Cat people Helppp !

[babymomma]

I got a kitten. Dunno if its permanent or not. but prettty sure it will be. Just have to see how bad my allergies are going to react. It might be something that can be controlled with meds, but it may not be.

Backstory.
Remember how i found 4 kittens under a house like 1.5 years ago? Well, Same lady had a litter of kittens and of course all were left outside including momma cat. My friend found a kitten in the woods and its pure white and about 3-4 months old. She kept her for a few days trying to find her a home and today her mom said if she didnt get rid of it she was going to bring it back outside and let it go (Her brother has severe allergies to it). Anyways, I drove 40 minutes to pick him/her up and at first she was a "im only taking her to find her a home" situation because i knew my bf would never go for having a cat. But i fell in love in just a few short hours and well, i got the go ahead. I think he likes her just as much as me he just acts like he dont.

Anyways she is just darling. She gets along super well with the two dogs and vice versa and she adores me and I her. She appears healthy (minus being starved, my friend was trying to feed her dog food and milk, shes missing 2 bottom teeth, and when i fed her wet food today she gobbled it all up ive fed her a full can of friskas .

She will be started on good quality canned food tomorrow, but today thats alll i had to get. Pet store was closed when i got her so it was grocery brand or nothing.

A few questions, how much should i be feeding her do you think. Just remember she is a little underweight. hips a pertruding a little too much for my liking but she isnt dangerously underweight.

And can anybody just give me a bunch of info on cats. I havent owned one before and all i have is the reearch ive done here and online and of course i know alot from the info ive learned over the years but i always seem to forget anything when im in a situation when i need it.

She likes going outside on a leash (with me present of course) and i think i want to continue doing that with her as she grows. Shes very calm,very quiet.

Another question. I cannot tell her if she is a boy or a girl and she wont be going to the vet until a few weeks time (due to the fact getting an appointment around here is very difficult and money restraints until thursday. )

sorry no pics right now but ill post some later

 

[Snark]

Congrats!

Most of the kittens we've brought home (including Allegro, who was so underweight and small, the vet misjudged his age by a couple of months) were fed small, frequent meals (a couple of forkfuls of canned food about 3-4 times a day). Our cats do have dry food out at all times, none of them overeat.

Keep up the leash walking - is she in a harness? As with puppies, a harness (usually a figure 8 style) is safer for kitties. We've had a couple of cats who walked on leash, the last one enjoyed walking with the dogs, (the first one, a Siamese, liked attacking dogs. )

I expect you know where to look to find the gender. A : usually indicates a male; an upside down ! indicates a female.

One thing you might want to start now is bathing your kitten. A friend of mine is very allergic to cat dander and she has 3 cats (and a fairly small house). They all started getting bathed as kittens, and they continue to receive baths every other month or so. Who knows? You might have a water kitty... my brother's old cats (both have gone to the Bridge) used to insist on getting in the shower with whoever was showering and their favorite game was a ping pong ball in a tub with 6 inches of water. Downside: they sometimes considered the toilet as their private spa...

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

A few questions, how much should i be feeding her do you think. Just remember she is a little underweight. hips a pertruding a little too much for my liking but she isnt dangerously underweight.

I would say about 2 oz per pound of body weight per day, until she's about six months old, then you can switch it to 1 oz per pound of body weight per day. I'm sure someone with more experience raising kittens can better answer this question (Noludoru, mabye?)

She likes going outside on a leash (with me present of course) and i think i want to continue doing that with her as she grows. Shes very calm,very quiet.

Awesome! I advise using a harness instead of a collar (if you're not already) - they're harder for cats to slip out of.

Another question. I cannot tell her if she is a boy or a girl and she wont be going to the vet until a few weeks time (due to the fact getting an appointment around here is very difficult and money restraints until thursday. )

First, lay the kitten down on its belly. Lift up the tail. Females will resemble an upside-down exclamation point. Males will resemble a colon. By 12 weeks old, you can generally feel the scrotum/testicles of male kittens if you feel around a little bit. The space between the anus and genitals will be close together if it's a female, farther apart if it's a male.

