixed with water and/or formula at a ratio of 1:3 to get them used to the new textures. They still have an immature digestive system though, so they need easily digestible food that meets the specific nutritional needs for this stage of development.

Your kitten still won’t be able to digest some nutrients, so will need food tailored to their digestive stage. This will ensure they get the nutrients and energy they need to grow, develop, and stay healthy.

Your kitten's digestive and immune systems are strengthening, but still fragile. Although their growth rate and energy needs begin to slow, they still need food specially designed for developing kittens.

As your kitten gets close to its full adult weight at around 12 months, it will need to begin eating adult cat food in adult portions. Their specific nutritional needs will depend on their size and other factors such as their activity levels and whether they’ve been spayed or neutered. Talk to your vet to ensure you make the switch to adult food at the right time for your cat.