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Taking Care of a Kitten
Lach
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi everyone, I have a few questions about taking care of a kitten.
1. I'm away from home for about 10-11 hours a day at work 3 or 4 days a week. Could a pretty young kitten be left alone for that long? I could ask my girlfriend to stop by on her way from on a few of those days, but the kitten would still be alone for a long while.
2. What does a young kitten need to eat and be healthy while its young?
3. How soon should I get the kitten checked out with a vet?
4. Should I pretty much assume that my couch will be ruined?
I've had a cat before when I lived with my parents, but this will be the first pet I take care of on my own. And theres still time to reconsider, so I want to make sure I can take care of the kitten properly. Thanks.
1. I'm away from home for about 10-11 hours a day at work 3 or 4 days a week. Could a pretty young kitten be left alone for that long? I could ask my girlfriend to stop by on her way from on a few of those days, but the kitten would still be alone for a long while.
2. What does a young kitten need to eat and be healthy while its young?
3. How soon should I get the kitten checked out with a vet?
4. Should I pretty much assume that my couch will be ruined?
I've had a cat before when I lived with my parents, but this will be the first pet I take care of on my own. And theres still time to reconsider, so I want to make sure I can take care of the kitten properly. Thanks.
Lach on
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Posts
Get the cat checked out by a Vet.
Priority two...
Get some good kitten food. Leave the dry food out during the day when you're gone, then when you get home play with the kitten and reward it with some wet food.
Get some nice toys...
Maybe have your girlfriend come over once a week to play with the kitten. Just make sure you play with it a little too
2. Kitten food. Look for the brands marketed in specialty shops as “holisticâ€, stay away from the grocery store crap. Avoid anything containing byproducts of any kind, or any meat that is not specifically identified.
3. As soon as possible. Kittens can carry all kinds of nasty parasites, and need immunizations.
4. It depends on the cat. Most cats are pretty good at leaving the furniture along if they're provided with other stuff to trash.
Is it weened? I think that will make a big difference on how long you can leave it alone.
I too would recommend getting two cats, but regardless make sure you try and spend a lot of time with it when you're home.
If it's weened, then I second what Powerss has recommended.
Basically means that it no longer needs its mother's milk and it can eat dry cat food.
How old is it? I know most places around here won't allow you to adopt a kitten until it is 7 weeks old.
Our first cat was 4 weeks old when we got her. Her mother was killed by a car, so we had to feed her some kitten formula, and then some stuff called "second step" that was basically a paste of some sort. Also, the shelter where we got her was already trying to feed her freakin dry food. She kept crapping all over herself mulitple times a day, sometimes with blood in it.
In short...not fun.
It was a pain in the ass. Just know it takes a lot more work than an older kitten.
Maybe I should take her to the vet before bringing her home?
And then you get to weep as you reflect on all the moments of insane cuteness you miss.
You're not L33T enough for IDI/RN FTP!
Especially the second comment.
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photos
You need to take photos of kittens.
Satans..... hints.....
Cats can be alright by themselves because they are territorial creatures. If you introduce a new cat into their territory they hate them for a little bit until they all smell the same and then they will jointly defend the territory.
I try to feed my cats California Natural cat food. It costs a little bit more, but it's better for them. Think that if you buy the store brand stuff it's like eating at McDonald's every day. If you buy Iams it's like eating at Subway everyday. California Natural is like eating that new age good for you shit every day.
Get your cat toys. One of the best toys I ever bought my cat was a cardboard base that had a fuzzy ball attached to it by a spring about 7 inches long. They can't get enough of it. If you don't have one of those, a paper bag or empty 12 bottle beer box will do as well.
Laser Pointer.
Geez was that fun playing with that.
I'd say a month. That gives her time to get her legs, and you to figure out if you really want the responsibility of having a pet, given your schedule.
The more thieves and robbers there will be.
-Lao-tzu
Who/what is looking after her now?
If she is with her mother, and someone who has experience introducing the cat onto dry food in the proper way, leave it there for a month or more. If she is with someone who is unlikely to look after it properly, consider other options.
If you do look after it, it will have to be fed formula every few hours, so you (or someone else) would basically need to have it with you at all times. If you have a desk job this isnt as impractical as it sounds. Little kittens sleep a whole lot, and even when they are awake they can be tired out quickly if you play with them a bit. By the time its big enough to be active and playful enough to be a hassle, you will probably be weening it onto dry food, and can leave it at home.
My roommate and I just got kittens, and they are little hellions. Most of the time they're awake, (which includes periods from about 2-3 and 6-8 AM) they're chasing each other around the apartment at barely subsonic speeds. Given that we have wood floors, this is kinda noisy.
But yeah, they keep each other occupied and exercised, and probably don't miss us too much when we're gone during the day.
Pictures!
It's difficult... sometimes they don't want the bottle, sometimes they'll only use a dropper, sometimes they only want to lick a few drops at a time from your fingertips. Sometimes you luck out and they're happy to lap it up from a saucer.
And *THEN* there is the additional burden of developing technique to help the fuzzy baby go to the bathroom. They can't actually control themselves for the first few weeks, and you have to stimulate their kidneys after you feed them so that they will go and not get full of icky nastiness.
