Choosing a "vital 5" out of my list of questions to ask your vet about your cat was no easy task. As the list gets longer, it becomes even more difficult.

My hope, of course, is that cat owners and vets everywhere will use this technique to form a better pet health care team. With some creativity, you can adapt the concept, if not the questions themselves, to fit just about any pet.

As you may already know, I began collecting my list of questions based on reader feedback. By the types of questions that I was being asked by website visitors, two major truths became painfully obvious...

1. Many people just do not seem to have a good working relationship with their vet.

By that I mean that for some reason, they don't seem to get the information that they need. Honestly, I have been shocked by the questions coming my way on cat health and behavior. Hadn't these people spoken to their vet? Surely their vet could have helped them with this topic.

Sadly, in some cases, the answer was no. Even worse, though, was the sad reality of the second truth...

2. They had asked one or more veterinarians about the issue, but never got a clear direction on what the problem was or what to do about it!

In some cases, these people had asked for help over long periods of time, with no results. For them, my standard answer of "here is what I know, now go ask your vet about the particulars" didn't really work for them.

The quick answer of "get another vet" didn't always apply either. It was either not feasible, or had already been tried. The obvious follow up to that would be to continue looking for a veterinarian who would help. But that probably isn't necessary most of the time.

I didn't have a specific answer for these people at the time, but I knew two things. First, these people needed to get to a place where they could work as a team with their vet to help their cat. Second, they needed to learn exactly what to ask in order to get their vet to talk to them.

One of our goals as cat owners should be to develop and encourage an information flow with our vet. Yet, this seems to be something that most of us put little thought into.

So, how do you do that? Two ways...

1. Ask good questions that lead to a two way information exchange.

My firm belief is that the quality of information that we receive is directly related to the questions that we ask. Based on that notion, I decided to try to help you, the cat owner, and put together a list of "questions to ask your vet."

2. Arrive at your vet visit prepared, with questions in hand.

Show up at your vet visit with written questions, and write down the responses. While you're there, jot down any new questions, along with their answers, that come to mind. If you don't, you will either forget to ask, not ask in the right way, or worse, forget the answer! Your pet will thank you.

Of my entire list of questions to ask your vet, I've selected 5 that are vital. Here they are...

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