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Caring for Your New Kitten
Here are a few tips to help your new kittens
adjust to your home.
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Feeding your new kitten
Only place a small amount of food in the bowl initially so
that it is easier to tell if the new baby is eating. |
Dry Food:
Kittens need dry food available at all times. They eat small amounts and
often. I like to feed a variety instead of the same old thing each day. The
main thing is to buy small bags to insure that your kitten is receiving
fresh food. I feed the top brands, including: Science Diet Feline Growth,
Precise, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Felidae, Iams, Nutro, Max Kitten, etc. ..
(Belles of Siam kittens are currently eating Felidae, Science Diet, Iams and
Nutro).
The best thing you can do is to READ the
ingredient labels. Look for dry/wet food which contain no corn,
by-products or artificial preservatives.
Canned food:
Kittens receive a little canned food in morning and night. Just a few
spoonfuls of either Fancy Feast, Whiskas, or Friskies chicken, turkey or
beef are appreciated. I don't give fish to kittens, especially tuna.
People food:
If you have a holiday turkey your kitten would love having a small bowl
full.
Many seasonings are not good for cats, including onion. Although many
commercial canned pet food contains onion??
Cats are quirky animals and often develop a taste for strange things, such
as French fries, etc. A small amount of this sort of food is okay. It is a
good idea to check a list of poisonous foods and
plants first though.
Review poisonous plant list.
Water:
Fresh, non-chlorinated water daily in either a ceramic or stainless
bowl. Not in plastic.
Never never never let your cat's water dish run out of
fresh water!
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The hooded litter boxes will help contain odor and help
keep the cat litter from being spread all over the floor. It is recommended
that you use non-clumping cat litter at least until your kittens are 6
months old. I believe that the clumping litter is not safe and prefer not to
use it at all. Any type of plain clay litter is fine. I use woodstove pellet
fuel and horse stall pellets AKA 'Animal Bedding Material' (crushed wood
pellets) which is very similar to Feline Pine pellets.
Keep a kitty litter box on two floors if you have two
floors, initially.
Keep a close eye on the litter box to make sure they are
peeing and pooping frequently enough, especially when you first get a
kitten.
Here is a great site that talks about alternative natural
cat litter, with pros and cons, websites and try-out results:
http://www.catmom.com/marina/articles/natural.html. Here is an
article of why clumping clay litter is so dangerous:
http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/marina/articles/clump.html.
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Bed:
Those fuzzy cat beds are nice but be prepared to share your own bed.
Play equipment:
Kittens love running and chasing furry mice, balls, feather toys, etc.
Siamese are very interactive with their humans. You can stuff an old sock
with cat nip and poly fill and they will love you for it. They love having a
tower to climb and use as a place to scratch their claws. Additional
scratching posts or corrugated scratching blocks are appreciated. Empty
cardboard boxes can provide hours of play for a kitten. Wadded up newspaper
is also fun to play with. Small paper wads of around 1" in diameter are
great fun to chase after. In no time at all your kitten should be able to
teach you the game of fetch. Before buying one of those puffy balls,
see if it pulls apart easily. If so, do not buy it. Kittens chasing
after Ping pong balls is more entertaining than watching television.
Toys that cats seem to like best:
- tiny 99 cent mice available in many stores are a hit
- toys on elastic cords, especially the type that hang form a doorway
Other things that they really appreciate:
- cat perch in windows
- scratching posts, cardboard scratching pads
Review poisonous plant
list
Collars: Stretchy safety collars only
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When kitty first arrives, keep him in a small
warm quiet room for a day or two and visit them and hold and talk to them
softly. They will be way too tired to play. When they start to explore,
introduce them to their new toys. Then as the days so by, introduce your
house to them bit by bit, so they don't get lost. It is really fun to see
them explore and test out new things. The room where they started
out will be their safe room. So it might be best that the room be your
bedroom with litter box, food and water in your bathroom (hope they are
jointed rooms). That way, you will spend the majority of
your time with them, both day AND night!!! Within the month, your kitten
should become part of the household and knows her way around like she was
born there!!
If you are introducing a new kitten into a
home with existing cats, wipe them all down with a baby wipe or something
with a light odor. That way, they all smell similar and are more likely to
accept each other. Gradually introduce the kitten to her new family and
surroundings.
If the cat is going to be a travel buddy, get
it used to a car early. Let it sit in car with car in garage, short errand
type trips, etc.
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I prefer a harness for Gus when traveling or going out on
the leash.
Place rocks or tinfoil in potted plants if digging
is a problem.
It is easier to distract kitty with a play toy than to
create a head-on "NO!" situation.
Any time a kitten is anxious, play is best way to distract
it out of that mood.
It is not good to pick up kitty by scruff of neck, the way
you see mom do.
You can train kitty not to run out the open
door by squirting him when he tries (with you out of his sight, it is to be
hoped).
I like to clip my cats' nails about every
week, as an option to getting them declawed. I think some people don't
realize this is an easy alternative.
For furniture that is the target of
scratching, use some double-sided tape on the spot for a while, and they
will quit rapidly.
Tin foil on the countertops to keep the cats
from jumping up there. Also, if the males are spraying a particular spot
and you put tin foil there, they don't like the noise!
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Clip nails often to get kitten accustomed; if
necessary, just one nail at a time followed by a treat.
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Cat-proofing your house
- watch for electrical cords, etc, things that cats can get
stuck in
- cleaning chemicals, antifreeze should be carefully kept away from pets
- don't leave food in glass containers on the shelf where they might knock
them off to get at the food
- keep toilet seats down |
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Pet Insurance
- often a good deal, especially the kind that pays for routine visits
and vaccinations, etc. |
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Poisonous Plant List
The Cat Fancier's Association "Plants and Your
Cat" is an informative article:
http://www.cfainc.org/articles/plants.html
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