Getting a new kitten from my next door neighbours

Trymon

Hey all, unfortunately about 8 weeks ago our cat decided to run away, leaving us all devastated. However, we recently heard some mixed news from our next door neighbours( good for us, bad for them!!). Their cat has become pregnant, and theres only one suspect as to who the father may be! In the event of a birth, they have promised us a new kitten. However, given that they live just next door, is it likely to hop the back wall as soon as it can to return to its mother, or are we being cruel by forcing such a seperation? The cat we lost was the first we owned, so I am really inexperienced with them, so the above may be obvious to you, but not to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Snuggle Bunny

Hi there,
First of all congrats u must be really excited getting a new kitten! My advice is not to seperate your new kitten too soon from its mother, vets recommend they leave the mother from 8/9 wks on, I got my cats at 6 wks and in hindsight they were too young, I had to bottle feed them but they were abandoned so different from your situation. Your kitten wont be out on its own for a long time so don't worry about them trying to get back in next door, but the strongest advice I can give is don't let your pet wander at night, Ive already been on this forum advising that! Other than not sure what advice to give, other than give one of the local vets a ring and they can fill in the blanks for you, let us know when you get your new addition and good luck!

wolfpawnat

As long as when you take the kitten you keep it indoors for a week or two before allowing it out again then the mother should have forgotten it is her kitten and wont call it or anything.

I have given kittens to neighbours before and have even sold one of my dogs puppies to our next door neighbours and though the dogs are friendly to each other, the pup doesnt try to come back:)

Hopefully you will have your new pet soon, I was devestated when one of my cats ran away:(

MsFifers

If you spoil your kitten, keep it warm and cosy, it will choose to stay with you. Cats always stay where they are most spoiled!

Try and leave the kitten with its mother as long as possible - I know most people would say 8 weeks, but even longer is better.

You better get it neutered at 6 months! Or you may find history repeating itself!

Gordon Gekko

MsFifers wrote: »

You better get it neutered at 6 months! Or you may find history repeating itself!

Get it done at 4 months and while you're at it offer to your neighbour that you'll take the mother cat and the rest of the litter to get done at the same time. The ISPCA, DSPCA and Blue Cross all do subsidised spaying/neutering if cost is an issue for your neighbours.

Edit: Just noticed you're in London. Loads of animal charities there will neuter/spay for effectively free, and vets there are generally more enlightened than Irish vets about the benefits of early spay/neuter for cats.

Sigma Force

Keep the kitten indoors as an indoor cat so there won't be a chance of it running away, if you allow cats to wander so freely they can easily 'deceide' to run away..more often than not another family takes the wandering cat in, it gets caught in something and can't escape or has been hit by a car etc.

Plus a pair of kittens would be better they will keep each other company.

Rory123

DON'T DO IT!!!
During the summer my mother brought 2 kittens for our next door neighbour from down the country, but had to keep them at our house for 2 weeks or so before handing them over.
The only time they spend with their rightful owner now are the 30 seconds it takes them to wolf their dinner in the evening. They spend all their time at our back door and they sleep here.
Although they are nice cats and have nice personalities, they are real pests, they come in any open window and always run into the garage ahead of us and hide. You can't even leave the car door open when bringing in the shopping without them getting into the boot to nose around for food. These are all issues that we have never had with our 2 mature cats.
They bully the dog and our 2 cats away from their dinner, so now I've had to start bringing them inside to feed them.
It really is not worth taking a kitten from your next door neighbour as the only time you may see it is when it is feeding time.
You can afford to be picky as the county is full of kittens, so my advice is get one that comes from a few miles from where you live.

sorella

Awww.. seen this so often... Homing cats...

Rory123 wrote: »

DON'T DO IT!!!
During the summer my mother brought 2 kittens for our next door neighbour from down the country, but had to keep them at our house for 2 weeks or so before handing them over.
The only time they spend with their rightful owner now are the 30 seconds it takes them to wolf their dinner in the evening. They spend all their time at our back door and they sleep here.
Although they are nice cats and have nice personalities, they are real pests, they come in any open window and always run into the garage ahead of us and hide. You can't even leave the car door open when bringing in the shopping without them getting into the boot to nose around for food. These are all issues that we have never had with our 2 mature cats.
They bully the dog and our 2 cats away from their dinner, so now I've had to start bringing them inside to feed them.
It really is not worth taking a kitten from your next door neighbour as the only time you may see it is when it is feeding time.
You can afford to be picky as the county is full of kittens, so my advice is get one that comes from a few miles from where you live.