We have unexpectedly become cat parents to three kittens who lost their mother. They were meant to be temporary fosters after a neighbour's appeal, but as is often the way, we (two adults, two young kids) have fallen desperately in love with them all and have decided to adopt them.
I haven't owned any pets since my childhood, and am now struggling to make sense of what we need to have in place. Here's what we have so far:
- All three neutered and microchipped by the charity that rescued them.
- We are doing two wet meals a day (AVA kitten food) and two dry meals a day (Purina One kitten)
- they are indoor only for now, but will be allowed to free roam from the spring, when they will be about 9 months old.
I just desperately need advice on the following:
- how do you find decent pet insurance that isn't very expensive but still has good coverage? What should I look for as reasonable cover, excess and treatments for kittens? What do you all pay on average per month?
- how often do you use flea/worm treatments on your kitties, and what's the best way to source this? Do we need to go through a vet or are over the counter good enough?
- how do you know a vet is decent? What kinds of charges do we look out for? I don't even know how vet practices are structured, other than a friend saying they are ALL so different, so how do I as a newbie know what is the right one to go with?
- how often do you take your cats to the vet? Do you do annual checks? Or is that just overkill for the average family pet? What's the kind of healthcare schedule your cats are on?
- do you brush your cat's teeth??? We never did that for our childhood cat, but now I hear that's an expectation??!
My questions are endless really, from how to feed them when we are away for the day etc etc. But would appreciate any/all gentle advice on the vet/insurance/healthcare portion so we aren't feeling so out of our depth.