People spend hundereds of hours and thousands of dollars over the lifetime of a cat to keep it healthy, but most cat owners don t pay nearly enough attention to the proper cat food. The right cat food is absolutely essential to a healthy, happy cat. But what is the best cat food for your cat? While each cat will have slightly different nutritional needs, there are some general rules that must be considered when looking for cat food. The 11-plus years are particularly problematic for cats because their sense of smell and taste often diminish at this time, which affects their interest in food. The ability to absorb key nutrients and digest fat declines, making eating itself less efficient. The undesirable result is that more food passes through as waste and less is used for energy, causing a drop in lean muscle mass and body fat that leads to potentially harmful weight loss. Allow your new kitten to explore around your home while your older cat is in another room. Make the introduction, slowly, bit by bit, it is a good idea to let your existing cat sniff your new kitten's blanket a few times before they actually meet. Make the initial periods of contact short. Gradually increase the time that they spend together as they get used to one another. 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 . Even though a smart cat can figure out how to escape its collar, this is an important safety feature that you should seriously consider. Along these lines buy a collar made of a material that can be easily cut through in emergencies. Another feature you may consider is a reflective strip in the cat collar. The scratching that they do is a way of trimming their nails and it removes the old outer part of the claws. Another reason they are ruining your home is because they know it to be their territory. They release a scent from special glands in their paws which helps them mark the area as theirs. They also do it because they are working the kinks out of their body as well as burning some energy.