we have a cat!!!

[Agent Sparrow]

Aw! She's gorgeous! And well done for taking her in. My flatmate who just recently moved out of London took the stray cat we were looking after with her, and even though I know its for the best, I do really miss her...

Oh, and if you could tell me how you managed to make photo start talking like this

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Out little ickle kittie cat

Please let me know so I can start doing the same to Crispy!

 

[kea]

basically i just shoved a kitten under his nose and let it miaow at him
he said he felt like the biggest bastard in the world when he was taking her to the vet in her cat carrier and she was making pitiful 'why are you being so horrible to me?' miaows
when she got back she sat under the coffee table and sulked.

 

[kea]

What you now need is a free cat box

cheers but we have a cat box already (from my sister). we greatly need a scratching post tho, as the little horror is already shredding my precious sofa

 

[shortygoldtooth]

Cats inevitably scratch exactly where they feel like it. Enjoy your licle cutie kitty.

 

[Poi E]

Yes. Our one has shot through the carpet into the underlay.

 

[oryx]

i think she is going to be a VERY good mouser! she's a fierce little thing (tho also a warm snuggly purry bundle when she wants to be )

Sounds just like mine. Or is there such a word as "birder"?

Congratulations kea & photo - she is gorgeous!

 

[LJo]

Ooooooooh, she is so gorgeous...congratulations!

<remembers when own ginormous huge hairy dribbly monsters were tiny lickle cute fluffballs, sighs>

 

[oddworld]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

/goes all gooey

She is lovely , looks a bit like my Bailey

Cats are fab

 

[SwizzleStiX]

Ah many congrats, cool name haven't heard that one before

 

[lighterthief]

She looks very happy in her new home

 

[kea]

She looks very happy in her new home

she's particularly enjoying investigating under all the cupboards, bookshelves etc - which reminds me how dusty those corners are!! i think i'm going to have to do some cleaning...


btw, i forgot to say before, i'd be really grateful for any advice anyone has on any aspect of having a cat, especially a kitten. my mum is a mine of information as she's had loads of cats, and she dotes on tomasina already, but i'm interested in any tips anyone has!!

 

[oryx]

btw, i forgot to say before, i'd be really grateful for any advice anyone has on any aspect of having a cat, especially a kitten. my mum is a mine of information as she's had loads of cats, and she dotes on tomasina already, but i'm interested in any tips anyone has!!

Take care with hazards e.g. things that can fall on her, electrical wires she might chew through, hazardous plants such as lilies, holes she can crawl into etc.

If you want to get two cats eventually, get another soon. As I am finding out, introducing them when one is older is difficult.

Cats being contrary buggers, mine spent her formative weeks eating Whiskas Senior while my older cat chowed down on Feline Growth. It seems to have done neither any harm. The cat had lost weight last time he was at the vet's & kitten is blooming.

Though I am convinced her father was a bat. She has a little dark furry face with sharp teeth & a love of flying through the air.

Is Tomasina litter-trained?

 

[kea]

Is Tomasina litter-trained?

yes, amazingly! my mum said to just put her on it and stroke her a few times, so she gets to know the feel of the tray under her feet and where it is. so i did that and when she wanted to go, she headed over there first time!! i reckon either she learned when she was little (before she became stray), or my sister said that cats like to be able to dig when they go to the toilet, so, since our floors are stone and we have no rugs or anything, the box was clearly the most diggable place she could think of.

 

[Hellsbells]

i've been mummy to several kitties, and this is some of stuff I've discovered (hope it helps)....

They like to eat, play with and destroy houseplants, (especially spider plants) so make sure they're out of reach

Try and start discipline and rules as early as possible. Eg, when your kitten jumps up to places you don't want her to go, eg kitchen worktops, clap your hands loudly/spray her with a bit of water/say no firmly/waggle your finger in an authorative kind of way. (It worked with 2 of mine. The other one just ignores me and carries on being naughty )

Try and get her used to a certain noise or to recognise her name. It'll come in handy when she starts going outside. Mine come bounding in the house from wherever they are the second they hear the sound of a spoon clanking against a bowl. They identify the noise with dinner time!

