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Choosing a kitten tomorrow - help!

17 replies

taffetacat · 09/04/2010 21:47

Had a call from the local rescue centre who interviewed me a while back to rehome a kitten/young cat.

They called yesterday and said there is a litter of 4, who are 8 weeks old, who were born in the rescue centre and that they will be ready to take home at 9 weeks, ie.next week. They have invited us to go and have a look tomorrow afternoon, the info I have is:

  • there are 3 girls and 1 boy
  • 3 are tabby one tortoiseshell
  • 2 are short haired 2 are fluffy

There are another family visiting in the morning, so fully expect one to be "reserved".

I am just wondering what I need to think about/steel myself for. I fully expect the DC to disagree about which kitten but not sure how to head this off/deal with it. I also expect to be tempted by taking more than one.....

Any tips/advice?

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taffetacat · 09/04/2010 22:23

miaow?

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CarGirl · 09/04/2010 22:25

pick the least timid

taffetacat · 09/04/2010 22:31

Thats good advice, thank you. I always wanted a chatty cat, but I guess thats hard to tell at this age.

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Frizbe · 09/04/2010 22:33

Bear in mind short hair cats are easier to keep clean/groom etc, plus less fur around your house too.

kalo12 · 09/04/2010 22:35

and make sure its got a nice face

taffetacat · 09/04/2010 22:35

Yes, I sneeze a bit if they are mega fluffy. We had a (grumpy) family cat for 18 years when I was growing up but she was shorthaired so never affected me.

I was thinking we'd need to have one of the shorthaired ones.

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taffetacat · 09/04/2010 22:36

kalo - Don't all kittens have nice faces?

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MrsL123 · 09/04/2010 23:20

I think when you go tomorrow, you'll just know which one is for you - cats pick us, not the other way around I wouldn't actually take the DC - narrow down the choice first, then bring them in to make the final decision, otherwise it could decend into chaos.

But my best advice is to get two! Honestly, it's not much more expensive, but it makes things so much easier because they entertain themselves, and it's so lovely when they curl up together and groom each other. It also means if you need to leave them alone overnight in the future, they've got some company. I get all my animals in pairs because I think it's nice for them to have one of their own kind to communicate with - it can be very lonely for an animal on it's own, a bit like us never seeing another human for weeks on end. After watching our cats together giving each other a wash or snuggling up together to sleep, I could never keep a cat on its own again (ours are 4 year old sisters). The boy and one of the girls would be a nice pair - girls tend to be more independant and boys tend to be more affectionate (although there are always exceptions to this - both of my girls are very soppy!).

EightiesChick · 09/04/2010 23:25

Yes, agree, get two because as siblings they will get on in a way non-sibling cats don't. MrsL123's points are all good.

I would also go without the DC as they will love whichever (two) you pick but it'll save squabbling on the day.

taffetacat · 10/04/2010 16:38

Well, we went. Mob handed I'm afraid, long story, not much choice. We were chosen, quite right Mrs123.

Actually there were only 2 left, the boy and the girl. The girl was the smallest in the litter and very timid. The boy, slightly fluffy, tabby with a hin of tortie, tiger face, started playing with the DC immediately.

Captured all our hearts. He has a grade 1 heart murmur, have spoken to vet, seems lots of kittens do and he may well outgrow it, we are so smitten.

Just got to sort vet, basket, collar, cat flaps, food and water bowls etc etc. DH is making a scratching post.

We should be able to bring him home next weekend when he's 9 weeks old.

I'm up for any advice! Haven't had a cat for 20 years......

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taffetacat · 10/04/2010 16:41

....and thanks for the advice on getting two, but DH just wasn't up for it, sadly.

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fruitshootsandheaves · 10/04/2010 16:52

Aww I love kittens. I have 5 cats here atm as I am looking after my sister's two for a week. I have 2 really fluffy ones and one shorthaired. All mine are related.
Give him lots of cuddles so he gets really used to being handled but also give him somewhere he can go to sleep where the children are not allowed to disturb him.
Have fun, am jealous now!

taffetacat · 10/04/2010 17:08

thanks fruitshoots - good advice. I have waited sooooooooooo long for this!

