possible issues with hand reared kittens?

emlou2009

a friend of mine was recently adopted by a stray cat, and the short story is she gave birth to a litter a few weeks later, killed some of the kittens and abandoned the rest. she has been hand rearing the 3 remaining kittens and is looking for homes for them as she cant look after them herself, she already has a cat that isnt too impressed about them taking up residence in his territory! if she cant home them then they will have to go to the rspca.

i have a kitten of about 4-5 months old, a male that hasnt been done yet, and i've been wanting to get him a little friend for a while now so i'm quite interested in taking one of them, but what would be the potential issues in taking on a hand reared kitten? would it be any different to taking on a kitten that isnt hand reared?

spookylukey

I had two hand reared kittens that were dumped on a skip - they were two of the most loving affectionate cats that you could ask for. I think there is a chance the kitten will be more people focused but as he/she has other siblings they should develop cat social skills too. I say go for it!

rachiee

How old are the kittens?? I have cared for a few kittens from a tiny ages as people think my house is some sort of a rescue centre!! We live in a tiny village but we always seem to have animals dumped on us.. all my cats that i have cared for from a young age are a absoulote joy and i wouldnt swap them for the world

emlou2009

i think you've both told me what i wanted to hear

my main concern is litter training, as i know this is something a cat learns from its mother. i'm not 100% sure how old they are but she said they arent quite ready to go, which i assume means they are about a month old. she says they are litter trained but she has them in a puppy crate when they're not being fed/groomed so there isnt anywhere else they would go IYSWIM?

picklepick

Dont worry too much about the litter training. Cats are naturally very clean and creatures of habit. They will be quite easy to litter train even if they arent when u get them. They just have to be shown where the right place is for them to go.

I say go fo it. We've recently introduced a male kitten to our older cat and they;re now best friends!

Rev

My youngest cat was from a feral cat, sadly his mother died a week after having a litter, there were two kittens still alive. I took one and my cousin took the other. So he was hand reared from about a week old (the vet thinks). He's the most adorable, affectionate, lovable cat I've ever met. His brother is a fabulous cat too. Litter training was very easy once he was on solid food I'd just put him in the litter tray after every meal and when he woke up. After a day or so he was taking himself there.

emlou2009

oooh i think i'm going to have to take one if they're so affectionate!!

just waiting for my friend to say when is convenient to go and have a play with them :j

emlou2009

just an update to say we went to see them, they are adorable! she thinks they are about 3 weeks old now, i misunderstood and what really happened was her friend had been feeding a pregnant stray that gave birth in their shed and abandoned them. they think what may have happened was the mother cat got killed on the main road just outside their house, poor thing. when her friend found the kittens 3 of them were dead and these 3 were still alive, but she couldnt care for them with the 2-3 hourly feeds etc. she rang round 9 local animal shelters that all refused to take them or said they would have them PTS :eek: so she asked my friend to look after them knowing what a animal nut she is!

they are going to start on proper food this week and then she will start litter training them. i did say i couldnt take one until it is properly trained i couldnt have a non-trained kitten bumbling around as my son is just starting to crawl :eek:

they are all so cute, i loved the runt of the litter cos his ears are wonky lol one is further down one side of his head, but he is quite quiet so i reluctantly said i would have one of the others cos my cat is quite boisterous! i should have taken a picture :doh: he is a gorgeous tabby male with spotty peachy coloured belly markings! :j

emlou2009

went to see them again yesterday, unfortunately the runt had to be put down as his insides werent fully formed so there are only two now, but they are absolutely gorgeous, and getting so big!

only "problem" is, my little man is flatly refusing to wean, so he is going to stay with surrogate mummy for a bit longer than his 8 weeks. although i am now waiting for her to turn round and say that she cant part with them and that she is going to keep them as she has got so attached to them, so i am trying to distance myself a little bit

she is using paper cat litter which absolutely stinks and feeding them (trying to feed mine :rolleyes:) uber super expensive special food pouches :eek: so i am really hoping he doesnt get too used to them!!

here he is, relaxing while his sister attacks him hehe

Fire_Fox

What an adorable kitten! You will need to keep him on the same food while he settles into your house, otherwise he may get the runs. I've been looking into the ingredients of premium dry foods and pouches and shocked by the (absence of) meat content. Even many of the premium branded pouches are only 4% proper meat!! :eek: So far the best value is Pets at Home Purely in small tins which is 50% fish and £2.75 per kg.