Top of the list, it appears, is dog and cat owners listening to other people for veterinary medical advice leading to pet owners arguing with veterinarians, telling them that their trainer, groomer or breeder told them something else. In fact, it can be anybody else including friends and I presume the internet but it leads to disagreements between cat owners and veterinarians which it appears annoys veterinarians – it would.

Photo in public domain.

A well-informed cat owner is a good thing in a veterinary clinic. It must be because it should provide the veterinarian with more information and therefore a better diagnosis and treatment, at least potentially. But strong disagreements between client and veterinarian is unlikely to lead to a positive outcome. My gut feeling is that there are more arguments nowadays because pet owners are better informed thanks to Mr Google.

Allowing cats and dogs to become overweight appears to be a pet hate of veterinarians (excuse the pun). Veterinarians advise that cat and dog owners feed the best quality food that the client can afford and take guidance from the packaging. Veterinarians obviously see too many overweight cats and dogs. We do know about this though. We know that there is a so-called cat and dog obesity epidemic in line with a human version.

The third issue which always pops up with veterinarians is that clients do not take care of their pet’s teeth. Informed cat owners also know about this problem. Oral health of cats is a constant issue and one of the top 10 health problems. The reasons are obvious i.e. it is very difficult to clean your cat’s teeth and the foods that we feed our cat don’t help either. Veterinarians want us to ensure that we take our cats and dogs for annual dental checkups but more importantly suggest that cat owners get used to brushing their cat’s teeth.

Yes, once again informed cat owners do know about this but it is almost impossible to act on the advice unless the cat has been habituated and socialized to having his teeth brushed during those precious formative weeks: the first seven weeks of his life. But how many cat owners clean the teeth of the kitten with the goal of ensuring that they can do the same thing throughout the life of their cat?

“Trim your pet’s nails” – this is a problem for vets. They see a lot of ingrown nails curling into the paw pads of cats and I presume the same thing applies to dogs. They recommend that cat owners trim their cat’s claws. This should not be an issue for outdoor cats because their claws are naturally worn down through use. For indoor cats it can be a problem and for elderly indoor cat it is almost certainly going to be a problem. Cat owners should check the claws of their cat regularly if she is elderly and inactive. The problem is that cats do not complain about it and therefore unless you check you don’t know.

As for dogs, veterinarians imply that not enough dog owners ensure that their puppy has been socialized to all the things that they are likely to encounter in their life namely strange people, other dogs, cats, noises, just about anything which could upset a dog. If dogs are not socialized to these circumstances then they are likely to go nuts and freak out whenever they see something that they haven’t seen before during the period of socialization. Obviously it should be controlled socialization and the experiences should be positive and happy with rewards.

Also with regard to dogs, there are too many unhealthy breeds and therefore it is important that potential dog owners select healthy breeds. To a lesser extent the same can be said about cat breeds. There are one or two unhealthy cat breeds such as the flat-faced Persian. You can check this info out on this website.

Finally, veterinarians suggested to many cat and dog owners skip the annual checkup. They understand why i.e. the difficulty of getting your cat to the clinic and I might add the suspicion that you are going to be sold something that you don’t think your cat needs. One veterinarian makes an interesting point. He or she says that things change in our pet’s body faster than they do in ours. This is because their lifespan is shorter than ours. Therefore we should be more aware of potential changes occurring quite quickly. This therefore demands an annual checkup. Just one day out of 365 is not much to ask of a cat owner to help ensure that their cat remains healthy. I am guilty as charged. But loved and well cared for indoor cats in sole cat households shouldn’t need an annual check in my view.

Source: Reddit.com via MNN.com