Possibly dumb questions from a first timer

[InNeedOfABrew]

We decided to finally give in to the demands of our youngest and get her a cat. I’m from a long line of dog owners and since we’ve had smallish people to look after I didn’t need the extra commitment of a puppy, much as I would have loved one.

So we have decided to get a kitten which then turned into us getting 2 kitten sisters for various reasons and having done lots of research and reading I’m still left with a couple of questions that I’m hoping someone might be able to help me with.

We’re picking up the kittens in 3 weeks time and I don’t know what kind of cat carrier to get and whether or not I need 2 of them…any ideas or recommendations?

I’ve narrowed down the vets we will use to 2 that I have personal recommendations for. They both offer plans where I pay a monthly fee. The first vet (slightly nearer) has a plan where it covers all injections and regular check ups and offers cheaper vet visits and them being spayed.
The second vet costs 2.50 a month more but includes worming and flea treatments too.
Which one do I go with?

And any recommendations for pet insurance, do any of them do a discount on multiple pets?

TIA and I’ll follow up with pictures once I’ve worked out how to get them into our house!

1. At the minute one carrier will be fine - kittens from the same litter are happier + more comfortable when kept together. When they’re older you’ll need 2. I’m not a fan of the soft carriers, hard ones are easier to load the cats into and easier to clean
2. Second vet for sure
3. We use Agria as recommended by a vet friend, it’s what she uses for her own animals (despite her practice being heavily endorsed by Petplan!)

Brilliant, thank you. I’ll look at that one, it’s not one I’ve heard of before.

MDC cat carriers are the best.

https://www.mdcexports.co.uk/product-category/pet-owners/carriers-pet-owners/

If you get the large one you can whack both of them in the same carrier no problem!

I'm with Pet Plan. Have been zero issues claiming as the vet can claim direct from them. Yes, they give a multipet discount.

Please look into keeping your cats safe - Protect a Pet are great.

We have a carrier from Pets at Home that has two doors, one at the top, one at the front. It is really good because then you can lower them in through the top (pushing an unwilling cat through a horizontal door is not easy) but later open the front and let them walk out. Having 2 doors is also very helpful if you are trying to get two cats in the same carrier, as getting the second in without the first escaping can be tricky.

We've got two like this although we could fit 2 kittens in when they were younger.
Our vet plan covers wormer and flea treatments
We're with ManyPets for insurance

Definitely a carrier with as top door as well as door on the end - we would never manage to get my very difficult to catch/crate cat through a "front" door, but we can sort of drop him in through the top much easier.

Regarding the vets and costs, it really depends on whether you intend for the cats to be indoor only or to ever go out. Indoor only don't need the flea and worm treatment every month, but if they will end up going out then the second vet is a much better deal financially (assuming you get the same discounts as the first).

Remember you should get Lifetime insurance ideally. That means if they get any long term/permanent problems the company will carry on paying out for the rest of the cat's life, rather than just paying for e.g. meds in the year you first make the claim.

I use Tesco for insurance. In a few weeks you will come back on here and wonder why you haven't had cats before. You'll be a devoted slave!

Thanks everyone. My DH says that he thinks that I’ll turn into a cat lady. We’ll see…

Your DH is 100% correct.

Morning all. It’s getting closer and we’re picking up the kittens later this week.
I’ve got a carrier, the 8 year old has made signs to tell the kittens where things are, I’ve cleared a kitchen cupboard for cat related stuff….
So next couple of stupid questions from me…
the litter tray. The person we’re getting the kittens from says she uses wooden pellets so I’m going getting some of those but can someone please explain (like they would to a small child) how the litter tray works. I’ve got a plastic tray, do I just fill it with wooden pellets and then everytime I walk past and notice they’ve done something, scoop it out and put it in a dog poo bag and then in the general waste? Do I need to line the tray with something? Replace all the pellets at a certain point? Really don’t know how this works!
Also the lady said that the kittens are on wet and dry whiskas food…
I know that they’re supposed to eat about 4 times a day (will be 9 weeks old) but do I give them both dry and wet in the same bowl 4 times a day? Or alternate it? And do I use 2 bowls as I’ve got 2 of them and separate them when they’re eating so I know how much they’re having?
Apologies for the thick questions, I just want to get this right and I swear I didn’t stress over having the kids as much as this!

Thanks!

Ask the lady what she currently does with the food, & do that since it will be familiar for the kittens.

I use wood pellets too for my solo cat, scoop whenever there’s something in there & put it in the outside bin, and clean it out & replace the pellets once a week.

Are they big pellets or small? I use worlds best and it's clumping so it lasts a bit longer that the cheap pellets which require full regular changes and I find gets a bit stinky quite quickly

You need a litter tray each and one spare

Food ideally not on the same plate are you using flat dishes to prevent whisker fatigue? Don't forget no plastic dishes they can cause eczema erm....WATER! Serve it away from the food cats by nature will seek water away from the food supply (safety thing left over from their wild days not every cat but som won't drink by their food)

I think that's it?

I have a silicone mat and 4 bowls sit on the mat; 2 with wet food and 2 with dry food.

Don't think wooden pellets last that long and turn to dust so need changing more often. But yes, scoop when it's been used and change when it smells or has turned to dust

I use little plastic dishes and have never seen the cats with eczema.

