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How is feeding kittens different from feeding adults in terms of amounts, timing, etc.? Do they need a different type of food than adults?
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Jul 13, 2009 04:47
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tse1618 posted:Those are fine, but these ones from LuckyPet are much cuter. Oh those are so cute.  Do they stay on very well though? It doesn't really show what kind of fastener they have.
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Jul 14, 2009 14:37
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Xerin posted:Ok I have a question I haven't been able to get answered with google and then a question that I'd like to know about. Declawing as a standard? What the fuuuuuuuuck? For the MONEY???  PLEASE get a second opinion.Edit: Sorry, was too miffed to write anything useful. My mom's cat is psychotic so she gets her claws trimmed at the vet. I think she has to do it every few weeks. So no, they certainly cannot resharpen them in a day. I haven't used Soft Paws myself but people on the forums that use them have had good results it sounds like. I'd think that just keeping their claws trimmed would be less work but eh. Why are you asking anyway? Is the cat ripping up stuff already (couches, people)? There are lots of ways to just train cats to not do naughty stuff so if you haven't exhausted those yet, I think there's some help for that posted in the FAQ. I'd get a second opinion about the flea medicine too since this psycho seems to see your cat as little more than a furry dollar sign. HondaCivet fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Jul 25, 2009 |
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Jul 25, 2009 04:16
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Xerin posted:They have a combo package, you get charged more for the neuter if you don't do the declaw. It's like $60 for the neuter and $140 for the declaw or together as a package you get the neuter for $40 and the declaw for $120 (or $160 total saving you 40 bucks). They said it's hard to remember someone who doesn't get the combo because it just makes sense cost wise and it's the right thing to do for the animal. Wow, she seriously sounds messed up. Does she get off on cutting off little kitty toes or something? I'd go elsewhere. Fast. Oh, and if you dido't know, declawing basically removes the last digit of their paws, which is like cutting off the tips of your fingers. Many view it as pretty goddamned inhumane. Lots of rescues and shelters won't allow a cat to be adopted out unless the owner agrees not to declaw it. Many countries around the world have made declawing illegal. It is great that you think your cat deserves to keep its paws whole though. Pretty much every cat owner has to deal with the fact that the cat might think the couch looks like a cool scratching post. There are plenty of tools and techniques available that leave cat, owner and couch happy.
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Jul 25, 2009 04:36
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ChairmanMeow posted:This vet is thread worthy, that is batshit Yes, please post every crazy rear end thing she said, she sounds like a goldmine of horrible.
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Jul 25, 2009 05:55
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My boyfriend is planning on building a cat tree for our two new cats (well, they are kittens right now but hopefully they will make it to cathood). We've been thinking about all these super-elaborate plans with places to hide and jump around and whatnot but I'm not sure if the cats even want anything more than some elevated platforms to hang out on. In your experiences, what cat tree styles do cats enjoy the most? Would they actually use tunnels and hideaway spots or would it be a waste of time? I know this sort of depends on the cat but I was just curious as to what you guys had seen.
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Jul 26, 2009 03:20
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Does it matter that they are still kittens? They mostly seem to just like climbing onto things, not into them, but is that likely to change once they age?
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Jul 26, 2009 16:24
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Captain Foxy posted:loving cats not appreciating awesomeness when they have it. Good idea, I'll see if I can do something like that. My boyfriend will be doing most of the work since he's the only one of us with any woodworking experience but hopefully I can get some pictures of the various stages and some info on materials and construction. We're also going to make a scratching post out of an actual piece of tree with the bark intact and everything. Our cats' foster dad said that his cats have all loved this kind of scratcher.
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Jul 27, 2009 15:18
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I need litter box advice! I live in a fairly small one-bedroom apartment with a smallish living room, big kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. My plan is to shut them up in the bathroom when we move to give them a little place of their own until they are comfortable and to help them finish taming down (they're feral kittens). Questions: 1) Should I get them a little night light or something for nighttime? The bathroom has no windows so I'm assuming that it'll be pitch black when the door is closed. I plan on leaving the lights on for them all day and just shutting them off at bedtime. 2) I was thinking of just sticking with one litter box since they happily share one right now and the apartment is rather small. Since it's what they'll be used to by the time we let them out of the bathroom, I was thinking of just leaving it in there. We're also going to have to shut them away once in awhile for their safety when we do weight-lifting exercises so just making the bathroom their room makes sense. Of course, the problem with that is that people are always in and out and opening and closing the door. It's just my boyfriend and I so we can get into the habit of leaving the door open a bit for them when we're just showering or something but the door will of course be closed for five or ten minutes at a time when the toilet's in use. Will they be willing to hold it in for five or ten minutes if the door is closed or will they likely refuse to wait? 3) If the answer to my second question is 'no', could we possibly just move the litter box in and out of the bathroom when we have to, or would that confuse them? Also, is the kitchen a bad place to keep the litter box? It's a decently-sized kitchen but the box would still probably be in a ten-foot radius of where they are fed. Would that be too icky for them? Sorry for the longness, I have been wracking my brain about this and can't come up with a good answer.
