Caring for Your Cat

Being Safe While Caring for Your Pet

From Mark Cichocki, R.N., former About.com Guide

Updated December 01, 2008

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

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Proper and safe care of your cat includes:

Avoid cat scratches. If your cat scratches often, talk to your vet about ways to change your pet's behavior and tools you can use to guard against scratches.
Never store your cat's litter box in the kitchen or near warm, dry places in your home.
Change the litter box daily. Wear disposable gloves each time you change the box. Avoid inhaling any litter box particles.
Disinfect the litter box once a month. For example, each month empty the litter box, fill it with boiling water and leave stand for 10 minutes to kill off any bacteria.
If your CD4 count is extremely low (e.g.150-200) ask someone else to change the litter box for you.
Keep your cat indoors. If your cat goes outdoors, don't allow him to hunt birds or rodents.