[HopeydaFish]

As always, great advice from Blarg. There are only two points I'd like to make:

1) I've read a bit about clumping litter, and some vets are totally against the idea. The reason is that after the cat uses the litter box, he'll proceed to clean the dust off himself. The clumping litter that the cat injests can clump up in the cat's bowels and cause a blockage. That being said, I've used clumping litter for years and neither of my cats have had any issues.

2) I've never bathed my cats. If you keep your cat from getting obese, and it's a short-haired breed, and you keep him indoors, there's no reason that the cat can't bathe himself. Cats obsessively groom themselves all day.

3) I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but wet food is the way to go. Dry food can cause crystals in the cat's urine, especially in females. My female cat had crystals in her urine, but once I switched to wet food (as recommended by my vet), she was fine. The only problem with wet food is that it doesn't clean your cat's teeth. You can get crunchy treats that clean your cat's teeth, though. You can also brush your cat's teeth if he's really docile (I've never seriously thought about doing this, though).

4) Don't get the cheap cat foods. Spend a few bucks more to get the good stuff. Your cat will live longer, have less health problems, and won't get fat (unless you overfeed it).