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More new kitten questions
If you see my post from yesterday below you'll see that we got 2 kittens this weekend from a neighborhood family. Their daughter goes on the same bus as my twins. We found out she had no vet care for the kittens at all. 
They were born on October 30th. When we talked more to her yesterday afternoon she said she waits until there are free clinics and gets the care for the pets at that time. *IMO, she needs to get the female cat neutered as well*
We have an appointment Thursday for the male kitten; my boys named him Super Kitty. We're going to have the female's appointment next week; the female is Gwen. I couldn't have them both at the same time because it would have been hard on me to take care of both kittens recovering from shots at the same time. It was hard to do with my twins so I figured it would be with two kittens.
They told me there would be an exam, a distemper shot, and a worm treatment. The receptionist also said they would want to do a Feline Leukemia. I argued with them and said it was my understanding to wait until they were over 6 months old. Is there any way to opt out without looking irresponsible?
What do they do in a typical exam? What are questions I should be asking?
Also, in my reading I believe the male tortie should be infertile. From what I understand a male with a tortie pattern is the result of an XXY chromosome change. We are getting him spayed no matter what but am I understanding this wrong? Gwen keeps doing this weird purr thing. Could that be her normal purr or could she be in heat already?!
As far as the kittens getting up where they don't belong. We tried a loud shaker today. It worked on Gwen. She sees the shaker now and runs away. Super Kitty looks at me like he's giving me the stink eye and continues. Any suggestions?
I got wet cat food yesterday in beef/chicken flavor and mixed it with the dry we have. Should we switch to wet only or should we have dry as well? I got treats that help with tarter for their teeth. My husband thought the dry food worked better to keep their teeth clean. What is the best wet food to get?
I got litter today from Target in the Boots and Barkley brand. The previous owner used a really cheep brand; it was 20 pounds for $4.99 at Shoprite and it really stinks! It clumps fine but really stinks Is there Target brand ok?
Re: More new kitten questions
1) Next time, adopt kittens from a shelter. They'll come already vetted and (typically) healthy. And you'll be supporting a good organization rather than supporting someone's irresponsibility (if someone said this yesterday, I'm sorry for being repetitive; I wasn't on and haven't read all the posts).
2) Male cats get neutered; females get spayed.
3) Kittens "recovering" from shots is typically no big deal. They might be a little less crazy for a day, but that's about it.
4) The vet should be able to tell you what initial vaccines the kittens should get. When we took our kitten in for her first couple of visits, they gave the distemper vaccine and a dewormer. She was also tested for FeLV/FIV and then vaccinated at her next appt. I honestly don't know the incidence of false-positives/negatives at less than 6 months, but shelter kittens are definitely tested younger so they can be put up for adoption and listed as + or -.
5) At just over 3 months old, no, your female is not in heat. MAYBE around 5 months a very early heat could be possible, but it's rare. You're planning to get them speutered around 6 months, correct? Even if your male is infertile (I don't know how that works in male torties, just that they're incredibly rare), he WILL still start to spray and mark if he's not neutered.
6) If you shake a can of coins to deter/frighten the cats away, you're not supposed to let them SEE you shake it. Otherwise, they know it only works when you're around. Try a squirt bottle with water if they hop up somewhere you don't want them. If plain water doesn't really work (our girl likes it, there are exceptions), try adding some vinegar; won't hurt them, but won't be pleasant either!
7) Go to petfoodratings.net to get a good analysis of available cat foods. Typically, any food you can buy in the grocery store (that includes Target or Walmart) is NOT good quality. Find a local pet supply store and talk to the associates. A diet of both dry and wet food is best for cats to get adequate moisture in their diets. A few foods that rate highly around here (because we feed them and swear by them) are Taste of the Wild, Chicken Soup for the Cat (or KItten) Lover's Soul, Blue Buffalo, Wellness or Wellness CORE, Innova, EVO, Orijen, and Acana. Some of those are grain free foods (cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they really need no plant matter, especially not grains, in their diets). I feed Chicken Soup dry food and Wellness or Merrick Before Grain wet food; both wet foods are grain free. We're on a very tight budget, and feeding this combo is definitely affordable.
