My family and I are purchasing a Seal Point. She’ll be 8 weeks old when we get her in a couple of weeks. I have a question about her being alone in a new, and strange place.
There’s just 3 in our family: Our grandson (high schooler), my partner and me. I leave for work at 7:30 and don’t get back til 6-ish. Our boy leaves for school and gets back 'round 3:45/4-ish. My partner drives a school bus so she leaves before I do, and gets back at 9:30/10. Then she’s home until about 1. In a nutshell, the kitty would be alone for about 3hrs. in the morning and 3hrs. in the afternoon. Any suggestions on toys to keep her busy? I know how curious Siamese are and we all know what kind of mayhem a bored kitty can cause.
A good scratching post or two so she learns to sharpen her claws on that, not on the good furniture/drapes/etc.
The various usual toy mousies are OK but you may want to supervise your kitten with those before letting her alone with them for hours - some cats (mine is an example) seem to shred soft toys pretty quickly and you don’t want your new cat to eat the contents, so just keep an eye and see how much wear & tear she can dish out before leaving her with them unsupervised.
Those big plastic rings with a ball that rolls around inside can be hours of fun. Here’s an example:
A cardboard box with holes in it so she can explore, swat at things inside, etc. Put a toy inside, something that rolls around but that won’t fit out of the holes.
Comfy places to rest - yours may like a cat tree (I got a huge one at Costco for about $20 instead of $150 at the local pet shop) but things like a shoebox with a towel inside are great too.
LOL, yeah, we thought about that. But my wife wants a dog so at the end of the month, we’re expecting a lab puppy! That ought to be enough playmates, I think!
Good to know! We’ve both had cats before; and she’s had a kitten (another Seal Point, in fact); but I’ve never had a kitten and this is kind of ‘my project’ in a way. Thanks for the head’s up on the cat tree! We’ve been seeing those around and are even planning on building one (lots of great YouTube demos!). But if I could find a decent one now (as opposed to when the weather is decent enough for us to build something w/ power tools), that would be wonderful.
Have everything ready and in its permanent place–the litter box, the food dish, etc. Don’t start unpacking stuff and moving it around while she is trying to get oriented to her new surroundings. This is true of all the furniture in the house–for the first week or two, don’t move the armchairs, don’t set up a new bookshelf from Ikea, etc… Let her get adjusted to a stable environment.
Bring her home on a Friday,and plan not to leave the house all weekend.Adjust your schedules so you have somebody (or everybody) home with her nonstop for 2 or 3 days. During those days, don’t run around the house a lot, don’t slam doors…sit quietly for as long as possible, don’t move furniture. If she is hiding in terror, let her decide when to come out.
Great Advice! My plan was to take either the Monday or the Friday off to help facilitate this. Guess we’d better get our behinds in gear! Still quite a few odds and ends to put away in the den, or should I say, kitty’s new room!
One thing I’m kind of wondering: you said you’ll be purchasing a Seal Point–do you mean from a breeder? I’m just curious because 8 weeks is awfully young for a kitten to leave a breeder. We have both purebreds (Russian Blue and Singapura) and rescue kitties in our little herd, and everybody (breeders and vet from whom we got the rescues alike) wouldn’t let them go at less than 12-14 weeks.
That’s not what I’ve heard–it’s the youngest you’d probably want to do it, but if they can get some more socialization time with littermates and Mom, that’s usually a good thing.
It’s not too young, though–I’m sure the little girl will be fine with plenty of love and attention in her new home.
3 months is the minimum I would consider. At 8 weeks, it knows that food and water are found in dishes, and waste goes into the sandy box. The finishing touches on socialization are not complete.
in addition to chappachula excellent primer:
The first thing the kitten will do is likely run and hide (my last took 4 hours in a silent house to come out of her hole).
So: Put out food and water, and place kitten in the litter box. Hold it long enough to move its front paws in a digging motion - it will know that as waste box.
Then let it go - it now knows where the important stuff is.
Use clumping litter - not only is it much tidier, it allows precise monitoring of discharge.
Watch kitty’s reaction to running water - my Maine Coon will not drink more than absolute minimum from still water. With her fountain (wiped down and rinsed daily, scrubbed monthly) she consumes much more. If kitty jumps up on the counter to get at the water, get a fountain.
Some cats also have a distinct preference for high perches - leave a closet door open with something safe to climb nearby.
Good luck - Siamese are real sweethearts if raised in a loving home. Hope you don’t mind chatter.
Hah! Siamese are NEVER sweethearts. They’re obstinate, grumpy, demanding, sneaky, thieving, jealous, malicious and they’ll slash your throat as quick as look at you!
And yeah, they talk. Just try to get them to shut up? Good luck wid’ that
Yes, I’ve read over and over again that catteries don’t release kittens until they’re 12 or 13 weeks minimum, are litter trained and have their first round of shots. We can’t afford an official cattery though. We’re purchasing our little kitty from a “backyard breeder”. Richard and his wife live in a rural area about 20 minutes away from us. She’ll be litter trained, consistently eating solid food and have had just one of the vaccinations. Richard has been really clear w/ us from the beginning that his cats don’t have papers and that he isn’t an official breeder. BUT he has been doing this for 30 years and knows more about animal husbandry then I’ll ever be able to retain. He also knows this line extremely well (it traces back to a cat brought to them from Thailand), and has molded it in such a way as to be not completely purebred so that some of the health issues inherent in Siamese are very minimized. Two of his own cats from this line lived to be…I think he said 19 and 23.
Years ago, my partner and her girlfriend at the time bought a Seal Point from a local womon here in town for $50. Uzo was still so young that she still looked like a little white fluff ball. That seller wasn’t a breeder either. I don’t know if kittens were a side business or what, though. Anyway, Uzo lived to be about 14, I think. Probably would have been longer but the girlfriend got careless “just that one time” and Uzo disappeared. But all this is to say that, I totally get what you’re saying about how young the kitten will be. But we can’t afford to pay $600-$800 for a cat. My partner’s experience w/ Uzo gives us confidence that even w/ a young, single kitten, there can still be success.
Didn’t know that about the water, thanks for the tip. I have read that Siamese have a reputation for a susceptibility to dehydration (and dental issues as well). We’ll definitely keep an eye on that. As to the chatter, I’m looking forward to that!!
Yes, we’ve heard this point of view as well. You might not believe it, but with Uzo (the Seal Point my partner had some years ago), Kay taught her to not speak first thing in the morning. Kay used to be a trucker “back in the day” and just couldn’t tolerate all of that infamous Siamese chatter. She never got Uzo to shut up completely (which wasn’t the point), but first thing in the ‘morning’ whenever that was for Kay, Uzo would NOT pester her w/ endless vocalizations. She trained her using food as a motivator. That’s the cool thing about Siamese, I think–they’re very trainable and willing to please their people, (well, in as far as any cat is! )
Pinch a bit of the skin at the scruff of the neck, and hold it for 2-3 seconds.
When you release it, it should lay back down immediately. If the wrinkle persists, the cat is dehydrated.
(on children and young adults, the pinch test is done on the back of the hand)
Funny but in all my years in Thailand, I can count the number of times I’ve seen a Siamese cat here on one hand, and I think I could still do it if you lopped off four of my fingers. Early on I asked about Siamese cats and was told yes, they’re here, but damned if you can ever see them. Supposedly they’re expensive and so kept indoors, but even then I think I’ve seen only one that I can recall.
)