New Kitten! With pics!

[newkittyowner]

This is Spartacus who I rehomed today, he's 4 months old and is an absolute delight. He settled in immediately and has been sleeping on me. This is my first cat so any tips are welcome

What a lovely face he has!

The only tips I have, inspired by the blocked bladder convo in Chat at the moment, is don't ever feed him cheap dry food (such as Go Cat, Whiskas) as it's linked to urinary crystals and blocked bladders in male cats.

Make sure you never have lilies in the house or garden.

Only use 'proper' flea and worm treatments. Nothing off the shelf.

And make sure you keep him in at night.

Apart from all that - learn to be a good cat slave and enjoy having a new master.

@thecatneuterer thank you for your quick reply. Funnily enough the food he's come with us Whiskas dry kitten food but i've read that wet food is a lot better for them?

If he's been on dry food all this time what is the best way to change him over to wet food? Thank you

Particularly with male cats it's quite important to feed wet food, and it's crucial to not feed cheap dry food. There is no reason why you shouldn't feed some dry if you want, but it needs to be good stuff - Wainwrights, Arden Grange, Applaws, Lily's Kitchen, James Wellbeloved (although that isn't as good as it used to be) etc.

Vets disagree about whether dry is more or less good for teeth than wet, but none disagree about the link between cheap dry food and blocked bladders in males.

It may be an idea to change over gradually (over say a couple of weeks) but try introducing some wet immediately and see how it goes.

You need a laser pen.

He looks like a red dot hunter.

He's lovely

You don't need to feed wet food as their complete diet - plus that'd get expensive. They need to crunch! Just make sure your dried food is a fairly decent one. Fish for Cats is good, and there'll be lots of others. Offer wet food as a supplement

Our cat has high quality dried every day, just one bowl, but plenty for her. Fresh water replenishment each day and the odd pouch of wet food here and there. Oh and damn lik e lix a couple of times a week. Mad for it!

When I say 'fish for cats' that is the brand name!

Although cats do like fish 😀

Well done for taking in a black cat, they are difficult to home. I have 3!

Are black cats hard to rehome?

I would 've thought they'd be quite popular. The coolest cats in movies are black. And they look like mini-panthers.

Mine def look like mini panthers especially when stalking the dog rescue centres are full of them, people are superstitious and apparently they’re not easy to photograph for a selfie

Yes they are very definitely the hardest to home. It's not to do with superstition usually - it's really just that they are not seen as interesting enough. Grey is the most popular. Also pure white. Then tortie/ginger etc (although this year we have had loads of gingers and suddenly they are being seen as boring too), then tabby, then black and white and then, right at the bottom, black.

@JenBarber excellent idea and love the name!

I'm taking him to the vets tomorrow as at first I thought he was purring all the time but even when he's asleep he is breathing really heavily as if he is purring but he's not. He's breathing fast aswell so i'm a bit worried and will take him to the vets just in case tomorrow. He's eating,drinking and going to the toilet fine otherwise

@N0rfolkEnchants thank you!

Aww. So cute. Enjoy your precious kitty

I hope his breathing is okay. I’m a black cat fan here too.

He looks like mine. She was a rescue too. Black cats are the sweetest.

currently fast asleep on my pillow, he's kept me awake all night and if i put my head down he pushes me out the way!

His breathing is silent and normal now that he's deep asleep, very strange but getting him checked out nonetheless.

What a lovely little fellow. I love that medallion - very 70s.

Hope his breathing is ok.

If you have houseplants, please look up whether they are toxic to cats and put any that are way out of reach (taking leaping into account).
pethelpful.com/cats/Houseplants-Poisonous-to-your-Cats
List with photos (from a US site).
www.cats.org.uk/dangerous-plants Another list.
(I really wish nurseries, garden centres, etc,. would label plants if toxic to cats and dogs.)

Pretty much all plants/flowers growing from bulbs are toxic to cats. Seasonally, avoid poinsettia.

You've been put in your place already. Excellent!

Utterly adorable.my old boy is pure black.he was a rescue Along his black and white brother.the place was full of black/black and white.broke my heart and couldn't chose...thankfully scoutcat chose me rubbing his face all over me when I went in and sat down.best decision ever made!

Can I remind owners of tiny panthers to sing, "tiny panther, panther for dreamies" to the tune of private dancer.

NB it was another MNer that started it not me, I have to sing "tiny tiger..."

He's asleep on my side of the bed now! I'll just sleep on the floor from now on.

I have two large bunches of flowers in my bedroom which I moved to a different room straight away somewhere unreachable. His breathing is fine when asleep, perhaps he's just constantly purring? But the noise is as he breathes in and then out. I wish you could post videos to Mumsnet.

Had no idea black cats were so hard to home

Just to go back to the flowers. If they contain lilies be very, very careful. Even some pollen dropped on the floor can kill a cat. They walk in it, and clean themselves, and die.

I wish it wasn't almost routine to include lilies in bunches of flower, but they seem to be the go to flower for florists.

He’s gorgeous- but then again I’m biased as he has a medallion like mine 😍

When I first got mine he used to get over excited running about and ‘pant’ until he calmed down (adopted as 18 month old but had been in a cattery for a while before). He still purrs very loudly and sometimes I can hear his breathing when he is asleep but he has been to the vets ( and they have seen his panting video) - but has been given a clean bill of health. I was worried for a long time but they reassured me so I’d recommend a check up just to put your mind at rest. I’ve noticed that it is when he is ‘dreaming’ I can hear his breathing....when he is properly relaxed he is silent.