New kitten, any tips gratefully received!

whaleofaday

We are getting a new kitten in a couple of weeks and I've never had a cat before. After 10 years of keeping rodents this feels like a huge responsibility!

I've already ordered litter trays, a few different types of wet food, cat tree and carrier, brush and bowls etc from zooplus (so exciting!) and have a bed organised already and have also called the vet to find out about vaccines and neutering and flea treatments but there is still so much I'm not sure about.

We have asked for a female and I think she will be about 8 or 9 weeks old when we get her. Should I expect her to be awake in the night until she is older? I plan to let her sleep in my room because I couldn't bear to leave her alone overnight. There will be a litter tray in my room and water.

I'd be really grateful for any tips or nuggets of experience anyone could offer as this will be completely new to me and my kids!

Nody

Well first of all enjoy; kittens are a lot easier than pups in the sense that you don't need to toilet train them but for a kitten a toilet in a different room may as well be on another continent; hence do expect there to be accidents in the first couple of months.

In regards for feeding little and often is the better approach but do make sure you make a routine of it and at the same location. If you serve kibble look at kong style toys that they need to swat around for kibble or other similar "brain" toys as they get older as well.

Get your kitten used to that the carrier is pawsome! This means serve meals in it when you give wet food etc. so that they associate being put in it as a good thing (will make your life sooo much easier when you get older) and even serve treats at the vet to once again give positive associations to being there.

For toys for most kittens the boxes are more fun than the actual toys; so while it's easy to go insane I'd recommend crinkly balls, ping pong balls and a few dongle toys and boxes with cut holes in them for them to go in / out etc. Also make sure to learn how excited your kitten is (look at their tail; the more it's swinging the more excited they are) because if you try to pet the kitten when it's excited you'll get pawed. You want to pet it only as long as the tail remains relatively still to make sure they don't start to think hands = toys as they grow up. One way of doing this is to only pet their head, under the chin etc. which they like but don't excite them as much as a fully body rub or god forgive belly rubs (bellies are very sensitive areas for cats and most take belly petting as an invite to attack your hand).

You said you got scratch pole but make sure you got multiple and multiple sizes. Also make sure they are placed next to all those lovely furniture you wish to keep in one piece to redirect to; oh and make sure they can watch out through your windows for kitty TV.

whaleofaday

Some great suggestions thank you! I would never have known about the belly rub thing. Will invest in some more scratching posts as time goes on. Luckily most of our furniture is already ancient but perhaps it's best to encourage the kitten to use the scratching posts anyway.

Thanks so much for the help. I can't wait to meet our new kitty!

Nody

:P

whaleofaday wrote: »

Some great suggestions thank you! I would never have known about the belly rub thing. Will invest in some more scratching posts as time goes on. Luckily most of our furniture is already ancient but perhaps it's best to encourage the kitten to use the scratching posts anyway.

If you find they pick a particular piece to be a scratch post add a scratch post next to it and put on double sided tape for two weeks; the tape will stop the scratching and the post next to it will be used instead redirecting the need.

taylor3

We got 2 kittens about 5 years ago having never had a cat or kitten before. Totally new experience for us so the only bit of advice I can give is when you take her into your home bring her to where the litter tray is place her in it and gently take one of her legs and imitate that leg/paw thing cats do when they try to 'bury' their waste (if you get me). That way she will know full well where to go when she needs a wee etc. I did this with mine and it worked out well. Enjoy, they are adorable.

whaleofaday

Nody wrote: »

:PIf you find they pick a particular piece to be a scratch post add a scratch post next to it and put on double sided tape for two weeks; the tape will stop the scratching and the post next to it will be used instead redirecting the need.

Ah! Brilliant, thanks.

taylor3 wrote: »

We got 2 kittens about 5 years ago having never had a cat or kitten before. Totally new experience for us so the only bit of advice I can give is when you take her into your home bring her to where the litter tray is place her in it and gently take one of her legs and imitate that leg/paw thing cats do when they try to 'bury' their waste (if you get me). That way she will know full well where to go when she needs a wee etc. I did this with mine and it worked out well. Enjoy, they are adorable.

That's something I wouldn't have thought of, thanks! I'm getting so excited now!

Does anyone have any suggestions for types of litter to use? I was going to get the tesco wood pellets but read somewhere that cats prefer litter that feels like sand, but most of these types seem to be clumpng. The more I read, the more confused I get.

