Kitty Question

[fireheart]

Kheldarson, I don't know if it's Australian only or not, but try Whiskas Kitten and Whiskas Kitten milk if you want to give them milk. Water will do them fine if you're going to be out the house for long periods. We tend to give our two ratbags two wet food meals in a day: one morning, one night, and leave out the dry food for them to nibble on during the day.

As far as litter tray stuff goes, I'd suggest something that isn't perfumed but still does the trick. The one we use resembles rabbit pellets and is made from recycled stuff. I don't think the brand we use is available in the US. Definitely recommend buying in bulk however as it'll last you ages.

As far as scratching posts go....try and get something with a perch on it as our oldest one LOVES to perch on top of the perch on their current scratching post. Boxes are also a good toy, as are empty kitty litter bags (my mum would open up the paper bag after it had been used and our cats would go bonkers inside of it).

Oh and even if it will be exclusively an indoor kitty, I would STRONGLY recommend getting it desexed unless you plan on breeding it. For males, it will take them a couple of days to fully recover, while it will take a female cat about a week total, since I believe she needs stitches taken out (not 100% sure on this one).
.

[Seshat]

I think you use the same one we do. Recycled paper! Perfect cat litter! It also makes good garden mulch.

Yes, female cats will need stitches taken out after the spaying.

[jedimaster91]

Yes, female cats will need stitches taken out after the spaying.

Depends on how the vet does the surgery. In my area, the vet sutures internally with disolvable thread and then uses a glue to close the skin. Recovery time is 7-10 days.

[Frantic Freddie]

Yeah, don't give them normal milk. Not very good for them.

If you want to give your cat milk then goat's milk is fine for them,it won't cause the reaction that cow's milk does,any decent sized grocery store should have it.

Here's a tip I like to pass on to other cat owners: To keep little Fluffy from digging in your plants & using them as a bathroom or to keep him from shredding the furniture get some Bitter Apple from the pet store.People can't smell it but cats (dogs too) hate it.

Here's something interesting: when we got Nova from Animal Control she had absolutely the worst farts,she'd stink up the entire room.So Mrs Frantic,who's a pharmacist,figured that they'd probably given her antibiotics & killed off some of her intestinal flora.So she gave Nova a teaspoon of yoghurt & 2 days later,no more smelly farts!

[Geek King]

Another quick tip for keeping cats off certain surfaces: Most cats hate the smell of citrus, especially oranges and grapefruit. Leave some peels with rind along the edge of counters to keep them off. You may need to repeat occasionally to reinforce the lesson.

[Fire_on_High]

Every day, when playing with your kittens, get them used to you handling their paws, looking at their butt, examining their eyes and ears and cleaning their teeth. This lets you give the kitties a daily health check, and will make your vet LOVE you - because that's what he needs to do.

Seconded. If you start teaching a kitten something consistently and early, even if "cats don't like that" you absolutely can train them to accept it.

If you can believe it, all of ours happily allow their *tails* to be handled. Cute kitten tails were irresistible to stroke and play with, and now as grown adults they maneuver to shove their tails into hands for attention same as head, sides, and back. Same with being touched on the tummy...all four are very accepting, to the point you can lay your head on their side or kiss their tummy without a single bit of worry.

Come to think of it, they more or less don't have any aggressive or defensive behaviours where humans are concerned...if they don't like something they wiggle, roll, or walk away, rather than scratch or nip. Might just be that we have very easygoing kittehs, tho.

[Kheldarson]

Well, it seems that the couple with the kittens gave my brother more backstory.

Kittens are newborn, so not even ready to be away from mom. To top it off, the whole family was found by the couple in an alley, so mommy is being really protective. So...no kittens.

But! After reading all the advice and stuff on here, I think I still want a kitten or cat. So I'm looking at going to one of the animal shelters nearby and asking about how to adopt.

[draggar]

A lot of great advice in this thread so far.

Food - YMWV with everything. Some swear by high end foods (Eukanuba, Royal Canin, Merrick, etc..) while others swear they do find with lower end foods (Wiskats, Alpo, Purina, etc..). Personally I'd recommend higher end foods, it can reduce your chances of issues down the road (kidney etc..). Wet vs. dry - YMWV.

I can't reiterate enough how important fresh water is.

An alternative to declawing - Soft Paws. The only issue with these is that the cat can pull them off. Trimming them is a good defense but will never be 100%.

Scratching post, those cardboard thingamajigs can help.

If you see the cat pulling it's claws out where she shouldn't, put double-sided sticky tape where they claw, they hate the feel of the tape and won't claw there.

Toys - every cat is different, some will love some toys other will only love certain ones. Catnip toys are usually good and maybe one on a stick (for you to pull and taunt).

As for the mommy cat - she'll loosen up with them. Trust me, there will be a time she can't wait to get rid of them (like our human parents). I don't know what adoption age is (8 weeks?) but I'd hold off on the shelter trip for now to see how they do - that is unless they plan on keeping all the kittens.

[MaggieTheCat]

Kittens can be adopted as early as 6 weeks if they're properly weened, but I think 8 weeks is the standard.

I assume the mama cat is feral? If so and your friends wait until the kittens are 6-8 weeks old before even handling them, they will probably be somewhat aggressive and much harder to bond to humans. It is absolutely vital for kittens to have human interaction as soon as possible in order to develop desired housecat qualities (liking to be held and petted, not running away or getting defensive when humans approach, etc.) Some friends of ours regularly foster animals and they found a tiny baby kitten in their yard one day. They knew what litter he was from -- one of their local ferals had kittens -- but they took him in anyway so they could try to find a proper home for him. He was probably about 3-4 weeks old when they got him and already showing feral behaviors. He did not like to be held, was aggressive, etc. Part of this was just that he was a kitten, but part of it was also that he had had no human interaction for the first several weeks of his life. They were able to mellow him out with LOTS of interaction on their part -- playing, cuddling, holding constantly, etc -- but I think they kept him till he was about 16 weeks old before they felt that he was truly comfortable around people.

[fireheart]

I think you use the same one we do. Recycled paper! Perfect cat litter! It also makes good garden mulch.

Yes, female cats will need stitches taken out after the spaying.

Breeders Choice is the brand we use. We used to use Dr. Harry's as well.

[noone]

I'd go for it, if you can afford vaccinations and all. Then post pictures so we can see them!

Also, I didn't read the entire post about the declawing, but I have a vet friend who declaws hers, but she does it with the laser, which causes less pain, and faster recovery.

But of course, there are easier, cheaper options you can also consider.

On a side note, these are my opinions, please don't yell at me for them.

[Frantic Freddie]

I would NEVER de-claw a cat,if they somehow get outside then they have no defenses or the ability to climb a tree to get away from danger.

[MaggieTheCat]

Cats are quite capable of defending themselves and climbing trees without claws (in both cases, not as effectively as a cat with claws, but they're not completely defenseless.) I don't advocate declawing cats since I find it unnecessary, plus cats that get declawed can get infections in their paws while using the litterbox while the wounds are still healing.