I'm getting a kitten in two weeks <excited>

[5inthebed]

So what are the neccesities I need. Its been years since I had a cat. So far I have thought about getting:

Hooded litter tray
Bowls for food and water
Little bed, would a closed one be better?
Scratching post

Also, when do they need to have their innoculations?

get some mats for putting under food bowl and entrance to litter tray. They can be really messy when little and will climb into their food and do daft things!

To start with though I'd get 2-3 cheapo litter trays and place them about the place. They can get a bit lost and forget where it is to start with. scoop for cleaning and some cat kind disinfectant.

wouldnt bother with bed - it won't use it.

You'll need a carrier.

am very jealous I love new kittens!

I have a carrier already, so that is sorted

I've seen a scratch post thing with a little bed with it, so will probably go for that instead.

Apparently she is a lap kitten, will sleep on your neck if you let her. I'm going to go see her today.

don't bother about the hooded litter tray thing.
We had one, but they hated it, because it was pitch black inside and he grew so tall so quickly he couldn't turn around in it to get out. So began messing next to it.

If I had the chance again, I would go for something like this

Good point, just wanted to keep it away from little 13 month old fingers. Any ideas?

That scratch post is fab!

put it in a room where you can stick a baby gate.

I'm wanting a couple of kittens but can't seem to get hold of any anywhere

I'd get a feathery wand toy - kittens have frightening amounts of energy and it's a quick way of tiring her out when you want her to go to sleep! I'd also buy a roll of shiny gift ribbon and dangle lengths of it from drawers for her to chase. Kittens always love balls, and the crinkle tunnels you can get are also great:

www.petsathome.com/shop/crinkle-tunnel-cat-toy-by-jolly-moggy-15066

The last kitten we had discovered that a teaspoon makes a great noise when you wallop it across a slate floor, and played with that for hours and hours and hours.

The lapcat thing is utterly gorgeous. Be a bit careful with the neck sleeping though as she'll be grown-up in no time. I looked after a pair of kittens once who liked to fall asleep on my shoulders, sucking my hair (they'd been orphaned at four weeks, it was definitely a pre-weaning thing) and while it was charming from teeny kits, I think I'd have ended up with spinal injuries if two grown cats had tried it.

Post some photos when you have her too!

NYNK - it isn't kitten season yet. Wait until March and you'll have better luck. It might be worth letting some local shelters know that you'll be keen to adopt some when they have them.

Please do get them from a shelter if you can, and not from a breeder or private seller. The shelter near us is full to bursting with abandoned adult cats at the moment (double whammy of Christmas and recession) - they've never had so many. Once kitten season begins, they'll be absolutely swamped.

Thank you for that.

I will try and find out where my local shelters are.

May-Sept is prime kitten season but there are always a few a bit earlier and later. Good luck! And adopting a pair is a brilliant idea - they'll entertain each other (and you) for hours.

We use our cat carriers as beds (just take the door off). That way the cats see it as their 'safe place' and it makes it much easier when we have to take them anywhere in the car. If they seem to like lying in one particular place all the time (like on top of our wardrobe!) we'll buy a bed to put there, but they tend to sleep where they please, rather than where you put a bed for them! Have you got some toys? Our loved those little balls with the bells in, and those catnip mice

Now you know when you're picking the kitten up, call the vet and and make an appointment for a new kitten check, preferably so you can go on the way home after collecting the kitten. This means you're not having to disturb the kitten once it's started to settle in to it's new home, and it means there's only one scary car journey! And you'll also know you're not bringing fleas or mites into the house. I think most vets do this initial check for free (or at a reduced rate), and will fully examine the kitten and discuss vaccines, worming, flea prevention etc.

We rescued our current two cats from a farm at 6 weeks old, they were the runts of the litter and had just been left to die. They were thin as rakes, riddled with everything crawly you can think off, and were so ill with cat flu that they would have died if they'd been left any longer - when the vet examined them she found they had ulcers down their throats, which must have been agony for them. It was months before they were even well enough to have their injections. You wouldn't know it to look at them now though! They're almost 4 now and they've turned into beautiful cats.

Oh no, I'm starting to feel broody again!

Litter tray will be behind a baby gate, but incase ds3 manages to get in without me looking, he is good at following me right close to my leg.

Off to look at kitten toys soon.

MrsL, thats a very good idea about the Vet. Will phone on Monday.

Those poor little kittens . They're so lucky to have been given a good home.

We got our kitten in October and we're all madly in love with him. He's just wonderful!

To begin with he quite liked a smallish cardboard box with some soft blankets. We sometimes put a hot water bottle (only warm!) under the blanket and a couple of little soft toy kittens (£1 from Asda) so he could snuggle into them to sleep. He still plays with the toy kittens (he's 4 mths now) and carries them about like his teddies.