8) I have no idea about Target brand cat litter; I've never used it. I use Arm&Hammer's Natural Corn Litter and LOVE it. It clumps very very well and keeps down on litter box odors. The 18-lb bag I get also lasts as long as the 40-lb bins of Tidy Cats I used to buy. $4.99 for 20 lbs of litter should have told you it was going to be crap (no pun intended). Get a good clumping litter, use TWO litter boxes, and scoop daily.
9) Final thought: no idea what you're planning on doing, but please please PLEASE do not declaw the kittens. It's a barbaric procedure and it can lead to the possibility of future behavioral issues or even litter box aversion. It's far more humane for all involved to find a few scratching posts/pads the kittens like for them to scratch at.
B/w 1/8: betas 17,345, progesterone 25.6
1. Point noted. I know people who have let their cats have 1 litter of kittens then had them spayed. I read on line and apparently got them mixed up. I thought the person would have taken care of them as a responsible person would have. We had planned on going and adopting them but the person offered and silly me thought she was a responsible pet owner.
2. There will be no baby kittens besides these ones in our house. They will be spayed and neutered.
3. I have spray bottles left over when I sprayed "Monster Spray in my kids' closets and can do it.
4.I have been reading about what types of food to get and knew about the grain thing. I actually told my MIL the same about their dog. There are a few speciality pet stores close to us. I'll have to go tomorrow and ask.
5. We have two litter boxes and clean them up more than once a day. As soon as the kitties go I've been cleaning it out. We put all new litter in yesterday. We got the kittens Saturday. I knew the $4.99 stuff wasn't good just based on that. I finished up what she gave us and knew we weren't getting more. I was curious to see what the cost was and when it was that cheep I figured it wasn't good. Someone at the store yesterday told me they used the same litter. I'll have to switch to that. We also need to be cost effective.
6. Scratching posts already bought on Sunday. IMO, it is a cruel thing to amputate part of the cat's toe simply for our convenience. We are looking around for different surfaces for them to scratch as well.
I don't have anything to add that LuckyAngel didn't already cover. As far as them getting up on places they shouldn't, we've been lucky with our cats not getting on counters much at all but I have heard that if you put foil down on the surface that they won't like the feel of it on their paws and at some point they will just stop going up there (so, no, you don't have to live with foil on your counters forever lol)
We use Fresh Step litter... it works fine for us but it's certainly possible that there are better brands out there. We feed wellness wet and Chicken Soup dry.
Glad to hear you are getting them fixed and not declawing.
Now just to convince your neighbor to get her cat fixed...
- Martin Luther King Jr.
I think Lucky answered all your questions!
But I just wanted to say all your questions see "general" for a new kitty owner! You've come to a good place to get great opinions, trust me, they help a lot!
FWIW - we use Arm and Hammer as well. Love the multiple cats, even though we only have one cat! We also feed Taste of the Wild, but not all places sell it. We just switched and so far I love it! I looked at the pet food ratings (link in the FAQ section) and then went to see what our store had, checked the prices, etc.
Also.......I want to see pictures of your kitties!
Did you find the link to the pet food ratings? I also went to the websites of the foods I really liked.
And Yay Arm and Hammer! Trust me, it helps with the stink! Also - be prepared, kitten poo stinks MUCH worse than big cat poo! I remember Rosco had the stinkiest poos until he was about a year old and his farts would clear a room!
5 cats. 1 baby.
I didn't see it on the FAQ section but saw someone post a link to it yesterday. Perhaps my 4 year old wasn't lying yesterday when he said the kitty farted? I joked and said it was another thing for them to do and blame something else. The boys stink it up and blame it on each other all the time
OMG, my black kitty, who we got as teeny kitten, could clear the room with her gas as a kitten!! It was unbelievable! LOL!!
PS: I'm really glad it sounds like you're committed to taking the best care possible of these kittens. Can't wait to hear how things turn out with them and please post pics if you get a chance! We love seeing everyone's little furballs; especially the babies!
B/w 1/8: betas 17,345, progesterone 25.6