Halp! 11 Week Kitty

[Kohan]

One thing I must argue against is Science Diet. I respect any vet who's been in the industry for years, as it's hard work, but the companies which produce Science Diet give kickbacks to the vets who sell it. It isn't worth what you pay, not by a long shot, and most longtime cat and dog breeders will tell you the same thing. Holistic foods and other such brands are better, and even though they're expensive compared to the stuff at the supermarket, they still generally feature a lower price tag than Iams, Science Diet, etc.

Innova is fantastic.

EDIT: Felidae, which was mentioned in the post just above mine, is also great.

[Circe]

Innova is a good brand too.

I do have to say though that I always laugh when someone tells us a breeder says it is good therefore it must be so. In the immortal words of a DVM I worked with "I went to 8 years of school to learn about physiology, nutrition, biology and any number of animal related subjects. All breeders are qualified to do is put 2 animals together and let them have sex." Now, I know that is going to offend the hell out of someone, but if I have a dollar for every time a breeder told someone something DANGEROUSLY wrong I could travel around the world twice for free. Good breeders aren't as common as the bad, get-rich-quick types, but that is for a whole nother thread.

PS....The "kickbacks" thing is a common myth. We do not, nor have we ever gotten at any of the pratices I work for, a kickback from Science Diet. They do offer discounts and limited free products to all employees but it isn't based on the number of bags of food sold, just for carrying the product. Most companies that have products sold by vet clinics do this, be it food or just about anything else.

[SilverBreeze]

I have a question!

I work 60-80 hours some weeks, and when I get home I don't always have the energy to play with my kitten as much as I used to. I still try and play around with her at least once a day, but I wonder if it's not enough for her. Is there anything I can do to make sure she stays entertained when I'm not around or am too tired after a 12 hour shift?

Also, teaching kittens when they are young really worked for me. I'm allergic to cats actually (I didn't know until after I adopted Saydee, and by then I was too attached to her). and she used to love to crawl up the hem of my shirt, or cuddle under my chin while I was sleeping, which used to cause me to go into sneezing fits. Since I taught her when she was young that it was a bad thing, she hasn't done it since, and if I'm sleeping and she wants to be next to me, she'll sleep by my stomach and not my face.

It's an older picture, mostly because any time she sees me with my camera she likes to paw at it and ruin any picture I try and take of her, but here ya go.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...aea/saydee.jpg

[Matricide]

I'm going to argue against the science diet too, it doesn't take much to look at the ingredients of any brand to see if it's good or not, i really honestly don't know why any vet would actually recommend the junk. If you want your pet to eat healthy look up what they should be eating and check the ingredients.

And again declawing is pretty much illegal in other countries around the world, it's mutilation. Plenty of stuff on the net to read about that though.

Hmm what else, don't ever physically punish it, it sends all kinds of wrong signals.

[Circe]

She is cute!

Window seats are great if you can set them up....lets her watch outside and be engaged that way. Toys with a little bit of dry kibble in them are good, just take that portion out of her food bowl so she won't eat too much. This makes her hunt for the food and work for it. Cat trees are also nice if you can afford them and have the room. Nothing with anything dangling, or if it does have a toy like that remove it when you aren't around so she can't get hung up in it. Cats like to be up high if they can and the climbing helps keep them fit. If you play with them for a good bit once a day that should be ok for now. Cats do sleep the majority of the day so that is likely what she is doing when you aren't home.

[Cesaria]

Our cat will spend hours staring out of the window (especially when the squirrels come out in the back garden). Funniest is the fact she's not quite figured out yet that if it's raining at the front of the house it's also raining at the back and she'll spend hours going between the front and back windows to check the weather at each.

Cat trees are great - we've got a smallish one (she can't climb very well having a missing back leg) and she gets to the top (in a most undignified fashion) and then sits there and stares at you like the boss of the house she really is).

[izembo]

lazer pointer = infinite fun for cat

[Brill Weave]

lazer pointer = infinite fun for cat owner

Fixed that one for ya

[Olo401]

lazer pointer = infinite fun for cat

Heh this is true for dogs too. My boss would drive the office retriever crazy with the lazer pointer. Twas hilarious!

[Kael]

Sorry I was at work when I found out about the cat, and right now hes napping with his brother at my moms house so she didnt want to wake him and bring him to my house.

She decided to get one his brothers for herself. Shes bringing him tomorrow so I should have plenty of pictures tomorrow evening.

Small update:

She didn't want to seperate the brothers so looks like I will have 2 kitties instead. I'm okay with it, just makes getting their shots more expensive then I planned but it should be okay. As soon as I get home I'll take lots of pics, promise!

[Tetrarien]

Lots of good stuff in here. I'll throw in my 2 cents for what I did with my kitten (got her when she was 3 months, she's about 9 months now).

• For her claws, I got a cardboard scratching post to just lay on the floor and sprinkled some cat nip on it almost immediately when I got her. Just from that, she's learned to only scratch that. She's never scratched any furniture at all. (Also worked for my parent's cat).
• I feed her both wet and dry food. I usually leave about half a bowl of dry for her to eat throughout the day, and then feed her a bit of wet food twice a day.
• I'll second the notion of having tons of toys. Currently I have at least 5-6 toys laying around the floor for her to use. (and yes, laser pointers are great fun). Some of the stupidest things, like paper bags and toilet paper tubes, can be some of their favorite things to play with.
• I've had no problems with using my hands/feet to play with my kitten or my parent's cat. Probably not typical, but both have never really used their claws/teeth when I play this way.
• And yes, beware of any movements you make when sleeping. I once was woken up by the feeling of one of her claws actually impaling my pinky finger (in one side, out the other). Not a good feeling lol.
• Finally, have fun! Cats are friggin great.

[Kael]

Well I finally got some quality time with them. They got dropped off by my mom this afternoon. When I got home they were asleep so I set up their meals and they woke up real quick.

This is them after their meal and taking a potty break.

Castor is the one with black feet.
Pollux is the one with white feet.

^^ I will have more pictures soon!

[Kael]

Here are a couple more:


It was tricky getting them to eat. Not sure what the previous owner fed them and they didnt seem to like the dry food (I tried softening it up) but they just kinda licked at it. So I ended up adding some wet food to the mix and they started eating like champs.

[Xajii]

d'aww. Good names. Cute kitties.

[Leif]

Get him a cat bed :D My cats love theirs.

And, if you live in a residential area, I would let the cat out at least to explore around while being supervised. While you may want to keep your cat indoors, most cats who go missing are the indoor cats that escape and are not familiar with the surroundings and don't know where to go and how to get back.

I trained my cat to stay in the back yard by simply having supervised outdoor time. Whenever he would move towards the front yard I would pick him up and put him in the back yard. After a while, he got the message and now stays exclusively in the back yard with no supervision.

[Kael]

I dont know if thats a good idea, letting the kitties out I mean. Because most of the families that live in my neighborhood have dogs. lol Could be bad news bears.

[Eticket]

Adorable kittens. Those are great names too.

[Warudo Ecksu]

aww so cute

[Kael]

Some more pics I took last night.


I think they must've picked up fleas before being brought over, poor little guys. Though I'm not sure what to do about it since they are so young. I hear a bath with baby shampoo or dawn dish soap and a good combing with a flea comb is good though. Is that an option?


Pollux is harder to take pictures of. lol He seems to be a bit shy.

[Cesaria]

Awww so cute - I want another kitten now.