That’s a conversation to have with your veterinarian. Depending on some of my patient's lifestyles, we'll do a rabies vaccine because that one's required by law. And, of course, rabies can be transmitted to humans from pets. If they have a very active outdoor lifestyle, sometimes we'll keep them going on all of their core vaccines. It's a case-by-case situation, but you can have that conversation with your veterinarian.

Bringing them to the vet every year or even every six months is recommended. I like to run annual blood work on senior cats to screen for anything that could develop or are more common in senior cats. The next two things are going to be taking care of their teeth as they get older because they can sometimes run into some issues there and make sure that we're taking care of their joints the best that we can.

Well, that's a good question. For the most part, my rule of thumb is any pet who kind of hits that seven to eight-year-old mark is a senior pet. Of course, cats tend to live longer, but I still generally put them in that senior category at seven to eight years of age.

I'm sure some chew toys are out there, but I know many cats are not big chewers. However, if you have a cat that’s a chewer, I'm sure you can find a chew toy out on the internet through Amazon or other places like that. But I like to feed my cat dental treats because it’s kind of like a reward and dental care all in one.

Cats can get cavities. Many times, cats end up getting what we call things like neck lesions, which is kind of like a cavity where the tooth meets the gumline. Cats are also prone to resorbing their tooth roots, so there are some cap dentition things that can occur.

Owners always ask me, "Dr. Hill, do I have to brush my cat's teeth?" And I tell them unless you're brushing them twice a day every day like you and I generally do it, brushing isn't super effective when you only do it here and there. So, what I like to do is offer them either cat dental treats in the form of the Feline Greenies, Virbac C.E.T. IntelliDent treats that we carry, or by offering a water additive like this Vetradent water additive to help manage their teeth at home. Those are easier things than brushing your cat's teeth, and you can provide those every day to help manage their dental care at home.

The biggest one is many people want to feed their cats raw diets, and I don't recommend it, mainly because we can have severe bacterial contamination with things like E.coli, salmonella, and listeria that can make both you and your cat sick. Dry or canned foods provide an adequate amount of nutrition, and cats tend to love them, so I generally advise you to avoid raw food diets.