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Over recent weeks we have been sharing our stories on some of the interesting cases of lovely kitties that we have treated at the Cat Hospital. However, the team at Perth Cat Hospital are not just here to treat your cat when they are unwell, we also perform “wellness examinations” where we look for markers of illness BEFORE symptoms develop.

What is a wellness examination?

A wellness examination is a routine medical examination, or “check-up” of an apparently healthy cat, as opposed to an examination of a cat that is ill. The focus of a wellness visit is to ensure that we help keep your cat in optimal health. However, wellness for cats means a lot more than just getting their vaccinations up to date and giving them flea and worming treatments. Cats are masters a hiding disease, and we find performing wellness screening tests commonly allows us to detect illnesses very early before the cat shows any signs they are unwell.

How often should my cat have a wellness examination?

Cat’s age at a faster rate than people. It is a popular misconception that one calendar year equates to seven years in a cat’s life. In actual fact, in one calendar year your cat will age the equivalent of four to sixteen years in a human’s life depending on their age. How old is your cat?

Our approach to feline wellness and preventative health focuses on recognising the six specific life-stages to assess risk factors and specific age-related needs. From kittenhood through to the teenage geriatrics there are specific health care recommendations that we suggest to keep your cat happy and healthy. The six life-stages can be summarised into:

• Kitten (birth to 6 months)
• Junior (7 months to 2 years)
• Prime (3 to 6 years)
• Mature (7 to 10 years)
• Senior (11 to 14 years)
• Geriatric (15 years and older)

During early kittenhood, wellness exams are recommended on a monthly basis, moving to annual wellness examinations for adult cats up until the age of 7 years. For middle aged and geriatric cats, we recommend more frequent examinations every 3 to 6 months. Our cat vets are in the best position to recommend how often your cat should have thir wellness examination, based on their age, lifestyle and health status.

What will my veterinarian check during a wellness examination?

During a routine wellness examination, your vet will ask you questions about your cat’s diet, exercise, thirst, breathing, behaviour, habits, litterbox habits, lifestyle (indoors or outdoors), and general health. Your vet will also perform a physical examination of your cat. A thorough physical exam will include assessing:

• Your cat’s general level of alertness and interest in their surroundings.
• Your cat’s general body condition. Your vet will obtain both a body weight and a body condition score.
• The haircoat – looking for excessive dryness, excessive oiliness, evidence of dandruff, excessive shedding, or abnormal hair loss.
• The skin – looking for oiliness, dryness, dandruff, lumps or bumps, areas of abnormal thickening.
• The eyes – looking for redness, discharge, evidence of excessive tearing, abnormal lumps or bumps on the eyelids, how well the eyelids close, cloudiness, or any other abnormalities.
• The ears – looking for discharges, thickening, hair loss, or any other signs of problems.
• The nose and face – looking for symmetry, discharges, how well your cat breathes, whether there are any problems related to skin folds or other apparent problems.
• Mouth and teeth – looking for signs of dental disease such as tartar build-up, periodontal disease, resorptive lesions, retained baby teeth, broken teeth, excessive salivation, staining around the lips, ulcers in or around the mouth.
• The heart – listening for abnormal heart rate, heart rhythm or heart murmurs.
• The lungs – listening for evidence of increased or decreased breath sounds.
• The pulse – depending on the results of auscultation, your veterinarian may simultaneously listen to the chest and palpate the pulse in the hind legs.
• The lymph nodes in the region of the head, neck and hind legs – looking for swelling or pain.
• The throat – looking for evidence of abnormalities in the thyroid glands.
• The legs – looking for evidence of lameness, muscle problems, nerve problems, problems with the paws or toenails.
• The abdomen – feeling in the areas of the bladder, kidneys, liver, intestines, spleen and stomach in order to assess whether these organs appear to be normal or abnormal, and whether there is any subtle evidence of discomfort.

In some cases, you may not even be aware that your veterinarian is conducting certain parts of a routine physical examination, particularly if your veterinarian does not detect any abnormalities.

What might my vet recommended during a wellness examination?

Based on your cat’s history and physical examination, your vet will make recommendations for specific preventive medicine treatments such as:

• Vaccination – frequency of administration and type of vaccine will depend on lifestyle and risk factors
• Parasite control (fleas, ear mites, intestinal worms, heartworm)
• Nutrition
• Skin and coat care
• Weight management
• Dental care

Many of these treatments will be administered during your cat’s wellness appointment including vaccinations, worming and flea control. As part of a complete wellness examination, your veterinarian will also usually recommend “wellness screening tests”. There are five main categories of wellness testing recommended for the cat:

• Complete blood count (CBC)
• Biochemistry profile
• Urinalysis
• Thyroid hormone testing
• Blood pressure measurement

These tests are all performed at our own on-site laboratory giving us results reliably and quickly. Within each category, your veterinarian will advise you about how extensive the testing should be. In younger cats without noticeable health issues, relatively simple testing may be adequate. In addition to screening for illness, this allows us to establish baseline laboratory parameters for your cat as an individual. In middle-aged or geriatric cats, more comprehensive testing is advisable. For older cats, additional wellness screening tests may include imaging tests such as x-rays and ultrasound to assess the size and appearance of the internal organs (heart, lungs, kidneys and liver) or to look for degenerative changes in the bones or joints.

Why are these additional tests recommended?

Cats cannot tell you how they are feeling and as a result, disease may be present before you are aware of it. To further complicate matters, as part of their survival instincts most cats will hide signs of disease especially in the early stages. This means that a health condition may become highly advanced before your cat shows any obvious or recognisable problems. Some early warning signs may be detected by your veterinarian during the physical examination prompting recommendation for further testing as outlined above.

If a disease or condition can be detected before your cat shows obvious signs of illness, steps can often be taken to manage the problem before irreversible damage occurs, and the prognosis for a successful outcome improves. In addition, early detection and treatment is often less costly than waiting until a disease or problem becomes advanced enough to affect your cat’s quality of life.

Wellness examinations and testing are particularly important in the geriatric cat, since there is a greater chance that underlying disease may be present. This is the reason why semi-annual examinations are recommended for senior cats.

Is there anything I need to do to prepare my cat for a wellness examination?

When you book the appointment with your veterinarian, you should ask whether you should fast your cat before the visit. You should also ask whether you should bring in fresh urine or faecal samples.

Prepare yourself with some basic information, such as the brand and type of food that your cat eats, whether you give your cat any supplements, and whether anybody in the family has noticed any problems such as urinating or defecating outside the litter box. This is also the time that you should take note of any concerns you might have and make inquiries into optimal health maintenance strategies for your precious feline. By ensure regular wellness screening for your cat, you will give us the best chance at helping your cat to live a longer and healthier life.

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