After a while we got him This from Ikea which he likes and looks quite good.

Having a bit of a dilemma with the cat tray now he's older. He's been wonderful about using it but now he's bigger, it doesn't seem big enough and he kicks the litter everywhere. I started a thread about it the other day and advice from mnetters with cats said to get a covered tray. I think I'm going to do this but not sure he'd have been ok with it in the beginning - it might have confused him.

Scratching post yes!! I only bought a small one. Big mistake. Buy a large one definately although not sure it'll exempt the funiture and curtains completely!

Lots of toys. Loves anything with feathers but they play and play with anything at all that they can find. Ours likes pens for some reason and oh dear the Christmas tree took a hammering this year.

Injections are:

Cat flu (2 part jab) at 8 wks and 12 wks: £65
(and a booster annually £45)

Microchip £15

6mnths Spaying/neutering £50-£60 approx

Flea drops every month this varies depending on the brand; we've been having Stronghold. At first the dose goes by the cat weight, but seems to be about £20 for 3 mnth cousre.

Worm tab about every 3 mnths seems to have been approx £5 per tab so far.

Then of course insurance, but we haven't done that atm and any cattery fees you might encounter along the way if you need to use one. Phew!

Oh and food! Apparantly no to cows milk - cats must have special cat milk if they have it at all. Ours has it as a treat but he has water too.

Good luck You'll love it - prepare to fall in luurve!

Well, I have just been talking a friend and she put an ad up on pets4homes not so long ago, So I am having hers

I pick them up tomorrow

Bendybob, thanks for giving me a reason to go to Ikea. I'll go get that (and hundreds of pounds in other crap I don't need) . Thanks for the other info as well, very helpful.

Woohoo Knicks! boys or girls?

Mine are here

They are beautiful kittens, but through no fault of their own, they are riddled in Fleas and the ginger one has really bad worms at my 'friend'

I have just put them both some worming drops on and off to pets at home first thing for some frontline.

They are both boys. I have named the ginger one Oscar and the black and white one Mylo.

Ds doesnt seem interested in them but when DD gets home on Monday she will be ecstatic!!!

They are both in the kitchen at the minute where they will have to stay until Monday for the flea stuff to work.

I will be gutted if fleas get everywhere!

Why do some people bother getting animals just to neglect them? Especially the basics like worming and flea treatment .

Thankfully they've got you to give them a nice home now NYNKOMH - make sure you spoil them!

We use advocate on our cats because it's a single spot-on treatment that does fleas, ticks, lice, mites and worms, so it's great for new kittens. But unfortunately you can only get it on pescription from the vet, which is a bit of a pain.

MrsL, is it expensive for that?

I will probably start and get that in future but need something asap!

I was going to buy some frontline today 'just in case' but they had no-one in pets at home authorised to sell it to me.

Oh no Knicks! Thats awful. Makes me so when people neglect animals.

Hope your DD loves them when she gets back. How exciting for her.

Pic of Oscar and Mylo

Knickers, the chemist in Asda sell Frontline.

The prices vary between vets (ours charges about £7 a tube) but once you've had the first lot from them, you can buy it online - pets dispensary charges £23 for six spot-ons, so that's £3.83 per tube, and you can buy it in bulk which is handy. I think it's pretty good value when you compare it to drontal and frontline - frontline alone works out at about £4.50 a tube and is supposed to be given every month, so it can soon add up when you add wormer too. They recommend giving Advocate every month, but our vet says every 3 months is fine over winter, so we just do it every month at the height of the flea/mouse hunting season and have never had any problems. When they were tiny, it was the only thing that did ear mites so that's why we started it, but it's so easy we just carried on (they had it every month as kittens, to clear out all the baddies from their system - would probably recommend you do this to start with).

The only downside is that it doesn't do tapeworm, which isn't an issue unless your cat goes out and hunts, as tapeworms can be passed on through infected rodents. Ours do, so we just crush a Milbemax tablet into their food in the summer (about £1.20 from the vet).

What gorgeous little cats! How could anyone not look after them properly grrr

Did they come with their collars on? I'm not a fan of collars on cats, especially when they're still young and growing so fast... the girl next door invited us in to see her kittens just before xmas and the stupid pink collars she'd put on them were nearly choking them - I wasn't too popular when I pointed that out Apologies if you've only just bought them, I'll shut up now

Awwww, they're just so cute - the ginger one has a really pretty face!

They are gorgeous Knicks. My kitten is stripey like your short haired one. Think I'm going to call her Lexy.

i put the collars on. They are flea collars just to tide them over until tomorrow. Chillo, apparently asda dont do frontline, just bob martin stuff.