Also, should I expect to be awake at night for a while? Do kittens cry the way puppies do when they are away from their siblings/mother?

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions. I've learned so much by reading this forum.

Nody

You would not be awake at night; they may cry if alone (hence get two if possible) at times and the best bet is to always answer them.

As for litter; clumping comes in many forms as does wood pellets. The problem with clay litter is they may eat it but that's a very low percentage chance of a risk but one way around this would be to go with maize clumping litter such as this as it will behave like clay litter.

whaleofaday

Thanks so much Nody. I feel more prepared now. All we need now is our new housemate

taylor3

The car litter we use is the Tesco wood pellets type. It's really good as in works well for our two. As for them being awake during the night we left them in the kitchen obviously with their cat beds, food, water etc; and they were absolutely fine. Loads of room for them to explore during the night if they were awake. Once morning comes they literally have the run of the place.

Zapperzy

Congrats on the soon to be new kitten! I get very kitten broody when I hear people getting a new addition!

Get a good big sturdy carrier to start off with, it's worth investing your money into a decent sturdy one now than having to replace a cheap one down the line when they get too big or heavy for it. Also lowers the chance of escapees. A top loading one is easier to get a reluctant cat in and out of.

Get her used to a collar from a young age but make sure you get the quick release clip ones. Kittens will get it caught on everything and you want it to open quickly if it gets stuck. I don't know if you've thought about it but it's worth getting her microchipped at the same time she's getting spayed. Collars can fall off but a microchip will always be there if she goes missing.

I don't know what sort of wet foods you've gotten already but it's best to avoid all the usual whiskas type foods and look for a high quality high meat content food. I used smilla kitten tins as I found them to be the cheapest high quality wet food. Ceramic or metal bowls are easiest to clean and more hygienic than plastic. Don't give her cows milk as itl give her a dodgy tummy, I found even the whiskas cat milk gave my cat the runs. All mine can handle is goats milk.

Buy a dustpan and brush to keep beside the litter tray, or a handheld hoover.

Keep her confined to one small room initially and gradually give her more space to explore. It's all going to be a big upheaval and they cope better if they feel they have a small area that's safe to hide in and observe from. If you can give the breeder a blanket or towel to keep with them a week or two before you go to collect her and bring it home with you, she'll have something that smells like her litter mates and mother.

If i think of anything else il add it in, or any questions ask away, no matter how stupid they sound, we were all first timers at one stage :-)

whaleofaday

taylor3 wrote: »

The car litter we use is the Tesco wood pellets type. It's really good as in works well for our two. As for them being awake during the night we left them in the kitchen obviously with their cat beds, food, water etc; and they were absolutely fine. Loads of room for them to explore during the night if they were awake. Once morning comes they literally have the run of the place.

Thanks! It's good to know the wood pellets can work well. I've just found a litter tray with a sieve insert on Amazon which would have been great, but I've 2 litter trays on the way already. Doh! Will probably get the sieve one as well as I've read it can make cleaning wood litter easier. I think I might try our little kitten downstairs at first, just to see if she settles. I can always take her upstairs with me if she gets too upset!

Zapperzy, thanks for the great tips! The carrier I got is just a basic one for now as I didn't have a huge budget for all the kitten bits and bobs. I chose this one:Hopefully it's ok!

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/cat_carriers_travel/cat_carriers_kennels/413426

I wasn't going to get a collar and just microchip instead but do you think it's better to have a collar anyway?

Food wise I've ordered a couple of flavours of the Carny kitten food, some Bozita and Smilla, just to try different ones. If I hadn't have read about wet food/high meat content etc on here I would probably have just plumped for whatever "better" stuff tesco sells, but even those types aren't very great. Have ordered ceramic bowls, phew!

Thanks for the help, I would have been clueless otherwise!

Zapperzy

That carrier looks like a pretty good one and it's top loading! I don't use collars for my current two unless I'm travelling with them or putting them into a cattery but their both indoor cats. My previous cat was also an indoor cat but she wore a collar 24/7 so I could tell where she was at all times with the bell. Always handy to get them used to it from an early age.

Heroditas

We've three cats and I think I've tried every sort of litter over the years. I finally settled on the Premiere clumping litter from MaxiZoo. It works very well and suppresses odours quite well.
I tried the wood pellet stuff once but the stink was awful.

