Advice on getting a kitten please :)

[lunavix]

I had a kitten years ago when I moved out of home, but had to give him up when I moved countries. My dc's are desperate for a dog but I don't feel able to commit to a dog who imo are far more demanding. However I have been pondering over another cat, I feel a pet would be good for us as a family and we'd be able to happily meet their needs.

However - I need to clarify what those needs are! I don't remember doing much with my kitten those years ago, I bought it from a pet shop with a long ago bf and don't remember much about it apart from it shredding the fly doors!

What sort of care do they need vet-wise, apart from emergencies of course? Is there some plan you can get that covers it? What will they need as a kitten, and should they have had certain things when getting one as a small kitten?

Is there any boy/girl pref? I remember something about my mum always buying females pets due to males always being randy or some such :D

What do they actually need? Bed, litter tray, scratchy post thing? What will they destroy? No fly screens in UK :)

Finally - most important question to me - I go to uni for a full day one day a week. Will it be ok in all day? Should I ask a friend to let it out? Should it be an indoor cat?

Thanks :) Any other advice greatly appreciated!

Vet care is much the same as dogs. Regular flea treatment and worming tablets, annual vaccinations and health checks inc. dental.

Pet insurance doesn't cover the basic needs but your vets may have a healthy pet scheme or similar you can pay into.

They need kitten food, feed dish, water dish, litter tray and scoop, bed, toys and something to scratch (a pole or old bit of carpet)

Tom cats are often friendlier by nature but are prone to wandering if they are not neutered. Female cats should also be spayed to avoid yet more unwanted kittens being born.

The cat will decide if it wants to be indoor or outdoor or both ime.

Do give the cat the choice about indoor or out. If you live somewhere where your cat really can't go out then perhaps get an ancient rescue cat who is used to being inside (and isn't able to go out). If you keep a cat in when they want to go out they can end up being a bit neurotic and it can cause all sorts of problems.

If it goes out be prepared to pick up all sorts of dead and half dead small animals for the next few years. I love my cats but they get a ridiculous number of birds and mice with the occasional rat thrown in.

IME (which is not much admittedly) it will destroy the sofa(s) and any divan beds you may happen to have about the place. Oh, and the post at the bottom of the bannisters. Not so much the top one.

We have two boys, they did indeed decide that they would be indoor/outdoor cats - well, one of them did, by escaping every time we opened the door. So they have a catflap, and only when we manage to shut the conservatory door with them both inside do they stay in overnight, as they can break out of the catflap.

They're fab - had their little kitty balls off before they had a chance to spray or get randy, and they didn't go out before they were neutered, so I think their territory is relatively small. We haven't, and I know I'm tempting fate here, had any creatures brought into the house. They've had at least a frog and a mouse between them though, and we found a baby bird in the garden that I think had died under suspicious circumstances.

3 Siamese - great mates, loads of fun apart from the constant flow of dead or dying rodents and birds that get dragged through the cat flap. All females and all neutered as soon as they started calling. They all have different personalities, if you want a quiet cat get a quiet kitten.

Thanks :) Debating having two instead of one now, already have dead animals in the garden as area is swarming with cats already. Hoping mine will grow up and defend our garden!

If you think you might want two definitely get them from the same litter - they're much more likely to get on with each other. We have 2 sisters and they get on well (apart from when they've been to the vets & 1 thinks her sister smells 'wrong').

Mine don't even defend the house, found over-the-road's massive tabby eating their food AGAIN this morning! I'm going to put a nice passive aggressive note through their door I think - "In case you're wondering why your cat is putting on weight, it is helping itself to our cats' food ..." However, there's not a lot they can do - they could put a catflap in so it can get back in the house while they're at work, but then it would learn how to use a catflap ... we don't think it knows what they're for, as we only ever see it in the house when the back door is open!

But yes, apart from being rubbish in a guardcat capacity (to be fair, the two of them put together are about as big as the marauding tabby) our brothers are fab. Cat custodionship wouldn't be as much fun without the pre-pounce wiggling bottom and other two-cat activities.

There's two sets I'm currently choosing from, one are a shorthair brother and sister who are ready to go now I believe, and the other are fluffly long hair ones brother and sister again (there's another sister who isn't quite as cute, but I plan on asking who is closer out of them and taking the two that are closest, it's just those two in particular are the cutest!) The long hair ones are only 4 weeks old (although with all the fluff appear massive lol) so not ready for a good while yet.

Been offered a free cat carrier from a friend too, so getting a touch excited!

lol - ours are useless with other cats as well. I found one of mine shrieking through the house, the other puffed up to twice its normal size and another cat sticking its head through the cat flap.

Cats are fun. We have seagulls on our roof terrace who come and tap on the door -the cats fly up there and the seagull taps and they swat with their paws.