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Bringing your kitten home
Children and cats
Introducing
your kitten to other residents of your house
(dog or older cat)
Who trains Who?
Bringing
your kitten home
To
bring a new kitten home is a wonderful and exciting moment in life for
us humans, but it is important to make it a wonderful moment in your cat's
life, too. It is more than likely that until you picked your kitten up
it had other siblings to play with and that it was still in contact with
it's mother, so it is understandable that a new home means a very big
change for such a tiny creature. The best solution is of course to choose
two kittens at the same time, preferably litter mates. Cats are no loners!
They do enjoy the company of other cats. If you can only afford one pedigree
kitten, you might should consider visiting your local animal shelter to
pick up a sweet 'moggie baby', or maybe you should save for a bit longer
until you can buy two pedigree kittens from the same litter. Never forget
it is a lot more difficult to introduce a new cat to an already established
resident! Such undertaking needs quite a bit of experience and can go
terribly wrong. (Please see: Introducing your kitten to other residents
of your home further down the page)
When you bring your kitten home for the first time, try to make it feel
as safe as possible. Some breeders advice to keep a kitten in a pen for
the first days (not the traveling box - a big wire pen, where you can
fit a cat toilet in, plus food and water!) which is a good idea, really,
just that we found it never worked with ours. If you have picked yourself
an outgoing kitten it will probably not want to stay in the pen, but it
is definitely the right course of action should your kitten be very shy.
If your kitten hides under the couch or the bed - do not worry immediately.
Give it time to adjust to the new environment. Most kittens will quickly
be won over by their own inquisitiveness and come out to explore. This
can take a few days, but as long as you make sure your kitten has food
and water available, it should be fine. (If you have a big house it would
be advisable to limit your kittens access a bit. Try to keep it confined
to an area that does not offer any 'dangerous' hiding places. You do not
want your kitten to get stuck behind a fridge or similar.) Check
on it regularly, but do not force it to stay on your lap if it does not
want to do so. Try every now and then to put it into its litter box. Cats
have a natural instinct to dig and most kittens will take willingly to
their new toilet. Should your kitten have an accident, do not shout at
it or hit it! You will only frighten your kitten, which will lead to a
loss of confidence in the little thing, which in turn can lead to a lot
more accidents! Clean the spot up and put the kitten into the litter box.
This can be a game of patients, but never forget your kitten probably
does not know its way around all that well yet, it might still be frightened
and prefers to find a place it considers safe to relieve itself. Should
your kitten persist to be unclean, you might have to take it to the vet.
Some litter problems can be caused by illness.
If you are working, it is always a good idea to take a few days holiday
to be with your new baby. That way you can watch it and give it love and
comfort. Playing is another good way to bring your kitten out of itself.
Most kittens will not be able to resist a good chase after something dangling
from a stick (cat toys can be purchased in most pet shops), but not every
toy is suitable for every kitten. Find out what your fur baby likes the
most, but make sure the toys are safe. You would expect anything bought
from a pet shop should live up to this requirement, unfortunately it does
not always work like this..
Enjoy the kitten hood of your new cat, it won't last for very long, be
alert to its needs, but relaxed when handling it. That should help through
the worst..
Children
and Cats
Most breeders will not home kittens with families that have children under
five years of age. We share this view, most of all if this is the first
kitten for the family. Young children are of course fascinated by the
new addition to the household, and especially toddlers experience the
world through touching. Kittens are fragile and a child squeezing such
a tiny body could do a lot of harm. If a child is born into a home where
there are already cats (like it was in our case), the children grow up
not being over interested. A new kitten is not such a novelty and will
rather be left in peace, but if a child has never lived with a cat, it
is only natural that it wants to explore and touch and squeeze. Children
should have an age where they can understand the needs of a kitten and
where they will be able to love a cat in a way both can enjoy - not just
one loving the other one to bits, literally.
Introducing your kitten to other residents of your home
If
you already have a dog or a cat, you might have some challenging times
ahead of you. Older dogs that have not lived with a cat yet could consider
the kitten prey, which would only be natural. Younger dogs play very rough
and could injure a kitten through shaking it or chewing the poor little
creature to bits. You must be there watching all the time!!! Never leave
your kitten and your dog unattended, unless you can notice a clear understanding
between them, which can take a while to be established.
Older cats should not attack a kitten, but there is no guaranty for this.
Even though another cat might not be as dangerous to your kitten as a
dog can be, a grown cat can nevertheless cause considerable damage to
your new baby. Cats are territorial and prone to jealousy. Make sure your
older cat still feels very much loved. Do not shout at your older cat
if it goes after the baby! That will make your 'oldie' feel insecure,
which in turn will lead to it hating the new kitten even more. It is natural
for a cat to hiss and growl at a new housemate, but make sure you have
clipped your cat's claws to minimize the risk of injuries. (To clip a
cat's claws is not the same like DECLAWING. Declawing means the permanent
removal of a cat's claws, which is cruel and unjust. Clipping the claws
only reduces the sharpness of the points. The claws will grow back naturally,
like human fingernails. If you are unsure about how to clip your cat's
claws, please seek advice from your vet and have him or her show you how
to do it.)
If you should run into serious problems, consult an expert in animal behavior. Most vetenary surgeries will either have such an expert working with them, or will be able to get you in touch with one.
Who
trains Who?
Well,
generally it has to be said - your kitten will train you. Never forget,
cats are not like dogs.
A dog is eager to please you, while a cat is eager to be
pleased by you. That little word 'be' makes all the difference. Still,
if you have enough stamina to last you to climb the Mount Everest and
if you are really really persistent, you might will be able to put down
at least some ground rules. Our cats have eventually accepted that human
dinner time means HUMAN dinner time. Every kitten goes through the what
we call Jo Jo state. You put it on the floor, it jumps back on your lap,
you put it one the floor, it jumps back on your lap, and so on, and so
on, and so on.... Cats are born thieves. Unfortunately they do not even
see it that way. They truly believe every thing has been put on this planet
for them to own and enjoy. Therefore they do not even consider it any
wrong doing on their part when they dig their claws into your lunch and
drag it over the table towards their always ready for action stomachs.
They think that is just the way it ought to be, and your cursing will
be met with disgust. How can you not be willing to share (means give all
of it) to your cat? Humans are such selfish beings!!!
Our
Advice:
Do not give in!
Fight the urge to succumb to those hypnotizing eyes!
Stay vigilant!
Sleep when your cat sleeps, so that you are fit and alert when it comes
to out stubborn these tyrant creatures!
Then you might stand a chance to win the occasional battle.
(Forget
winning the war. You will never win the war..!)
Please
do not forget, everything on this page reflects only our personal views
and experiences. We can not take responsibility if acted upon our advice.
You should always consult your vet if in the slightest doubt regarding
the
well being of your cat or kitten (or any other pet).