What kind of food do you feed her? Dry food is generally better for their teeth, plus it doesn't smell so bad and isn't as messy.

Oh, and btw, even if you buy them a scratching post, they'll still scratch your sofa.

 

[kea]

Try and start discipline and rules as early as possible.

don't worry, i'm doing this already (though Photo is a big softie ). she knows she's not allowed on the coffee table. and she knows she sleeps in her basket, not on our bed.

Try and get her used to a certain noise or to recognise her name.

she recognises 'pusspuss'. i might try the spoon clanking thing - she recognises box-rattling as meaning meal time but that sound wouldn't carry as well as spoon-clanking does, once she's allowed out!

What kind of food do you feed her? Dry food is generally better for their teeth, plus it doesn't smell so bad and isn't as messy.

she's on iams dry kitten food. and my sister said not to give her milk as it messes up some cats' digestion, so she's on water. the vet said this was fine.

Oh, and btw, even if you buy them a scratching post, they'll still scratch your sofa.

yeah i'm pretty much reconciled to that i will put the scratching post by the side of the sofa she has begun to scratch tho, just in case it distracts her!

 

[kea]

cool name

i'm glad you like it nance - my brother in law said 'but she'll get picked on at school!' and Photo was none too keen either. but he gave in when the vet's receptionist said 'what a lovely name!'

 

[Hellsbells]

How did you think of the name btw kea? I had a hell of a time picking names for mine. Sounds like I should have consulted you first for ideas!!

 

[kea]

i don't know, tbh. it just popped into my head when i saw her!
Photo is calling her 'Tonks' for short, but i call her 'Toots' for short. she has lots of names
edit: i also call her 'my little princess'

 

[starfish]

she's on iams dry kitten food. and my sister said not to give her milk as it messes up some cats' digestion, so she's on water. the vet said this was fine.

Congrats on finally getting a cat.
Re the water, dont be surprised if she suddenly jumps into an empty bath to drink the tap water. Weve found all our cats drinking from them over the years.

 

[oddworld]

Bailey gets called 'My Little Man' and 'Poppet'

Poor thing

 

[oryx]

edit: i also call her 'my little princess'

I used to call my previous female cat (a Hello Kitty lookalike) that.

I regularly discovered she had pulled the book of that name out of the bookcase, probably thinking it was about her. True. And uncanny!

 

[Shirl]

Well done Kea, I'm glad you've got your own cat at last She looks lovely.

 

[Hellsbells]

btw - have you had her chipped or does she wear a collar with her name/tel no etc on?

 

[kea]

she's going to be chipped - the vet said we have to get her temperature, cat flu and conjunctivitis sorted first. if they've improved when we take her back for a follow-up appointment next week (which they should hopefully have done) then she might be able to have it done then!
we're getting her a collar this weekend. edit: a pretty red one

 

[LJo]

I think dry food is better, I remember picking up some tinned stuff and being horrified when I realised it had loads of added sugar! You wouldn't think you'd have to check the label of cat food as well as your own food...

I second the spider plant thing- if you've got one move it well out of reach.

Also be careful if you've got any beanbags. Very young cats, even if they are already working out how to use the litter tray, can sometimes mistake the lovely crunching of beans in a beanbag for litter! And there is not much you can do to resurrect a beanbag that stinks of cat piss.

Also, pick her up and hold her and touch her as much as you can, so she gets used to it. I'm sure the reason our two cats (both from home) have never scratched or bitten, even at the vets, is because from day one they have always been handled loads. It's also an idea to get your kitten used to you examinining her - just put her on your lap and gently open her mouth every couple of days, as if you were giving her a pill. If you get her used to this now, giving her worming tablets etc is so much easier!