I started with 2 trays but both cats only used one so got a single larger one instead with high sides

Only one of mine drinks out the water bowl as the other drinks from the pond outside instead

Thanks all!
I’ve got two ceramic bowls and one metal one that I was going to use for water and a plastic mat with sides to stop spillages.
I’ll pick up a couple more shallow ones when I’m getting the litter and food today.
I’ll buy some pellets that clump then too!
thanks for all your help.

Water fountains are good too. My girl alternates between drinking from her fountain and from the jug that I use to top it up.

You can never have too many cardboard boxes. And if you have space, I’d leave the carrier out & put treats in it so that it’s an exciting place - makes it far easier to get them in there when you need to take them to the vet!

I always lined the litter tray, when mine got older I got one of those litter trays that looks like a box with a flap on it as it looked better. I had ww cats and they always used the same litter but this may not be the case for all of them.

Mine had each had a wet food bowl and a dry food bowl, a water bowl each that was placed up stairs away from the food. I ise to give them a wet food pouch each twice a day and keep the dry food bowl topped up.

They eventually loved their cat beds but it took ages for them to start using them, the day I was going tobdonate the beds was tje day they started using them!

I'm sure you'll love having cats, I miss mine so much

I got my first ever cat as a kitten a year ago. Vet said to stick with whatever food and litter she'd been used to and change it gradually once she was settled at home. It took her about a month to be settled. Then I moved her litter to a good clumping one from Pets At Home - you just scoop out the clumps (I do this morning and evening, drop them into a nappy bag, tie it up and put in outside bin) and changed her food over to a better quality one.

Get some toys - you can get a mixed pack on Amazon for about £15. Mine loves chasing pom poms around. And those little springs.

My cat will not drink from her own water bowl and instead favours whichever glass of water has most recently been poured. So I now drink my water from a bottle with a lid as otherwise I'm sharing with the cat.

She's 18 months old now and still runs up the curtains.

Our previous cat had proper ceramic cat bowls from eg Pets at Home for wet food. I noticed our current boy ate more from a flatter saucer type thing with a cat's face on it that previous girl rejected. So I got him a load of these bowls which are cute (we have various patterns!) and now he eats it all up unless it's beef flavour which he likes less:

https://sostrenegrene.com/en-gb/products/home/bowl-p-3380e040

He has dry food in the previous cat dishes, and water in two different stainless steel bowls - one in the living room and one in the kitchen.

I think we have had weird cats because both have slept in cat beds from the get-go!

Wooden pellets clump - I use Cats Best litter and really like it.

I ended up getting my two a microchip controlled feeding bowl each as one of them would just eat all the food, so this way she can only eat her own 😂

My boy cat is so darned heavy I can barely carry the carrier with just him in it. Let alone two of them.
I use litter tray liners from Asda as they can just be binned and you don’t need to clean the tray every time you change them. When I do need to was the litter tray I put it in the shower with me (not directly where I stand) and let the shower gel and shampoo and hot water run into it, empty it out and dry off with toilet paper. Then clean the shower tray.

Agree with PP that those metal 'cage' carriers are the best, and completely escape-proof. I got mine from https://www.metalcote.co.uk/product-category/cat-baskets/ (You'll need two eventually).

My cat is temporarily indoors-only, so I'm new to the litter question, but I've tried clumping and non-clumping and so far prefer the latter. Right now I'm using https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_litter/catsan/631625?activeVariant=631625.6

Unlike the grey clumping one I first got, where any pee turned into rock solid clumps, with the non-clumping Catsan the pee is just absorbed by the 'clay' type gravel, and you only have to scoop out the poop. It's been a week and not stinking so far. I'm going to try Catsan 'Natural' next - it's clumping but may clump in a different way, who knows?

And my cat is a large male, so I got the biggest litter tray I could find. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Plastic-Portable-Rounded-Corners/dp/B0DD3R511V?th=1

As for food, ultimately I'd recommend you switch to a higher protein food than Whiskas. Whiskas wet food is only about 7-8% crude protein, and that's very low. Look for at least 12%+. I feed my cat expensive fresh food, human grade meat and 17% crude protein. https://www.katkin.com/products

It saves money in the end, as I used to have to throw out half of the low quality food as he'd only pick at it or just lick off the jelly or gravy.

But Whiskas is fine for now and you should stick with what they know in the midst of a big change of location.

Lastly, when the kittens arrive, keep them confined to one room only, with food, bed, litter tray etc. At least a week, but longer if they show a tendency to hide, which means they're feeling anxious. Cats hate moving house, and being in one room only helps them to feel safer and more secure initially.

Stainless steel litter trays! I'm a recent convert they genuinely clean better than plastic and they don't hold the smell like plastic do

All the best for your new pets, @InNeedOfABrew

We have just made the decision to buy a kitten for our DD. So I appreciate the thread very much. If you have time, do let us know how you get on pls. 🙏🐈😻

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dogcagesscarriers/crates/1672973?variantId=1672973.0&utmsource=google&utmmmedium=googlepmax&utmmcampaign=17603215650&utmterm=1672973.0&utmmcontent=pla&utmid=17603215650017603215650&gadsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9Xn6UCcNPV5yWcHAo9-rYKtN09M&gclid=CjwKCAiA6t-6BhA3EiwAltRFGKBTz2-n3hD0IPZFPnqdKVdyo6sfp4UaAWtqsfzukBV8HsGjpwgRmxoCU1QQAvDDBwE&activeVariant=1672973.0

This. Best ever. You just lift them in from the top. So much less stressful. One will do for kittens but they will need one each as they grow up.