Category: Animal House
So I might be adopting a 3 month old kitten. keyword is might. A number of people I've talked to have told me that kittens are psychotic hyper balls of pure energy. this being the case. As someone who is totally blind, how can I best care for my four-legged furry friend. I've thought of the old collar with bells trick. Will this work, or are there more things I should consider. I'm hoping the kitten is old enough to be litter trained. I think in most cases unless I'm wrong kittens pick up on that super super young. I'm also wondering if I should try and confine the kitten to my room untill it settles in. Of course, as it stands, the kitten will most likely go where ever it wants to.
Liam
Well, if he/she will take to the collar, that's a great idea. Confining him or her at first is also a good way to go. This way, the kitten will establish a "home base" for itself. I have only had one problem cat with the litter box, and that was because she had just moved into our house, and couldn't find it. I made the mistake of not showing her where it was in the first place. Find a toy you can play with the kitten with. In my case, the elastic piece on the end of the cane worked wonders. This might also help the bonding process a little, and you'll know where the kitten is for at least a moment. Hope this helps.
Lou
I strongly erdge you to watch the enginears guide to cats on youtube before committing to purchase one.
I certainly I hope I'll have enough info about my cat to be able to give an accurate aspect ratio.
The first thing I've always done with a new cat is put it down right in front of the litter box. Then I walk away and let it find it's way around the rest of the house from that point. That way it knows right away where the litter box is. Kittens can be a ball of energy, and they can get under foot, so just be careful until you get used to each other.
If you don't hear him or her, slide your feet along. I'm glad Becky weighed in on this topic. When my cat was younger, he'd do belly flops and mess up my braille magazines. He'd ignore my radio or electronics magazines, but for some reason, he liked popular Mechanics. Must have built mouse traps in a previous life.
Lou
so. it's confirmed. cat is coming thursday. my only concern is to how my kitten, and the guinea pig will get along. but ellie the guinea pig stays in a cage, so I don't forsee any issues. thanks for all the advice.
Liam
If you're concerned, give the kitten time to get aclamated, and if there's a blanket that the guinea pig has, let the kitten smell it. You'll enjoy the kitten. Let us know how things are going.
Lou
Yeah, definitely post often to let us know how things are going. There are lots of cat owners (or people owned by cats) here on the zone.
so far so good as far as the kitten is concerned. we put the cat carrier on the bed, she imedietly jumped out and ran around my room. she then decided to swat at my hands, grab them with her paws, and chew on them. we're getting along great. right now she's napping under my bed. oh how I hope it stays that way.
Do you have a name for her yet?
yep. her name's April.
Is that because she was born in April? My cat was born in April 2004. His name is Smokey because he is gray. Not very imaginative, I know. LOL
nah. I just thought april would be a cool name
My brother named his cats dog and pig. Twisted minds are in our family. We got our little guy around Christmas time, and I jokingly said let's call him Advent. It stuck.
Lou
Well,you could try the collar that has the bells onit, and make sure the kitten is settled
If you and the kitten don't work out, there's always kitten chow main. Hey, garfield's on my fork.
The bell collar may or may not work. Our last cat loved her cheap, gaudy bell collar. Didn't like fancy ones, but preferred the ones with plastic rinestones. I think she was a hooker in her previous life based on other behaviors. the guy we have now wants no part of bell collars. Destrosy all of them.
Lou
saddly. the cat isn't working out well. it's had too much energy and has enjoying clawing my legs, arms, and furnature. Certainly won't be giving her tot he chinese place down the street, but she'll be going home to her family. She was a strange case as fromw aht we can tell, there's a lot of alley cat in her, so she's pretty wild. I've got the scratches to prove it.
Awe Liam, that's a shame. Unfortunately, kittens do like to claw and are very active. I hope they can find a good home for her. If you want a cat but one that is less active and not inclined to claw and scratch you, maybe try to find one that has had it's front feet declawed and is a bit older. Cats don't like being closed up in small places though, so if you were intending to try to keep it in your room all the time, maybe you should give up on having a cat.
we actually gave her the run of the house, but she was just too active. the people we got her from will probably keep her. they have plenty of room, and other playmates for her.
If you want a cat, try adopting an older cat, or one like Becky said that has been declawed. Kittens do seem to have boundless energy.
Lou
My stepmother recently got rid of a kitten for the same reason. When she lived with my dad here in Ohio, they let their cat outdoors whenever it wanted to go out. So whenever it was inside, it basically only ate and slept. It was used to running off its excess energy outdoors. Then when she moved to florida, she moved into a community that would not allow pets outdoors unless you kept it on a leash. As cats are not crazy about being kept on a leash, she had to keep it inside. But as it was 11 years old by that time, the cat didn't really mind being inside. However, when it died and she replaced it with a kitten, the kitten ran all over the house and jumped up on everything. She was not used to this behavior and thought there was something wild about this kitten. I explained to her that this is normal for a kitten and that the only reason she had never seen this behavior before was because kittens she had in the past were allowed outdoors. She ended up giving the kitten to someone who was used to having catsindoors and didn't mind the playfulness.
problem with this cat was. we got it at 3 months. it grew up with it's mom and siblings. the siblings woudl spend all day playing, and biting and clawing. We weren't given all the info concerning the cat and it's lineage. At least, not up until last night. It'll make a great pet for someone, but... not for me. I get a little nervous around cats and after the panic attacks started up again. I figgured it was time for kitty to go back with it's feline family.
