Advice?

weiland79

I have a bit of a problem guy's and maybe someone can give me advice.My partner found a kitten on the way to work this morning on a country road and now she wants to take it home.I've never had a pet bigger than a goldfish before and have a few concerns.Obviously disease's can be sorted out by the vet with shots etc.but I'm more concerned about looking after the thing will it mostly look after itself,will it destroy my furniture.I don't think i can have it living in my house all the time but i have a good solid concrete shed in the back garden,could i set it up in there with bed etc. I hope i don't come across as Dr. Evil here but as i said i never had a pet before.Any and all advice is much appreciated.

planetX

a kitten isn't going to be happy on it's own out in a shed. Melt your hard heart and let it live in the house with you. Yes there'll be a settling in period when there might be messes, furniture probs, but they soon settle in and grow up, and you'll have a lovely pet. And no mice!

weiland79

I didn't so much mean that i wanted it to live in the shed more that we will be out to work all day most days and would it be happy enough to stay outside with the shed there if it needed it.And as for having a hard heart you sound like my girlfriend.:)

lrushe

My cat pretty much looks after herself in so much as she doesn't crave coming into the house, she comes in at night and to eat and have a little cuddle but other than that she goes off on her travels. Having said that when she was a kitten she had to be kept inside for warmth and protection then gradually allowed outside, also unfortunately as with all young animals your house will more than likely suffer a degree of destruction, just goes with the territory I'm afraid!

anniehoo

I guarantee by the time the weekend is over you'll be in love. The next thing you'll be talkin to her in squeaky baby voices and the furniture she wasnt allowed on will suddenly be open access Kittens have a magic way of getting under your skin verrrrry quickly.

On a more serious note though, if you really dont want it in the house make sure its warm and dry enough in the shed with plenty of cosy blankets, food etc and go from there. Could you guess an age? It may be too young to be away from its mother yet.

weiland79

So this is the cat in question it's up with the animal shelter this evening so safe and sound.But i wonder could anyone tell me anything about it's breed is it a house cat or stay outside cat.It looks pretty hairy to me and i would not be too impressed with hair all over the place.Obviously i realise it's not a great picture but as always any comments are greatly appreciated.

weiland79

Could you guess an age? It may be too young to be away from its mother yet.[/quote]

It doesn't have a mother my G/F found it on the side of the road on the way to work this morning.

The Sweeper

weiland79, the first step is to identify the kitten's age. If its eyes are still blue, then it's very young and could actually die without the care of its mother. If they've turned from blue to green or golden yellow then it's older.

The next question is how big it is or how much it weighs. That's a less reliable indicator of age than the eyes, but can be a good indication. You say your girlfriend 'found it' - if it was willing to come anywhere near her, then it's either the bravest feral kitten in the history of mankind, or it's been socialised, which means someone's either owned it and dumped it, or owned it and is missing it.

If she's serious about keeping it to be honest she needs to have you on board. It's desperately unfair to bring a cat into a house where someone doesn't want it - unfair both on that person and on the cat. Cats need to be trained - and benefit from consistent treatment as part of that training. They take naturally to using a litter tray, but they need to be trained not to scratch the couch (if you're going to have it inside you absolutley HAVE to have something for it to scratch, or it WILL go at your furniture). They need to be trained in their behaviour so they are gentle when they play, and don't use their claws. They can also be trained to tell good behaviour from bad, to come when they're called, and even to do tricks for treats or praise - but you're not going to put that time into the cat if you don't want it.

If you're the one who gives out to the cat, and your missus spoils it terribly to make up for you being 'mean' to it, you're going to end up with a bloody dreadful cat.

As for cat outside in the concrete shed - if you do that, you'll end up with a cat the way you might think cats are - a disinterested food slut, that doesn't know its name or respond when called; that disappears for hours, craps all over your neighbour's garden and makes a noise like a banshee when it's fighting at night; kills every small animal it can find, and eventually gets smacked by a car at the age of around three years, and drags itself back to your doorstep to die.

That's what a cat defaults to when it lives and sleeps outside with limited attention from you.

If you're going to keep it, and assuming you come on board, first port of call is the vet. The kitten needs to have its age and sex accurately identified. It needs to be scanned for a microchip to see if it's someone's missing pet. If it's the appropriate age, it needs its first round of vaccinations. It definitely needs to be given a worm tablet. Then the vet needs to advise you on having it neutered (the sooner the better - if he says "one year old" find a vet that'll do it at six months or better yet, at a certain weight rather than age).

You can definitely limit the impact the cat has on your house by playing with it and providing things for it to destroy. A large cardboard box is an excellent toy. Cut some holes in it - not big enough to get through, but big enough to poke a paw through.