 

[thehoundgirl]

You should be able to determine the sex of the kitten at atleast 8 weeks. My parents didn't know what sex Angel was and she is blue-ish so she was easy to tell as a kitten, also she was 7 weeks when we got her. It's not that difficult to tell on a white cat, a black cat probably but not a white cat.

Here is how to determine with sketches..
http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/may_jun_1996/asmMJ96_howto2.pdf

You will want to feed her whenever she's hungry, just like a puppy. I don't know if you can leave her food dish somewhere where the dogs can't get it? I wouldn't free feed her, it's your choice if you want that at first to get some weight on her but honestly I would just give her meals through-out the day. Not everytime they meow they are hungry.. you will learn that LOL. Good luck and post pictures!

Is she long-haired? I have 3 cats and they are short-haired. Thick haired cats bother my allergies and mine don't bother my allergies too much.

BTW- you are in for it with a kitten. They are SO active at night, lmao. My cat Angel when she was a kitten was horrible. She still is a brat. I got Miagi and Tiger as adults, so they aren't that bad.

 

[Romy]

We always just free fed kittens dry food, and offered them wet food 2x a day. Especially if it was a stray that needed to gain weight. It's pretty darn rare for a cat to overeat. I just switched Sammy off her dry and onto raw. She still gets Merricks BG kibble once in a while, like when we leave overnight so she has something to snack on. Our neighbor free feeds the strays and I know she hits that buffet once in a while because she threw up triangle shaped kibbles on the couch last night.

 

[Maxy24]

I'm glad the kitten is safe with you, poor things get treated like garbage.

I'd continue feeding just canned food if you can afford it. Feed three or four meals a day, whatever amount she wants to eat. Do you have any idea how old she is?

For a young kitten you should probably use non-clumping litter because they sometimes eat it. When she's a bit older you can switch to clumping (non-clumping becomes gross because you can't scoop out the pee, so you have to dump the whole thing frequently).

The absolute best thing you can do is get her used to all sorts of handling. Mouth, paws, tail, belly. Cats can be so intolerant and downright vicious about being touched in some places, so get her used to being touched and handled everywhere in a gentle manner (don't force yourself on her, just pet her and move into those areas). Teach her to accept nail clipping and eventually tooth brushing (if you want).

But scratching posts THAT SHE LIKES (some don't like every material. I have one who only likes carpet, one that likes carpet and cardboard, neither like sisal rope). Make sure they are sturdy and tall if they are vertical. Cats don't want something that tips when they go to scratch it. For no most anything will do, but when she's older the little foot tall carpet ones usually stop being used, they're too short. When you've found one she likes make sure to redirect her to it if she's showing interest in using the furniture.


I think taking her out on leash is a great idea. I agree on using a harness but I wouldn't use the figure 8 ones, I find they are really easy to slip out of. If you continue taking her out on leash she'll continue being comfortable with it I'm sure. Just make sure you don't accidentally encourage door darting tendencies. You can teach her to wait when you open the door just like you would a dog. Crack it and if she moves shut it, repeat until she stays. Then give permission for her to go with a chosen word. That way you won't have a cat scooting out between your legs when you're bringing in groceries or something. You might also choose to take her out of a lesser used door. She'll think that is her only way out and not know she can get out he high traffic door as well.

And I agree with everyone on the colon/exclamation point thing for sexing (and that refers to what their two holes look like). Males also usually have more space between their butt hole and pee hole (nice scientific terminology, I know).
These sites might help, they have pictures:
Burnthwaites | Siamese | Oriental | Bicolour | Cats | Kittens | Article | How to sex your kittens
Sexing kittens? - Reptile Forums

 

[MPP]

Congratulations on the new kitty! Sounds like a real charmer. Try this to cut down on allergy problems: go over the kitten every day or two with a warm, damp washcloth. Cats love it and it removes a lot of the allergens. You'll like it too because they're so cute while you're doing it!