Two kittens are better than one, especially if everyone in your home works. They keep each other entertained while you’re at work, and while you’re trying to sleep.
Here’s a very comprehensive list of plants that are poisonous to cats. Bear in mind that your cats may also use the dirt in plant pots as a litter box… If you feed your cat bits of people food, never feed them anything cooked with onion or garlic. Aspirin and acetaminophen (Tylenol) are also very poisonous to cats. Make sure they can’t get any human medicines, and never, ever, give them human medicines unless recommended to do so by your vet.
Don’t leave string or rubber bands where the kitten can get them. They can eat those things, which can kill them or result in very large vet bills (the string or rubber bands get tangled up in their intestines). If you ever see a string hanging out of your cat’s butt, don’t pull on it- take the cat to a vet right away. Pulling a string out can cause the string to perforate their intestines, which causes all kinds of problems (pretty much the best-case outcome here is a vet bill of several thousand dollars). Some cats will also swallow coins.
You may have to keep a close eye on any drinking glasses- the Neville kitties like to bat ice out of glasses (and usually spill the drink in the process) or try to drink out of our drinking glasses (which often also spills them).
Keep the toilet lids down at all times when the toilets aren’t being used, as yellowval said. Small kittens can drown in a toilet. Older kittens might try to drink or play in the water. You probably don’t want them getting toilet water all over your house, and it could be poisonous to them if you use a toilet-tank sanitizer like 2000 Flushes.
If you don’t want your cat to wake you up meowing to be fed, don’t feed it first thing when you get out of bed in the morning. Put the cat feeding later in your morning routine, perhaps after you’ve showered.
Bring some of the kitty’s poop home with you from wherever you’re getting it: put it (the poop) in the litterbox when you get home, so kitty knows right away what’s where.
Forgot about food! Feed your kitten the best-quailty kitten food you can afford - nothing less than Purina. You can really tell the difference in the litter box - both in amount and aroma. I free-feed dry food only, and save canned food for special occasions/treats. I don’t recommend feeding people food at all (except for the tuna/salmon water or a bit of deboned meat as a treat) - it can cause upset tummies and can teach your kitten to be a pest at mealtime.
Fresh kitten poop is about the smelliest thing on the planet. The smell of fresh kitten poop will wake the dead and cause the dead to pass out all in the space of a matter of seconds. If you have a sensitive nose, a sensitive gag reflex and/or are particularly sensitive to ammonia, you are forewarned.
All three of our are adults (the two youngest are only two), but as kittens anyone of them could beat the pants off a frat house fart party.
Our cat’s food dish is next to her covered litter box. I’d rather have her food in the kitchen, but a certain canine is a pig and she snarfs down the cat’s kibble if she’s able to get to the basement stairs landing. So while I’m sure she’d rather eat elsewhere, the cat has never ignored her dish, and she’s got a poochy belly to prove it!
Two cats are really not much more work than one. You might have to scoop the litter box more often, but that takes care of itself if you get a self-cleaning litter box like a Litter Maid. I suppose it might be more work if you’re fastidious about not having cat hair around, but I think it’s better to just get used to the idea of living with cat hair (assuming nobody’s allergic or anything like that).
If you do get two cats, don’t take them to the vet together, unless you’ve got another person to go with you and handle the second cat. Cats can get very hard to handle at the vet’s office, and this may get worse as they get older.
Longhaired cats are more work than shorthaired cats. Shorthaired cats usually don’t need much in the way of grooming- maybe brush them occasionally, but even that’s not strictly necessary. But if you don’t brush longhaired cats regularly, their fur will get matted. If the fur gets too matted, the only way to deal with it is to have a groomer cut off the matted hair.
I’ll second SnakesCatLady’s recommendation to buy a good quality dry food. Dry food is better than canned food for their teeth, and a lot of cats do end up with tooth or gum problems. If they eat smelly canned food and have bad teeth, the smell of their breath is indescribable. Breathing fire would probably be preferable.
Get some interactive toys. They’re fun for the cats, and for you. My kitties really like a toy that looks like a feather on the end of a fishing pole.
I’ve found that a good way to keep them off the dining room table is to get a cat tree that’s higher than the table, and put it near the table. That way, they have somewhere they’re allowed to be where they can watch what’s going on at the table. It’s not 100% effective, but it is the only thing I’ve found to work much at all to discourage them from jumping on the table.
Make sure they have somewhere where they can sit and look out a window. Pet supply stores sell ledges that you can attach to the windowsill, or a piece of furniture that they’re allowed to sit on works.
