One visit a year, for a cat who may need them for decades
An adult Russian Blue should have one full examination each year, with kitten visits clustered in the first months and six-monthly visits once he is senior. This breed commonly lives well into its late teens, so the real task of the annual visit is building a long, comparable record: the same weight scale, the same blood panel intervals, the same notes on teeth and heart, year after year. Small drifts that mean nothing in a single visit become clear across ten of them, and that long view is exactly what a durable, reserved breed benefits from.
Weight is the headline issue for this breed
Russian Blues love their food and, as indoor cats with a calm temperament, they store the surplus efficiently under a plush double coat that flatters them. The annual weigh-in — plus a body condition score from the vet's hands on his ribs and waist — is the check most likely to change something at home: portion size, treat habits, or play sessions. Ask for the target weight in writing and weigh him monthly at home on the same scale, because a cat heading steadily upward between annual visits is far easier to correct at half a pound than at three.
What else the yearly exam covers
The vet should examine his mouth closely, since dental disease is common in middle-aged indoor cats and a reserved Russian Blue will eat through a sore tooth without complaint. Urinary health deserves a direct question too — bladder stones occur in the breed, so report any smaller, more frequent litter box visits, straining, or urine outside the box straight away rather than at the next annual visit. Heart, kidneys, and thyroid screening blood work typically joins the visit from middle age onward, establishing baselines before the senior years make them essential.
The shy cat problem: behaviour change is the symptom
Russian Blues bond closely and keep strict routines, which makes deviation from routine your best early-warning system. A cat who stops waiting at his usual door, who skips the evening lap session, who grooms one spot obsessively or stops grooming, or who starts waking you vocalising at night, has changed the only language he uses. Note when it started and book a visit on that evidence — with this breed, waiting for dramatic symptoms means waiting too long.
Senior years, handled at six-month intervals
From around ten years, and certainly by twelve, shift to twice-yearly visits. The agenda becomes kidney values, thyroid, blood pressure, weight in both directions, arthritis in a cat who will not limp theatrically, and dental pain. Because he may see vets for twenty years and outlast staff changes at any clinic, your own organised copy of his history becomes the continuity — bring it to every appointment, especially any first visit to a new practice.
Filing each year's weight, mouth, and blood results in his KinsLe Pet Passport turns a long Russian Blue life into a record any vet can read at a glance.