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new kitty today, need advice

S

smp

Diamond Member
New kitty, we're picking it up tonight cause my sister has the day off of work tomorrow to babysit it.

Any cat owners out there have any tips for a first time cat owner? I have a budgie and a mini schnauzer BTW .. the dog is 11 years old, healthy and loved..
I know there will be jealousy issues with him, but I really want to know about kitty litter, training, etc
 
Get good food (eukanuba, scinece diet, purina one if you're cheap😉)and stick with it, don't change it around at all. Cats respond poorly to food changes.
 
Originally posted by: godmare
Get good food (eukanuba, scinece diet, purina one if you're cheap😉)and stick with it, don't change it around at all. Cats respond poorly to food changes.
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Eukanuba is on the banned product list as the parent company does animal testing 🙂~....

For a new kitty, get come cat litter and a litter box and a water gun and good luck.
 
If you're getting a kitten, expect it to cry. It's in new and strange surroundings, and it will be frightened and need reassurances.

As far as litterbox goes, get a good sized one and periodically show kitty where it is. Kitty will know what to do from there. You may want to introduce kitty to the other pets slowly (confine kitty to one room for the time being). Make sure introductions are supervised.

Litter brands, get a clumping litter. Much easier to scoop.


<edit> Water guns are for training kitty to not jump on counters, chew wires, etc.
 
7 weeks.

A water gun? For negative reinforcement?
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You are going to require an eye dropper to feed it, keep it warm and let it snuggle with you as much as it wants, people should not give kittens away until they are at least 8 weeks old.
 
Originally posted by: bozack
Eukanuba is on the banned product list as the parent company does animal testing 🙂~....

For a new kitty, get come cat litter and a litter box and a water gun and good luck.
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't know that... ben a bit since I bought cat food 🙂
Just listing some examples, though- personally I've had better results with science diet.
 
In addition to the dropper, if kitty won't eat solid food yet, get some kitten food and make a warm heated mash.
 
the kitties aren't nursing anymore, they are eating food from the dish.. or so we've been told.
Kitty will get all necessary shots.

Thanks all, is that really all there is to it?
 
LOTS of love/cuddling - will produce a happy cat.


I find Eukanuba being being on a sh*tlist for animal testing is ironic.

 
I got my cat when she was a month old. All I did was drop her in the litter box once and she has used it ever since. My only advice for you is to get a scratching post ASAP and let the cat know it's theirs. My cat killed my old couch because I didn't own one. Other than that they are incredibly smart creatures. They know what's theirs and are very clean and methodical.

If you hold it a lot and put it in your lap it will grow up to be a lap cat. If you ignore it will become reclusive.
 
Make sure the kitten has safe toys to play with. If kitty doesn't, kitty will find its own toys and they may not be safe.
 
our cat LOVES to sratch the back of some old carpetting(glue side, very tough). Since it isnt the same texture as normal carpetting, he doesnt go after our good carpetting.
 
Keep the claws trimmed and don't do the declawing.

And, I use Iams for the food...esp. since my older cat is a bit, well, non-active and the food for less active adult cats works well.
 
have it sterilized. talk to the vet about de-clawing (some people think it's cruel, but it'll save your furniture, etc.).

if you end up being the cat's "person," expect it to follow you around, walk/sleep on you, etc.
if not, then expect to be ignored except when it wants something (food/water/clean catbox).

usually dogs don't have a problem with a cat, but cats are instinctively leery of them.
catbox training is easy.
 
yeah .. we won't be declawing it, and we have a leather couch... apparently kitties like leather couches, for scratching... I guess I'm gonna get to play with the water gun.
Anyone have a bird and a cat in the same house? Do cats like computers? I have a lot of computers, i hear they like to sleep ontop of em, is that true?
I kind of hope the cat sleeps with the dog, but that's unlikely eh?
 
i use iams for my cat too
with purina, he would crap way too much
iams he doesnt crap hardly @ all, so that tells me he gets more nutrition from the iams food.
its rather pricey, but my cat is in excellent health, he has a very keen shiny coat and its very soft to the touch.
i like tidy cat scoopable litter for his litter box.
and yes my cat will sit on top of a box i have all day.
its not on, but he still chills up there a good part of the day.
yes get a squirt gun.
dont hit or spank your cat.
they will just become afraid of you.
 
My cats love computers. They sit on my lap and try to attack the mouse cursor as I move it around. Then they try to eat the ESC key (which promptly gets them put on the floor). Cats like warm places to rest and they like to be up high. If they can find a comfortable nest on top of your monitor they will. But I've never seen my cats doing that (the TV is better suited to them).

I agree about quality food. Sure there is supermarket brand food that costs $25 a year. But why not spend $50 a year and have a healthier cat with much softer, shinier fur. Any cat person can tell within 1 second if the owner feeds the cat quality food. The cost is really not that bad since cats don't eat that much. Speaking of eating, please don't offer it table scraps. If you do, for the rest of its life it will whine and beg at every meal for more table scraps. This can get annoying. I have relatives that got their cat so hooked on table scraps that they set a plate at the dinner table for the cat! It just is easier for you not to get them in that habit.

I've seen houses with cats and birds - they never had a problem.

Give it lots of personal touches as soon as possible. Your cat is learning behaviors that will last for its entire life. After about the age of 3 months, they generally won't ever change. If you play attack with your cat early, it will attack strangers (thinking of it as a game) which often isn't a good thing. If you hold them a lot early, they will love to be held all their life. If you ignore them early, they will never want to be held, etc...

I had a dog and a cat when I was young. They got along just fine. Keep the introductions supervised, but don't interfere. If your cat wants to have a fight with the dog - it will try for a good fight for its whole life until you let it have that one fight. But after the fight is over, things are usually pretty smooth. If you keep interfering with that fight, you will never let them get over that stage. Of course, they may get along right off the bat.
 
Another vote for Iams food. My kittie seems to really like it and her poop isn't too stinky! Hah!

As far as your kitten sleeping with the dog, well you never know, its young and it might just see the dog as another cat. Most likely though the cat will want to sleep with you.

My cat doesn't really "love" the computer, but she perches on the monitor because its warm and because that's what appears to be getting all of my attention. 😀

Good luck with your new kitty!!!
 
I found that the crystaly cat litter worked really well. I adopted a 7 week old kitten, but she had been abused pretty bad and was insane. She needed constant attention, which we couldn't provide, so we gave her to a nice little family. It was really sad to hear her crying when they took her 🙁
 
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