new cat or kitten advice (merged)

tealady

Do cats tie you down? I can only answer with the following quote "Dogs have owners, cats have staff".
Yes ANY pet can be a tie, but then so can humans. If you really love cats / dogs/ whatever then you will have considered their needs as well as yours.
Sometimes NOT having a pet is the best thing you can do for them. If you want stress relief try exercise or yoga, or if you really think you would like a pet then go and talk to rescue centres 1st as they will have loads of advice for you before you commit yourself.
Good luck whatever you decide.

FrugalFriend

I'd agree cats are fairly self-sufficient, but kittens are a whole different ball o' wax! I've just finished looking after a litter of 3, it was almost a full time job. Of course depends on the age, assuming the kitty is weaned she shouldn't be a problem. Although I think they need feeding more regularly than a cat, plus the worming etc.. so I'd suggest avoiding the kitten and taking only the cat.

pink_piggy17

Do you really want a cat? Are you prepared to look after him for possibly the next 20 years or so? (I know of several cats who have lived past 20)
also, you really need 2 cats, they are much happier in a pair. I personally would never keep 1 cat alone.
cats are generally fine on their own for a while or overnight as long as they have fresh food/water/litter as they don't usually crave human company/attention like a dog does, they also don't need to be walked/taken out to the garden to pee like a dog. They aren't of course self-amusing enough to be left alone for a week or something if you want to go on holiday! In that way though, they aren't a tie, as if you do want to go on holiday, you can simply book them into a Cattery or hire a petsitter.
Having a pet is rewarding though and great company, as long as you treat them well. It is very rewarding to adopt of course and give a previously mistreated or neglected cat/dog a new lease of life.

financially, initial costs would be neutering/spaying and vaccinations (if the rescue hadn't done this already) and equipment such as a bed, some bowls, cat scratching post/play equipment & toys.

regular costs would be food & litter and regular vet check ups, vaccinations and worming.

rita-rabbit

I tend to agree with previous posts on this: if you think of a pet as a bind it's probably best not to have one!

I love my two dearly, it's possible to keep costs down by shopping around & planning (reading this site deffo helps), ordering food, litter, accessories & meds online etc. I use a cat feeder when I need to leave them for extended periods (weekends) for longer periods either I get someone to come & feed them & clean litter trays or I take them to my parents & they stay there until I return from my hols. It's a responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly.

Deals_2

much are the "running costs"!!! good to be prepared...

pink_piggy17 wrote: »

Do you really want a cat? Are you prepared to look after him for possibly the next 20 years or so? (I know of several cats who have lived past 20)
also, you really need 2 cats, they are much happier in a pair. I personally would never keep 1 cat alone.
cats are generally fine on their own for a while or overnight as long as they have fresh food/water/litter as they don't usually crave human company/attention like a dog does, they also don't need to be walked/taken out to the garden to pee like a dog. They aren't of course self-amusing enough to be left alone for a week or something if you want to go on holiday! In that way though, they aren't a tie, as if you do want to go on holiday, you can simply book them into a Cattery or hire a petsitter.
Having a pet is rewarding though and great company, as long as you treat them well. It is very rewarding to adopt of course and give a previously mistreated or neglected cat/dog a new lease of life.

financially, initial costs would be neutering/spaying and vaccinations (if the rescue hadn't done this already) and equipment such as a bed, some bowls, cat scratching post/play equipment & toys.

regular costs would be food & litter and regular vet check ups, vaccinations and worming.

shelly

pink_piggy17 wrote: »

also, you really need 2 cats, they are much happier in a pair. I personally would never keep 1 cat alone.

I know opinions differ but from experience I don't agree. We rescued our oldest cat roughly 14 years ago and she was the only cat in the house until we moved a year ago and have now taken on another rescue cat since living here.
I can honestly say she doesn't seem any different now she has company. She is just the same old Coco. They don't spend any time together, Lily is usually tearing about the garden whilst Coco is sunbathing her old bones. Unless it pours down, then they both come inside.
They have a bed each which are side by side but Lily likes to sleep on the worktop (they have the run of the utility room so that's not as unhygienic as it sounds )

spookylukey

Please don't get a cat or kitten if you are not 100% commited to the idea, they are a 'bind' as you put it and are also expensive, they may well live for 20 years so it's a big commitment.

Deals wrote: »

if the rescue centre dont do all the basics how much are the "running costs"!!! good to be prepared...