Go to the store and get several water bottles with the thingy that prevents water from pouring out if it is knocked over (not the capped ones, but the ones with the spiggot that prevents water from coming out unless you squeeze it.) I didn’t drink out of anything else when my cat was a baby and I still have to use them when I have a drink next to the bed. He really doesnt like liquid being inside containers, he must free it from it’s confinement before he can rest.
I strongly second the idea of checking your screens. A month ago I started an emergency thread because my guest cat found a hole I didn’t know was there. Big worries for a few hours!
That’s the best game! I call it “Catching Idiots.” I feel like catching some idiots right now.
Also wanted to second the window seat idea. They’re going to be in the window whether you want them to or not. They might as well have their own seat and scratch your trim a little less. Our cats fight over the window seat and have to take turns (of course they all want to be up there at the same time). Cat grass planters are fun too.
My cat used to “drink” out of my water glasses by putting a paw in, shaking off the excess water, and then licking from the paw. No matter that she had her own water dish. She wanted mine. This usually lasted for about three dip/lick cycles until one of the shakes knocked the water glass over.
I found that a plastic slinky hung from the ceiling made a fantastic toy, since it is colorful and bounces up and down as kitty grabs at it… until I returned home one day and the slinky was completely and totally tangled around said kitty, who was wandering around the house, dragging plastic and making that “please please please I hate this” meow. It was too tangled to do anything but cut off with wire cutters. My only regret is that I have no pictures of this event.
Mine are the same way. They have nice fresh water in their dish, but they want the water in my glass, or the water in the shower after I finish showering
Kittyproof house. Pick up all strings and loose objects, lay in supplies of rags and the gallon bottles of Nature’s Miracle, plus a bonus can of bitter apple spray. Extra points: Spot carpet steamer.
Make sure the rugs aren’t liable to get chewed on by coating them in bitter apple spray. Which reminds me - I need to redo the fringe on my oriental rug. This also goes for electrical cords if you find tooth marks in them.
Get supplies of lint rollers by the box.
Put toilet paper in handy drawer or container to prevent Incidents with rampaging kittens and TP all over house.
Remember that the only difference between kittens and babies is often opposable thumbs and the ability to jump.
Keep vet number in your wallet and on the refrigerator.
…Rereading this post, I’m getting the feeling that my cats might have been a bit more of a handful when they were kittens than most others.
I’ve always regretted not handling my cats more when they were kittens. Sure they got lots of petting and playing, but it’s a good idea to get them used to the idea of having their paws held (for trimming claws) and being able to look in their ears and mouths without it seeming like an invasion. Now, giving them medicine is an absolute drama, and there is no way I could cut their nails on my own.
Paper bags, cardboard boxes and plastic pop bottle lids are my cats’ favourite toys. I also agree with everyone who has said that 2 is better than one. They love each other and wrestle. The cutest thing ever is seeing the two of them, sitting side by side watching out the window.
Wow! Thanks for all the tips! I’m using lots of the ideas as we speak.
I can’t take a photo to save my life, so don’t expect much. Here’s Leela. Yes it’s from Futurama, but it sounds like it would make a good kitty name to me. I’m taking suggestions for her name too.
She’s really sweet and affectionate. No firebreath or evil farts yet, knock on wood. Hopefully I can post some better and cuter pics later. Thanks again.
Don’t declaw your cat, unless there really is a problem with it destroying things by scratching them and you can’t solve it in any other way. Some people assume that all indoor cats need to be declawed, which isn’t true. There are other ways to dissuade them from clawing your furniture, which you should try before having them declawed. I don’t think declawing is necessarily wrong in all circumstances, but it shouldn’t be the first step you take if there’s a problem with the cats scratching things, because there are less drastic ways to solve those problems.
I call it “fishing for kitties”.
But shower water? That’s got to smell like what it is, dirty water.
I keep a hand towel draped over the toilet paper in our bathroom, because the cats used to bite and claw the roll. They don’t do that with the towel there. Hey, whatever works.
I disagree. I think it’s cuter when they stalk and pounce on each other, or when they sleep curled up together. We call the latter “yin-yang cats”, because Luna is white and Katya is dark gray.
Speaking of pouncing, don’t encourage your kitten to pounce on your hands or feet. That hurts when an adult cat does it. In fact, don’t let your kitten get away with anything you wouldn’t like it doing as an adult- cats don’t understand that some behaviors are appropriate for kittens but not for cats.
Don’t be fooled by the way she’s demurely curled up on your Ohio State pillow. She’s secretly a Clemson fan. When she wakes, stretches, sits up and “yawns”, she’s not really yawning. She’s saying, “go, Tigers!”.
This also goes for electrical cords if you find tooth marks in them.