What to get for two kittens?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Our newest cat would eat all day if you left food out. We found this out the hard way, and we are still working his pudge off. Hazel wants his food promptly at certain times of the day, Rhiow is a grazer, Oscar loooooves his food a bit too much. When we first got Oscar as a kitten, he was very sick, and extremely thin. You could see every bone on him except his tail,which was too fuzzy and hid the bones. (Instead of being filled in, his flanks were concave. I really worried he would die on us, but we took shifts with him, and at any sound he made put him in front of the water dish, food dish and litterbox to see if that was what he needed. He was too sick to get himself to the food dish at first.) It took a couple of weeks, but he got well enough to get to the food and water on his own, though he had a couple of accidents in not making it to the litterbox in time. We forgave him because he was still sickly.

Anyway, after noticing that he was eating all the food when there was one bowl we got seperate dishes. Then we noticed that he would eat all his food, then go over and eat all of Rhiow’s food, and that if he couldn’t finish it in one sitting he would come back a bit later and do so, then he would move on to Hazel’s dish. Rhiow was losing weight, though Hazel eats his fill at mealtimes, so he didn’t. So, now we only put out food at certain times of the day, and note it down so Oscar doesn’t “con” the other human into giving him an extra meal. (Which he promptly began to do once we started regimented meals.) Needless to say, Rhiow the grazer is having to learn not to be one. At least she has gained the weight that she lost back. Obviously not all cats are like this, but why not go ahead and get two food dishes anyway? This way you can also know more easily how much each cat is eating, so you can pick up on the fact that one cat might be sick sooner.

22

Er, my point being that I doubt the kittens the OPs will get are going to be as food obsessed as Oscar is, but that even so, seperate food dishes are a good idea for other reasons. (Like being able to get an idea one might be sick by seeing almost a full meal in the bowl over a couple of days.)

23

Zabali, I wonder if the urge to gorge on food is related to nearly starving to death. Two of my previous cats were near death when I found them as strays. After they were nursed back to health and put on a healthy weight, they both became the pigs of the bunch. They were like dogs, they would eat however much you set in front of them, rather than picking all day.

I know it’s been said about humans that have nearly starved so I guess it could be true for kitties too.

24

Something not mentioned yet: pet insurance. Unless you are financially secure enough to be comfortable with any medical crisis that should arrive, it can literally be a life saver. In my practice, less than 0.5% of my clients bother with pet insurance and yet a day doesn’t go by where a pet is euthanised because of economics.

25

I certainly can’t argue that this is good advice. However, this only is effective if the cats will only eat from their own dishes. In my experience, the cats will take a bite from their own dish then they all play musical dishes, sampling eachother’s food. This, of course, is to make sure that no one is getting anything better.

26

I’ve got 4 cats, one food bowl, one water bowl and one litter box. They don’t fight over food or water, and there are no litterbox accidents, though you do have to scoop multiple times a day. Once when you get up, once in the afternoon and before going to bed keeps it clean enough.

It helps that they are all grazers and eat at any hour day or night, without just scarfing down the works in one sitting.

For sleeping, a basket with a cheap blanket or towel works nice, or just a folded up towel, or your pillow/couch/bed/chair, whatever the cat feels like sleeping on at that particular time. No need to buy a special pet bed, unless you kick them off the furniture all the time. You should have a pet carrier of some sort, that can also work as a bed for them, cats like to curl up underneath things when they’re stressed a carrier can feel like a nice little cave.

27

You are probably safe with one litter box for now, while they’re small. (I realize you don’t actually have them yet.) You may wish to get another once they grow up a little.

Don’t get plastic food or water dishes. Bacteria collects in them and can cause feline acne. It’s kind of gross and probably painful for the kits. Stainless steel or china dishes are better. (N.B. My cats will NOT eat out of a stainless bowl; they just don’t like it. I use that unbreakable glass dinnerware.)

I have never yet met a cat who can resist the allure of Feather On A Stick, and particularly, the variety known as “Cat Teaser.” It’s almost like a shuttlecock made of feathers on a string on a stick. It makes a noise when you whirl it around and no cat can stop themselves from chasing it. It’s totally worth the money. You have to hide it in a lockable cabinet when you’re not playing or they WILL find it and destroy it. (Don’t leave any feather toys lying around - easy to be eaten, thus dangerous).

