Thinking about getting a kitten and I have questions

[sunstruck]

I have a cat, but I got him when he was almost a year old. A friend's cat just had a litter, and we're thinking about getting Bilbo a playmate, but I've never had a kitten before.

I don't know what the rules are. She's 8 weeks old, how long before I can have free reign of the house when we're not home? Do I need to get a smaller litter box? What am I getting myself into?

 

[stargazer]

Riff just got a kitten. He would know

 

[sunstruck]

I don't think he's around.

 

[Laurel]

Having two cats is as easy as one. You will need to get it its own litterbox. I've been told it's best to get a kitten who is the opposite sex of your existing cat, though I've seen same sex pairs that do fine.

Aiko (2-year-old female) took a while to adjust to Owen (2 weeks old when we found him), but now they are swell pals. Don't leave a very small kitten alone with a much larger cat until they're buddies.

Here's some cool info:

http://www.pureproductsinc.com/articles/tips_newkitten.htm

http://azaz.essortment.com/introducingnew_rhzw.htm

 

[sunstruck]

Yea! The kitten goddess! Thank you Laurel. If we get her I'll be sure to post pics. She's comming over for a test run with our little prince. We'll see how it goes.

 

[lisalove]

At 8 weeks, the kitten no longer requires mother's milk so it should be fairly easy. I've had many kittens over the years (unfortunately many ending in demise). Of course kitty can have free reign...show him/her the litter box, have dry food and always lots of fresh water.

If he's naughty spray his face with water and say a firm "no". sorry Laurel.

 

[Nora]

A regular litterbox is fine, but if you buy a covered one I'd take the cover off until she's a little older. The rule of thumb for litterboxes is one per cat, plus a spare. So that's 3 boxes. Two will be fine as long as you're hyper about keeping them clean.

8 weeks is when they start weening, so the age is ok. Since you know the kitten's "family" make sure she's totally weened before you bring her home. Kittens who are forced to ween before they're ready tend to be a little neurotic, IMO.

Your older cat will be resistant at first. The trick is to habituate them to one another. Keep them in separate rooms at first, and rotate the rooms so they get used to one another's scent. Do that for several days to two weeks. Then start introducing them slowly with supervision. That's the hardest part is taking it slow and not forcing them to love one another.

They're gonna scrap at first no matter what. Cats are territorial.

You'll likely need to feed them separately because kittens really should have kitten food and a mature cat wouldn't benefit from eating kitten food (unless she was pregnant).

Another obvious, but often overlooked thing is to make sure both cats have your vet's seal of approval health-wise before bringing another cat into the house.

um...I rambled, sorry. Enjoy the new kitten. Personally I think cats are best in pairs!

 

[LusciousRedLips]

I got a female kitten when we already had an adult male cat and we've had no problems. I think they enjoy each others company. I have one large litter box and they share it.

 

[sunstruck]

What about leaving her alone. We work. Should I take a few days off?

 

[Nora]

*smiles* If you can it's nice. Let's y'all bond a little and helps her adjust to you. But if you can't I'm sure it will be fine!

One thing...you'll be AMAZED at the places a tiny kitten will squeeze into. When my Gracie was new to us, we had some milk crates with records in them stacked on top of one another. She crawled into the bottom one through the tiny triangular handle-cut out thingy in the milk crate!! Then (and I honestly believe this) she grew while she was inside and couldn't get back out! It was cuuuute!

Where ever you put her, make sure that there's stuff for her to explore and play with, but try to block off anywhere she might get trapped or put her head through.

Then again, I'm a freakish worry-wort sorta cat-mom lol

 

[Sillyman]

You could get someone to catsit. Normally I say people shouldn't have more than one cat, since cats tend to not be terribly social.

 

[Laurel]

Some breeds may be less social than others, but the cats I've known really enjoy having buddies. Even snobby Aiko has been happier since Owen came aboard, despite initial hesitation.

If the kitten is eating solid food and using a litter box, you may not have to take time off work. If you could, I'd get the kitten on a Friday evening and see how the two do over the weekend.