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MrsL123 · 10/04/2010 17:57

He sounds like a wee smasher, you should count yourselves very lucky that you were The Chosen Ones! It's a shame that you couldn't get two, but it sounds like she would have been too timid for a house with DCs anyway. And fingers crossed his murmur sorts itself out

Right, advice time! Firstly, if you can, try to make your vets appointment so you can go on the way home from the shelter. The vet will check him over, give him his injections, worm him etc (all the nasty stuff!) and then you can take him home and get him settled in. It's not a big deal if you can't get an appointment at the right time, it's just a shame to yank him back out of the house when he's starting to get settled in, and it means he's only got one scary car journey. You won't need a catflap yet - he shouldn't be going out for a good few months (until he's a bit more street-wise and has been neutered - you don't want him becoming territorial and starting to spray). And you shouldn't put a collar on him because even the special cat ones can cause a hanging danger if they get caught (they're also masters of getting their legs stuck in them, and it might affect his hair growth and leave him with a baldy patch). So that's two things to cross off your list!

Bed-wise, just buy the biggest cat carrier you can find (to save you having to buy another when he's bigger) and put some soft fleece blankets in it. Primark do them for £1.50 each and my house is full of them - they're soft, cosy, wash very easily and dry quickly. Using the carrier as his bed will give him a safe little den to retreat to, and will make him less nervous when you need to take him anywhere in the car. Honestly, don't bother with any other beds until he's a bit older and has decided where he likes to sleep - we ended up with beds dotted all around the house, because we put one wherever we saw them snoozing! He'll be just as happy with a folded blanket, and will probably spend most of his time asleep in the most unsuitable place he can find.

For his toilet, get the biggest tray you can find that has a cover and a door (you can take the door off if he doesn't like it, but leave the hood on). Boys can be very messy pee monsters! Don't bother with those plastic tray liners that you can get, they always get ripped when they're scratching about. The best litter I've found is the Catsan clumping litter - it's got a very fine texture like sand which doesn't hurt their paws, and any wet areas clump together into a ball so they're really easy to scoop out. A bag lasts for ages because you only take out the dirty bits and the rest gets left behind, so it's very economical (even though other litters might seem cheaper, you have to use a lot more). There's also less smell because the tiny granuals coat the poo and form a barrier over it. Miles better than any of the gravel or paper litters I've tried in the past.

Do you know what he's being fed at the shelter? It's best to keep him on the same food initially to avoid upsetting his tummy, but if it's not a very good one you can slowly change it over to something better. My two get a bowl of Arden Grange dry food every morning (to eat throughout the day) and share a pouch of wet food at night. I'm ashamed to say their wet food of choice is Felix 'as good as it looks'. It's crap food, I know it's crap (only 4% meat and full of additives) but the damn cats won't eat anything else and shout the place down if I don't dish it up at 7pm prompt each night ! It's really just a night-time snack though rather than their main food, so I try not to dwell on it too much. But I wouldn't recommend anything like whiskers, felix or go-cat as a main food. If you can, get him onto something like Nature's Menu wet food which is 70% meat (and mine refuse to eat it - typical!). If he eats dry food, Origin is by far the best but very expensive. James Well Beloved is also good (expensive though), but stay away from the likes of Iams (lots of hype but it's not very good). Basically you're looking for the highest meat content, smallest ingredients list, and no artifical baddies. If the ingredients list is full of long words you don't recognise, steer clear. I've been very pleased with the Arden Grange and the cats really enjoy it. They only use human-grade free range meat, don't use any artifical additives or preservatives (not even in their raw ingredients) and all their foods contain cranberry for urinary tract health, prebiotics for gut health, taurine for general health, and glucosamine and chondroitin for healthy joints. I get a breeder bag from Berriewoods Wholesale, they're by far the cheapest I've found and a bag will last you months and months.

You must be so excited, have you thought of any names yet?

taffetacat · 10/04/2010 18:14

Wow Mrs123 - thank you so much, amazing post!!

Great advice about timing of the vet visit.

They mentioned at Battersea that he could go out once he'd had his second lot of injections......but you say once he's been neutered? Gosh, I do hope he doesn't need to stay in for too long, what with summer approaching. We are fairly rural, have a field out the back, the road we're on at the front has very little traffic etc.

Thanks for the advice about cat food ranges. My mum used to give our cat Whiskas as it was "the best" and some sort of dodgy condition tablet called Tibs crushed up with her dried food ( munchies? ) but this was 30 years ago - things have obv changed a lot since then......will have a look at your links.

Any recommendations for pet insurance?

What you say about the collar - do you mean he should never have one? He is being tagged and microchipped at Battersea. Why do so many have collars? Sorry I am very green on this.