28

The Chao Goes Mu I think that might be part of it, but also we suspect he might have Maine Coon ancestry, though he is mixed pedigree. He is a big, big fellow, by the time he was six months old he was the size of many adult cats, he isn’t a year old yet and he doesn’t seem done with growing. (Yes, I am aware that usually this is not the case because Maine Coons are expensive cats and their owners are too protective to let them outside. No one told the woman down the street this though, she has an intact male Maine Coon, that she lets wander.) Our vet commented on how like a Maine Coon he looked when we brought him in for his first checkup. I am glad he only has thickish glossy fur, but not the rest of the Maine Coon tendencies with his coat though, it isn’t as long as some Maine Coons for example, but very full, with a sort of undercoat but not oily. In other words, I think he might have still been like that, but maybe not as much if he hadn’t nearly starved to death.

29

I will note, that usually if you are getting a kitten and already have adult cats seperate feeding dishes really are needful. When Oscar was so sick he had a separate dish because we didn’t want the other cats to get sick too. As he got better, we noticed that he would go eat the adult cat food, and the adult cats would sneak the kitten chow. Both ate the other kind of food as though it were candy, so we figured the lesser of two sins would be to let the adult cats eat kitten chow since kitten chow has more calories, and at times adult cats are given kitten chow because it is richer. (And, we figured that neither Hazel or Rhiow would overeat, and they didn’t.) So, when he was completely well, we did for a time just put kitten chow down in one dish, then we noticed Rhiow wasn’t getting enough, and Oscar was getting fat. Now we have Oscar on kitten chow, since he isn’t a year old yet, and the adult cats get adult food. We take up whatever isn’t eaten.

30

To be completely clear. Oscar was brought to a neighbor at about 2 months old by a kid who asked her to bring him to as because she knew we liked cats. The kid said he had a cold, and that they couldn’t get him well. He had seperate food adn water dishes until his congestion cleared up, and he was sequestered. (About 3-4 weeks.) I don’t know what he was sick with, but I suspect the problem was the people didn’t have the capability to sit with him 24/7 and offer him water and food at the least squeak. I think they thought he could get to the food on his own because he did walk, but tired out quickly and complained. After a few days of getting frequent sips and nibbles he improved, and he began to get his strength back after about two weeks.

In any case, I also second the Feather on a Stick/Da Bird too. Cats love it.

31

We look forward to pictures of your new feline overlords!

32

Re: pet insurance. We will probably do the alternative- a kitty savings account, into which we will put a few quid a week.

My mother got pet insurance for their previous dog- and ended up not getting a penny because she lived longer than she was supposed to. The dog was a pedigree giant breed (Pyrennean), lived to 10, had to be euthanised because of uterine cancer. When she was a puppy my folks couldn’t find a vet anywhere within a 100mile radius willing to spay her, because of her size… this was more than 10 years ago so doubtless that sad situation has changed.

Makes me wary of insurance- mum paid out hundreds over the dog’s life and only go the cost of the euthanasia back. After that experience she started a savings account for the pets, which paid for the care of their cat (who had some sort of cancer) and the current care of their dog (who has arthritic hips and needs anti-inflammatories).

I know insurance is good for some people, but I’d rather save the money myself (after all, insurance companies make a profit, so that means you’re more likely to pay them money than they are to pay you).

Aunt Flow- what I meant by “one reason or another” for a lack of kittens in shelters is that most strays are dealt with by the council (i.e. put down), the USPCA doesn’t re-home animals anymore (focusing on being a sanctuary for seriously abused animals instead) and the no-kill shelters rarely have kittens to re-home, mainly rescue animals.

I have researched, and the no-kill cat shelters basically said that unless I was looking for a rescued adult, they wouldn’t be able to help. People here with unwanted kittens don’t give them to shelters to re-home, they advertise them for sale in the paper- different culture and all that.

Anyway, since we’ll be getting them vaccinated, wormed, chipped and fixed, and they won’t be allowed outside, as long as the kittens and mother look healthy, it should be fine.

33

I think I’d disagree here.

Depends on your house – is it more than a single floor?

I’ve found that young kittens often seem to have more problems than older cats in remembering where the litter box is, or in getting there in time. In my 3-story house, keeping a litter box on each floor has helped prevent accidents. Sometimes young kittens seem reluctant to leave the others to go down to the main litterboxes. But they will go to a small litterbox on this floor. After they’re grown, they use the main litterboxes exclusively, but as kittens the small ones were helpful

34

I’m going to have to side with irishgirl on the pet insurance thing. It’s really quite a rip off if you have a healthy animal. And even if you didn’t, most of them have a limit to the amount you can claim a year and often don’t cover alot of medical procedures. Plus, it’s a bad idea to get it with the idea of “oh I can’t afford vet bills so I should get insurance.” Why? Because they all require you to come up with the money right away and then they reimburse you a couple weeks later. That is, if they approve the claim that is. All in all it’s much better to just have a savings account for pet emergencies. That way you have access to all the money you put towards it, plus the added bonus of gaining interest on it :wink:

35

I was planning on keeeping the kittens in one room (probably the kitchen, it’s warm and will have the most easily cleaned flooring ) for at least a week until they get used to us, and we get used to them, then just the downstairs for another few weeks, and only letting them upstairs when they’re a bit bigger and more sensible.

