Links about health issues:

Feeding and nutrition:

In general: Cats are obligate carnivores and must eat meat to be healthy. Do not try to make a cat a vegetarian/vegan or they will become malnourished because of inability to make certain amino acids found in meat. Also, cats have a daily carbohydrate requirement of exactly zero.
One really good site for feeding: Catinfo.org is a great place to look up and find the nutritional make-up of many commercially sold cat canned food on the market. They do not recommend the feeding of dry food at all. General goals for cat foods are high protein and low carb. Don’t worry much about fat. Specific goals for a diabetic cat in particular are 60% or higher protein and 5% or less carbohydrates. Many diabetic cats may actually stop needing insulin after a while when their diet is changed to this “cAtkins” approach and their diabetes is well managed. Fat % is not terribly important to cats in general, but lower phosphorus values are particularly important to cats with kidney disease.
A few good choices: This spread sheet includes:
most of the varieties of Tiki Cat canned food,
most varieties of Fussie Cat premium (but not super premium) foods,
many varieties of Against the Grain,
and many of the Weruva canned foods
a few varieties of Fancy Feast (Naturals) (very high protein/0% carbs) and the classic pate varieties (also not bad choices for older cats refusing kidney diets)

9Lives
and Pro Plan True Nature varieties which may work for your cat.

The hard part: finding a food that your cat will eat that meets his/her nutritional needs and works with any medical conditions your cat may have. It can sometimes be challenging to find a food that your cat likes, that meets nutritional goals, that you can actually get your hands on, and that doesn’t break the budget or trigger food allergies. Yes, cats can have food allergies! And it is incredibly frustrating to do all this research to find the perfect food on paper only to have your cat turn up her nose at it.
Do you want to make your own cat food? Use this site to be sure that your food is balanced for your cat: www.BalanceIt.com Be sure to buy their vitamin/mineral supplement to be sure that the recipe balances properly if you choose to use their recipes. With cat food shortages the way they are lately, making cat food at home may be a more practical and necessary option than it used to be.
Canned food is better for cats, but for those cats who absolutely do not want to eat canned food, there is Young Again brand of dry cat food which is well made and may be a good alternative. They sell online only, so you won’t find this in any pet supply stores. There are very specific dry dental foods from a few pet food companies and treats which do provide some “teeth cleaning” benefits, but ordinary dry foods do a very poor job of cleaning teeth, so don’t feed dry food because you think you are cleaning your cat’s teeth. The improved hydration from canned foods will usually make saliva thinner and less sticky, so feeding canned food is actually probably better overall for your cat’s teeth. After all, cats are supposed to be eating birds and mice, not cereal, right?!

Common cat health problems:

Diabetes: Diabetes in cats is almost always a nutritional disease. Usually a diabetic cat is middle aged, overweight, and is eating a predominantly dry food diet. If caught early and treated aggressively, cats can often go into diabetic remission. “Aggressive treatment” usually means controlling the blood sugar with insulin and taking measures to correct their diet and BMI (changing to canned food). This is a nice web video from Cornell concerning diabetes:

Asthma: Fritz the Brave has a nice, informative video and web site concerning feline asthma.

Kidney disease: We help a lot of people manage kidney problems at home. Kidney issues are very common in our senior cats. Cats with kidney issues will benefit from moderate protein levels and low phosphorus levels in their foods. There is now a supplement made by Purina called Hydra Care which can help cats maintain improved hydration. Also, most cats will accept owner-given fluids under the skin at home a few times a week or even daily to help flush their kidneys. SQ fluids reduces the stress of multiple vet visits and helps improve your cat’s quality and quantity of life if you can manage it. If you and your cat are willing to try, we will supply you with the fluids and IV sets.

Find reliable cat health info at these links:

There is so much misinformation on the web, even from well-meaning people trying to give advice. If you visit one of the sites listed below, the information you get should be true and reliable. Dr. Google didn’t graduate vet school. Also remember that self-diagnosing can be a big issue and problem. Trying to treat the wrong problem will often get you into a lot of trouble. Seek veterinary advice when appropriate, but then you can use these sites to help fill in any holes or try to answer any questions that you may have after talking to your vet.

VIN: The Veterinary Infomation Network (VIN) has a support web site for clients. They have many articles with information on a lot of veterinary topics. You can find it at https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=
AAFP sites: Catvets.com, and CatFriendly.com are AAFP (American Association of Feline Practitioners) websites. Lots of useful cat information about common diseases and health care recommendations from the cat experts. This is a great place to look for a new vet when you move. AAFP membership is not required. Thus, people who join the AAFP tend to have more of an interest in cats and their care. They also have a special listing for vets belonging to the Cat Friendly Practice Program (CFP). CFP members have gone out of their way to do things to make yours and your cats’ visits much less stressful.
Cornell: Cornell Feline Health Center , has great videos and pet care info and, in particular, an excellent video on caring for your diabetic cat. You can purchase the video at this site or you can play it online. You can also rent it here at our hospital to view at home on your DVD player.
Cat Watch: Cat Watch, is a newsletter with an ever changing variety of really good cat info put out by Cornell.
ASPCA: The ASPCA site, has lists of toxic/non-toxic plants. We get calls about what is and isn’t poisonous all the time. Look it up here 24/7/365!

General interest/cat welfare links:

Declawing is a video put out by Cornell University to help understand and correct destructive clawing through behavioral modifications and hopefully sparing your kitty surgery. We’d love to talk you out of declawing, so please have a look.
This a link to the AAFP’s statement on hybrid cats (we don’t see them, and this is why). They’re beautiful, but they aren’t really domestic cats, even the later generations. They are akin to the wolf hybid for dogs.
Here is a great link to a web site all about cat food puzzles! Great environmental enrichment! These puzzles may solve weight issues, “scarf and barf” issues for cats that eat too quickly. They’re also great environmental enrichment!

Kitten care/rescue site links:

This is an excellent resource with just about all you could want to know about caring for orphaned kittens http://www.saveacat.org/orphaned-kittens.html. The National Kitten Coalition based in VA is another newer group which does workshops, webinars, consultation services and speaking engagements. The NKC also has online resources and can be found at KittenCoalition.org.