And then, once they are old enough to start being weaned, you have to start them on soft food. You can moisten hard food with water or kitten formula, or get canned food. But the thing about that is, it's not like dry food in that you can leave it out all day. You have to keep it fresh, and put out small ammounts every couple of hours.
TL;DR: Leave the kitten with mamma cat for at least another month. She'll do a better job than we can.
And I second the motion for pictures. There are never enough kitten pictures in the world.
EDIT: YAY KITTY PICTURES! What sweet little babies! ^.^<3<3<3<3
here's two of mine that I raised and had to bottle feed. The bigger one is the smaller one's auntie. I took several pictures in a row and decided to animate them for additional cuteness.
You're not L33T enough for IDI/RN FTP!
Also, I cannot agree enough that you should get two kittens if you plan on being gone most of the day. I'm only gone for a maximum of 3 hours and before we got the brillian idea of letting the cats play together, they would each just meow and whine and meow all the time until they got tired.
Also, heres some adorable pictures.
This is my little girl exploring our kitchen
And this is both cats sleeping all day, getting ready to wreck havoc all night
About food, a lot of the grocery store brands are corn-based. Cats don't digest corn, so it just goes through them and results in even more poop. I highly recommend Costco's brand, Kirkland. (I'm not sure if it's good for kittens . . . Check the label. If not, use kitten food until the kitties are twelve months old.) Kirklands brand has good ingredients and nutritional value, yet is cheaper than the store brands. Costco FTW!
Oh, about your couch . . . get a cardboard scratching pad. (Check at Petco for them.) Whenever the kitty starts going for the couch, say "No", then put the kitty on the scratcher and praise it. They're cheap, disposable, and kittens love them.
Also, I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend spaying/neutering the kitten ASAP. The younger they are, the sooner they recover. My kitty boys were neutered at eight weeks and were running around the house the next day without a care.
Edit: Two weeks? Yeah, unless Mom is out of the picture, leave the kitten for another month to develop a bit more.
Well, lots of people just shove them into burlap bags and throw the tightly-tied bags into rivers. It's been done many-a-time in old Tom and Jerry-style cartoons.
Oh.
Oh.
Nevermind.
That was completely unnecessary and in bad taste.
Kittens and bad taste?
NEVER!
Look, if you can't handle the taste of a kitten, a little relish and sauerkraut go a long way.
Also, what's your opinions on de-clawing the cat?
As far as housebreaking goes, just put the kitten in the litterbox after every meal. It'll get the idea pretty quickly.
And never declaw a cat. It's painful and unnecessary. If you're worried about the cat clawing up your shit, then get a scratching post. Or don't get a cat at all. But never declaw.
hitting hot metal with hammers
The OP MUST take pictures of the 2week old kitty and post them here.
If not, most assuredly it will die. Perhaps even twice.
Definately de-claw. Those things hurt the esophagus.
While it might not cause a problem, sometimes it can cause lifelong pain for a cat, can lead to them not using the litterbox because they can't scratch, and if they ever get outside they can't defend themselfs.
Just trim their claws every other week with some pet-nailtrimmers.
Only people who are evil get their cats declawed. It's bassically like ripping off your nails then digging deeper to make sure they don't grow back.
Teach a cat to use a scratching post (or a tree if you have fun outsides) and you wont have a problem.
Satans..... hints.....
Just give them huge praise and petting and a treat when they use a scratching pad and they'll be disinclined to tear up your furnature.
A humane - and cute - alternative to declawing, if you're absolutely terrified of kitten claws.
www.softpaws.com
You're not L33T enough for IDI/RN FTP!
Granted, this is probably an extremely rare case. I don't think the owner was being horrifically cruel or evil.
Anyways, if you are considering declawing a kitten even understanding exactly what it does to the poor thing, you should not get said kitten.
But make sure that you have a scratch friendly place. I built my own using stuff I had lying around the garage and I haven't had a single problem with unwanted scratching since I made it. It should be tall enough for the fully grown cat the stretch out using it, and make sure it won't rock or fall over. Mine has a small platform on the top for my little guy to sit on.
Yes, I'm evil because we got our cat front-declawed. the kitty who I give kisses and belly rubs to, who he follows me around like a dog when I get home everyday.
Oh, also because almost every aprtment requires you to have a front-declawed cat.
Sorry, I know de-clawing is "teh eval!" around here, but between getting declawed and not being servent to a cat, I'll take the cat.
OT, yeah, kitties are pretty self-suffient, just make sure you get everything dangerous out of reach; close closet doors, washer/dryer, put away any cleaners, string, cords, etc. You'd be surprised where they can get to when they're feeling adventurous.
And what ass-backwards place do YOU live?
Let me know so that I know to NEVER visit; because then i would be tempted to filter the piss from gene pool.
You're not L33T enough for IDI/RN FTP!
Um, what apartment complexes do you apply to? I have lived in 4 out here in Arizona, and all the ones I've ever looked at said nothing about 'requiring' a cat to be declawed.
And yes, it hurts the animal.
Really if it came down to declawed and not being servent to a cat I wouldn't get the cat. And you're not being servant to a cat, your teaching it things, I'd love to see what you'd do with a baby that cries all the time, would you drill out it's voicebox to shut it up? It hurts the animals that it is done to and is done only because owners are too lazy to train their animals.
Satans..... hints.....