The easiest scratching post in the world can be made by buying a carpet offcut - or better yet picking one up for free. Roll the offcut up and tie string around it to keep it in a roll. Lean it against a wall near the couch - best a corner so it won't fall over. Let the cat shred it. Encourage and praise them when they shred it. Admonish them with a sharp noise "NO! or NAH HA!" when they shred anything else. Incidentally, mine prefer the carpet roll with the hessian backing side facing out rather than the carpet side. Try it both ways. You have to plant your scratching post where the couch is. The couch is the equivalent of the fallen tree at the centre of the pride lands, where everyone congregates and therefore must always be scent marked - hence the couch gets ragged. If you don't want it to be, put a ragging item RIGHT BESIDE IT.

There's lots more that you can do when you own a cat. You don't have to do any of it - the same way plenty of people get a dog and leave it in the back garden all day and never walk it or play with it, just feed it and pat it occasionally if they're in the garden for some reason. The dog will survive, but it won't thrive. The more attention you give a cat, the more it'll thrive and the better pet it will end up being.

anniehoo

weiland79 wrote: »

Its just a normal moggie...its not a breed of any kind. Also, its very tiny and looks younger than 8 weeks imho. Far too young to be away from its mother, so hopefully the shelter (which one by the way?) will either bottle feed it or encourage it to eat by itself.

To be honest it really doesnt sound like you're ready for a cat yet. Id do a bit of research and decide if you're willing to take on the responsibilty of a cat, especially a kitten of that size.Its not ideal in my opinion to live out in a shed by itself. Plenty of rural cats do fine outside, but i like having animals in the house and thats just me. Cats although are independent animals, need feeding,medical attention,affection, shelter etc just like any other pet.

The Sweeper

PS: there's no such thing as 'a house cat' or 'stay outside cat' in terms of breed. Though with long hair, that animal will need grooming or its fur will become quite matted, which will cause it pain when it moves (the matted hair pulls at the skin). It may only need a good brush once a week and then it'll be able to care for its hair itself, or it may need brushing more often. The more its outside, the more dirt and tangle it'll get itself in, and the more brushing it will need.

anniehoo

Ill also add that a kitten that small will either have to be bottle fed for a little while longer or if it will eat solids will require 3-4 very small meals throughout the day. Alot of committment until it gets older.

Also "moggie" is a bit generic. A vet will refer to it either as a DSH (domestic shorthair) or DLH (domestic longhair).

+1 for everything Sweeper has said

weiland79

The Sweeper,firstly i would like to thank you for the obvious time,care and thought you put into your reply.
Just talking to my G/F here and judging by where she say's she found it i would guess it was dumped.She brought it straight to the DSPCA and after just checking with their website i see that they can arrange for all the shots to be administered over the coming weeks(correct me if I'm wrong)Also it being with the shelter it gives anyone that might be missing it the chance to retrieve it.
I can tell that you are concerned that i may mistreat this animal but nothing would further from the truth and if i do decide to take it in it would be loved by not only myself and my girlfriend but our four year old daughter,whom i'm sure you could probably guess would be only delighted with the new addition.
As for the shed I absolutly didn't mean for the kitten to LIVE in it but as i mentioned in my previous post i would only be concerned for it's well being during the day as we are out all day,and if it would be happy with somewhere to come back to whilst we are out i.e the concrete shed with bedding,food etc.
Thanks for the tips on the scratching posts etc and would like to just apologise for my ignorance in these matters and hope i haven't caused to much concern to all you animal lovers.Thanks again and i look forward to all comments and tips.

The Sweeper

weiland79, I don't for one second thing you may mistreat the animal. I can't imagine you'd come on here looking for advice if you had malicious intentions towards it.

Re your four year old daughter - do you know if she may be allergic to cats? In case you decide to take it in, just be careful that you don't tell her she'll get a new pet then have to give it away because she has a severe reaction to it. (It's different with adults - you make an independent choice to take antihistamines or whatever and keep your pet, of course that's not fair on a child.) If you're not sure, see if you can borrow some piece of cat bedding from someone who owns a cat, and see if your daughter has any reaction to that if it's left near her for a while.

Re the shed thing - it depends where you live. There are a lot of threads on here about inside versus outside cats. If you're in an urban or suburban area, with neighbours nearby, or terraced on to you etc, I'm a firm believer that you need to keep the cat indoors all of the time, or give it restricted outdoor access using a cat-proof fence or specially built enclosure.

A lot of people hate cats. Hate them. Utterly. Some will poison them if they come on their property. Others will shoot them. More - in ignorance - will joke "get the cat, cats cats, get them!" before they let their dog out - without realising the dog will indeed tear a cat to pieces if he gets hold of one in his garden. Roaming cats also get hit by cars and get into fights with other cats, which exposes them to a risk of a number of diseases including feline AIDS (you can't catch AIDS from your cat, but feline AIDS is a major health headache if the cat catches it).

Cats can live to 18-20 years - and often times they will appear far less geriatric than dogs would at a similar stage in their lifespans. Much of it comes from being a small, flexible creature - with the right diet, their hearing, vision and body stay pretty damn good well into old age, if they get the chance.