It's Take Your Cat the Vet Week, and all week we've been urging cat parents to schedule checkups for their pets. Cats' illnesses can have subtle symptoms, so if you wait until your cat is sick to take him to the vet, it might be too late.

We asked our Facebook fans, "Has your vet ever found an illness or issue with your cat during a routine wellness exam?" Here are some of your answers.

Cardiomyopathy: The most common form of heart disease and sudden death in indoor cats, cardiomyopathy has few visible symptoms. But Judi H.'s vet heard something during her cat's checkup. "My vet found a heart murmur when my cat was 7 that wasn't there when she was 6," Judi says. "It turned out to be cardiomyopathy, which we treated and she lived to be 16. Even if your cats are inside, they should go to the vet every year. Mine are only inside, but if my vet hadn't found that murmur, my cat would have been dead by the age of 8."

Steve Dale is the host of the nationally syndicated radio shows Steve Dale's Pet World and The Pet Minute with Steve Dale. His column, My Pet World, is carried in more than 100 newspapers nationwide and his new column, The CATalyst (in which this post originally appeared), just debuted. Steve also serves on the board of directors for the American Humane Association.

Dogs are more than twice as likely to visit the veterinarian than cats are. Here are some reasons why.

What can cat parents do? Familiarize cats early and regularly with cat carriers, take cats to the vet for routine care and learn to recognize subtle signs of cat illness. In honor of Take Your Cat to the Vet Week, here are some subtle signs of illness to look out for:

Changes in interactions: A previously clingy cat acting uncharacteristically aloof, or an independent cat transforming into "Velcro kitty" are examples.

Changes in activity: A decrease or increase in activity, and change in the cat's daily routine are red flags -- of arthritis, for example, which is far more common in cats than previously thought. So a cat who jumps on furniture less often is a potential sign.

Steve Dale is the host of the nationally syndicated radio shows Steve Dale's Pet World and The Pet Minute with Steve Dale. His column, My Pet World, is carried in more than 100 newspapers nationwide and his new column The CATalyst (in which this post originally appeared) just debuted. Steve also serves on the board of directors for the American Humane Association.

Petfinder has proclaimed Aug. 22-28 Take Your Cat to the Vet Week, and I'm hugely supportive.

Dogs are more than twice as likely to visit the veterinarian than cats. Why is that? What the heck is going on?

Here are some answers:

• Veterinary visits are on the decline overall -- for dogs and even more so for cats. Sadly, as a result, our pets have begun to pay the price with an increase in preventable illnesses. According to the recently released Banfield Pet Hospital 2011 Report, since 2006 there's been a 10% rise in dental disease in cats; although still uncommon, there's a 27% increase in whipworm and a 12% hike in roundworm in cats (both worms can be transmitted to people); diabetes in cats went up 16%.

We've designated this week, Aug. 22-28, Take Your Cat to the Vet Week. And this year, the occasion has special significance for me.

Working at Petfinder, I like to consider myself pretty enlightened when it comes to pet care, and I don't often like to admit when I'm not the perfect pet parent. But I'm not. And that was never more obvious than the night of April 13.

At 3 a.m., my 11-year-old cat, Molly, let out an ear-piercing howl. I jumped up and turned on the light. She wasn't on the bed next to me, where she usually slept. I found her under the bed, conscious but completely limp.

I immediately threw on some clothes while my husband Googled "veterinary emergency room" (we'd just moved to a new state and didn't know where the closest one was) and put Molly in her carrier. She didn't -- couldn't -- fight me. I knew something was wrong and it was bad.