Great rec re the Primark carriers and the litter.

Names - gosh. Can't find a magic name yet. I quite like Dodger but DH not that keen. DS likes the Moxx of Balhoon ( Dr Who.... ), DD likes Slinky Malinki ( but Slinky is a sleek black female ), none of us are keen on human names, IYSWIM. I'd like a name with attitude as I think our little fella will have it by the bucketload.

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MrsL123 · 10/04/2010 19:25

If you're quite rural you should be fine then taffetacat, was thinking busy streets and lots of other cats around. If they start spraying to mark their territory it's a difficult habit to break, and sometimes can carry on once they've been neutered. But if your area isn't overrun with cats like ours is, it shouldn't be an issue. As long as he's big enough to climb, you can let him out once he's had all his injections - he probably won't stray further than your garden for a few weeks anyway!

You can get some good breakaway safety collars but a lot of the cheap ones just rely on a bit of elastic and don't actually break, just stretch a bit. Ours used to have collars with bells on, to warn birds and mice that they were stalking them, but they kept getting their front legs stuck through them. I had no idea how they managed it but they'd come limping in with the collar caught under their armpit and their leg jammed up against their head! And I lost count of the number of collars we lost, they'd just arrive home without them. Then the woman in work told me a horrible story about her sister, who came home one day to find her cat hanging (dead) from her kitchen window. It's collar had got caught on the handle and the safety part hadn't broken, so it had struggled to get free and hung itself. I suddenly realised that's probably why we kept losing our collars or finding the cats with their legs caught through them - the missing ones were getting caught on things and (thankfully) breaking, and the others were just stretching and the cats were getting tangled up trying to get free. After that I never put a collar on them again, I don't think it's worth the risk (even with a bell on, they soon get wise and learn to move in a way that doesn't set it off, so they still hunt!). Of course it's totally up to you, just make sure you get a good breakaway kind instead of the stretchy type.

We use Tesco for our pet insurance and we pay £32 a month for our two cats and two labradors on their premier plan. We've always found them to be excellent - they deal with the vet direct and I've never had any problem claiming (have used it lots!). It only covers up to £4,000 per condition (some insurers cover more) but there's no time limit on claims - i.e. they cover lifetime conditions up to the £4k limit, even if it's spread over 10 years. The things to look for with your insurance are:

  1. Limit of cover - find out whether it's per condition or per year. Steer clear of 'per year' policies unless they have generous limits - you could be really unlucky and need to claim for a few things in one year, so if you had a £2,000 limit you'd be stuck.

  2. Time limit on claims - don't get one that only pays out for the first year. There are plenty of plans that offer lifetime cover for conditions.

  3. Excess - for some plans it's a fixed amount (e.g. £60 or £120) but some plans require you to pay a percentage of the vets fees too (such as Morethan), so be sure to check that. The higher the excess you choose, the lower your premiums will be.

  4. Dealing with the vet direct - it's a small thing but if you've got a big vet bill and no money, it can be very handy to have!

  5. Maximum age - make sure the plan won't stop when he reaches a certain age. Some plans don't cover past age 9, and it would be almost impossible to get a new plan for a cat of that age.

  6. Exclusions - some plans cover dental work, some cover certain types of dental work but not others, and some don't cover it at all. Always download the policy wording and read it carefully before you go ahead with a plan. Unfortunately his heart murmur won't be covered by any insurance plan that you take out, because it is classed as a pre-existing condition. But, touch wood, that should resolve itself anyway.

The first place I'd try is Petplan - they're generally considered to be the best, but I found them too expensive because I was insuring 4 animals (Tesco give good multi-pet discounts). Just be sure to choose very carefully, because it's likely that you'll be stuck with them for life if you have to make a claim. Our puppy has elbow dysplasia and we know she's covered for life with Tesco, but if we tried to go elsewhere it would be classed as a pre-existing condition and no other insurer would cover her for it, so we're stuck with them now! If it's just a one-off thing, like a broken leg, you can switch insurers without a problem. But when ongoing conditions develop it's much harder.

taffetacat · 10/04/2010 19:57

MrsL123 - another amazing post, thank you so much. DH is having a bonfire atm ( fire bonding male thing going on with DS )but as soon as he's finished I shall go through your brilliantly detailed information with him.

What you say about the collars is shocking and has decided me that he won't be having one.

I assumed the murmur wouldn't be covered as pre existing, as you say, hopefully it will iron itself out anyway.

Now....a name.......

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