An Ocicat asks almost nothing of a brush and a great deal of your evenings. The year's work sits in three places: a monthly weight, a heart and eye screening schedule, and 30 minutes of play you deliver whether or not you feel like it.
This calendar assumes an indoor cat in a temperate climate. In a long, hot summer, pull both shed windows forward four to six weeks.
Three numbers that run the year
Body condition score 4-5 out of 9, checked monthly. Thirty minutes of active play a day, split into two sessions of 15. One exam a year until age 7, then every six months with bloodwork. Those three decide whether the rest of the year is maintenance or damage control.
The breed is food-driven: Ocicats open cupboards, tip bins and crack puzzle feeders faster than owners expect, and will eat a second cat's portion if bowls stay down. Free-feeding is how you end up with a 7 kg cat and a murmur at eight, which is why weight management belongs in the same conversation as play.
Weight from 8 weeks to 24 months
Newborns weigh 90-115 g and gain 10-15 g a day for three weeks. At 8 weeks expect 700 g to 1.0 kg; at 4 months, 1.6-2.2 kg; at 6 months, 2.2-3.0 kg. By 12 months a female runs 2.7-4.0 kg and a male 3.6-5.0 kg, with adults at 2.7-6.8 kg. Males keep filling out until 24 months.
Weigh weekly until 6 months, then monthly. Read shape too: at 4-5 out of 9 the ribs sit under a thin fat layer and the waist shows from above. Book a visit if an adult loses 5% of body weight in a month, or gains 300 g after growth has stopped.
Coat, skin and the two shed windows
The single coat lies close with little undercoat, so matting is rare and baths are almost never needed. Shedding concentrates from March to May and, more lightly, from September to October. Outside those windows one five-minute pass a week with a rubber curry brush is enough; inside them, work twice weekly and finish with a damp glove. If the cat hates the brush, here is the handling sequence that works.
Bathe only when the cat is genuinely dirty, no more than every 8-12 weeks, because shampooing strips coat oils and creates the greasy look owners then try to wash away. Spend the time on ears and teeth instead: large ears hold wax, and dental disease is likelier in this breed than any skin problem. Ears weekly, teeth three times a week, claws every two weeks.
Screening dates: HCM, PRA and amyloidosis
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the main concern. Book a baseline echocardiogram at 12-18 months, then repeat every 12-24 months for life; a cat with a murmur or an affected parent goes every 12. Have the heart auscultated at every visit, since a murmur can appear between scans.
Progressive retinal atrophy is inherited and testable: one DNA swab at any age gives the genotype, and an affected cat needs a dilated eye exam yearly, because night blindness appears first. Renal amyloidosis turns up in middle age, so from age 3 ask for an annual panel with SDMA and a urine protein-to-creatinine ratio. Have both knees palpated yearly for patellar luxation.
When to stop watching
Count the sleeping respiratory rate three nights running: above 30 breaths a minute at rest is a call, above 40 is a drive now. Open-mouth breathing, panting at rest, or hind legs dragging after a jump are emergencies in a breed with this heart risk. Also book for no food for 24 hours, weight loss above 5% in a month, drinking over 100 ml per kg a day, or bumping into furniture in low light.
Exercise and enrichment, season by season
Two 15-minute sessions are the floor, one of them a wand toy worked until the cat is out of breath. Feed one meal from a puzzle feeder and rotate five or six toys weekly. A 1.8 m tree plus a window perch covers the vertical territory; indoor enrichment is behavioral management for this breed, not a luxury.
In July and August move play to dawn and dusk and refill water twice a day. In winter add a box maze and ten minutes of fetch down the hallway. A second cat is the best-value enrichment available, introduced over two weeks rather than two days.
The maintenance year at a glance
| Period | Coat and skin | Health | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan-Feb | Weekly brush; check ears | Monthly weigh-in; book exam | Indoor circuits; new toys |
| Mar-May | Twice weekly; damp glove | Bloodwork and dental check | Screened windows; catio opens |
| Jun-Aug | Weekly; wipe paws after catio | Watch water intake | Dawn and dusk; frozen treats |
| Sep-Oct | Second shed; twice weekly | Echo if on the 12-month cycle | Indoor hunting; fresh boxes |
| Nov-Dec | Weekly; watch for flakes | Weigh before winter; adjust 10% | Heated bed; high perch |
Seven mistakes in most Ocicat homes
- Dry food left down all day because the cat "seems hungry" — it always seems hungry.
- Skipping the baseline echo because the cat is young and looks fit.
- Monthly baths instead of twice-weekly brushing in shed season.
- Counting one five-minute wand session as exercise; it is a warm-up.
- Ignoring a sleeping respiratory rate that crept from 24 to 32 in a year.
- Adding a second cat with no two-week separation and scent swap.
- Letting claws run past 8 weeks because the post gets used "sometimes".
Start here this month
- Weigh the cat tonight and write the number on the calendar.
- Book the echo if the cat is 12-30 months old and never scanned.
- Add the PRA DNA swab to the next routine visit.
- Set two play alarms and move one meal into a puzzle feeder.
Frequently asked
How much should an Ocicat eat to stay at 5 kg?
A 5 kg adult on normal activity needs roughly 240-280 kcal a day, about 60-70 g of a typical dry food or two 85 g wet pouches plus a small measured top-up. Split it into two meals, put one in a puzzle feeder, and keep treats under 10% of the total. Weigh monthly and adjust by 10% at a time.
Does an Ocicat need a heart scan if it seems healthy?
Yes, because HCM produces no murmur in a meaningful share of affected cats and the breed is known for it. A baseline echo at 12-18 months, repeated every one to two years, is what most breeders and cardiologists follow. A normal scan does not clear the cat forever, which is why the repeat date matters as much as the first.
How do I stop my Ocicat from opening cupboards?
Treat it as an enrichment gap, not a discipline problem. Ten minutes of puzzle feeding plus a 15-minute wand session before the hours it usually raids cuts most of it, and child locks on the two cupboards holding food end the rest. A cat still working the latches is usually getting under 30 minutes of real play.