Even clean cats can end up with fleas. All it takes is a stray animal to come close enough to the cat. Or, the cat can pick them up outdoors as well. Even just one flea can leave many eggs and cause a full scale attack on your pet. To stop them before they start, you can use a product such as Frontline or Advantix. How To Be A Responsible Cat Owner Now that you have a cat or several cats in the house, you need to think about how you can be a responsible cat owner and provide for the needs of your cats. This means that you have to think about the cats living conditions, feeding, grooming, and clean-up. Regarding your cat s living conditions, this will be largely influenced by your own lifestyle. Because of the way many pet food companies describe the meat in the food, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what the difference between chicken flavored , and chicken dinner is. Food that contains chicken meal can only be made from the skin, flesh, and bones only. This is really the best type of protein for a cat. "One of the most important goals when feeding senior cats is maintaining an ideal weight and keeping that weight stable," said Dr. Arnold Plotnick, who developed a senior wellness program to address the special needs of aging cats at his veterinary clinic, Manhattan Cat Specialists in New York City. Your kitty will not miss the joy of motherhood, or she does not have to have at least one litter to be healthy either. Female cats can start mating around 6 months old, but male cats can start around 8 months of age. Pregnancy usually can last for around 58 to 65 days (9 weeks approximately). If you are not looking to raise a litter of kittens or turn your male kitty into a roaming tom is it advisable to neuter her and him around 5 months. Many people watch in sadness as their cat destroys virtually everything that he can get his claws into. You can improve this behavior. To do so, you need to know why he is doing what he is doing. Why Scratching? Cats were hunters. They needed those sharp teeth to help them to climb trees and to leap down on their prey.