That’s what my family has always done with animals, and it never seemed to cause problems. I would imagine exposing kittens to a two or three floor home all at once would not be sensible. I don’t particularly want to spend hours searching for them and know how easily kittens can get into strange places (we had a cat that liked to hide inside the piano, so he was banned from that room until he was too big to do that).

36

Apologies for the hijack (which gets a tad rantish towards the end) folks.

Ouch! Easy there Irishgirl ! Being married to an Irishman, having a very very good friend from Clare and having visited your country many times I was is *no way * simplistically visualising some sort of BallyK idyll. It was a genuine question. Until coming to these boards I had never heard of having an indoor cat thro’ choice - the only ones I had encountered belonged to owners who regretted having to confine their pets to a flat.

To be honest, and not wishing to offend anyone, I thought it was an American thing. I’ve lived in a few countries and I have never encountered it, except as I said for flat-dwellers. Even where I live now, in a city, there are two cats which are allowed to roam the courtyard (essentially a car park) and another which is an indoor cat in Paris but allowed to roam free at weekends when he goes to his owner’s country house at weekends.

Aunt Flow - we’ll have to agree to differ in this one. Just as some animals can thrive in and are suited to zoos so some pets are, IMHO, better suited to being ‘house’ pets. My parents have a large garden; there’s a patch of wild ground out back but they are near two busy roads. I realise I was lucky but I grew up with two cats - the first lived 7 years from when I was four. He was a tough hulk of a cat, finally succombed to feline leukeamia back when vets didn’t know so much about it, but he had seven fine years of ruling the roost, hunting and keeping the local dogs in line. Can’t imagine him not going outside. The second was small petite and fussy about her appearance. She too came and went as she chose - she lived to be about 18 and had the decency to die in her sleep. Maybe I’m going overboard here but kids can get into fights, catch illnesses, get run over too but you don’t keep them shut away.

That’s my feeling and my rationale for asking irishgirl’s opinion. I was not asking from a position of ignorance. Nor am I attacking those who choose to have indoor cats, it is just something I wouldn’t do (& is the reason we don’t have a cat at present).

Apologies for the interruption to the actual thread.

37

I think the same; for some reason when I posted I was thinking of a 1-story room - not even a house. I definitely concur that there should be at least one box on every floor - maybe more depending on how far the kittens would have to go. I intended to say that for now, sharing boxes may be okay but when they get older you may need to have two per location: so two on Floor 1, two on Floor 2, etc. Many cats prefer to have their own box.

38

Point taken Cat Jones. It’s just that we’re moving from Dublin to Belfast, and as I say, very definitely urban, very definitely busy and very definitely little to no outside space.

Besides, in the flat we live now our lives are made miserable by the clan (I can’t think of a better word) of 10 or so semi-feral cats (which all seem to be black) that one of the houses in the next street “owns” (all the cats hav e bowls of food left out for them on his flat roof, and come and go as they please through a cat flap in installed in his upstairs window). They’re all unfixed and roam the nearby streets making vast amounts of noise, fighting, mating, rummaging through bins, eating small birds and almost getting run over on a regular basis. To be honest that seems more cuel than keeping them indoors and properly looked after.

To be honest, cats being cats, I don’t think that being able to roam outside is a really high prority for them if they have food, warmth, something to keep them amused and affection indoors (and don’t have testicles). My parents had a cat, that despite having a large garden to roam in basically only stirred from his comfy sleeping place under duress, and refused to even dip his nose otside between the months of October and April- nevertheless, since he died there has been a startling increase in the birdlife that popuates my parents’ garden.

So I don’t feel that keeping the cats indoors would be cruel and would be kinder to them and the local birds in the long-term.

39

OK, thanks for the explanation. & good luck with those weird accents up there :wink:

40

I’m from there originally and my hubby is a Coleraine man so we’re well used to the accents!

As long as my (non-existent as yet) kids don’t grow up and call me “moy” instead of “mummy” I’ll be happy!