Preventive care is more than a vaccine reminder. It combines regular veterinary examinations with small observations at home: appetite, weight, water, litter-box use, dental comfort, grooming, movement, and behavior.
My Petland follows the AAHA/AAFP framework that describes cats aged 1–6 years as young adults and cats aged 7–10 years as mature adults. This checklist covers both stages. Cats over 10 should also use the Senior Cat Daily Care Checklist.
This page helps you notice change and prepare for veterinary visits. It does not diagnose disease, prescribe treatment, or set one testing or preventive-care schedule for every cat.
Daily observations
Food, water, and weight trend
Notice whether your cat approaches food, eats a familiar amount, chews comfortably, and has normal access to fresh water. Measure portions consistently enough to recognize a trend.
Use a nutritionally complete diet appropriate for adult maintenance unless the veterinary team recommends something different.
In a multi-cat home, separate observation may help identify which cat is eating or drinking. Do not make an abrupt calorie restriction or add supplements because of a visual guess about weight.
Litter-box use
Keep litter boxes clean and notice urine amount, stool appearance, straining, repeated visits, discomfort, and elimination outside the box.
Confirm that boxes are large enough, easy to reach, and distributed so cats are not forced to compete.
Repeated attempts to urinate with little or no output require emergency veterinary care.
Movement, grooming, and behavior
Watch familiar jumps, stairs, play, scratching, sleep, grooming, hiding, vocalization, and social interaction.
Record what changed rather than guessing at the cause. A cat that stops jumping, becomes less tolerant of touch, grooms less, hides more, or begins eliminating outside the box may be communicating discomfort or illness.
A new behavior should not be dismissed as stubbornness or inevitable aging.
Regular checks at home
Weight and muscle
If your cat tolerates it, record weight under similar conditions and look at the trend.
Ask the veterinary team to demonstrate body and muscle condition scoring. Fur and body weight alone may hide a change in body composition.
Mouth comfort
Notice persistent bad breath, red or bleeding gums, drooling, dropping food, chewing differently, or reluctance to eat.
Do not force open a painful mouth or scrape tartar. Follow a home dental-care routine only when the mouth is comfortable and the veterinary team has shown you an appropriate technique.
Skin, coat, claws, and body
During calm contact, notice new lumps, sores, swelling, coat change, sensitivity, persistent licking, damaged claws, or changes in balance and walking.
A dated photo can document progression but cannot identify what the change means.
Support a usable environment
Provide:
- clean, accessible litter boxes;
- separated food, water, rest, hiding, and scratching resources;
- stable climbing and resting options;
- opportunities for interactive play and natural hunting behavior;
- a carrier that can remain available as a familiar resting place;
- secure storage for medication, cleaners, pest-control products, and unsafe plants.
Indoor living changes exposure risk but does not remove every preventive-care need. Review the actual household, travel, outdoor access, and contact with other animals with the veterinary team.
Review preventive care with a veterinarian
Ask the veterinary team to set the examination interval for this cat. Use preventive visits to review:
- body weight, body condition, and muscle condition;
- oral and dental health;
- movement, pain, behavior, skin, heart, lungs, abdomen, eyes, and other findings;
- nutrition and feeding routine;
- vaccination history and current exposure risk;
- parasite risk based on lifestyle, geography, and travel;
- whether diagnostic screening is appropriate;
- microchip registration and whether the chip can still be detected.
Blood, urine, fecal, blood-pressure, and other tests may be useful, but the choice and frequency should follow the individual cat’s age, history, risks, medication, and examination—not a universal internet calendar.
Contact a veterinarian when the pattern changes
Contact a veterinarian promptly for a notable appetite or weight change, repeated vomiting or diarrhea, increased drinking or urination, a new litter-box problem, apparent dental pain, an eye change, persistent cough, worsening movement, a new lump, reduced grooming, or sudden behavior change.
Seek emergency care now for breathing difficulty, discolored gums, collapse, unresponsiveness, severe bleeding or major trauma, repeated seizures, suspected toxin exposure, or repeated attempts to urinate with little or no output.
This is not an exhaustive list. If you are unsure, contact a local veterinary professional.
Do not give human medication, induce vomiting, force food or water, or begin an online treatment plan unless a veterinarian directly responsible for the cat instructs you.
See the Senior Cat Daily Care Checklist →
Continue with Cat Life Stages, the Kitten Daily Care Checklist, Signs Your Dog or Cat Needs a Veterinarian, or Visible Health Changes by Life Stage.