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Hi- new kittens and I have questions
My husband and I got 2 kittens over the weekend to add to our family. We already have a turtle and 3 fish and 4 kids. Our 3 younger have been begging for cats for about a year. We talked a bit with the person who had given us the kittens; her cat had 2 litters of kittens and we have 2 from the older litter, a male and a female. They were born on October 30th.
I've done a bit of research so we do this the right way, as we did research when we got our turtle 10 years ago. I understand the cats need spayed/neutered around the 6 month mark. The owner this morning said she hadn't taken them to a vet so they don't have their first set of shots. Was there a timeline for that or are we still ok? What is the typical cost of spaying and neutering? From what I understand to have the boy fixed it will be cheaper.
They are jumping all over right now and are able to get on our kitchen table and from there go to our counter tops, etc. How can I stop them from doing this?
We went to PetSmart and Target yesterday to get more supplies; the person who gave them to us gave us a litter box, litter, and some food to start off with. We bought more of the same brand as we were told to stick with the same brand and if we want to switch to do it gradually; the same with the litter. We also have a few toys for them, a ribbon wand, a few play mice, a few balls, and a scratching area. Is there anything else we need?
I caught them eyeing the betas that our boys got for their birthdays this fall. Is there anything I can put on top of the fish to protect them or should I put them up higher?
Anything else that I'm forgetting?
Re: Hi- new kittens and I have questions
Where did these cats come from? Why is this person letting his/her cat have multiple litters (let alone one)? She has had two litters since October 30?! What the heck?!
They need to see a vet ASAP. Their mom was obviously an outdoor cat, and she almost certainly has parasites, which have likely been passed to the kittens. Every pregnant foster cat we've ever had has had worms, fleas, ear mites, etc. Every single one.
They can't get their rabies vax until four months, but they can certainly be wormed now (it's pretty standard to do a course of worming in kittens).
Our cats were adopted as adults and one of them tried repeatedly to eat our betta. Keep the bowls covered (while also allowing air to circulate, since bettas breathe) and out of reach.
Feed them good quality food. The FAQ on the first page of this board is a good place to start. Look for foods that don't include grains, and whose first ingredient is a named meat meal. Good brands include Taste of the Wild, Solid Gold, Wellness, Innova, Merrick, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, etc. I've never had an issue doing a hard switch from one food to another, and I've had cats for many years.
You probably want to have two litter boxes. You should have as many litter boxes as cats, plus one. We have three cats and should have four boxes (we have three). With two cats, you'll definitely want at least two.
As long as the kittens weigh at least 2 pounds, they can be altered. Cats don't seem to have the same issues that dogs do when they are altered before 6 months, so I would err on the side of safety and alter them sooner. Your female could go into heat by 6 months, and the last thing you want is her getting pregnant, let alone being in heat (ugh). I would also have them microchipped while they're under anesthesia for the spay/neuter.
It's great that you got two kittens together; they adjust really well when they have a buddy around.
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Congratulations on your new family members!
You should get the kittens to the vet right away. They should have gotten their first shots at 8 weeks.
Neutering usually costs between $50-$100 and spaying usually costs between $100-$200.
As for them jumping on counters (and other bad behaviors), you can use a loud noise to scare the kitty. We used coins in an empty soda can. You could also use a spray bottle and give them a quick squirt (not in the face)! It is important that you use these measures RIGHT after the bad behavior or they will not associate the punishment with it.
It sounds like you have the basic supplies.
As for the betas, putting them higher is probably your best bet.
The kittens came from someone in our neighborhood. They have a daughter who goes on the same bus as our kids and is a grade ahead. Yes she lets her go outside. We aren't doing that. I think that's a bad idea! The cat has had multiple litters. We aren't going there. She had planned on giving the kittens to a no kill shelter if she had no takers. We took rather than go to a shelter and pick out cats for the kids.
I find a vet right down the street from us. Is there a place where I can look at reviews? I don't want to take them to just anyone. I want it to be a good place. For our turtle, we had to drive a bit to find a place that would care for them. We had 2 at one point but the 2nd had bronchitis when we got it. We had taken it from a pet store. Someone gave it to the store because they didn't know how to treat it.
I looked around the FAQ section and didn't see anything about food. Was I not looking in the correct area? She had been feeding them Meow Mix so we got some more so we could mix it with whatever brand we switched to. The pet store said to do it gradually or the cats would stop eating.
