How Often Should I Take My Cat to the Vet?

Written by Dr. Jacqueline Brister, DVM

Updated

Cat Center
Persian cat at vet

How often to take your cat or kitten to the vet depends on several factors:

  • Age

  • Vaccine needs

  • General health

  • If they have any chronic or ongoing diseases

Taking them in for regular vet visits will help your cat live as happy and healthy of a life that they can. It also gives you peace of mind, knowing that they are well taken care of.

How often do kittens need to go to the vet?

Young kittens need a lot of veterinary checkups initially to make sure that they are growing and developing normally. Veterinarians check young kittens for:

  • Proper weight gain & normal growth

  • Internal parasites such as worms

  • External parasites such as fleas or ear mites

  • Normal heart sounds

  • Proper vision & hearing

  • Healthy teeth (incoming & outgoing baby teeth as well as incoming adult teeth)

This is also the time that the vet can help you figure out behavior issues, bathroom issues, when to spay or neuter your cat, getting along with human and animal family members, and keeping your cat on the right foods/preventive medications for him.

How often do senior cats need to go to the vet?

Older cats don’t usually need to visit the vet as often as young kittens, but they are more likely to develop health problems as they get older. A visit to the vet one to two times a year is ideal to make sure any health issues are caught early and managed as soon as possible. These visits are also a great time to discuss your concerns about age-related problems, such as arthritis and changes in urination or defecation.

In older cats, your vet will be specifically looking for:

  • Signs of cancer

  • Major changes from previous visits

  • Potential need for additional testing

Some vets and pet owners will opt to run yearly blood work on their cats to screen for internal organ issues or diseases that are not obvious on an exam. This helps to catch issues early and prevent any unnecessary suffering.

Cat Vaccine Needs

Vaccines or immunization shots are needed much more often in kittens than in adult cats. Kittens need a series of vaccines/boosters every 2-4 weeks, starting from age 6-8 weeks up until 16-20 weeks in order to fully protect them from certain diseases. Vaccines protect them from:

Kittens need an additional booster vaccine for these diseases when they reach one year of age. After that, depending on the type of vaccine, they may only need shots every 1-3 years.

General Health

Yearly checkups, even if vaccines are not due, help to make sure your cat is healthy overall. The vet will perform a thorough physical exam, looking at the skin, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and body condition/weight for any problems. The vet will also listen to your cat’s heart and lungs, palpate their belly, check joints for arthritis, and probably test them for parasites such as gastrointestinal worms. To learn more about insurance coverage for your cat contact Embrace Pet Insurance to learn more about getting cat health insurance today.

Chronic Diseases

If your cat has a chronic disease, something he was diagnosed with at a previous visit (e.g. diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, hyperthyroidism, cancer, etc.), they will probably need to be checked out more than once a year. Depending on how well managed the disease is, a checkup may only be needed twice a year. If they show signs of new issues, or if the chronic disease symptoms are hard to control, they may need to be checked more often.

New Changes

If your cat starts showing new symptoms, such as not eating, limping, drinking or urinating a lot, throwing up, or having loose stool, go ahead and call your vet to schedule a checkup. While some of these issues may go away on their own, it is important to seek care as soon as possible to make sure your pet stays healthy and recovers well.