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. Purina Pro Plan, for instance, has reformulated its entire line of senior cat foods to address the changing nutritional needs of aging cats in two different phases of the senior lifestage: ages 7 to 11 (mature) and 11 and up (senior). As cats age, there's a gradual decline in the body's ability to repair itself, maintain normal body functions and adapt to stresses in the environment. As long as they are given sufficient food and water they will remain happy. Indoor cats will have to be trained to use a litter box but most of them learn very quickly so you won t have to deal with cleaning up such messes around your home. However, you need to clean the litter box regularly because cats do not like to use a dirty litter box. A kitten should be fed throughout the day 4 times with a small amount of food each meal, reducing to 3 times a day at 3 months old, then at 6-8 months 2 meals per day. Older cats (over 12 months) should only be fed twice in the day (usually morning and early evening). Cats groom themselves, but using a soft brush on the cat, especially the long haired variety, will help to cut down the number of hairballs in the cat s stomach, which are caused by them licking / grooming themselves. It will depend on you throughout its life around 15 years with proper care so properly budget for visits to the vets and other costs before making a decision to get a cat. You have to budget for cat food, cat litter and scoops and other accessories to make the cat s life comfortable at your home. Kitten or adult? This can be helpful at night especially in areas that have a lot of traffic. The number one killer of cats is traffic so give the driver every chance to see your cat, especially if it s a dark colored cat. Many collars come with bells or some other noise making device. This is designed to warn potential prey animals that your cat is out hunting.