New cat - a few questions please!

Kimitatsu

Petal wrote: »

Oh...and where do you get your day old chicks? I presume they are frozen?

Oh yes!! Half of my freezer is taken up with animal food :rolleyes:

We get ours from a wholesaler but you can buy them quite readily online or from reptile shops (many people feed them to snakes).

Will post you some pics up later

joshtbh

I was advised against a litter box with a lid even though that's what Poppy used as a baby because the Maine Coon tails are so big and bushy it can catch in the litter as they're scrabbling to cover the mess up. Mine's got a lip all the way round it which is designed to keep the litter in when she's kicking it around...... it half works. I still have a lot of hoovering up the bits (which Poppy is very unimpressed with! She hates the hoover big time)

golden_eagle

haha - mine hate hoovering time also... I don't intend to be using this litter tray for more than another 2 months after which they will be 6 months old, neutered and allowed out so will only be using their litter tray in the evenings.

Fire_Fox

joshtbh wrote: »

Would you mind if I ask a few more questions please?

1) What is your method of sorting out a used litter tray? I've been throwing all the litter in the tray away, cleaning the tray and putting full fresh litter down, but this can't be right surely? I've got through £5 worth of Catsan litter in 3 days that way! :O Although I am very keen on keeping my house odour free.....

Is the litter you are using clumping? If not, switch (slowly): I use Cats Best OkoPlus which is good for odour and flushable but does track. I have an extra large high sided tray filled deep with litter so nothing should hit the bottom, thus the tray doesn't need a complete clean out every five minutes. I scoop the clumps once or twice a day, depending if there is anything in the tray. I have had Noah over three weeks and we have got through 10 litres (including what is still in the tray). :money:

I have found with Noah that what he eats has a major bearing on what comes out the other end .... at his foster home he used to do a number two twice a day and they warned it was smelly. Since I changed to decent foods he only goes once a day and we only have a little smell if he does a rubbish job of burying it! Most people who raw feed say there is a lot less waste and it no longer smells. :T

If you are having to use a hooded tray to keep the smell in then ask yourself if you'd like to stick your head in there. No? Imagine being a cat with a much more sensitive nose ... I have a hooded tray as it's better for keeping the litter contained, but the hood is off at the moment and we have zero smell. If you are cleaning the tray out daily and you still have smells then look at litter and/ or diet.

BitterAndTwisted

joshtbh wrote: »

Would you mind if I ask a few more questions please?

1) What is your method of sorting out a used litter tray? I've been throwing all the litter in the tray away, cleaning the tray and putting full fresh litter down, but this can't be right surely? I've got through £5 worth of Catsan litter in 3 days that way! :O Although I am very keen on keeping my house odour free.....

If you use a decent clay/clumping litter you only need to remove the solids once or twice a day an then top up with some clean litter so it's deep enough for a proper dig and bury.

2) Is it normal that in the morning the cat goes nuts, running everywhere with no real reason? When she does it I feel like she may be going stir crazy Although she calms down a lot in the afternoon. She's dozing on my chair currently looking very regal :

Yes, completely normal for kittens and adult cats to have a mad half-hour: these often coincide with dawn and dusk as that's premium hunting-time for our feline darlings but the mood can occur at any time they please, like 3am if you're unlucky

I really only quoted you so I could keep looking at that adorable picture. Soooooo sweet and such a pretty face!

fullstop

Kimitatsu wrote: »

I have two Maine Coones and two Norwegian Forest Cats - I know sucker for punishment :rolleyes:!

All of mine seem to prefer moving water drinking out of the water feature - its a Maine Coon trait to pat and play with the water before they drink it! I have water bowls down for the dogs but usually I just end up topping up the water feature - its all clean and fresh so I dont worry about it.

Cats will find their own place to make their own, but a cardboard box is always a favourite in my house and if it makes her feel comfortable then so much the better.

I feed mine a mixture of dried kibble, I feed Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved and IAMS. The breeders will recommend whatever they are given cheap or free and Royal Canin seems to be a favourite. The cats do however get bored so I tend to buy a bag of each and mix it all together to give them a bit of variety. I also feed day old chicks which they like to "kill" before they eat and then when the weather is good they tend to go out and catch their own supper. Be warned that Maine Coones are prolific hunters and will come home with their prey to show you how clever they are!! :eek: I put collars with bells on mine to protect the birds but they often bring home rats, mice, baby rabbits and shrews for me to play with :rotfl:

This breed is very talkative, they talk when they are happy they talk when they are upset, they talk just to tell you they are home so dont worry too much about the meeowing, she was just telling eveyone about her new home.

