If you are concerned about your cat going missing, or it being involved in an accident, you can have a micro-chip (approximately the size of a grain of rice) inserted into the back of the cat s neck. The chip contains information, which can help to identify the cat as belonging to you. It is often said that a cat looks after itself . Treat your cat with food when it does well, it will learn to associate a good behaviour with food. But don t over do it, it will soon so it without help. Do not ignore your cat when you are mad at it, cats do not understand this behaviour and will feel insecure. Your cat will not know from the start that it has to use a scratch post to sharpen its claws. You ll need to ask your vet about having the tick removed as you can not do this yourself without risking the tick s head staying behind in your pet s skin. In order to get them under control, you ll need to use one of the liquid flea and tick treatments. You can also use flea or tick collars and baths as well. Before you head off to have him de clawed, you may want to try out some of the alternative methods of preventing the scratching. Alternatives One way is to provide them with scratching pads or posts. There are a wide variety of them available including those that are part of a cat condo. You can even make your own by using two foot high section of a four by four, two foot by two foot piece of heavy plywood and a carpet remnant. Food that is chicken flavored only has to taste like chicken, but may not contain any animal meat at all. Also, chicken is generally better than beef for cats. And it goes without saying, preservatives, as well as artificial colors, should be avoided whenever possible. Although specific research is lacking on this subject, we do know that preservatives and artificial colors can have a negative impact on human health. Pets can sometimes be unpredictable and for reasons like those mentioned above and more it is always safer to use a cat carrier when transporting your cat to another destination such as the vet. When choosing a cat carrier you will find there are hundreds of different ones on the market to choose from.