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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

HELP! Garage have found a tiny KITTEN under my bonnet!

328 replies

timtam23 · 19/08/2013 10:39

Took car in for service this morning and garage phoned to say they'd lifted the bonnet & found a tiny tiny kitten...After recovering from the shock I walked over to pick it up & it's absolutely tiny - maybe 5 weeks? Eyes are open...All I've managed to establish so far is it's male - white with tabby patches - it's hungry and it's covered in fleas! We are a cat-loving household & have 2 very geriatric cats, hadn't bargained on a kitten at all but have to admit it's very cute. But I'm clueless about kittens - 18 years since I had one! Have given it a bit of chicken/ham food for adult cats, which it devoured, and phoned the vet, but what else should I do?

OP posts:
ZebraOwl · 20/09/2013 21:41

Maybe you could point your DH in our direction. And we can explain (in simple small words or excessively long ones) exactly why what he's doing is so spectacularly stupid it is making my brain hurt. Maybe if you make him sleep in the garden tonight he'll see the error of his ways? Wink

thecatneuterer · 20/09/2013 21:41

I can't believe no one's said this yes. LTB - obviously! :)

Original poster
timtam23 · 20/09/2013 22:21

Catneuterer - LTB? not sure what that means?

DH has a very fixed view that Dudley is not little and doesn't need "pampering", the old cats were apparently "pampered" (by me, as I had them for 10 yrs before meeting DH) and history is not to repeat itself. I do think an 11-weeker needs an eye kept on him, but I'm out for a lot of the week and so it has to be DH who does most of the tender loving care Hmm

99% of the time yes, he will probably be fine. But I don't want him to have an accident because of DH leaving him on his own. DH says "overprotective", "ridiculous" etc etc and I know cats have to take their chances but I think kittens, when they are so tiny they need a bit of supervision. DH says at 11 weeks Dudley is no longer tiny Hmm again

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 20/09/2013 22:23

He'll likely take it from you if you stamp your foot and do the 'Momma' bit. I think you have to - for a few weeks at least. The sight of a kitten/young cat in the stages of one of the main diseases is enough to strike horror into anyone's heart.

thecatneuterer · 20/09/2013 22:24

'LTB' = leave the bastard (it's the stock response to most things in 'Relationships').

11 weeks is still tiny. He should be pampered all his life till at least five months.

Fluffycloudland77 · 20/09/2013 23:16

I know what it's like with stubborn men. I defeat dh with logic and cold, hard science.

My favourite response is "don't make me google it".

Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 21:31

Dudley is now fully vaccinated, wormed and microchipped, I feel a bit better now about him getting out as at least he will be traceable if he escapes

Although I'm still asking DH not to let him into the yard, especially as his vaccines won't fully kick in for another week, but it's going into one ear and out the other Hmm

Nearly fell off the sofa yesterday when DH suggested getting another kitten to keep Dudley company (he thought it might distract Duds from attacking playing with the old blind boy)

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 24/09/2013 21:37

Instead of which it might give him a partner in crime. That happened to us once when we had two kittens - they gave each other extra courage to go up in tandem against the existing (fully sighted) cat.

Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 21:46

Cozie we talked about it a bit - DH reasoned that 3 cats were no more work for us than 2 - but we thought the same as you about ganging up, also that there would be no guarantee that 2 non-sib kittens would get along with each other in the long term (have already done this with the old girl although she was a fair bit older, 12 months, when I got the old boy, who was then 2-3 months old - it took a long time for them all to settle down).

The old boy is holding his own at the moment but we don't want him to be unhappy in his twilight months

It's been a long long time since I had only 1 cat - the first year of having the old girl - and I think that would be just fine for us with Dudley after the old boy dies, he is a very affectionate kitten as well so needs a lot of attention and might be best in a single-cat household in any case

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 24/09/2013 22:00

Yes - the old boy deserves as much peace and quiet as possible in his sunset time, eh?

Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 22:06

Absolutely Smile he is a lovely cat and all he wants is a quiet life and as much food as possible!
Hopefully Dudley will slow down a bit soon and stop the ambushing, I also have 2 Feliway plugins and the old boy does seem to spend a lot of time near one of them, so maybe they do work (was never convinced by them in the past)

OP posts:
ZebraOwl · 24/09/2013 23:02

Do you think you can get your DH to understand that Dudley roaming wild & free before he is [ideally chipped&]snipped could end very badly indeed? Lay it on superthick with how as soon as he hits puberty he will be leaping off to make as many little Dudleys as he can. (Which could be a LOT of Little Dudleys!) Does he want to add to the problem of overflowing rescues & tiny kittens dying because they don't have somewhere safe to stay... Sometimes emotional blackmail is totally justifiable, right?