My kittens are over a year old now so the costs have changed slightly now as I feed them a different food but here's what my two kittens cost when I first got them.

Monthly costs

Natures menu kitten food (high quality 70% meat) - £21.95 for 60 pouches
PAH Dry kitten food (high meat content - has virtually identical ingredients to JWB) - £7 for 2kg
Kitten milk - £10 (20 bottles, they were addicted )
Chick crumb (flushable) litter lasts one month - £8 per sack
Pet Insurance - £14
Money put aside towards annual boosters - £5 (flu and enteritis booster £28.50 each)
Flea/worm treatments - £8.50 (24 Frontline - treated once a month / 8 Drontal - treated every 3 months / 1 can Indorex as a precaution)
Toys/treats - £5

£78.95 so around £40 per kitten per month.

The start up costs were more scary for me:

£120 Adoption x 2
£97 Neutering when old enough x 2
£40 Microchipping when old enough x 2
£83 Vaccination course x 2
£115 Tall scratcher
£85 Beds & Toys
£28 Carrier x 1 (already had one)
£24 Hooded litter trays x 2

Insurance is absolutely essential, my childhood cat lived to almost 19 so she wasn't insured as it wasn't really very common back then, by the time I considered it she already had too many pre-existing conditions to make it worthwhile. I spent close to 5k on vets bills (hyperthyroid/CRF) in the last 4 or 5 years of her life. Already my two perfectly healthy kittens have racked up over £600 in vets bills (not including routine neutering, vaccination, microchipping etc) - investigation into panting as a kitten (he turned out to be completely normal ), infection in his paw after hurting it when jumping down off something he shouldn't have been on in the first place :rolleyes:, stung paw.

Mittens124

Hi

I'm hand rearing a kitten that is 3 days old today but I have never done this before, not straight from birth anyway. I've had experience before but only with kittens from about 2 weeks old and onwards when mums milk is in short supply, too many kittens or illness.

But this time I took the kitten away from mum straight away as the kitten that we have named Asha (meaning Hope) was severly underweight, very small, weak and had trouble taking her first few breaths. I know she is the runt and I was willing to let nature take its course but my OH refused to let her give up and die. So we have to hand raise her, she has gained a bit of weight and is feeding well from a small animal feeding syringe with teat filled with Lactol (kitten and puppy milk) but is still not strong enough to be returned to her mum and fight with her brothers and sisters to get the chance to feed.

I was just wondering if anyone had any advise or had done this before?

I haven't got my hopes up as to her pulling through but my OH is smitten by her and will try anything to keep her fighting.

P.S I have just given her her second bath and she seems to love it, i need to bath her often as she gets in a bit of a mess when we get her to wee and poo. I hope she pulls through as i'm starting to fall for her charms :A

Sirbendy

keep going, it sound like you're doing things OK..:) I've only become a cat owner in the last couple of years, but our newest one was advertised as "ready to go"...blue eyes, tiny little ball..4-5 weeks old tops. Sold from a cage in a cupboard under the stairs with no lighting or parent cat.

First thing I did was call the RSPCA, second thing was get him home as fast as poss, a warm bath to remove all the muck he was plastered with, a warm towel to wrap up in and some mushed up "high build" food (from the vet, for big cat when he had his noodles chopped) on a plate with milk mixed in.

Little and often feeds of that, some teaching him to eat and drink "normally" and use a tray, and the rest he picked up off big cat.

He's 14 weeks this week..we weren't sure he'd make it either. According the the vet he weighed 450g when we got him, and he was too little for her to check over properly. I'm looking forward to taking him back.

Sagz_2

Have hand reared many litter of puppies - but only one litter of kittens. They were bought to me at about 3 days old when mum had abandoned them. I treated them just as I had the pups and managed to raise 3 out of the 4.

I started off by feeding every 2 hours, very small amounts of Cimicat (about 2 ml) but if they were squarky I fed them and then set the alarm for 2 hours. I stimulated them to pee & poo after every feed. I found it useful to keep a chart of who ate what and who produced what from the other end - it soon showed that the runt of the litter had a digestive problem and despite Vet help she died at about 10 days old.

When feeding you need to take care that the kit is swallowing and not inhaling. I didn't bath them until they were weaned, I'd worry that they would get cold and use up valuable energy keeping warm. Mine slept on a well wrapped hot water bottle - or on my lap in the evenings

Please pm if you'd like more info or a chat on MSN

Good Luck xxx