 

[kea]

at the moment we're crushing up her worming tablets and mixing them in with about a teaspoonful of wet kitten food - she's eating it no problems.
i'm not going to give her wet food other than for eating tablets tho, and once she gets old enough i'll use tuna or somesuch instead of the tinned catfood for doing that. (my mum said tuna would be too rich for her at the moment).

the spiderplants are being re-potted in heavy-based bowls and moved to new locations this weekend.

i like the idea about handling her. she's a bit iffy about being picked up at the moment, sometimes she accepts it and sometimes she doesn't.
edit: she's getting kinda used to being handled cos we have to clean her eyes with a damp cotton wool ball twice a day and then give her her eyedrops. it's a learning curve for us as well, though - keeping her calm and securely-held and getting the job done quickly so she doesn't have time to struggle a lot!!

no beanbags, fortunately!!

 

[kea]

oh, one thing i was going to ask - at the moment, she's waking up about 7.30 and coming upstairs and climbing all over us on the bed this is ok (for me anyway!) during the week, because i get up around then anyway, but it could be a bit of a pain at the weekends (especially at the moment cos i feel completely sleep-deprived today cos i was out late last nite).
would it be best for me to close the bedroom door at night, so that she gets used to us not being accessible in the mornings? i was just thinking that maybe it'd help her get used to being self-sufficient when she first wakes up, knowing that we'll get up a bit later and then she'll get the attention and stroking she wants!
but then, cos there's only one of her, i feel like a complete cruel bastard leaving her to her own devices
how much is it fair to leave her on her own? (Photo is generally in during the morning but out in the afternoon).

 

[lighterthief]

oh, one thing i was going to ask - at the moment, she's waking up about 7.30 and coming upstairs and climbing all over us on the bed this is ok (for me anyway!) during the week, because i get up around then anyway, but it could be a bit of a pain at the weekends (especially at the moment cos i feel completely sleep-deprived today cos i was out late last nite).
would it be best for me to close the bedroom door at night, so that she gets used to us not being accessible in the mornings? i was just thinking that maybe it'd help her get used to being self-sufficient when she first wakes up, knowing that we'll get up a bit later and then she'll get the attention and stroking she wants!
but then, cos there's only one of her, i feel like a complete cruel bastard leaving her to her own devices
how much is it fair to leave her on her own? (Photo is generally in during the morning but out in the afternoon).

Nah, let her clamber away! You'll soon learn to ignore it and drift back to sleep. We have to sleep with the bedroom door shut (noisy neighbours) but the cats got upset about not seeing us, so we just installed a catflap in the bedroom door

 

[LJo]

We have always had a strict rule - no cats in the bedroom. We both find it difficult to sleep with cats crawling all over us, so we enforced this from the begining (oh, I sound really cruel now but all that involved was shutting the door!)

I would certainly start doing this now, before she gets too used to having access. She may mowl for a while but she will eventually get bored and wander off. If you keep this up and be consistent she'll eventually forget about the bedroom. I think she'll be fine, it's not cruel at all to leave a cat on their own for a few hours. Cats are very self-sufficient and all they bloody do is sleep anyway! It may help if she has somewhere to sleep in the living room that smells of you (er, you know what I mean), like an old jumper or T-shirt - then she can sit on that and feel comfy, or perhaps a couple of catnip toys that she can play with. I'd certianly recommend getting a cheapo scratching post as well cos she can sit/sleep on the top of that and feel like it's her little castle that she owns!

 

[Hellsbells]

well my cats have always been kept downstairs at night. I'd never be able to have a lie in otherwise. Very ocassionally I'll let them upstairs as a very special treat. Then I generally get kept awake all night by their purrs

If you just close the bedroom door, it's likely she'll scratch at it and cry and miaow outside, waking you up anyway. Better to keep her downstairs, in my experience. She'll get used to the routine and will be extra happy to see you when you get up.