been offered a kitten

lostinrates

sock-knitter wrote: »

does a cat sleep in its own bedroom? i have a spare room so thats not a problem, got two guinea pigs in other spare bedroom, guessing cats and guinea pigs dont mix?

A friend of mine has given her cat its own bedroom..where it has a bed and some toys and a baby cat to go when its tired of the children.

My cats have a couple of radiator beds (from when our rads worked!), a sheepskin rug (their favorite) but ALWAYS choose to sleep with us. In summer they sleep on the top of the bed and in winter wriggle underneath the covers and snuggle in. There is very little lovelier than to wake up in a warm bed with a cat snuggled into you and purring when it realises you are awake....although perhaps a warm little body snuggling into a cold bed is as wonderful!

Cats do not NEED their own beds, and generally don't notice expense spent on them..they will ignore the fancy-pants bed you bought them to sleep on a pile of ironed laundry, and will happily sleep in a cardboard box...or your best jumper.


Litter tray and litter are important (its best to provide this in consideration of neighbours who have children, or are gardeners and also, often the first sign of ill health is a change in toilet habit, so you want to notice this. ) Litter is obviously an ongoing cost. We find a more expensive clumping litter is a bigger cost, but better value...as there is less smell and it lasts far longer.

On a daily basis a long haired cat will need a brush...a short haired cat will enjoy being brushed but its not necessary at all. Also, time to clean litter (a couple of mins twice a day with clumpiung litter, with a ''proper'' empty monthly if its a good one, more regularly with a cheaper one). Feed/water bowls washing and refilling.

some cats are amazingly tolerant of oter species....our cats accept baby chicks free ranging with the chickens....but not wild birds/rodents. I would not trust a cat with a guinea pig alone, but if its a calm cat I';d risk supervised contact if your guinea pigs come in the house.

If you keep the cat as a house cat (you mentioned the others as being in the house I think?) think about exercise requirements. a toy called da bird is great for this...and its fun too.

balletshoes

we have 2 guinea pigs, but they don't live indoors. When the guinea pigs and the cat are all outside in the back garden, the cat will try to bat at the guinea pigs through the bars of their run, so I wouldn't trust a cat unsupervised around guinea pigs.

If the cat has had its injections, the vet should have a record of them (if your friend hasn't kept his innoculation card).

sock-knitter

the guinea pigs do live indoors, only put them to play in their run when its warm and sunny. they are in a cage indoors which is upstairs in their own bedroom, this would have to be out of bounds to the kitten, dont know how i would achieve this short of locking the door on the guinea pigs room, but they need my company too

gunsandbanjos

sock-knitter wrote: »

been told the kitten has had its vaccinations, am wondering if they are just saying that, or if they really have.

Ask for the vaccination certificate if you dont believe them. If they dont have a copy you can ask the vet who did the vaccinations. If you ever want to board the cat the cattery will want to see the certificate.

My cat is 1, i dont think he is expensive at all! I buy high quality food online and get my litter delivered too. If he will be outdoor then you wont have the cost of the litter.

My cat sleeps in the livingroom/kitchen at night as he isnt allowed in the bedrooms at night. He has free reign of the house during the day though.

Fridaycat

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

I buy high quality food online and get my litter delivered too. If he will be outdoor then you wont have the cost of the litter.

My cat sleeps in the livingroom/kitchen at night as he isnt allowed in the bedrooms at night. He has free reign of the house during the day though.

Not always the case regarding the litter. My adult cats are all allowed outside, yet two of them still use the litter box (as does the third when he is caught short!). One of my cats can be outside for hours, comes back, almost crossing his legs when waiting to come in, uses the litter box and then goes back out again :rotfl:

gunsandbanjos

Fair enough fridaycat. I've had outdoor cats all my life until my recent indoor addition and none have had a litter tray indoors. Guess yours like their comforts lol.

Fridaycat

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

Fair enough fridaycat. I've had outdoor cats all my life until my recent indoor addition and none have had a litter tray indoors. Guess yours like their comforts lol.

I should have added that I don't have a cat flap (through choice) and they are kept in a night, so this would obviously make a difference when comparing to cats that are fully outdoor but yes, they are spoilt cats. I knew that's what you meant and you were just being polite :rotfl:

neveah

hi we also have 2 guinea pigs in their own room and last year got 2 kittens and we also had 2 cats and they have ben fine .
when the pigs go in here outside run the yonger 2 cats sunbathe on top of their run lol x

gettingready

OP - where in UK are you?

prices vary a lot....

sock-knitter

thanks for all replies so far, good to hear that some people have successfully kept guinea pigs and cats
i'm in wakefield, west yorkshire