new cat or kitten advice (merged)

mancbird

Hi everyone,
Thank you all for your responses about my earlier kitten query
The kittens have taken well to eating the James Wellbegood and the Royal Canin - in fact Missy is becoming a little greedy guts!

I have a few questions and I would really appreciate some advice

1. Missy keeps pushing Mollie out of the way when they are eating and then going on to scoff all the food! How can I stop her from doing this as Mollie is more placid and is just letting her do this - I want Mollie to get her fair share. At the moment things are ok becaue I have been off work and have been able to make sure Mollie is getting enough but I am back at work tomorrow!
2. Both kittens are using the litter tray really well but have a tendancy to flick litter all over the place. Has anyone tried the Van Ness covered litter trays and are they any good?
3. For some odd reason both kittens keep eating the litter from the litter tray - yuk! Why are they doing this and how can I stop them? I tried changing the type of litter we are using (now we're using non-clumping catsan) but they are still nibbling on it!

Think that is all for now but thank you in advance for your replies - you were really helpful last time

Nomad25

1] "Fair shares" is a human emotion, animals are born survivors. It's called 'the pecking order' and perfectly normal in the animal world - no matter how many you have, there will always be a top cat and a bottom cat. Mollie won't starve, she will just get used to Millie taking over - and will eat what's left. While they are kittens, I wouldn't worry about Millie being greedy, it is as she gets older, you may have to watch her intake to avoid her being a porker. Alternatively, you could only feed them when you can monitor them.

2] Kittens [and older cats sometimes] are messy with litter. They should get more accomplished on litter usage as they get older. However, some are a bit over-enthusiastic about covering up their poo/pee.

You will get what is called 'tracking' with litter - it gets into their paws and as they move around drops onto your nice clean floor! Covered trays are good, there are so many varieties and if you have cats indoors for any length of time, can keep odours down. A lot of the makes have a flap on the front, just like a house cat flap.

I do not know why they eat litter - I know they do and have just compared it to a baby sticking everything in its mouth, until it knows better. Again they usually grow out of it.

HTH. Enjoy while you can.

~Chameleon~

Oh dear, we seem to be all of a jumble here! Who's been playing with the magic merging wand again? :rotfl:

Iguana

mancbird wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Thank you all for your responses about my earlier kitten query
The kittens have taken well to eating the James Wellbegood and the Royal Canin - in fact Missy is becoming a little greedy guts!

I have a few questions and I would really appreciate some advice

1. Missy keeps pushing Mollie out of the way when they are eating and then going on to scoff all the food! How can I stop her from doing this as Mollie is more placid and is just letting her do this - I want Mollie to get her fair share. At the moment things are ok becaue I have been off work and have been able to make sure Mollie is getting enough but I am back at work tomorrow!
2. Both kittens are using the litter tray really well but have a tendancy to flick litter all over the place. Has anyone tried the Van Ness covered litter trays and are they any good?
3. For some odd reason both kittens keep eating the litter from the litter tray - yuk! Why are they doing this and how can I stop them? I tried changing the type of litter we are using (now we're using non-clumping catsan) but they are still nibbling on it!

Think that is all for now but thank you in advance for your replies - you were really helpful last time

Are you feeding them from the same bowl? If so feed them in separate bowls; on opposite sides of the room if necessary; this won't stop them eating from each others bowls though.

I can't help with the litter problems; however would like to know how to get an arthritic cat to use a covered litter tray as she now finds it really difficult to get out the cat flap.

Nomad25

Try one of low level [depth similar to an open litter tray] pan base type ones and remove the flap [if it comes with one].

Does she use an ordinary open one ok?

If she does, so you shouldn't have any trouble switching her over.

How old is she?

Iguana

Nearly 15.

She has in the past used an open one, but only on an irregular basis.

1sue23

Hiya,

Just reading all the posts, I just love cats!

About eating the cat litter, both of mine did it when they were younger, I wouldn't worry too much they grew out of it after about a week when they figured cat litter isn't very nice to eat!

I just have a quick question, I have two cats already and have been offered another kitten......had a scare recently when the oldest one had to go to the vets after eating a toad, it only cost me £30 but now I am thinking I should stop listening to my Mum and get insurance for them. Does anyone know roughly how much it would cost to insure two, possibly three cats?

Nomad25

Hi Iguana

Sorry for delay in reply.

I've dealt with a lot of geriatric cats and they learn remarkably quickly. I would be very surprised if your little old lady doesn't adapt to a covered litter tray [based on previous comments - low pan, flap off]. Especially if it's wet and windy outside.

Given the option, she may initially still want to go out, but if there's an indoor alternative, given some time, she should opt for it. Of course the other way is to give her no option but to use it, eg lock the flap overnight.

Personally I prefer the optional approach. One of my old ladies will go out for a potter, come back in to go to the toilet, then goes out again!

Site the tray on the floor [upstairs or down, some people have one on each floor!] of the house where she spends most of her time, put it in a non busy area to give her some privacy. Make sure she knows where it is, e.g. put her in gently a couple of times - bet she comes straight out again - [lol], but it will have registered.

Cats, like ageing humans can have unreliable bladder control, so she will need it to be easily accessible and sometimes their aim can be off. HTH. Good luck.

Iguana

Nomad25 wrote: »

Hi Iguana

Sorry for delay in reply.

I've dealt with a lot of geriatric cats and they learn remarkably quickly. I would be very surprised if your little old lady doesn't adapt to a covered litter tray [based on previous comments - low pan, flap off]. Especially if it's wet and windy outside.

Given the option, she may initially still want to go out, but if there's an indoor alternative, given some time, she should opt for it. Of course the other way is to give her no option but to use it, eg lock the flap overnight.



Site the tray on the floor [upstairs or down, some people have one on each floor!] of the house where she spends most of her time, put it in a non busy area to give her some privacy. Make sure she knows where it is, e.g. put her in gently a couple of times - bet she comes straight out again - [lol], but it will have registered.

.

She won't go out the cat flap; going out is probably easier than coming in; she will come in through the cat flap, the entance into the house is higher than the exit out.

Its been in the same place for a month and she's using behind the settee for a loo. I have put her in it and she doesn't seem to know why its there and comes straight out again, she has used a litter tray intermittently in the past but wasn't litter trained when I got her.

suzzi2704

Hi guys

Basically I really want to get a pet cat to releive my stresses and stuff... It's a few years since we have had cats as we had unfortunately - two run over on the main road by our house.
Now the question is - If the animal refuge do a home visit and ask questions, will they still allow us to adopt a cat, knowing we live by a busy road and have lost cats before? When we adopted the previous two we were living in a much quieter area.
I'm also having trouble deciding whether it is fair or not - on the one hand it will be a better life for the animal that being sat in a cage at the animal refuge.... but on the other - it has a reasonable chance of getting run over within a few years of living here.