Feline How-To Manual: Keeping Records ~ Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.

Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.
Cat Health Care
Information by Condition or Disease

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Any health care links located here are NOT to replace a veterinarian visit; please take your cat to a vet immediately at any sign of odd behavior or any symptoms of illness or injury. Call your vet and describe your cat's symptoms with any of your concerns about the cat's well-being. Your veterinarian may discover changes in your cat's health that you have overlooked. It is always better to err on the side of caution.

Keeping Records

There's a lot to be said for keeping records for healthy cats. If you move often, the information will help your new veterinarian be informed about your cat's past medical history. The knowledge of past history can hold the key to diagnosis of a current illness.

Travel across most state and all national boundaries requires a health certificate that declares your cat to be free of infectious diseases and lawfully inoculated against rabies. All airlines require this certificate at the time of boarding. Health certificates are issued by your vet. To obtain one, make an appointment for a physical examination. Bring your rabies certificate with you if the vet issuing the health certificate is not the same one who administered the vaccine.

The listing below is some of the information that you should have available in your personal records for your cat. Aside from the medical record, have several good photographs of your cat to be used if he is ever lost. A photograph can be attached to a lost/found notice, photocopied, and posted in public places. Some owners make photograph postcards of lost pets and send them to vets and animal shelters.

Things to Include in Your Cat's Wellness Record

Photographs

Vaccination history

Rabies certificates

Health certificates

Copies of medical records from previous veterinary hospitals or receipts of services

If applicable, breeder's name and address

If applicable, pedigree

FeLV and FIV test results

Results of stool analysis for parasites

Your cat's normal body weight

During an office call, your veterinarian will ask questions about your cat's behavior, discuss what he finds during the examination, and/or the problem at hand. The listing below is some general questions the vet may ask. If you must drop your cat off at the hosptial rather than schedule an appointment, write down as much information as accurately and as briefly as possible and include a phone number where you can be reached.

Questions Your Vet May Ask

Has your cat been coughing or sneezing?

Has he had any vomiting or diarrhea?

Have you noticed any weight gain or loss?

How is his appetite?

How is his attitude?

What do you usually feed him? Have you changed foods and if so, when did you do this?

Does your cat go outdoors?

Are there any other animals at home? Are any of them ill?

Can you think of anything he may have gotten into?

When did you first notice a problem?

Has the problem gotten worse, better, or stayed the same?

How long has he had this problem?

Has he ever had this problem before?

Have you given him any medication for this problem and if so, what was it, and when?

If you think he has a temperature, did you take his temperature and if so, what is it?

If you are giving your cat treatments at home or monitoring his progress, keep some brief notes about this too. Make a few written notes to make sure that he's getting his medications on time so that you can accurately update your vet. If your vet asks you to check your cat's temperature during the day, do so and write it down. Using a calendar will help.

If your vet sends home medications to be given two or three times a day, write the name of the medication and draw one line or box next to it for every dose that is to be given during the day. Do this for every day that you're supposed to give the medication. Under the box or line include the time each dose is to be administered.

Whenever you pill your cat, give liquid medication, or apply topical ointments or creams, checkmark the appropriate line or box. This will serve not only as a reminder that the medications have been given, but will remind you to finish out every prescription and serve as a record the last time your cat had this particular problem.

Some medications are prescribed on an every other day or every two day basis. When more than one drug is being given, calendars will keep track of cycles, as these types of drugs must be given in patterns. Your vet can help prepare and maintain the more complicated calendars in these cases.

Other important information to record includes body temperature, appetite, water intake, bowel movements, vomiting and/or diarrhea, urination, and overall attitude.

How-to Articles in This Series:

Article   1: How to Choose a Vet
Article   2: Hospital Admission of Your Cat
Article   3: Preventive Care: Vaccinations, Serologic Testing, Spaying & Neutering
Article   4: Preventative Care - Dental Care, Flea Control, and Grooming
Article   5: Cooperation - Restraint Procedures and Trimming Claws
Article   6: Keeping Records
Article   7: Care in the Sick Room
Article   8: Keeping Watch - Your Cat's Vital Signs
Article   9: Nutrition for the Cat
Article 10: Feeding the Cat - Including Newborn Kitten Feeding
Article 11: Medications and Prescriptions
Article 12: Basic Nursing 101
Article 13: Managing Bandages and Splints
Article 14: Before and After Surgery and Dentistry
Article 15: Pregnancy and Delivery
Article 16: Euthanasia

Page URL: http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/howto6.html

Resource References:
Caring for Your Sick Cat Carol Himsel Daly, DVM and veterinary consultant
Cat Doctor, Mark Evans, B Vet Med MRVCS
Cornell Book of Cats, Cornell Feline Health Center, Cornell University