First time kitten owner.

[FermezLaBouche]

Hello all!

I'd been considering a pet for a while and due to working out of the house and living alone, I instantly ruled out a dog. So after much reading and thinking, I have bought the most beautiful 9 week old ginger Tom from an acquaintance. He is the most friendly little thing and the second I got him home he went for a wander round the room then fell asleep in his new bed. He's a confident little thing - he's dozing on my chest as I'm typing, watching my fingers in fascination!

I've set up pet insurance, (£4/month - how cheap is that?!) but I want to make sure I do everything right. He is going to be an indoor cat but he will probably need to spend 3/4 nights at a cattery over Christmas, so I want to make sure he is totally up to date with his jabs. Could anyone explain the jabs I need first, and when I need to get them done? There's a vet with a good reputation near me so will go there.

Thanks in advance!

I rely on my vet for that, I'm afraid, but here's some guidance.

\link{http://www.cats.org.uk/cat-care-vaccination\vaccination}

I don't have my current senior boy vaccinated against the feline leukemia virus because he's entirely a house cat.

He's gorgeous, by the way! (If that's his photo on your page.)

Thanks for the advice and link, cozie, I do need to book in a vet appointment soonish - half term probably.
Yes, that is him on my profile, he is lovely isn't he? (Biased)
Typing tilted as hes curled up asleep in my other hand purring like mad. :)

He is so cute.

Thankyou Sparkling!

After growing up on a farm with about 9 wild cats wandering around, I never knew kittens would be so friendly! He's only been here since saturday but just adores cuddling up for a sleep. I thought he'd be hiding for days before popping his head out.
(I'm ignoring the fact he's totally uninterested in his expensive bed and prefers my laundry basket)

I say this to all the new cat owners.

Buy a carpet shampooing machine. You will thank me when they yack up all over the wilton. Keep it loaded with water and detergant if possible so you can whip it out and clean up the poo/sick in an instant.

Didn't read that advice on the websites I read!!! :) Oh God and I thought brushing up escaped litter was bad enough...

If you can't afford that, keep a roll of kitchen paper, a dessert spoon (for initial scraping) and a bottle of some sort of carpet-friendly surface cleaner easily to hand. (A carpet cleaner can be rented or borrowed every so often and used over the whole thing.)

Also - if he's going to be an indoor cat, he won't be sicking up fur balls outside; so you can minimize the number of fur balls by starting some regular grooming, say every couple of days, to get rid of loose fur which might otherwise be picked up by the cat during washing and go into the stomach. They generally come to love grooming but it helps if you start early on in a nice relaxed setting.

Furminators are brilliant for grooming.

My cat gets off the bed to be sick .

My boys have always announced they're going to be sick with a sort of 'plumbing' noise. It takes them about 15 seconds to actually throw up which just gives you enough time (usually) if you're in the house to get a newspaper to hold under them. Keep your fingers crossed Fermez and your new boy might do that as well! (Sorry - I forgot to mention a strategically placed newspaper or two. You'll learn whether you need that though.)

who was your pet insurance with? Sounds really good price

...New kitty will need FIP and FELV and rabies plus the usual worming.Your Vet
will fix him up.To prevent bacteria and spores from multiplying you will need to
change the drinking water frequently.We change all Cat waters every 3 hours.As
he gets a little older,maybe 6months...he will need an "on-demand" little food-
bowl of "Urinary Tract" food.The man across the street didn't give his cat any...
and the poor thing died a horrible,slow death.Most cat owners neglect this type
of food,and cats get this urinary tract infection all the time.Our 16-week old
Ginger tabby is lightening quick,and has hopped into the microwave,the dish-
washer and the big freezer before I could stop him.We watch him like hawks...
especially when we are about to sit down on a chair or sofa.He jumped cat-quick
onto my office chair As I Was Sitting Down, and I had to throw myself to one
side to keep from squashing him.He is a baby and has to be fed every 4 and 1/2
hours...dry kitten kibbles with a little wet,canned food mixed in.Until he is about
6 months old he will continue to receive GNC powdered,mixed kitten milk formula,about 4 teaspoons of the powder to 12 teas.of water.On Cold days,keep
kitty warm...as smaller animals lose Heat faster then larger ones.Feel his ears to see how he is doing.Warmth is everything to a little kitten.Jill.

Japple I am guessing you maybe in the US as there is no FIP vaccination avaliable in the UK. The standard UK vaccinations are Flu, panleucopaenia and FeLV. Rabies again is not given as standard in the UK only if required for travel.
Having worked in the US I would say that one of the problems with urinary tract disease is that some owners in the US are much slower to recognise a problem with their cat so blocked cats are often seen much later than they are here in the UK. I have lost one cat with blocked urinary tract in 14 years all the others have gone on and lived long and happy lives. So there is less of a need to feed special food. The urinary tract disease tends to occur much more in overweight sedantary cats so keeping them slim and busy are big factors.

He's gorgeous.

just checking out insurance for my kitten £4 per month sounds great which company is that with?

If he's having mostly wet food don't panic about the urinary food OP, it's too much dry food that causes urinary crystals, as long as he drinks enough and/or gets wet too he'll be fine.

Water fountains are great for keeping fresh water, most cats don't like water that's been in s bowl too long.

I've never in my life heard of giving formula to a weaned kitten so don't worry about that either, just keep him on kitten food til a year. Zooplusis a good website for quality food.

Congrats, cats are brilliant pets and you're going to enjoy him so much

...Dear "Lone-Kit",You are So right when mentioning that in the US people are
Too Slow to Notice a urinary problem.They just don't pay Attention to their pet's
Habits, and all of that Dry Kib and no Variations in their Diets...can't be too good for them.The poor cat across the street just got dry kib,water changed once a day,and he "Looked" good; nobody noticed that he was dying...and he
wasn't over-weight.We have 5 indoor cats; all raised with regular Vet visits,all
shots given,and all raised with formula milk given to them until they were almost 6 month's old.Now they take vitamin drops once a day to keep them strong and healthy.Jill.