A beginner's crash course on kittens?

[pompeiii]

So it appears we are getting a kitten in the next few days. Super excited, but definitely new to cats (beyond family/friends cats and cat sitting for them).

Back story: kitten is approximately 2.5 months old, appears healthy, etc. My aunt’s boss found her as she was dumped by a pickup truck at a nearby park. Boss and his wife have taken in kitten while trying to rehome. They’re bringing her to the vet Friday for shots and a wellness visit and assuming that goes well, she’s ours.

As a result, I have LOTS of questions. I have 2 dogs, both of which should be fine with cats, but will be introduced slowly and with supervision (they’ve been OK in the past). They will only be alone together once we know for sure everyone is OK (this may be weeks, may be months, or however long it takes). Kitten will have her own, dog free bedroom for the time being with a bed, water, litter, food, etc.

Food recommendations? We’re planning to go the wet food route, but specific kitten recommendations? Should we go 100% wet or introduce some dry? I’m finding out what they’ve been feeding her and can plan to transition slowly over to something else.

Water? Bowl or fountain?

Litter? She’s coming with a box, but what type of litter is best for a kitten? Once she’s here and settled, we can explore other boxes.

Must have toys or scratching posts?

Anything else I should know? Assuming this all works out, pictures to come later… Don’t want to jinx anything.

[french_fry]

Kitty!!!

Kittens: first they’re suicidally dumb (don’t leave the toilet seat up!), then they enter what my BFF fondly calls “the a$$hole stage” and finally somewhere between 1 and ??? years old they settle down. Good thing they’re so cute!

If you can feed 3/4 meals a day I’d go 100% wet, it seems to be very effective in preventing UTI issues down the line. I mix the wet food with some water for extra moisture.

If you can’t feed more than twice a day I don’t think its a huge problem to feed a little grain free dry. Mine gets barfy if she doesn’t eat every few hours but I’m not sure how common that actually is.

Water bowl is fine, I find that if I use a bowl I replace the water at least daily vs. a fountain I usually leave longer so I prefer the bowl. They really just want their water to be fresh.

I wouldn’t plan on leaving her alone with the dogs for a good while yet. If she’s really only 10ish weeks you may want to keep her confined to one room at first anyway. (Just re-read your post and it sounds like you’re planning on doing that - awesome!)

IME flat cardboard scratchers are key to preventing furniture and carpet damage.

Something I didn’t really know about kittens is that they can be a lot like puppies in that they’ll try to ingest all sorts of bad things. I don’t mean to scare you but bowel obstruction surgery is $$$ so I’d do some basic kitten-proofing if possible.

The best thing you could probably do for her is get her a second kitten buddy.

Good luck! Post pics. Kittens are the best.

[eventerchick517]

How fun! Congrats on your new addition!

When I first got my kitten we gave her free choice grain free dry(Core Wellness Kitten) and 3-4 wet meals a day. She was pretty tiny so needed all the extra calories she could get! It has been a bit of trial and error finding what flavors she prefers best. I am quite happy with her grain free diet, her coat quality is excellent and the vet is very happy with her health. We feed both Core Wellness Kitten and the grain free version of Natural Balance. The Natural Balance is a bit cheaper and has higher fat/protein than the Core Wellness, but my kitten likes the gravy/wetness of the Core Wellness.

Originally I provided her with her own water bowl, but now that she is in mixed company she prefers the dogs big bowl. Go figure. I have heard good things about fountains, but haven’t tried one myself yet.

I tend to go with whatever litter is cheapest and unscented. If she is super tiny, try using a disposable shallow tinfoil baking pan for a litter box at first. My kitten had a hard time getting into her litterbox as the sides were too high for her to climb comfortably. Now that she is bigger she prefers her covered litter box to the open one, though I still provide both.

I like this scratcher best. We bought a cat tree with sisal and carpet, but she prefers this one. YMMV. A laser was the best toy I ever bought! Highly entertaining for all of us and a good way to get some of that endless kitten energy out! The current favorite toy is this cat tower/ball chaser thing. Hours of kitten entertainment and a good toy for her to play with on her own. We don’t really have a ton of soft/small toys since the dog usually tries to eat them…

Nail trimmers are your friend! Kitten nails quickly turn into sharp stabby talons! Teaching her how to be good for a nail trim has saved my furniture quite a bit of wear! I would avoid the guillotine type clippers as the can crush the nail and be painful.