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Aug 6, 2009 15:00
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demozthenes posted:I finally have a lease that allows free-roaming pets! My boyfriend is moving in as well, and we are considering adopting an adult cat within the year. (Our work schedules are fairly opposite, so the cat will have someone home for much of the day.) I grew up with a Maine Coon and was responsible for his care, and he's had four cats including two feral kittens that he's raised. (He has much more cat experience, obviously.) Try a rescue that does a lot of fostering. Many cats act differently in a shelter environment than they do in a loving home. Unless the foster parent just got the cat, they should have a pretty good idea of the cat's temperament. Oh, and since you want a pretty chill cat, you might want to try getting an older (7+ years old) cat. There are lots of awesome lazy loving senior kitties stuck in shelters and rescues just because their old people owners died or whatever. That and everyone wants kittens so old kitties take forever to get adopted. Remember that cats can get to be 20+ years old so even "old" cats will have lots of years left in them if you take care of them.
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Aug 6, 2009 23:03
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The Modern Leper posted:Tagging onto Honda Civet's question: When it comes to stuff like the vet, you sometimes just can't really be nice about it. Heck, even non-feral cats usually have to be dragged to the vet so you shouldn't feel bad. Other than that, there are a billion great guides online for working with ferals. There are lots of organizations around the country (Alley Cat Allies, Urban Cat League, etc.) that offer resources on their websites so check those out. I have my own question: How many meals a day do 4-month old kittens need? Can we get away with 2? At their foster parents' place, they currently get fed wet food maybe twice a day but they also have dry food available all day. We plan on just feeding them wet food twice a day, no dry, when they are adults. Are they old enough for this or should we leave out kibble like their foster parents do? We won't be around enough for three meals a day unless we feed them later at night or something.
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Aug 10, 2009 01:44
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Meow Cadet posted:Pretty sure its recommended to have food available 24/7 until a cat is about 1 year old. Then you can transition to feeding times if you want. Sounds like their stomachs are too small for them to eat enough otherwise so I guess you are right. Is it necessary to "moisten dry food with water" like some sites say? The foster parent hasn't been doing that so far but I don't know how much of the kibble they eat. They always act like they are starving when we bring them wet food so maybe they can't handle it (either that or kittens always act like they are starving when tasty food is present).
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Aug 10, 2009 05:48
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Fire In The Disco posted:By 4 months old, the kitten shouldn't need moistened kibble. That's really something that's good for babies who haven't figured out crunchies yet. I also second free feeding until the cat's over a year old; with high quality kibble, and plenty of it available, the kitten will have the best possible building blocks to growing up huge and healthy and cuddly. what if i want small cats  Just to clarify, "kitten" formula foods are mostly a marketing thing right? We got a free bag of Wellness Kitten kibble when we got them but can we just pick up any good adult food once they go through it?
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Aug 10, 2009 17:38
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I have a question on claw trimming. As I said, I have two 4-month old kittens. Should I be getting them into the habit of getting their claws trimmed now or should I let them have their little death daggers? I am afraid that if I trim their claws, they will learn to play with each other harder than they should.