 

[Suzi]

Having kittens...

l) kitten food and fresh water definite necessity
2)NEVER give kittens milk,/
3)lntro. litterbox as soon as you bring kitten home
4)Have a fuzzy old blanket for her to sleep on
5)Kittens looove to play, and WlLL with whatever they get their paws on---make sure its safe.
6)Be vigilant in keeping up with ALL her shots,/
7)At 5 months, get kitty fixed.

 

[dreamer]

Good rules Suzi and I'd ahve to agree with them.

One thing though, in our family we've worked our way through 7 cats...two were mine alone when I had moved into my own house. Anyhow...through various combinations of older, younger, new to the house, old vetern, I've found it all depends on the personality of the individual cat.

Their behaviour isn't predictable but I've not seen any two not get along with time.

Enjoy the new kittie!!

 

[Guest]

Having two cats is as easy as one. You will need to get it its own litterbox. I've been told it's best to get a kitten who is the opposite sex of your existing cat, though I've seen same sex pairs that do fine.

Aiko (2-year-old female) took a while to adjust to Owen (2 weeks old when we found him), but now they are swell pals. Don't leave a very small kitten alone with a much larger cat until they're buddies.

Here's some cool info:

http://www.pureproductsinc.com/articles/tips_newkitten.htm

http://azaz.essortment.com/introducingnew_rhzw.htm

________

I agree with Laurel. Getting cats of different sexes is much more fun for them!

~<--ahem~

 

[Lady_J]

Laurel, how are the kittens?

Can we have some new kitten pics!

 

[Laurel]

Re: Having kittens...

l) kitten food and fresh water definite necessity
2)NEVER give kittens milk,/
3)lntro. litterbox as soon as you bring kitten home
4)Have a fuzzy old blanket for her to sleep on
5)Kittens looove to play, and WlLL with whatever they get their paws on---make sure its safe.
6)Be vigilant in keeping up with ALL her shots,/
7)At 5 months, get kitty fixed.

Excellent advice! I'll add to that:

8) Whenever the kitten is "bad" - i.e. biting on electrical cords, etc. - shoot a blast of canned air near him/her. This scares them without getting your house wet.

9) Start clipping the kitt's nails as soon as you get him, and re-clip every 10 days or so. This way, they get used to having their claws clipped. They're much more fun to play with with short claws, and won't damage your furniture.

 

[Cirrus]

I have an adult (2 years old) male that I NEVER thought would tolerate another cat, much less a kitten, but they're asleep in the chair together as I write this.

I kept them seperate until the kitten was old and strong enough to take a little abuse and then I started letting them in the same empty room together, supervised of course, for increasing periods of time. My big boy didn't like the little boy at first...let them fight a little though. They'll work it out. Just be near in case it gets out of hand.

As for a blanket, get that polar fleece stuff or fake lambswool. My cats just LOVE both. If you get a male kitten, or if your existing cat is male, they'll do their "kneading" motion on that material, and females love to make little cat nests in it.

Oh, and don't let your older cat eat kitten food. He'll get diarrhea, and if he eats too much of it he'll get fat.

 

[Lady_J]

Oooo, be careful with the canned air,
I think it's a good tool to use, but short blasts only, it can cause frost burn. I once broke a can and it froze to the floor, nasty freezy chemical.

My advice is, be careful where you adopt. I'm glad you know the mama cat, just be aware that cats from multiple cat households have a higher chance of being infected with the feline corona virus which can mutate in FIP. (I just lost Mr. Knightly after an 8 month battle with it.) Kittens and older cats are especially vunerable. There is a vaccine now availible, but it's not known whether it's totally effective.

Sorry to be a bummer.

 

[Cheyenne]

As long as it is a large pan and you clean it daily, one litter box is fine for two cats. I've had two cats at one time for 12 years and never had a problem with one box.

When my first cat was old and ill, I did add a second box to the first floor (regular box is on the second floor) to make it easier on him. Climbing stairs to get to the regular box was too hard for him at that point. A kitten shouldn't have a problem no matter where you put the box.

 

[Laurel]

Laurel, how are the kittens?

Can we have some new kitten pics!

Ooh! I'll post some tomorrow.

 

[sunstruck]

My house is already ferret proofed (more or less) and child proofed (neices and nephews) so I'm not really worried about her getting into anything.

Thank you guys for all the help. We're going to go pick her up this afternoon. I can't wait!