im getting 2 kittens...what do i need before they arrive?and any advice/tips

paddypaws101

Quote
Our vet only recommends Dry food too much water added to wet to bulk it out damages the cats kidneys.

Sorry, but water does not damage the kidneys, complete rubbish.
Your vet will recommend dry food because Hills pay him to do so.

ljonski

A local vet on local radio last year said he would never give his cats just dry food. I had a lot of trouble with Mr hop with his urinary tract until he went onto the wet stuff.

Apricot

I don't want to preach to you OP but have a search through some of the threads on this board about cat food and you may consider changing from Whiskas. I always found that the lower quality food like whiskas gave my cats terrible smelling poos and since changing them onto food with higher meat content they are looking (and smelling) much healthier!

Mankysteve

paddypaws101 wrote: »

Quote
Our vet only recommends Dry food too much water added to wet to bulk it out damages the cats kidneys.

Sorry, but water does not damage the kidneys, complete rubbish.
Your vet will recommend dry food because Hills pay him to do so.

Too much water will damage your,mine and a cats kidneys they have to work too hard to remove the excess water. Many wet cats food are up to 75% water.

Since switching from wet cat food to dry with a new cat compared to old cats her health is much better for her age, she's never been taken to vets for illness while our older cat would have had a few trips by the same time.

Apricot

Mankysteve wrote: »

Too much water will damage your,mine and a cats kidneys they have to work too hard to remove the excess water. Many wet cats food are up to 75% water.

Since switching from wet cat food to dry with a new cat compared to old cats her health is much better for her age, she's never been taken to vets for illness while our older cat would have had a few trips by the same time.

Sorry I don't agree with this, Wet food is extremely important to a cats diet, feeding only dry food is completely unnatural and high quality wet food IMO is far more beneficial to a cat linky

Raw is ideal but if you don't have the time or inclination look into a high meat wet food (Bozita) supplemented with some high quality dry food (Orijen).

ERICS_MUM

When my Eric first arrived at 8 weeks, I left my bedroom window open (1st floor) without thinking and he jumped out, breaking his little leg. Since then I have never opened the main upstairs windows, only the small windows at the top of the windows if you know what I mean.

I've always had him insured and every year without fail I've had to claim for various things, and in 3 or 4 years I've received more than I had paid. It's cheaper to start it young.

Eric doesn't get on with dry food - he eats it, then has a drink and it's as if the food swells up with the water and he brings the whole lot back again. For a treat I give him tinned tuna in springwater.

I also "handled" him from a kitten so that he got used to it quickly. He likes cuddles, being groomed with a cat brush and will tolerate me checking his ears, claws and (sometimes !) his teeth. If you check them over regularly you will notice any possible problems at an early stage.

Cats don't like their food bowls being located near their litter trays, so keep them in separate rooms if poss.

Kittens and cats can be hard work but they are so rewarding.

Linda xx

karent_2

Awwww! They are so cute. We get our 2 tomorrow and we can't wait.

Ours are already being fed kitten whiskas at the shelter, but I plan to change it over time. Our last cat looked so much better after a few weeks on Iams. His coat looked and felt fab, and he seemed to have more energy. He also loved Hilife wet food, and got a couple of pouches a day. I will do similarly with the kittens, but only gradually. They will have enough to contend with in their new environment, especially 3 kids(and me) always wanting to cuddle them and play!!

We've been trying to kitten proof our kitchen and living room. There are spaces and dangers everywhere. The kitchen is the most important as thats where they are going to sleep(until they are bigger and we give in and they sleep on our beds like previous cats). Just need to fill the gaps down the side of the cooker now.

We have bought a couple of different beds, lots of toys and a scratch post. Just need our kittens now.

Enjoy your little ones.

paddypaws101

Mankysteve wrote: »

Too much water will damage your,mine and a cats kidneys they have to work too hard to remove the excess water. Many wet cats food are up to 75% water.

.

So...breathing too much air will wear a cat's lungs out? Gosh...running around might wear it's paws out!

Kimberley

Hi Loveangel

Your kittens are gorgeous

On the indoor subject please don't let anyone put you off from having indoor cats. I have two Bengal cats and they are both indoors. I have a specially built cat run in the garden that they can access from the house to keep them safe from the outside world. They love it. Even if you cannot have something like that outside there is no reason why a cat who lives indoors cannot thrive as well as an outdoor cat and at least you know that your beloved cats will be safe from the road and the dangers that lurk out there. As you have two then they will entertain themselves and just ensure you have at least one cat tree for climbing and scratching. My two have never scratched my furniture because I showed them how to use the scratch tree.

Also I agree about the comment of night time. I shut my two in the living room because they play a lot at night more so then in the day.

Kimberley

Mankysteve wrote: »

Too much water will damage your,mine and a cats kidneys they have to work too hard to remove the excess water. Many wet cats food are up to 75% water.

Since switching from wet cat food to dry with a new cat compared to old cats her health is much better for her age, she's never been taken to vets for illness while our older cat would have had a few trips by the same time.

:eek:

Are you saying that wet food harms a cats insides? If a cat eats wet food then it will not drink as much water as dry food so i don't know what your trying to say. You are just trying to scare people. Mine eat Raw food which is wet and they are thriving. In fact just feeding dry food to a cat is more harmful in my opinion because dry food is not a natural diet for a carnivore.