Nody

whaleofaday wrote: »

Zapperzy, thanks for the great tips! The carrier I got is just a basic one for now as I didn't have a huge budget for all the kitten bits and bobs. I chose this one:Hopefully it's ok!

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/cat_carriers_travel/cat_carriers_kennels/413426

Seen that one in person and considered it but I have doubts it would hold up for long. The carrier I'd recommend and use myself with two adult cats fitting in nicely is the Ferplast Atlas 30 Open transporter. You can usually find it in pet shops and it's a top loaded carrier that's quite big. However unlike many top loaders such as this one you don't put as much stress on the plastic using the top loader (the one I linked broke after about 40 uses) and our first Atlas (got two atm) is still going strong after 8 years.

Shenshen

I would second the advise about keeping her in one room to begin with, maybe for the first week. Cats can get a bit overwhelmed in new surroundings, and it'll make it easier for your kitten to explore its new world bit by bit - moving on maybe from kitchen to kitchen and living room, from kitchen and living room to kitchen, living room and all of downstairs, etc. It depends a bit which way your house is laid out.

Don't worry about it staying up at night. It probalby will, to some extend, but I wouldn't expect it to cry. It'll be busy exploring and trying out new things.

One thing I would warn about are blinds. Kittens have been known to get caught in the strings for them and some have strangled themselves. We have these type of blinds, so when we had kittens last year I knotted all the strings up to the top of the blinds until they were old enough not to be interested any more.

I don't know if you intend to allow your cat outdoors eventually, but if you do please don't let her out until she's around 6 months old (and fully vaccinated, spayed and microchipped, of course!).
When you do, here's some advise I got when adopting a cat previously : Make sure the first time you let her out is during rainy weather, and don't feed her before letting her out. She'll come back quicker for the food, and it'll strengthen the notion that "home" is a warm, dry place where there's food - a place she'll always want to come back to

Enjoy, and post pictures once you have her!

whaleofaday

Wow, thanks for the tips everyone! Thanks for the tip about the carrier, it does look excellent but beyond my price range at the moment. I know it makes better financial sense to buy the best you can at the start, but I have to be sensible! I've bookmarked it for a "just in case" on Amazon!

And the tip about the blinds, thanks so much. I have 3 blinds in the kitchen which have long cords. I'll make sure and tie them up out of the way before kittie arrives.

Can't wait to post pictures. Thanks again for all the help!

Ooh...I just thought, what about electrical cables? Are these a potential chewing point?

The Raptor

I'm not sure if its been mentioned but there's no need for expensive toys. Bottle lids and rolled up tin foil balls and they can have hours of fun. Anything they can bat around with their paws. Also get a red dot light, that's also very entertaining for them.

Nody

whaleofaday wrote: »

Ooh...I just thought, what about electrical cables? Are these a potential chewing point?

Possibly but mainly if they move; my wife got a few laptop power cords bitten up because it would move when she was moving the laptop around.

Zapperzy

There's quite a few teeth marks on phone charger cables, headphone cables, laptop chargers etc. from one of our cats. Anything dangly really. They like earphones especially, think it's the taste of earwax coupled with the dangliness. Actual power cables and the like have never tempted her.

jenn1984

I would also recommend avoiding dry food at that age. We have 4 kittens (now hitting 6 months - long story) and we thought we were treating them when they were wee ones by giving them Whiskas Kitten dry food and they just threw it up, something to do with not being able to process the carbs.

Wanderer41

I got my kitten when she was around 3 or 4 weeks old (she's a year old now) and we didn't really have any issues overall. Food wise, I bought Applaws kitten food on the recommendation of a poster here, and she loves it so much. I buy it on zooplus and so far it's worked out well. Toilet training wise, we kept the litter box in one place. She got the hang of it fairly quickly, but she did have a few accidents elsewhere, but you just need to make sure you clean the area well so she doesn't keep going back there. Training her to go to the toilet outside wasn't bad either. Toys wise, I bought a few of these, she absolutely goes mad for them! I also got some toys with catnip but she had no interest in those. She likes anything that she can move herself, so I would advise some toy mice (I got some in the €2 shop that were very good and still going). I put some on a string as well which she loved.
I think my cat cried a tiny bit at the beginning at night for about a minute but she was fine after that.
Good luck with your new kitten

Fakediamond

Get two if you can, my sibling cats provided years of endless fun wrestling, chasing and ambushing each other and were great friends.