Dammit, I Am *NOT* a Cat Person!

[It's me]

bits of string

NO string!!!!!!!

Or elastic bands, or Easter grass, etc.

Cats eat string which can do nasty things in their gut if it gets knotted up on the intestines. They start chewing on the string, swallow a bit and can't get it back up. So they keep swallowing.

I caught our current beasty in the process of consuming a ball of yarn my daughter had left out. I pulled a good three feet of yarn out of that cat...... (also: if you find the string coming out of the other end... don't pull it as it could be knotted on something..... )

Now, cats do love to stalk things, so if you want to tow a piece of twisted up paper around for him to chase use the waist-cord off of an old pair of pajamas or something like that.

[fireheart]

Oh yeah, as Whiskey has mentioned in another thread....$125 cat tree < box naturally.

[Eireann]

Awwww, this is one of the CUTEST threads I've ever seen!

Pedersen, I wouldn't worry about the fact that kitty keeps opening his mouth at you. The chances are excellent that this is simply what I call the "silent meow". My cats do it, too. I'm not sure why they do it, but they do.

Yes, he can be left alone in another room, in a cage, as long as he has food and water and some kind of litterbox. The alarm clock is a good idea. How are your dogs responding to him? Do you have one that will "mother" him? That might help him to feel at home.

The vet can give you the right kind of food for him, and check him for any potential problems.

Good luck!

[terakhan]

Paper grocery bags, cardboard boxes, bits of string... cats are cheap to entertain.

As for getting the munchkin to quiet down and go to sleep so you can as well, I have heard that a mechanical alarm clock stuffed under a pillow resembles the mom's heartbeat enough for kittens to sleep with it, instead of you.

But yeah, you are officially a cat person. Not wanting to disturb the cat when its sleeping, and on top of you at that... you're one of us now.

And yes, cats LOVE cat-neutral people. We cat lovers tend to make too much fuss trying to get the cats to like us back, and cats do not like strangers much. A room full of people, the quiet person who isnt staring at the cat is the safest place in the cat's mind.

Feral kittens are a bizarre lot. We helped a friend catch and shelter a trio from one of his ferals. Two of them were absolute demons, and the third was a lovable little pudgeball.

[Mikkel]

He is calling his mother, just pick him up with your mouth and lick him for a bit, then he'll fall asleep .

He looks about six weeks old to me, a bit too young to take away from his mother, but that appears to have been done already. I think you have a new pet. I don't think he can be feral. He is unafraid even when you take pictures. A feral kitten would hide under something and try to escape.
The vet can probably tell you his age from his development. Good luck with your new master.

[Bright_Star]

Don't forget the litter box...lol.

[Seshat]

Just like a small puppy, he can be safely left in a cage in the other room. Give him a blanket to snuggle into, an appropriate level of heat/cooling (if it's comfortable for humans, it's fine for him), a bowl of water, a litter tray, and since he's so very small, some dry food.

A couple of little toys would be good too. Dangle some string from the top of his cage.

Then put him in the other room alone, go to bed, and ignore his cries the same way you'd (try to) ignore the cries of a young puppy left alone in a perfectly safe cage.

He'll react much the same way as a puppy the same age.


It's good to see you caring. Just try not to suffer from it!

[Pedersen]

whimper whimper whimper

It is now 4:45am. for the past two and a half hours, I have tried to sleep. Since I don't feel like I can leave him alone safely in any other room, he is sleeping in mine. Well, actually, he is meowing in mine, while I curse the powers that brought him in to my life.

If he was abandoned, them it was solely so that his former owner could get some sleep. I see that now.

If I am ever again allowed to sleep, I'll probably be happy to see him again. Right now, though, I have learned to hate the sound of a cats meow.

[Seshat]

Don't get clumping cat litter for a kitten - they clean their paws after going to the litter tray, it gets into their digestive system, clumps there, and they can't expel it. Adult cats have larger digestive systems.

If you want to, you can probably leave her with the vet or a shelter, with yourself having first right of refusal. When I volunteered at a shelter, we'd happily do that.

If you choose not to, and/or if you choose to keep her, always feel free to ask us for kitty advice.

Cats can be trained the same way dogs can, btw. They're more resistant, but diversion, reinforcement, reward, and so forth will teach a cat just as much as it will a dog.

Cover any valuable furniture with something unpleasant to claw, at least until she's learned to reliably claw her scratching post. Alfoil/tinfoil is one choice. Double-sided sticky tape is another.