I don't think anyone is criticizing your decision. We all have to do what's right for our own situation. I'm glad you gave it back to it's original family rather than just letting it out on the street or taking it to the Humane Society.
That's too bad the kitten had to go back, but it was probably best for your situation. Keeping a kitten is nearly always a task that takes a lot of patience and will power, unhumanly so, at times... We've never had just one cat at a time for one of those reasons, having two kittens (or an older cat that does well with a kitten) can be a lifesaver, but of course, it isn't for everyone either, but it sure helps when they can burn off all their energy with a fellow cat -- and you get the reward of two tired kittens wanting to cuddle up to you afterwords.
3 months is the youngest a kitten should be taken away from it's mother and siblings, because believe it or not, if you get a kitten that's too young, they can be a lot more rough and bitey, since they didn't learn that biting = hurts from their siblings and mother. We took in a feral kitten that lived with his mother and siblings, and toher feral cats for the first 5 months of his life, and he was one of the gentlist kittens I've known... go figure! He still had boundless energy though, and got into everything, that part you just can't avoid.
Oh and please -- if you want the option of a declawed cat, adopt one that has already been declawed, don't take one in to get declawed yourself, it's quite a horrible thing to do for the cat since they're often left with chronic pain for the rest of their life, and "phantom toes" since they actually remove the tips of their toes along with the claws. This can lead to other behavior issues that may be worse then scratching.
There's also options such as clipping your cat's nails (or getting someone else, a family member or vet, to do them) this is what we've done for scratchers, and it's worked wonderfully, you can do the front and back claws... It just requires upkeep every few weeks until your cat grows out of that phase.
I've also heard of plastic cap things that fit onto the cat's nails, that make them blunt and useless for scratching... I've not used them personally, but I've heard people having a lot of success with them.
as I'm a cat owner, and have several batches of wild fur running around the barn I understand where you're coming from Liam. However, as I told you, my thing is to make sure the kitten is pretty tame when you addopt it. Also, make sure you play with them a lot, because I have several kitties in the barn that I regret not playing with because even though they're so cute, I can't touch them. Luckily, we have a few batches that we can play with and it's amazing.
Sorry it didn't work out liam,
Peace,
MKarrie
I agree with post 27 concerning declawing. While the clasws are a nuisance, they are the cat's first line of defense. They don't always understand this however. Our last cat was older when we got her. She was declawed, knew no fear, and ran out the door every chance she had. This guy we have now had his claws intact when we got him, and is petrified to go out the door and is a big scardycat.
Lou
I always advicate for adopting from a shelter or looking on a place like craig's list or petfinder. I don't get any animals from petshops or breeders seeing as there are enough unwanted animals without doing that.
I have a cat and he's a total princess... Yes I said it. Lol. He was Really active when he was a kitten. It also helps that I was an active 10-year-old so...
before anything, when you get the cat first thing you do is put it in the litter box, the first place a cat touts when going in a new home is their new bathroom spot, try a bell at first till it understand what it name is. I have a cat and she meows at me when I call her, I am the only one she does it to, its as ifshe is letting me know wear she is because I can't see her
My kitten is about 4 months old now I think and I did think of putting a collar with bell on it so I could hear where she is, but my grandad said Ali will probably be too small for a collar yet and with the new house they're moving to next week they don't want her strangling herself when she climbs up a tree. She loved the end of my cane though, but never really worked out not to walk in front of my feet. I hope to go to Syprus and see Ali again at cristmas and by that time she'll probably be really big. If I didn't go to bed at 9 o'clock which I normally did when I was in Syprus, she went and sat on the stairs and waited for me! Hahahahahaaa!
i've adopted a kitten about six months ago, and he is a ball of fun, wonderment, and amazement. I've taught him how to fetch with foil balls, amung other things. I had some reservations at first, but, after taking the time to really bond with george, i have come to find i don't know what i'd do without him. You know your hooked when you can't sleep without your cat.
The last I heard, Ali had just had her injections about a month ago and when Nan and Grandad go to bed she keeps biting their feet! Apparently she's too scared to go out at night because there's loads of bigger cats round there. I don't blame her. Only thing is, I don't want ali to run away when she's older,, because she's a wild cat apparently, so once she's out, she's probably gone to the wild.
When I got Oreo my cat, I carried her to the litter so she'd know where it'd be at and the rest she picked up on her own. She has strange outbursts in the night though she'll be sitting there and all the sudden she's zooming all over the place like a race car driving the tracks.
Oh yeah, Annebelle the zen kitty has her wild jungle kitty moments. Her kittens haven't hit the everything is a toy stage but that's coming. Annebelle was a living I love you from Bruce. She looked like a beanie baby when she was tiny.I don't know what I'd do without her. Does anyone here know if ferrets should interact with kittens? Miss calico-baby and mister blackandwhite fluffball are getting big enough to play. Should I let Ruby out and see how everybody does?