You can get kitten kongs that you can fill with treats too, I have a couple and they are great. I would also suggest that you invest in a cat play centre - it will save your curtains! We have a big one the cats play on all the time and its worth it weight in gold as they have very sharp strong claws.

Enjoy your new baby :T

Another one with strange drinking habits, not keen on the bowl but loves drinking dregs of water left in the sink another of her little quirks is when I go for a wee and don't close the door tightly shut in she bounds in and peers over the edge.

Keep her locked in the kitchen at night, she does not seem to mind, let her into my bed some mornings after I have made some tea what a performance , she spends ages licking my legs and anything else , then she starts on herself, could not put up with that every night while trying to get some sleep, after about 30 minutes she settles down for a kip.

joshtbh

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I really only quoted you so I could keep looking at that adorable picture. Soooooo sweet and such a pretty face!

:rotfl: she's a beaut ey!?!!! Thanks for the compliment. To be honest I never do her face justice in the pics she always seems to do the tired eyes thing as soon as she realises the phone is pointing at her.

joshtbh

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Is the litter you are using clumping? If not, switch (slowly): I use Cats Best OkoPlus which is good for odour and flushable but does track. I have an extra large high sided tray filled deep with litter so nothing should hit the bottom, thus the tray doesn't need a complete clean out every five minutes. I scoop the clumps once or twice a day, depending if there is anything in the tray. I have had Noah over three weeks and we have got through 10 litres (including what is still in the tray). :money:

I have found with Noah that what he eats has a major bearing on what comes out the other end .... at his foster home he used to do a number two twice a day and they warned it was smelly. Since I changed to decent foods he only goes once a day and we only have a little smell if he does a rubbish job of burying it! Most people who raw feed say there is a lot less waste and it no longer smells. :T

If you are having to use a hooded tray to keep the smell in then ask yourself if you'd like to stick your head in there. No? Imagine being a cat with a much more sensitive nose ... I have a hooded tray as it's better for keeping the litter contained, but the hood is off at the moment and we have zero smell. If you are cleaning the tray out daily and you still have smells then look at litter and/ or diet.

What does clumping mean? It's non clumping actually - it's Catsan, I got the most expensive I could get thinking "right, this'll prob last a while, and hopefully wil be the best at covering the smell up".

which is good for odour and flushable but does track

What does flushable and track mean sorry?

If by a hooded tray you mean it's like a little house they go in to do their business then they do look pretty good for keeping the litter from going all over the floor, I thought it made sense from what the dealer said that a Maine Coon with a massive tail could get it messed up which is the reason I didnt go for one of those.

timmmers

You really need a little shovel with slats in it that allow litter to fall through when unused...clumping is when pee gets into litter and makes a solid mass so that you can fish it out of the tray and leave only unused stuff in there. Flushable...down the loo and it doesn't block anything.

My cats had a hooded tray for a few days...one digs all the litter out sometimes...but sadly they decided to sleep in it so it had to go.

A plastic or waterproof mat under the tray helps both with near misses and colelcting the odd stray litter overspills.

t

PS The "tired eyes thing" isn't the phone...it's you. It's how cats greet ..try it, do it at her and she'll respond likewise.

Fire_Fox

joshtbh wrote: »

What does clumping mean? It's non clumping actually - it's Catsan, I got the most expensive I could get thinking "right, this'll prob last a while, and hopefully wil be the best at covering the smell up".

What does flushable and track mean sorry?

If by a hooded tray you mean it's like a little house they go in to do their business then they do look pretty good for keeping the litter from going all over the floor, I thought it made sense from what the dealer said that a Maine Coon with a massive tail could get it messed up which is the reason I didnt go for one of those.

Clumping literally means the wee makes the litter clump together, you simply scoop the lump out with a plastic scoop with slots in to let the unused litter fall back into the tray. That gets all the doings out but doesn't waste litter. :T Some cheap clumping litters don't clump very well.

Flushable means you can flush the clumps down the toilet and the smell with it! Would have to be a biodegradable litter - paper, wood, corn, wheat - you can't flush clay or crystal litters. I use flushable because it is better for the environment and as I live in a flat I don't want my kitchen bin full of kitty doings! Tracking means the litter walks all over the floor on the cats paws: the best litters for clumping and smell are often the worst for tracking. :rolleyes: