New cat - a few questions please!

choille

What a beautiful cat.

Re the water thing. I used to live in a house that was on the mains - the cats wouldn't drink the tap water - neither would we! They'd go out & drink out of puddles. I used to fill their water bowls from a stream & same with the hens - they wouldn't drink tap water either - it's the chlorine & additives in it.
Maybe different with your cat, but maybe try rain water.

joshtbh

Thanks for all the compliments, the photos I've posted make her look a bit bigger than she is I think, but it's quite hard to get her to pose with her eyes open for a photo!

Thanks for the tip Choille, I'll look at getting a water butt and see if she prefers the water out of that!

Fire_Fox

joshtbh wrote: »

Thanks fire fox. She doesn't have any toys actually, I think i'll get a Slim Cat ball as you suggest, which Puppy Kong would be best do you think? A squeaky one perhaps?

Do you leave a light on for your cat at night?

Hi Petal - thanks for that. I should explain more, we feed it Royal Canin 31 Maine Coon biscuits for her to graze on, but a Whiskas pouch once in the morning and once at night. Perhaps I should experiment with different brands.

Get a small standard puppy Kong that has a hole to fill with food. Check out the Purrsinourhearts shop for toys - they import from America and everything is brilliant, all proceeds to charity. I don't leave a light on and Noah still plays - if you get the Turbo Track you can buy a flashing ball for it!! :cool:

Read the ingredients on the foods you have at present, you are looking for the first ingredient to be meat (not cereals or derivatives), IMHO breed specific foods are a con, cats are all the same species. It's good you have started with the foods she is used to, be sure to switch over slowly to avoid tummy upsets.

I've also just started raw feeding - alongside high quality commercial foods for convenience - and Noah just goes crazy for it! Raw bones will clean your kitten's teeth (kibble doesn't that is a myth) so try her with half a raw chicken wing - kittens apparently take to raw very easily. If you are already shutting her in a room with a washable floor, a raw wing can be given to keep her quiet at bedtime, Noah is a good half an hour munching on his!!

Spudette

1) She doesnt seem to be drinking, I've seen her take at most two "licks" of her water bowl, i've tried changing the type of bowl. Is this normal? It's her first full day in the house today

Give her a little time to settle in if she doesn't pick up drinking soon maybe get her a Catmate water fountain as they encourage drinking. I use this for my Cat and he loves it.

2) I havn't witnessed her go to the loo but I did hear her going nuts in her litter tray seemingly trying to dig up the plastic lining I put in the tray. I've now tried just litter in the tray with no lining to see if she prefers it, has anyone else's cat taken objection to a litter tray lining?

I don't use liners with my Cat it is an extra expense that I don't really see much point of as long as you clean out the litter tray regularly.

3) She keeps prying behind the TV and where all the wires are near the Xbox, how can I stop her going near them when I finally have to leave her alone?

Ahhh if you find a solution to this let me know. My cat is always doing this and short of building a fort in front of the TV I don't know what else to suggest.

4) She meowed for 15-20 mins last night when we left her on her own to go to sleep, it felt horrible leaving her on her own but thought it's best to get her into our pattern asap. Is this normal too, and do you think the meowing will stop at bedtime?

Just don't pay any attention to the cats meowing, it is an attention thing. Make sure that the Cat is ok and then go to bed and ignore him.

HTH

picklepick

Our kittens also love the back of the tv, we made a trip to ikea and got some of the cable tidy covers that they sell. Its like a plastic tube that covers all your wires. it keeps them all tidy aswell and little kitty cant get to them! You can probably get them from other shops aswell, b&q maybe? we were in ikea anyway and they weren't expensive.

joshtbh

thanks for the advice and i'm glad to see i'm not the only one who's TV setup is interesting to cats.

Spudette - i'm extra glad to hear that last bit of advice to ignore the meowing at night as I felt really harsh ignoring her last night her first night. We even sat in darkness for a while listening to her meow and felt awful. I'll take your advice though as it's for her best that she knows our schedule surely.

how often do you change the water in that cat mate fountain? they look pretty good. I caught her taking a few sips of water earlier though so fingers crossed she's OK!!!:D

loulou123

My cat completely ignored the cat fountain and now has her own cup we fill with water and she drinks from! (she does have a bowl of her own too, but rarely touches it.)

When we 1st got her, she used to sit behind the TV (think she felt safe, squashed in, in the warm, but she hasnt done it for years now. So maybe yours will give up the habit, once it becomes acustomed to its environment and abit braver.

picklepick

haha yes loulou our cats prefer to drink out of a glass like the ones we drink from. I think they like it being raised up and not having to crouch down

joshtbh

I have noticed that her other favourite place is underneath the washing rack, so there must be something in that that she likes to feel enclosed.

joshtbh

Does everyone think it'll be OK if I relocate her litter tray? In the same room but just under the advice that it should be private. I don't want to upset her by moving it somewhere she's not used to seeing it.

thanks for the advice on moving the water so its not by the food too, i'll try that as well.