Oh, and don't forget that cats can jump much higher than dogs. And will do so - they LOVE to be above you and look down.

[Wenchie]

or the cap
seriously i could flick on fo those across the room, into the bathtub or at my cat and he will chase, beat it up and play hockey.

Yup.... my cats will walk off with the caps to my soda bottles.

The one thing that I wasn't amused by... one morning I woke up and my glasses weren't on my bedside table. Apparently, they had miraculously grown 4 legs & a tail overnight and wandered off 5 feet. Kitty teeth marks in the lenses do NOT make for a happy wench. So... the glasses go in the case every night.

They will also steal the cat nail trimmer if they can and hide it. Kitties = smart!

My kitties are really social and love attention from me. They're psychotically friendly attention whores, unlike a lot of standoffish cats.

[Sliceanddice]

And the plastic ring from a milk or juice bottle. More "awesome" toys from a cat's perspective.

or the cap
seriously i could flick on fo those across the room, into the bathtub or at my cat and he will chase, beat it up and play hockey.

[Wenchie]

be careful of your plastic bags.
Tonks loved plastic bags.
We would be empting a trash can and replacing the bag, set down the full bag and turn around for a second and in that second she would run up grab it and run away to play with.

We would find her in nests made form plastic bags

she still loves plastic bags.

Yeah... Gypsy noms plastic bags when he can. Which is bad because eating plastic is NOT good for the intestines. o_O

He has a plastic deficiency. Or else got too attached to those plastic spoons as a kitten.



Oh.... best cat toy ever... hair ties. They LOVE hair ties. Mine get stolen and stretched out and walked around with all of the time. I go through so many of those because they grow 4 feet and walk off my table.

And the plastic ring from a milk or juice bottle. More "awesome" toys from a cat's perspective.

[Sliceanddice]

be careful of your plastic bags.
Tonks loved plastic bags.
We would be empting a trash can and replacing the bag, set down the full bag and turn around for a second and in that second she would run up grab it and run away to play with.

We would find her in nests made form plastic bags

she still loves plastic bags.

[Wenchie]

A few helpful tips with the kitty if you're gonna keep an eye on it:

-For toys, just be creative. I've found that our two ratbags will get a simple joy of chasing around anything on a string if you drag it slowly behind you.

A box. Empty boxes are always fun for cats of all ages. When my kittens were babies, they also loved disposable plastic spoons and a string of fake pearls... the boy would carry around the spoon and the girl loved her pearls... she kept them in a little basket that she would curl up in.

-For a quick and easy scratching post, wind some thick string around a wooden post, or cover it in carpet. Bingo, couches, curtains etc. stay scratch free.

I've found that my cats like the cardboard scratch pads best... like this one: http://www.catclaws.com/products/cat...tching-pad.php

You can get them for pretty cheap at pet stores. Or Meijer. Or probably Walmart except that I don't shop there so don't know for sure.

I trained my cats to use the scratch pad by putting them on it and praising them for using it and giving them lots of scritches. Soon, they started running to the scrach pad as soon as I'd get home from work... showing off to "mom" that they're good babies who deserve attention. Positive reinforcement has always worked.

If you're thinking about declawing the cat, please do research and make an informed decision. I advise against it because it's a surgery that actually removes a joint of the cat's "toes" and it makes it difficult for him to fend for himself if he gets outside somehow. I trim my cat's claws every week and haven't had any problems, and there's also "SoftClaws" caps that you can put on the claws so he can't scratch things.

Good luck and have fun!

[fireheart]

A few helpful tips with the kitty if you're gonna keep an eye on it:

-If you haven't already done so, get a litter box and some litter. Don't go with perfumed stuff, the best stuff ideally is either the stuff that clumps or the stuff that looks like rabbit pellets (we use the latter). Make sure it's in a spot where little accidents are easy to clean up. (Not too sure if you're meant to put it near food/water?)
-Whiskas and I THINK one other brand do kitten milk. Be careful if you give this to them and give it in small amounts. It's a special cat milk.
-For toys, just be creative. I've found that our two ratbags will get a simple joy of chasing around anything on a string if you drag it slowly behind you.
-For a quick and easy scratching post, wind some thick string around a wooden post, or cover it in carpet. Bingo, couches, curtains etc. stay scratch free.

And on that note, if you're like me and have lace curtains in the house, be prepared to have them shredded. (the one in our loungeroom has two gigantic holes in it)

And the opening of the mouth thing-check its body language. I've found that our youngest ratbag will open his mouth on occasion, but he's just playing.