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Aug 11, 2009 16:00
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zex posted:I have some litter questions. Right now I have two cats, 9 months old and 4 months old. Two litter boxes right next to each other, probably going to cut it down to just one soon. I use Best Cat Litter in the World Extra Strength Formula for multiple cats. My problem is litterbox stink. I clean both boxes out a minimum of twice a day, usually three or more times though. My bathroom and room more often than not stink of cat poop pretty strongly. I thought this was just normal but a friend came over and said she has one cat and she only cleans out her box twice a week and it never stinks. This sounds crazy to me knowing how often I clean my box out. She used Arm and Hammer something, except it wasn't flushable I don't think. I'd prefer to just flush everything if possible. What I'm asking is what are some alternate litters I could try in one of the boxes? I can separate the boxes to test the smell and see if they take to the new litter. Any other tips for cutting down smell? Also could it possibly be because of my new younger cat? I remember as the 9 month old aged a little the stink cut back but it could have just been because I got used to it. Maybe try Swheat Scoop? It's wheat junk instead of corn junk and I'm pretty sure it's flushable. They have a multi-cat formula that is supposed to be better at odor control so maybe give that a shot. And yes, kitten poos tend to be worse than cat poos when it comes to stankiness. Also kittens are dumb and often aren't very good about burying their buttbombs.
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Aug 12, 2009 20:40
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even worse username posted:I use Swheat Scoop and don't have the stench problem, although one thing to be aware of is that it tracks a tremendous amount. It is flushable, though, which is nice. I think it's one of those things where you just have to give it a shot and see if it works for you. Some people think it works great and some don't. Same with World's Best. Same with just about every litter I guess. Maybe it depends on the cat's diet?
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Aug 13, 2009 22:27
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Two kitten questions: 1) My kittens are ferals so they have been pretty quiet up until recently. However, one of them is becoming more vocal as of late. They are still locked in the bathroom because we just got them and sometimes he'll meow through the door. I should be ignoring him so he doesn't get into the habit, right? 2) I have two kittens, they are brothers and they obviously are crazy about each other most of the time. However, when I set down food, the bolder one bats the other cat away so he can eat first. He can't eat ALL the food so the other cat gets some when the jerk is done but still . . . Should I give them food in separate dishes or is this normal?
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Aug 19, 2009 04:02
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exactduckwoman posted:Separate dishes would be much kinder to the beta cat. I'm sure if my cats only had one dish they'd do that, but when you can just put out another plate, why endure the strife? Poor beta cat . . . he must be getting enough to eat though because he is much larger than the alpha! He obviously doesn't know it though. They've only been in there since Sunday. We don't have any other cats, we were just keeping them in a small room for awhile to get them used to us/comfortable in a new place. It's a very small bathroom though so they are probably getting bored. We're planning on letting them out tonight after we make the place a little more kitten-safe. We just moved and it's still a big mess so we were trying to hold off but they'll probably enjoy crawling around the mess anyway.
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Aug 19, 2009 15:40
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Do kittens pee/drink a lot? I am always finding tons of giant pee balls in their litter box and at least one of them can be seen drinking water quite often. They are about 4 months old and are fed good wet food (Wellness, Innova, etc.) 2-3 times a day and also have good dry food (EVO) at their disposal 24/7.
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Aug 20, 2009 20:44
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StrangersInTheNight posted:Oh man oh man! If things work out, we'll be heading to the shelter tonight to pick out a kitty! The local shelters are so oversaturated, I'm happy to give a pet a good home. Seconding getting two. We have two brothers that are 4 months old. If they aren't sleeping or snuggling with us, they are mostly just chasing/wrestling each other rather than getting into lots of stuff . . . I mean, they DO get into stuff, but then they get distracted when the other runs up and tackles them so they don't have much time to tear poo poo up. The bunnyproofing of the cords should be enough. I've never seen any cats that were extremely interested in cords unless they were moving but maybe that's just me. They should be OK to let loose as long as you have the place cleaned up. Make sure to pick up anything small that they could try to eat/choke on. They'll try to eat any little tiny thing on the floor so pick up stuff they shouldn't have. They also sometimes seem to like chewing on long flat things like blinds, cardboard box flaps, etc. so make sure nothing like that is laying around that you don't want them chewing on. Lastly, tuck away any dangling junk like curtain cords that they could hang themselves on. Confining them to one room for a bit is a good idea, it gives them a safe place to stay while they get over the move. They'll let you know when they are ready to come out and explore. My apartment is pretty small so I just let them have their run of the place when I let them out. They should be OK in a house as long as they explore on their own and can learn their own way around. If you have a huge house and move the litter box somewhere completely different, you might want to move the litter box gradually, moving it towards the new location in increments. In my small apartment, we up and moved it a few times and they had no problem finding it though.
