So DF has suprised me this morning by telling me that he has put a deposit on a cat and is picking it up for me this morning. How sweet! He said he knows that I have had to spend alot of time at home at the moment and that he knows I have always wanted a cat. I can't believe he's got me one cause he always said he hated them and wouldn't get one.
Anyhow its a little short hair female who has just turned 8 weeks. So i'm wanting to know what I need to do to toilet train her and also to stop her tearing apart our couches and chewing things up???
We have a new little kitten... she is about 12ish weeks now, we got her when she was about 7 weeks. She was pretty much toilet trained when we got her, just from watching the other cats... she did need some reminding tho... we just kept an eye on her and popped her in her tray when she looked like she needed to go, and after she slept or ate. We keep her in our bathroom at night and when we are out for a long time, it's a big room and it's much easier to clean up accidents off tiles! But she is out most of the time now she's bigger. If you have problems with your kitty going elsewhere but the tray, wipe it with something citrusy after cleaning - lemon oil or something, that generally stops them from going there again. If that doesn't work, pop some dry food there - they won't 'go' near food.
Also - should be able to get a cat tray from the 2 dollar shop or somewhere, and I recommend the 'recycled newspaper' litter, it's a bit more expensive but it seriously is heaps absorbent and not very smelly! well worth the extra $$
RE: chewing stuff - TOYS toys toys - so she can attack them and not your hands LOL. One of our cats fave toys is just half an empty loo roll tied to a shoe lace.. she loves chasing it! Also Maybe a scratching post? We got one cheap - 5 dollars or something from a cheap shop Ours kitty is mostly into the curtains at the moment (sooooo annoying!) So just keeping her occupied with other stuff stops her from getting into the curtains... it is time consuming! lol warning - she also went through a phase of playing with her kitty litter EWWWWW but now the curtains are more interesting
ok get yourself a scratching pole or if DF is handy get him to make one. You can buy them and the cost varies depending on how fancy you want it to be. DH made ours by screwing a long screw through a base made of mdf which holds onto a bit of hard wood. He uses old carpet to cover the timber with small tack type nails to hold it together and moe loves it.
when kitty comes home scratch his/her feet long it same as when you introduce them to their litter tray.
we used recycled paper kitty litter it had Dr Harry on it but i am unsure of the brand. Moe also liked dirt in his litter but flatly refused using it with those absorbent pebbly ones in it so your cat may have a preference.
we have a separate water bowl and one of those two in one dishes - one side for his once a day wet food (or milk when we spoil him) one side for dry biccies.
toys - moe loved to chase balls so we had ping pong balls and he would hit them around the house.
moe also had a collar with a bell it took him 2 day to get use to it. it was also a safety one so if it got caught it could pull apart - notice i said HAD he has gone through a few of these and i need to get him a new one.
also a bed. moe hated those hidy house ones and the dog bed looking ones and opted for a woolen baby blanket on the couch he rarely sleeps curled up and likes to lie sprawled out.
thats basically it and this stuff should last them their life.
food, litter, litter tray, toys, scratching post, bed - although if your kitten is anything like ours, she won't use it! Bowls for food and water. Although our cat doesn't like her water bowl for some reason and instead prefers to drink out of the fish bowl!
Yeah I agree with what everyone else has said although I do have a suggestion on litter.. I'm not sure if they have it where you are but look up in the phone book Katz Loo.. We get 6, 10kg bags of litter delivered for $33 and it lasts about 6 months.. So very cheap option, and you don't have to buy it in your shopping!. It is clumping kitty litter so once a day I just scoop out the clumps and it doesn't smell either.. (Well i don't think it does, I have had my cat for 8yrs so might just be used to it Lol)
Regarding what Bon said about her cat not using the water bowl, mine barely does either, prefering to drink from the bottom of the shower! Lol
Regarding collars, I got my cat an elastic one from bi lo or woolies. About $5. Because it is all elastic if he gets stuck in a tree he wont cholk.. I have also gone through a couple of these. I also have a tag with his name and my number on it..
The fur baby is gorgeous, she is a little Tortiseshell and we have called her Isabelle or Bella for short. WE got her: wet food, dry food, kitten milk, a little try, scoop and kitty litter, a scratching post and a little mouse on a string to play with. It all cost $50 in total and Bella was only $45.
Such a lovely present.
She had a bit of a hiss and spit moment when she met the dogs, but the seem to be calming down a bit now. I'm more worried about DS because he keeps trying to attack her and she is so tiny I'm scared he will crush or seriously injure her. Not sure how to handle him with her???
We have three cats, and our little girl kept attacking them. We put her playpen in a boring room and made sure that it has no toys in it, and use it for timeout. If she pulls a cat tail (or any of the other cat-torturing that she likes to do), she gets put in timeout for a little while. Only about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and one of us would be standing at the doorway just out of sight.
At first we would go in and ask her "are you going to pull Linden's tail again?" (insert name of victimised cat - it was usually Linden though), and she would nod. We'd tell her that she isn't to pull the tail, then let her out. If she pulled the tail again, she would go back in timeout for longer. By the end of the first day she was shaking her head "no" when asked if she was going to pull the cat's tail (then locating a cat and immediately pulling its tail)
Took less than a week to cure her of tail pulling (and probably about 10-15 trips to timeout in total). Now she's really gentle with all of the cats.
also - if you have a chance to, buy a "Da Bird" cat toy on ebay - you'll need to ship it in from USA. It should be under $20 all up, and SO worth it! Cats - especially kittens - can't get enough.
New cat- what do I need?
Reply With QuoteOurs kitty is mostly into the curtains at the moment (sooooo annoying!) So just keeping her occupied with other stuff stops her from getting into the curtains... it is time consuming! lol warning - she also went through a phase of playing with her kitty litter EWWWWW but now the curtains are more interesting
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