New kitten owner!

[ohmymyyiaz]

Hi all, we picked up our gorgeous 8 week old kitten last night. We are first time pet owners so hoping for some advice🙂

She will wil be house cat. We work from home mostly so she will always have company.

My questions are:

1. Should we get a vet plan? What is the average cost?
2. When should insurance plan kick in? What is the average cost?
3. How do I train her to sleep on her own in her bed? It's only been one night and she ended up in our bed last night snuggling throughout the night (skin contact). I hardly got any sleep😅husband was in the other room
4. When can I start bathing her? My friend bathed her 3 cats when they were 10 weeks but they live in a tropical country
5. When do I stop free-feeding my kitten?

Many thanks in advance!

Bathe a cat?

Hello, I imagine there will be a lot of people along with a variety of answers but I am a few weeks on from you (adopted some 8 weeks old a few weeks ago). We bought insurance the day after adoption but be aware they often have a clause that says nothing that develops within the first 14 days after taking out the policy is covered. The one we have is about £19 month per cat. We don't have a vet plan.

I still let them sleep on me (and am not getting any sleep!). I have no plans to bathe them, and they get three meals a day, which aged 11 weeks they have just started to finish all of at mealtime, if that makes sense. We leave out a bowl of biscuits as well which they don't tend to finish.

Thanks @TheLiloAndTheSlowCooker
Yes, getting a lot of information from Google but also wanted to hear what people are doing.

At the moment, I'm free-feeding dry food with occasional wet treats. Just booked in for the first vaccine next week so will follow vet's advice from there! We went with vetsforpets in the end which works out £16/month (covers vaccinations/deworming and discounts for other treatments). Need to sort insurance next.

Train a cat? 😂 You're in for one hell of a surprise!

Two kittens are easier than one. They’ll play fight with each other instead of with your ankles.

Bedtime cuddles are part of the joy.

I think bathing depends very much on where you live? I know it’s a thing in some countries but not in the UK.

Oh yes, I'm getting nibbled on and kitten thinks I'm a tree now climbing all over me @EmpressaurusDeiGatti 😆

I know bathing cats isn't a thing; although I have friends who bathe their outside cats after they have been out and about 😁The kitten's mum is bathed monthly was what we were told. I've done it plenty of times just not with a kitten so I'm going to wait till kitty is older.

I've only bathed one of my cats once and have the scars to prove it 😆. It was only because he was filthy with mud that I attempted it.

I have a vet plan that might be about £15 per month and took out insurance as soon as we got them. It's now just under £50 per month for my 2 cats who are now age 7.

We still leave dry food out and give wet food a couple of times a day. They like dreamies and freeze dried treats and sometimes a webbox stick.

This is a kitten, not a baby.

You can't train her, and for goodness' sake don't ever, ever bathe her either. It will traumatise her.

Invest in some toys- feathers on a stick, mice filled with catnip, a scratching post with a ball attached - and interact with her in short bursts.

Get her used to lots of physical affection but watch out for when she has had enough.

Buy her an expensive, soft bed and be prepared for her to ignore it completely, but you might at least try. Put a t shirt from the laundry basket in her bed as it will smell of you.

My 5-year-old cat always sits & stares at me while I’m showering. I think she’s completely bewildered as to why I don’t just wash myself with my tongue like she does.

Given how gloriously soft & silky her coat is, she’s obviously doing an excellent job.

Cats sleep where and when they like and they also bath themselves. Mine go outside and none have ever had a bath

What do you see as the benefits of bathing an indoor cat, OP?

Please don't bathe your cat. It's completely unnecessary and straps their coats of essential oils leading to skin allergies and irritation. I have never bathed any of my 10 cats (not all at once) only if they had accidentally got covered in something or stepped in poo and even then only their paws.
You can train them but they only operate for treats but at this age having lost their mother and siblings they need cuddles and love.
I free feed all my cats. None of them are fat. They like to nibble small amounts during the day unlike dogs who wolf the lot.

Bathing cats can cause them skin issues. Cats are perfectly able to keep themselves sparking clean using just their tongue.
You cannot train a cat. They go when and where they please and do as they like.

The only thing I’ve done that’s remotely close to training, and which is very useful, is to keep the cat carrier out all the time and put Dreamies in it.

It means my girl sees it as a good place & it’s very easy to get her in there for vet trips.

Cats are self-cleaning and they train their humans, not the other way around.

Insurance is a very good idea.

Kittens eat like horses so make sure there’s food available.

Two kittens are at least four times as much fun as one kitten.

Ahem, any chance of a pic of said kitten?