Where can we get covers for the fish? We looked at the pet store, Walmart, and Target and couldn't find any. They are in bowls right now.
Right now we have 2 boxes. The male cat likes to go in the one box and the female really liked the new one we bought. Does it matter if they are covered or uncovered?
We weighed the cats last night. The male was around 3 pounds and the female was a big more but not by much. We are NOT letting them go into heat or get pregnant. We want to do the responsible thing and not contribute more kitties to the world.
Yeah, Katie seemed to cover it all. If you are a book person, try Think Like a Cat. I read another one by the author and started this one.
Is there anyway you can talk this person into spaying her cat (the momma cat)? I can't believe how many litters and obviously she's not getting rid of them easily if she's onto litter #2 and still has kittens from litter #1. Is there a low cost clinic in your area you could refer her too?
I have two 5 mth old kittens and I'm SO glad they have each other to wrestle with! (My 11 year old Lily cat is quite happy about this also)
Ditto Katie.
Also regarding the bettas - it is a good idea to have their tanks covered anyhow - bettas are known jumpers and could easily jump out of an uncovered bowl. Mine jumps out of the water every morning when I feed him.
You say they are in bowls - are they in separate bowls? If you have male bettas, they should be kept separately or they will likely fight and possibly kill each other. Also, which bettas can LIVE in a bowl, they won't thrive in one. I'd recommend getting a smallish (5-gal) tank for each; add a heater (and thermometer so you can regulate the heat!) and a filter, a couple of plants, and you're going to have some happy fish!
They are in separate bowls. My sister and I had some as kids. My IL's just got us small tanks for the boys. There was a store around here going out of business; my FIL bought the store out
It was a educational toy store. He bought tons of things there. They had small tanks with lights, etc as part of a science area. We'll have to switch the fish over.
I hope I can figure out how to do this. I'm so nest unsavy that I've not changed my signature in almost 2 years...
My 4 year old and one of my 6 year olds named him Super Kitty. My 4 year old has a stuffed cat that he carries everywhere and his name is Kitty. It was one of his first words
My little one started talking last year at age 3. He still has a limited vocabulary but Kitty is a word he has and can say clearly. He has a genetic syndrome and is autistic.
My other 6 year old named her Gwen from the cartoon Ben 10. He's autistic and has his obsessions. I didn't realize Ben 10 was that much of one of them. He tends to do more Star Wars. We really thought he was going to come up with the name Padme
My boys have been wonderful with the cats. They are playing, petting, etc. The 6 year olds are helping with the water and food. We got a scoop for the litter boxes and the twins have agreed to help scoop the poop out. We told the boys they need to help since they were the ones that asked for the pets. We aren't going to expect the care is their full responsibility but they can help where they can.
Food:
I would do a mixture of canned and kibble. Cats NEED lots of water. Way more than dogs. Especially male cats for urinary health.
Cats are carnivores, so a grain free food is the best option. I feed mine Taste of the Wild. Unfortunately there's not a great cat food review site, but most the brands for cats are also dog brands and so you can get an idea of the quality by checking out this site: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
lots of cats like those water fountain things, and you can them pretty cheap now: http://www.target.com/p/BOOTS-BARKLEY-Water-Fountain/-/A-13718391#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink
I guess it's the fresh water thing.
Congratulations! I can tell you from personal experience that completely unvetted kittens can be pricey. They need to be vaccinated at 8 weeks and then boosters every 4 weeks. If they are 16 weeks or older, only one set but I would do it ASAP. I would also spay and neuter them ASAP because you have an unaltered male and female together. You might not be able to catch that she is in heat on time and she can definitely go into heat before 6 months. I'd probably have this done at the four month mark. Because of Mom cat's history you also need them looked at for mites and a fecal test run for parasites. I would NOT test for FIV and FeLv before 6 months because kittens are very prone to false positives. They're going to be much higher risk for both b.c. Mom is allowed outdoors, but because they are your only pets and are not going outside, a positive on either is not the end of the world. If one tested FeLv and not the other I would get the vaccination for the negative cat. FIV is NBD, they can live forever with it if they're kept indoors, and it is very hard to spread. The vaccination for that does not work.