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Aug 25, 2009 17:57
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Camembert posted:Hey guys, I'm seriously considering adopting a kitten as a companion to my current adult cat. My current cat is about two and a half, and fairly active, and for a number of reasons I think a new kitty bud for her would be of great benefit. Kitties can use clumping litter at 2-3 months of age so you should be good. Just go to clumping right away, they shouldn't be eating their litter unless you mixed up your litter and kibble bags.  They accidentally ingest it through grooming.Not too sure on the vaccines. If you get the kitty through a good shelter or rescue, a lot of that stuff will be taken care of for you before you adopt. Different places cover different amounts of stuff though.
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Aug 25, 2009 19:55
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StrangersInTheNight posted:Awesome, thanks for the input! I know it's best to get two, but we're hoping to bond the kitten as a companion for our rabbit, who's been lonely. Myself and the bf both feel suddenly having two cats will be a lot for the rabbit to handle all at once - plus, it might create a "three's a crowd" situation where the cats bond and the bunny is still fairly lonely (or the cats might even get mischievous and gang up on the bunny, which is the last thing we want). This, combined with the fact that my boyfriend has never lived with a cat before and is optimistically cautious about the whole affair means we're only getting one. I'm not a rabbit person but if you want the rabbit to have a friend, wouldn't another rabbit be better?
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Aug 25, 2009 20:00
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Camembert posted:Thanks HondaCivet and Helanna! I am happy to hear that clumping litter shouldn't be a problem--I can't stand the other stuff! Also, yes, I think the shelter does do some of the initial vaccines/dewormers, but I just wanted a heads up for what to expect. They require that you take your new animal to a vet within 48h so I suppose I will get whatever extra stuff they need then. Thanks so much for the info! If you want (lots) more litter box info go here. She's a little militant but she has lots of great advice and explains why non-clumping litter is a bad idea in general.
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Aug 25, 2009 22:28
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OK, I have a weird dual-part question . . . my boyfriend took some sort of coniferous log and made a scratcher out of it. One of the cats took to it right away but the other cat is TERRIFIED of it. He is literally hiding under the bed and has been for hours. It's strange because the one that's terrified is the bolder, alpha cat of the two. I tried carrying him into the room but he always retreats under the bed. Should I just give him more time to get used to it? Is there anything else I can do? Also, is pine dangerous to cats? I found maybe a couple of pages saying so but I can't find much on it. I also know someone else that makes scratchers out of the same wood and he's had no problems with his cats getting sick from them either. I just wanted to know if you guys have heard anything though. Update: Never mind, he got over it after several hours. Not sure why he was so terrified in the first place . . . cats are weird? HondaCivet fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Aug 26, 2009 |
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Aug 26, 2009 02:00
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4R7 THi3F posted:Can we talk about cat litter for a minute? Zomg the cute.  I have two kittens so I have double the horrible stinky kitten poos to deal with. How did you go through the litter so fast? Were you throwing it out a lot or did it all come out via scooping out the clumps? Also, tell us about the litter box itself. Is it very big? How deep do you keep the litter? My kittens have tracked out their vile poo poo a couple of times and I have found that keeping the litter deeper (3-4 inches) helps prevent this. They can bury it deeper and if they step on it, it'll sink rather than stick to their feet. Also, is she doing a good job burying stuff? If you want to know more about litter box stuff then you should try that link I gave to Camembert a few posts up. As for litters, if you bought World's Best because you like natural stuff, I would recommend Swheat Scoop, which is what I use. I think it is fairly good for odor control. We have the litter box in a fairly small room and there's only a mild odor, and it's really only of the litter itself, not waste. We scoop 2-3 times a day though so I don't know how nice it would smell if you are lazy and leave it too long. It's also flushable which I find to be very convenient (just make sure you let the clumps soak for 20 minutes first so you don't kill your plumbing). The main thing I don't like about it is that it tracks really badly but if you put some carpet or a litter-catcher type of pad out next to the litter box, it helps a lot.
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Aug 28, 2009 14:50
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desperado_cain posted:Mine just got really scared and started to run away from me,looking for places to hide. I guess it was the first time he had seen rain. The shelter gave you the cats in that state?? What the hell sort of shelter is that? Anyway, Whiskas is a pretty crappy food. If you can, you should get them something of a better quality. Healthy food will help them recuperate faster. Check out the Pet Nutrition Megathread and see what you can get in your area. Not sure about anything to "fatten them up" faster . . . as long as you give them as much healthy food as they want, they should set themselves right soon. Milk for cats? Do you mean kitten milk replacement? I haven't used that stuff before since I haven't had kittens that young. Just don't give them cow milk, it's not good for them.
