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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:
Original poster
timtam23 · 21/08/2013 23:28

Scarlet, if you click on my name above any of my posts it should take you to my profile, and then click on "see timtam23's photos" and there are 2 photos of dudley.

OP posts:
Original poster
timtam23 · 21/08/2013 23:30

Croosposted Sparkling!

Must do something else this evening, have spent the whole time on MN with a kitten jumping around on my lap Smile

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 22/08/2013 13:07

Yay he's staying.

I bought a cardboard scratch pad for our cat, it's £6 in tk maxx and is basically a tray of cut strips of corrugated card board lined up and glued together with a little bag of catnip that you sprinkle over, It doesn't look much good but the cat loves it, he even sleeps in it.

He even fished the bag of catnip out of my bedside drawer. I have noticed the hall carpet isn't getting ragged as much since I bought it.

Sparklingbrook · 22/08/2013 13:35

I got one of those for Sparkling cat Fluffy. She had no idea what to do with it. Angry
I gave it to my Mum for her cat who has had a real good go at it, and seemed to know exactly what to do. Confused

FairPhyllis · 22/08/2013 22:10

Ah I'm glad he's staying. As soon as I saw the bit about your dh setting up a playpen I knew it would be so.

Horsemad · 23/08/2013 13:21

OMG that kitten is soooooo cute! Glad he's staying!

ExitPursuedByABear · 23/08/2013 13:30

Hurrah that kitty is staying.

Now, how come I never find stray kittens? I have a loving home all ready and waiting but a DH who would not countenance us getting another animal, but who could be easily persuaded if one turned up looking needy.

edam · 23/08/2013 15:01

Lovely news. Grin

Original poster
timtam23 · 23/08/2013 21:51

Exit I always said exactly the same thing, until last Monday when I was that person who had to deal with the stray kitten!

Dudley is doing really well, getting very playful then conking out for hours at a time - he's snoozing on the sofa at the moment.

DH has put the playpen away as our old blind cat was a bit freaked out by it & Dudley was scaling the sides in a few seconds anyway.

The old cats are still keeping out of the way but we're hoping they will come round a bit more in the next week or so.

DH keeps bringing out new toys for Dudley and I think he's smitten Grin

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 23/08/2013 22:09

Keeping out of the way is fine - they're just being sensible. (Remember to give them lots of TLC even though the Dudley is occupying centre stage.)

Original poster
timtam23 · 23/08/2013 22:17

Yes we are definitely giving them lots of strokes and some cat treats

They both sleep on our bed at the start of the night and I make a big fuss of them before I turn the light out

They spend a lot of time asleep on the bed as usual, but they used to come down in the evening after the kids were in bed, and sit with us all evening. That's what they're not doing at the moment, because the kitten is skittering around where they would usually chill out.

It's not as bad as it could have been though.

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 24/08/2013 08:04

Kittens must be so annoying to older cats though. It's like having a toddler around with a pack of haribo and no bedtime.

Horsemad · 24/08/2013 08:23

Lol Fluffy you took the words out of mouth! They are so like toddlers!

edam · 24/08/2013 11:31

Grin fluffy

Timtam, so glad dh is smitten and Dudley is staying. Bless dh!

Sometimes new companions can give elderly cats a new interest. When I left home, my Mother finally gave in to my sister's mithering for a dog. I disapproved as I was sure our 17 year old half-Siamese very grand cat would be upset. At first, the cat was indeed disapproving. Then she worked out she could use the dog as her slave. Nice and warm to sit on, her ally in doing dark deeds (dog was the muscle/height, cat was the brains, much food went missing...)

Within a year or two, sister had managed to acquire two kittens. Senior cat had got very elderly and very sleepy and grumpy. Not keen on kittens at first but then perked up and realised they were entertainment. Gave her a whole new lease of life.

ExitPursuedByABear · 24/08/2013 11:41

Lovely story.

I love cats.

LST · 26/08/2013 11:24

Awwwwh. lovely thread Smile

Original poster
timtam23 · 26/08/2013 22:25

Oldest & grumpiest cat was touching noses with the kitten last night Smile.

Tonight DH is out & the kitten has been snoozing so I've brought both oldies onto the sofa for a stroke, the blind one in particular needs some time spent with him as he can't see the kitten well enough to do the usual cat getting-to-know-you stuff.

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ExitPursuedByABear · 26/08/2013 22:32

Blind cat. Sad

edam · 26/08/2013 23:02

aw, love your oldest grumpiest cat touching noses with Dudley. Hope both older cats get on with him.

cozietoesie · 26/08/2013 23:06

All sounds very positive, timtam. How is your blind cat reacting generally? (To the squeaks and bumps etc.)

Original poster
timtam23 · 26/08/2013 23:44

cozie he is being quite hypervigilant, sits at a distance with head poking forward & tail flicking a bit, trying to work out where the noise is coming from. He's nervous - he hissed at DH earlier, thinking the kitten was jumping on him, when DH accidentally stroked his tail. He isn't relaxed at all downstairs although we have kept the upstairs a kitten-free zone so far and he is ok up there, enjoys being stroked etc and he has been sleeping on my bed.

He has some central vision but at night or in dim light it's a lot harder for him, that's been evident for a few months now.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 26/08/2013 23:56

The kitten free zone should be a godsend to him. Good thinking on that.

Horsemad · 27/08/2013 00:24

When we took in a cat last year, our old girl was deaf & blind. Luckily new cat was not a kitten and was remarkably well behaved around Little Old Lady Cat.

For the few months before we had to have Little Old Lady Cat put to sleep, they got on ok. Great idea to have a kitten free zone though.

Solo · 27/08/2013 01:22

Now I'm not a cat person at all but that Dudley fella is just gorgeous!!! Grin

DameDeepRedBetty · 29/08/2013 22:28

Thank you for a LOVELY happy story, needed it after the Saga of SIL finally exploded last night!

BettyKitten arrived in our lives in a complicated sort of way, but not as complicated as Dudley's, he's rather similar to look at to BettyCat (as she is now), and it's brought back loads of wonderful memories.

Wine to you timtam xxx