HELPING KITTENS GROW UP WELL

Preparing your home for a kitten will look different for everyone, but could involve: purchasing kitten supplies like a bed, carrier, food, and toys; kitten proofing your home by removing toxic plants, tidying cables, and securing or storing breakable items; and sourcing their vet care and planning for services like vaccinations and deworming.

Preparing for a kitten is easy with a Lovet Kitten Package. The Lovet Kitten Package includes wellness exams, vaccinations, parasite prevention, and nail trims. It’s personalized to your kitten’s age and lifestyle, so the number of each will depend on your vet’s recommendation.

During your kitten’s wellness exam, our vets will check how your kitten is growing with a weight check. Then, we’ll examine their health externally from nose to tail, including their teeth and gums. We’ll chat with you the whole way to let you know what we’re finding, to address any concerns, and to get to know more about you and your kitten.

A kitten wellness exam is important to establish a baseline of your kitten’s wellness, so that any concerns are easier to spot in their earliest stages. Wellness exams also socialize your kitten to our team and hospital environment so that future visits are as stress-free as possible. Kitten wellness exams also provide a space for you to ask questions about your kitten’s health, behavior, and growth — our team is here for it all!

In general, most kittens receive vaccinations against feline HSV-1, calicivirus, panleukopenia, and feline leukemia in their first year. These vaccinations are usually given every 4-6 weeks until your kitten is at least 16 weeks. Your vet will provide personalized recommendations of which vaccines your kitten should receive and on what schedule based on their breed, lifestyle, and age.

Kittens are often affected by upper respiratory infections like calicivirus and feline herpes virus, gastric issues like vomiting and diarrhea, and parasitic issues like worms, fleas, or ear mites. To help prevent your kitten from contracting these common illnesses, stay up-to-date on their vaccinations, monitor their diet, and start parasite prevention as soon as your vet recommends.

Kittens can inherit certain parasites from their mother, so deworming can start as early as two weeks of age and continues every two weeks for four rounds of treatment. However, with growing immune systems and curious tendencies, your kitten may need monthly deworming until they reach around six to eight months of age to ensure they don’t get reinfected. If you adopted your kitten from a breeder, shelter, or rescue, they may have already begun or completed deworming, so be sure to ask! We usually recommend a fecal when they are roughly 6-10 weeks of age to ensure they have no further deworming needs.

For the most health and behavioral benefits, kittens are generally spayed or neutered at around five to seven months of age. Factors that influence the timing of your kitten’s spaying or neuter might include their breed or lifestyle. Read our blog to learn more about when to spay or neuter your kitten.

Most kittens should start flea and tick prevention when they are over 8 weeks old and weigh over 2 pounds, but your vet will provide personalized recommendations. It’s important to start flea and tick medication before seeing signs of fleas or ticks (scabs, overgrooming, tiny brown flecks known as “flea dirt”) to prevent the transmission of parasite-borne illnesses like bartonellosis (cat scratch fever) or Lyme disease.