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Aug 29, 2009 19:04
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Desperado Bones posted:It's a Mexican animal shelter, that might give you an idea of why they were in that state. Really sad, they can't keep the poor animals in good shape, but people rarely care here for the animals. Aah, I see. At least they ended up with you. Dear god a Mexican animal shelter must be a depressing place.  Anyway, I have my own question. A weird thing happened today. Me, my boyfriend, and our two four-month old kittens were all chillin' on the couch. Both were either sleeping or in a tremendously sleepy state. Then, out of nowhere, one of them essentially tipped his head over the side of the couch, coughed up a little bit of vomit onto the floor, and went back to sleep. It was not a large amount of vomit, just a few very small chunks, almost like a spray. At no point during the morning did he act like he was feeling sick. Is this . . . something to be concerned about, or is this sort of normal?
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Aug 30, 2009 03:36
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My kitten is stupid when it comes to the litter box. He always reaches way too far and too high and therefore scratches the side of the box rather than the litter. He of course scratches incessantly for like 5 minutes at a time since digging at plastic doesn't do the job. I am using one of those big Rubbermaid tubs with a hole cut into the side. I upgraded them to a really big one (footprint is probably 2.5 feet by 1.5 feet) to see if that helped and it only has a little bit. Now he actually hits litter a tiny percentage of the time rather than never. I'm not sure what would help besides a swimming pool-size box and the little 'tard would probably still find the sides. His brother has no trouble burying his poo poo and ends up burying stupid cat's poo poo too, usually. How can I teach my durfy kitten to bury properly?
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Sep 6, 2009 17:24
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Znorps! posted:Thanks for the recommendation. I wasn't sure what food would be best and figured that would work. If I see the Blue Buffalo stuff I'll grab that instead. I'm not locked into the flushing thing, just saw another poster mention it favorably. I'll try to find the Tidy Cats as allergies are an issue here. Seconding that the food you picked looks awful (no offense). Are you sure there aren't any other nearby pet stores? I can't imagine that a town large enough to support a PetSmart wouldn't have at least one independent store. PetSmart just kinda sucks as far as food goes so it'd be worth it to look around. I use Swheat Scoop. It's not perfect but it's worth a try. Not sure if it would stir up allergies unless you were specifically allergic to wheat or something but it clumps well and the fact that it's flushable is pretty cool. You do have to let it sit for 20 minutes in the bowl before you flush though. I mostly like it because clay litter is lovely for the environment but I'm a gay treehugging hippie I guess. You should probably have a litter box on each floor if you live in a house unless the house is particularly small, so maybe leave the kitchen one and put another one in the basement? Lester Shy posted:Turns out he was under my bathroom sink in an area which I would have sworn was covered with wood paneling when I moved in. Took him a while to come out but now he's chillin' right next to me. Aside from the incident this morning, he seems to be adjusting pretty well to his new house, especially considering he came from a house with four cats. One strange thing I've noticed is that he doesn't really have any interest in playing with any sort of toys. I can't seem to dig up my old laser pointer, but an assorted number of boxes, paper bags, things on strings and other odds and ends have all failed to grab his attention, which seems pretty weird since he's just over a year old and came from a pretty active household. But hey, maybe he's just super chill. You JUST got him, right? If he's only been home for a short while, he might still be pretty uncomfortable and therefore not be as interested in playing. Give him some time and he'll probably have the whole house torn up soon. If you want to safely take him outside, there was just a thread about harnesses. HondaCivet fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Sep 10, 2009 |
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Sep 10, 2009 22:39
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evelynevvie posted:Try picking him up and putting him in the litter box. He doesn't have to be peeing/pooping. Then, grab his front paws (one in each hand) and dig into the litter with them. This is how I potty train all of my kitties. His digging instincts should take over from there, and hopefully digging in the litter will show him where exactly to dig. Other than that, maybe try a different litter? He may just not like the kind you have. Bleh, I tried this and he just gets upset that I'm grabbing him. I tried "showing" him how by covering the litter for him with a scoop but he just gets mad about being bothered in the litter box. How long does it take for them to learn? I have another problem with him . . . he's also stepping in his poo poo and tracking it everywhere. We keep having to grab him and wash his feet down. It's usually the bottoms of his back feet but sometimes he gets it on his front paws too. I don't know how a cat can be so retarded with the litter box when his brother does just fine. What would help? Different litter? Is it a medical problem? Will he grow out of it?