ExitPursuedByADragon · 24/09/2013 23:23

Can I borrow your DH?

Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 23:25

Zebra I have done all of that and more. Honestly I have. I don't want a feisty entire male kitten roaming around, I don't want more strays. DH used to volunteer at the local independent animal rescue shelter, he knows the score. Dudley himself was in a pitiful state when we found him and it could so easily have ended very horribly for him. But I'm out at work for most of the week and DH does what he does, I can only say my piece again and again. I have just talked to him about it again and he clearly thinks I'm nagging

Dudley is chipped now and I asked the vet today what was the earliest they would castrate him, they said 4 1/2 - 5 months so he will be in as soon as the vet agrees it's ok to go ahead

I still think he would be very little to be roaming around at that age & I'm worried he'll have no road sense at all (I kept my Precious First Cat in until 6 months old and she justified my overprotectiveness by surviving until age 18 Smile)

I will keep talking to DH about it but he already laughs whenever I mention MN

OP posts:
Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 23:26

Exit why on earth would you want my DH? Grin

OP posts:
ExitPursuedByADragon · 24/09/2013 23:28

Because he wants more cats. I have to ride rough shod over my DH.

cozietoesie · 24/09/2013 23:31

Yes - I wouldn't, myself, take the approach of talking about roaming wild and free and partying with anything that moves. It could be a tad counter productive.

4 1/2 months sounds good.

Smile
Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 23:31

Yes you can have him! Then I can cosset Dudley without anyone grumbling that I'm turning him "soft"

But don't let him near any kittens Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 23:38

I think around here most cat owners are pretty responsible and get their cats spayed/castrated, also I don't tend to see stray cats hanging around (still no sign of any cat likely to be Dudley's mum). I guess the problem would be if there was a female kitten allowed out before being old enough for spaying, and she & Duds got together.

I'm thinking more about Dudley being allowed out very young before vaccinations kick in and before he is old enough to have a bit more sense around roads/people/the local cats & other animals. Also the fireworks season will start soon & he needs an introduction to that from inside the house I think (although not too bad in the immediate area as most people have small yards rather than gardens, so not enough room for massive fireworks displays)

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 24/09/2013 23:41

You'll be keeping him in at nights?

Original poster
timtam23 · 24/09/2013 23:47

Yes, definitely keeping in at night now & in the future - the cat flap is locked to stop him getting out that way

We're not in the habit of having cats roaming around at night any more, old boy liked to go out for a prowl before bedtime but since he went blind he tends to hang around the house, and I don't like them out at night because of the higher risk of being hit by a car

OP posts:
ZebraOwl · 25/09/2013 00:05

Ech. It sounds like a v tough situation (& wasn't meaning to imply I thought you'd not done your utmost, sorry!) & I don't envy you one bit. (It is so frustrating when women's concerns get dismissed/invalidated as "nagging", too: rawrgh!) Is there any chance you could get the vet to speak to him about it? Hopefully the worsening weather might make Dudley less inclined to play outside & there'll be less time for outdoor play with daylight hours so swiftly shortening.

Maybe you could try making sleep-hypnosis tapes specially for your DH to change his mindset. How soundly does he sleep...?

Original poster
timtam23 · 25/09/2013 21:23

That's ok Zebra, it's nice to have this thread for me to rant on Grin - as you've said, the weather hasn't been great here today so the cats & DH were inside. Duds is copying the old blind boy who spends 23 1/2 hours of each day snoozing Grin

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 25/09/2013 21:29

I've always found great mileage in 'trying to force them outside' (taking them to the door and trying to push their backside) when the rain is going sideways or there's snow lying. Nothing gets a cat's back up quicker than being told to do something that they don't fancy.

ZebraOwl · 25/09/2013 23:54

Let's hope that Dudley continues to copy the example of his Senior. He has so much growing to do he prolly needs a LOT of sleep, especially after such a difficult start to life. My two are sleeping more than usual at the moment, I guess they think it's the best way to cope with it being cold&dark...