Kittens are the best! Lots of pictures is a must as they grow so dang quick!

[Pep_n_Ann]

We got our kitten at 5 months, so a bit older than yours. I’m feeding Nutro Max wet food and Taste of the Wild dry. She would not eat any of the grain free wet food options. I feed wet twice a day and leave the dry out free choice.

Don’t play with kitty with your hands. Always use a toy. Someone played with ours with hands and she bites. A LOT. She’s getting better, but it has been a lot of work.

[Preposterous_Ponies]

My advice: Two kittens are better than one!

[saje]

Get her nails trimmed short - much easier on skin, clothes, furniture while she’s learning how to be a cat.

Take this opportunity while she’s small and not queen of the world yet to accustom her to having her feet and her mouth messed with. At some point in her life she’ll need medication, and if she already knows that fingers on & in her face are no big deal and usually come accompanied by something delicious, your life (and hers) down the road will be MUCH easier. And I keep my cats’ claws trimmed so that my furniture doesn’t suffer, and so that occasional spats between them don’t result in blood. It also make their kneading sessions on my gut much less painful!

Have fun!

[pompeiii]

Thanks for all the advice so far. Hitting the feed store tonight to seek out some canned food and grain free kitten food. As much as I’d like to do 100% wet, I think I might be mixing some since I don’t think I can do 4 meals a day (all animals get fed 2x/day right now including the horses). With the dry, I can always look into an auto feeder if she needs more smaller meals. Right now, from what I hear, she has a big appetite.

New question: She’s getting 100% dry right now, but it’s not kitten food so I’ll need to switch her. Right now I haven’t been able to get the name of the food she’s eating so, while I’m hoping they’ll give me a little bit of her current food, I’m not holding my breath (she’s been with them since Monday night). I’m going to get some canned pumpkin to help her stomach, but any other ideas on how to blindly switch her food? I can introduce the canned slowly and work her up to an acceptable amount, but what about the dry? I want to make sure I feed her enough but I also want to be cognizant of her belly.

She’s using a normal litter pan now so we should be good (she’s coming with her pan), but we can always get a little pan if necessary.

Scratch boxes are on the list. So is litter. Food. Anything else? We’re SO excited! I’ll definitely get her used to nail trimming immediately and same with her mouth.

As for her age, who really knows? They were guessing 2-3 months as she’s a tiny thing, but the vet will be able to give a better estimate. Her favorite things right now are eating and being held.

[pompeiii]

So our kitty is here and settled in immediately. All she wants to do is be held and petted. She purrs more or less non stop and loves to eat. She’s using her litter box and enjoyed sleeping on the real bed in her room.

The dogs are worked up and crazy, but I’m sure they’ll adjust. If they here her meow, they cry/bark. They did meet last night through the crate and while everyone was overwhelmed, they calmed down some once they found out what was in the room. Over time, I’m sure they’ll settle. We’re going to try 5 minute introductions through the crate a few times a day, 1 dog at a time (they work each other up together whereas alone, they are much quieter). She swatted and hissed at the lab when she put her head up to the crate and the lab bolted from the room. After that she (the lab) laid down next to the crate and me where it was safe. Any other tips?

But, because the most important part of this is pictures, here you go…

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb108/katzs44/IMG_0046_zpsgmntipba.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb108/katzs44/IMG_0030_zps9lp8dv3l.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb108/katzs44/IMG_0020_zpspfjj8lip.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb108/katzs44/IMG_0017_zpsaiyic6r0.jpg

[clint]

Your new kitten is darling. I agree with everything french fry said, plus two kittens are better than one.

[skykingismybaby1]

In case you missed it…two kittens are better than one.

[DMK]

The real purpose of kitten food is to supplement the protein missing from grain-laden food, so if you get a good grain free dry or wet, being branded for kittens is less important

[suz]

I guarantee you will laugh harder than you EVER HAVE when watching multi kittens play. And I bet every other cat lady here will attest to that as well!

[QUOTE=Preposterous Ponies!;8398134]
My advice: Two kittens are better than one! :D[/QUOTE]