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Sep 12, 2009 07:12
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Well I think I know what part of the shitstepping problem is . . . diarrhea! (Yes, I made a vet appointment for Monday). However, they don't seem to have diarrhea all the time. I see them have both normal poops and runny ones. This causes me to conclude that it's probably dietary rather than parasites or something (please correct me here if worms or illness can cause only occasional squirts). I've tried to figure out some sort of rhythm to it. I haven't come up with much of one but I've only seen big problems in the evening . . . of course he might be cleaning himself up well enough when we're gone so that we don't see it though. We free-feed them dry food (mostly because they are still kittens) and then give them wet food 2 or 3 times a day. One thing that might be the problem is that we switch their wet food every couple of days when the 13 oz. can runs out. I'm doing this to keep them from being picky rear end in a top hat adult cats but I've also heard that it can cause tummy problems. I didn't really think much of it since the foster parent did the same thing and I don't remember any problems like that. Could this be the problem? We only switch between the same handful of kinds but there's still a major switch every couple of days. The other thing we do is refrigerate the food after we open it and then microwave it when it's feeding time. The food's only in the fridge for a day or two before they eat it but could it be getting gross during that time? Maybe nuking it is screwing it up? We just try to get it not-cold rather than warm so it's not in there too long but still . . . Sorry, long post, just feeling worried. Anyone have any feedback?
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Sep 13, 2009 01:21
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evelynevvie posted:Are you feeding him different flavors of wet food or different brands or what? Yeah, we switch between Innova and Wellness. Wellness is the only one that comes in flavors so we'll probably just stick with that one (unless anyone thinks Innova/EVO is better I guess). We do just stick with one brand of dry food at least. We can try to find some canned pumpkin too. Would it be OK if we just mixed in small amounts of other foods into their Wellness to add variety/prevent pickiness? Or would that probably make them sick too? We could mix in the pumpkin along with it.
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Sep 13, 2009 20:10
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Eej posted:I've been going to a local independant pet store for cat stuff because they're closeby and prices are pretty good. However I noticed that they had kittens for sale (only $199 spayed/neutered and vaccinated!) and when I asked where they got them from, the guy there said "breeders from around the province including one of our ex-employees". I wasn't aware that there are people who specialize in breeding domestic shorthairs so am I right in assuming they're selling kittens from BYBs and I should never go there again? There ARE real, legitimate breeders of American Shorthair cats (wraithgar has one named Trophy, who owns). However, they don't sell out of pet stores, just like legitimate dog breeders don't. These "breeders" probably literally just make their mama cats pump out kittens and throw them into that stupid pet store. I don't know about you but I'd feel lovely spending my money there. $199 is on sale?? I got TWO kittens for $150 from an awesome rescue. Maybe it's just because I'm in the Midwest but still, what the gently caress . . . BIOJECT posted:kittens Yeah, definitely try to find some bonded adults, especially since you haven't had cats before. Kittens are cute but they are a big pain in comparison to adults and no one should ever get any unless they really want the specific experience of dealing with the little furry assholes. They chew on/play with/claw everything and aren't always up on their litter box skills. Adults can be active and playful too but they aren't as obsessed with messing with EVERYTHING. I got some kittens and while I cherish every moment of their kittenhood blah blah cheesy crap, I am looking forward to them growing up and calming the gently caress down/not running around and doing Matrix walljumps off the side of the bed while I'm sleeping/trying to turn my leg into pulled pork in order to get at a pants drawstring/no longer being able to fit into crazyass tiny annoying spots/BEING DICKS.
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Sep 17, 2009 21:30
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So I took my kittybutts to the vet for a checkup . . . She said they are very healthy but are starting to get a little fat! Kittens can get fat? They are 5 months old so I don't know if that counts as "kitten" anymore but they still have a lot of growing to do. They are around 6 lbs. each and she recommended about 180 calories a day for them (and thusly no more free feeding of dry food). Does that sound right? I just don't want to starve them or stunt their growth or anything.