For food, cats should be eating at least some wet food b.c. it's better for them to get moisture with their food for their kidneys. I'd also strongly suggest grain free as cats are obligate carnivores and are not supposed to be eating anything other than meat. Vets take nutrition classes funded by science diet so they will push that on you even though its expensive crap. They also sometimes get kickbacks or other incentives for selling it at their practices. I would highly recommend taste of the wild, wellness, and innova for cat food. It is more expensive but you'll save $ in health costs long term.
I would keep the kitten confined to a safe room while you can't supervise so they are not able to crawl into small spaces, chew electrical cords, etc. and I would supervise them with your kids if your kids are young b.c. kittens are small and easily injured. We had a former foster kitten die last week b.c. a piece of furniture fell on him and broke his neck : ( So its really important to control their environment until they are bigger and wiser.
For counters you can spray them with a water bottle when they jump up there or put double sided sticky tape for a few days until they realize its uncomfortable,
UGH! I was afraid of that! We're going to have to find a place that may be a lower cost clinic to start with and switch after the initial care is done. We had planned on my tutoring money to be what paid for the food, etc. We knew it would be a bit pricey to have them spayed and neutered but didn't know how much it would be for the rest of the initial care. On my home board someone said that her annual vet bill runs around $130 for her cat. We were hoping to wait until our income tax money came back and use that for the spay and neutering.
4 months will be the end of this month. Looks like I'm setting this up soon!
I looked at what we had as it was what we were given by the owners. She had them on a grain based food. I'm going out today to get more supplies and will have to get something else; we bought some of the same so we could switch them over slowly. We were told to do it slowly. Will they be ok until they are completely switched over? I didn't realize that wet food was so important. I'm assuming the same goes for this type or is it all meat based? Looks like I'll be getting some of that too. Should we have a separate bowl for it or mix the two together? The guy at the pet store told us to look for food that was meat based not seafood based. He said that cats prefer beef and meat based over seafood. I had asked what the different types of food did. I could figure out what the hair ball food did
but couldn't figure out the difference between in door cat food, original, etc.
We pulled out things we had from baby proofing and they foiled everything we put up. We had gates for them and they jumped over the gates. I haven't let the kids alone with the kittens. My 4 year old doesn't understand that the cat may want to play alone, etc. He's so excited that he's trying to play and we've caught him trying to wake up the kitty when he's sleeping. We had to pull the 4 year old away...
I like the double sided sticky tape. My husband put bottles on the edge of the counter thinking that would stop them. It didn't. I am afraid that they will jump on our stove. It is a flat top and we've caught them up on top. I don't want them burned
Congrats on your new little kitties! Definitely get them to the vet asap. It is great you plan to keep them inside. And it would be really wonderful if you could suggest spaying the cats to the neighbors (maybe even see if there are any low cost spay/nueter programs in your area).
My cats are doing well on a combo of grain-free canned and dry food, I feed Wellness.
Make sure you provide some safe scratching surfaces, try to give them a good variety like carpet, cardboard, and sisal. You'll always need a variety of toys (mine love feather teasers and the laser pointer the best). And some high up perches or cat towers are a really good idea (in addition to the cat furniture mine love getting on top of the kitchen counters).
If the cats are completely outdoor or feral (i.e., she feeds them, but they aren't really pets), you could see if there is a cat rescue group that does trap-neuter-release (TNR) to keep the colony from growing and spitting out more kittens.
You really need to at least get them dewormed soon, in addition to vaccinations. I'm pretty sure kitten (like puppies) are born with roundworms (especially since yours were from an outside mom), and they just keep multiplying. At least with puppies, they are generally wormed starting at around 6 weeks and repeated every two weeks (because the dewormer only kills the adult worms, so the eggs and larva have to mature before they can be killed, etc.). Roundworms can be transmitted to people, so it is very important for your kids to wash their hands after touching the cat and their hands/faces if the cat licks them (and of course after cleaning the litterbox, especially if you miss cleaning it for a day because that is when they become infectious - the box should be cleaned every day regardless). Kids can get the worms by getting the eggs on their hands and then putting their hands in their mouths (or eating, drinking, etc.).
Your local shelter or humane society might be able to recommend a low-cost speuter clinic - a lot of them will do vaccines and fecal testing as well. It can take a while to get an appointment sometimes, so definitely start looking now.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_roundworms_in_cats___kittens.html
http://www.nj.gov/health/cd/izdp/spayneut.shtml
http://www.njspay.com/
http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html#nj