Last week, I had one of those special clinic sessions where my primary client was a young girl of about seven.

The patient was a kitten she had found outside and, although she came to the clinic accompanied by her parent, it was clear that my young client regarded the kitten as belonging to her.

The kitten was jet black with large green eyes and had been appropriately named Midnight.

Midnight was found just a couple of days earlier, wandering about a car park. Upon examination, I found the kitten to be about two months old.

Despite its rough start in life, Midnight exhibited a very gentle nature and had clearly already bonded with his young mistress.

But it had not been eating well and was much too thin, weighing in at not more than 500g.

I’m always concerned when I have a child visiting the clinic, as I know that their new pet means the world to them.

When these new pets are animals they have rescued, their anxiety for their welfare becomes that much greater.

It is also true that young kittens, be they rescued or coming from a home, are subject to a number of ailments, some of which can be life-threatening, and it is tough to lose a pet just a few days or weeks after letting it into your life.

It is always a good idea to seek professional veterinary advice as early as possible when purchasing or adopting a kitten.

Ideally, you would do this even before purchasing or adopting just to make sure that all is well. This rational becomes an imperative when you are dealing with pedigree cats because of the diseases many are genetically predisposed to contract.

When planning to take your new kitten to the vet, it would be best to be prepared with a good cat box.

To many, this may come across like stating the obvious. Yet, a surprising number of cat owners never get around to mobilising their cat with a cat box.

For those of you who are still due to get a cat box, do purchase wisely. A good, strong cat box that will serve you well are generally those made from strong moulded plastic, the upper half of which can easily be removed.

A cat box provides your cat with a sense of security while travelling, while the ability to remove the upper half of the box offers your veterinarian the option of attending to your sick cat inside the box with minimum agitation to your cat – though this, of course, depends upon the nature of the examination and the character of your cat.

A new pet means the world to a child visiting the clinic

Your vet will almost certainly ask you for information about the source of your kitten and its clinical history since it has been in your care.

It always helps to be precise, and if asked a question you are not able to answer from observation, it would be best to say so rather than give an approximate reply.

To this end, it’s good for you to know there are a number of ailments to which kittens are susceptible. They often suffer from a highly contagious eye infection caused by a bacteria called chlamydophila felis.

Because it is so contagious, it is quite normal to find a number of kittens in the same litter afflicted by this bacteria.

If left untreated, the damage may become so severe that the kitten will lose one or both eyes.  Despite its severity, it is easily cured and there is no reason to delay seeking treatment.

Dermatophytosis is a fungal skin disease also commonly referred to as ringworm. The name ringworm derives from the fact that the skin is often affected in concentric circles of increasing radius that resemble rings within rings.

Ringworm is highly contagious among young felines and is also contagious to humans. Ringworm on felines may or may not be visible, so it is very important to wash your hands after direct contact with cats or kittens of an unknown source.

There are highly effective treatments for the fungal disease and your veterinarian will advise if and when these should be administered. Ringworm bears no semblance to worms typically found in the intestines of kittens.

Worms that can be found in the gut of kittens are usually roundworms and, to a lesser extent, tapeworms. It is important to prevent and treat these worms as early as possible since kittens do not thrive well if they are infested.

After weighing your kitten, your veterinarian will give you the right product in the right amount to clear any possible worms. To avoid overdosing your kitten on such medication, it is best that you administer only worm tablets as prescribed by your veterinarian.

Roundworms and tapeworms are classified as intestinal parasites, as opposed to external ones, such as fleas. Again, with fleas, these are so easily taken care of but it is vital that you do not delay treatment and that you administer the right product in the correct quantity, as prescribed.

It is also critical that if you own both dogs and cats, you do not administer dog flea treatment to your cat, as it could very well die of intoxication.

Other than the standard preventive treatments, there are a number of core diseases against which it is important that you vaccinate your kitten. In particular, these are cat flu and feline infectious enteritis.

Your vet may or may not advise vaccinating your kitten against the feline leukaemia virus. This will depend on your cat’s lifestyle and whether or not it is likely to have direct contact with other cats, particularly strays. At present, the rabies vaccine is necessary only if your cat is travelling overseas; you need to plan ahead for this.

Diet will certainly be something to discuss with your vet. Very often, kittens have an insatiable appetite and it is important not to give in to their every request for food.

I prefer to get kittens accustomed to wet food rather than dry food early in their life, not to end up with cats that only prefer dry food with all the accompanying bladder problems this could cause. You should inform your vet of any signs of diarrhoea, which will need to be looked into and treated.

Midnight did not show any obvious signs of disease or, indeed, any particular reason why he had not been eating well, so we decided to offer him some alternative food right there at the clinic.

Well, the kitten loved it and my young client laughed with delight to see her new pet lapping it up. It was quite possibly a case of not providing the right food to tempt Midnight out of his apathy.

The important thing now is to feed Midnight in small enough portions to give its body the time it needs to digest this sudden influx of nutriments.

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Dr Martin Debattista is a veterinary surgeon.