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Sep 20, 2009 18:26
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Maharajadhiraja posted:My roommate and I took in a kitten whose parents died, we think it's about 4 weeks old. It didn't seem able to pee on its own, but we've been able to piddle it. Pooping has been another story, though, and I'm worried that it hasn't been able to yet (it's been about a full day since we brought it home), and it won't hold still long enough for us to help it poop. It seems pretty healthy and is doing fine aside from the lack of poop. We're taking it to a vet later, but in the meantime does anyone have any suggestions on how to help this kitten take a poo poo? Sometimes kittens that young can use the litter box but sometimes not. If they are having trouble, you are supposed to wet a cotton ball or washcloth with warm water and then rub their anus. Mom cats make kittens poo by stimulating them with washing. (Being a mom cat must suck).
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Sep 25, 2009 22:18
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Maharajadhiraja posted:Yeah, we had to do that to get it to pee. We've tried stimulating its butthole after each of its meals, and it hasn't pooped once. I'm worried that it might be constipated, and hoping that it just doesn't need to poop. I'm also worried that the kitten is feeling molested. No, it should be pooping if it's eating . . . If it hasn't gone in awhile, I'd just get to the vet post-haste since it might be sick.
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Sep 26, 2009 07:26
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CagedLiberty posted:After wanting a cat my entire life, my fiance and I have reserved two jet-black kittens (sisters) at a local shelter. The litter of six and their mum were all rescued together from a house that was overcrowded with cats, but they're healthy and happy thankfully. We should get them within the next ten days hopefully because we're just waiting for someone to come out and do a home check on us. Very excited, and have read this whole thread so far as a start. Kinda late but I got kittens recently so I thought I'd throw in my two cents on my experience. It is pretty normal for kitties to be freaked out by the moving/adopting experience. They are taken from what they think of as home, brought to a strange place by strange people . . . they can understandably be a little scared at first. It's usually easier to confine them to a small room at first for a few reasons. Firstly, a small room all to themselves makes the acclimation process faster for the kitties because it doesn't take as long to stake out a small, quiet room. Also, if you choose the room correctly, you will rob them of places to hide and avoid you should they be feeling shy when they get home. This sounds kind of mean but lack of good hiding spots forces them to realize that they are in an awesome new place with really nice people that love them! My kitties were originally feral cats and are probably much more shy than yours, and even they took only a few days before they wanted to get out and explore. So I guess that if I were you, I'd shut them up in a spare room or bathroom or something for at least the first night. If they are cool with the whole move and don't seem too freaked out, then you can probably just let them out whenever they are ready. I just figure that it's likely more prudent to keep on the safe side rather than have them spend the first few days hiding under the bed or whatever. Also make sure that, if you do this, leave at the very least their litter box in the same place for awhile. If you move it when you let them out of their room then they may get lost trying to find it again.
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Sep 28, 2009 23:47
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CraigK posted:When do kittens tend to break out of the "ATTACK loving EVERYTHING" mode, usually? I wouldn't hold my breath for that phase to end, it lasts well into adulthood for many cats. There's not much you can do besides kitten-proof the house and yelp when he attacks you to let him know it hurts. Wearing him out with some long play sessions might help a little but the fact is that kittens are assholes. Kittens do well in pairs/groups because they are little dicks to each other moreso than to you. Is the older cat too old/fat/lazy to play with him?
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Sep 29, 2009 21:02
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Yisan posted:I have tried the paw scoopy trick and they just look at me and then proceed to get upset and run away. I think a bigger box is the next step I have a cat that does this. He didn't respond to the paw scoop thing either. He's just too dumb I guess. What's strange is that he will dig to make a hole but one he's done, he reaches too far to bury it. I think he's afraid of getting his paw in his poo. We upgraded box size once, now they have a very large Tupperware bin with a hole in the side. It helped some but the walls are still there and he's pretty big so he can still reach them. He seems to be growing out of it very slowly though, sometimes he'll bury stuff a little bit. I'd just try to deal with it and give it some time.
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Oct 4, 2009 18:33
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Pod posted:Our new kitties are quite settled now, and I just wanted to check we're going about the feeding right. They currently get 3 pouches of wet kitten food a day each - morning, afternoon and night. This is currently Felix (ugh) because that's what they were on at the shelter - we are going to start upgrading this to Applaws over the next couple of weeks. They also get a bowl of dry Applaws kitten food which I keep topped up all day. Free feeding is cool for kittens because they have tiny tummies and therefore need to eat more often in order to get the calories they need. You should probably transition them to 3 meals a day when they are 5-6 months old, then to 2 if you want once they are a year old. Some cats can free feed without turning into tubbos but a lot can't so meals are probably going to be best for them.
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Oct 7, 2009 04:17
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