Kittens!

Anninyn

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We will probably be getting one or two kittens in November (enough time to unpack and get most of our furniture in so there's minimal disruption to the little darlings).

I was going to ask advice on KITTENS as last time I had a kitten I was three. But I do have the internet, so isntead I just want to run around a bit with my arms in the air and scream KITTENS KITTENS KITTENS
 

Sydneyd

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Awwww Kittens, kittens, kittens!!!!! I will join you with the arm flailing.

I remember when my cat was a kitten. She was so tiny she fit into the pocket of my robe. Sometimes when I am very nostalgic and a little tipsy I will try to shove her in the pocket, then she scratches me and I stop.
 

Charles Farley

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vampirecat_zpsfb05fa8d.jpg


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Anninyn

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Of course to all those things!

I've always had cats - Olive was a rescue, and my parents current cat Zeus was dumped in our back garden at winter.

But as up till now I've rented, I wasn't able to have cats and there was a cat-shaped hole in my life for all of those seven years. Jos agreed that when we moved and were settled we could get some, and luckily for us some are available and are on hold for us till they're ready to be adopted - just nine days before my birthday.

If all goes well, we'll have two little black and white kitties in the house for when I turn 27.
 

Kats

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Kittens! I adopted two kittens last year and while they love all their toys, they realllly love the Cat Catcher by Da Bird. They never get tired of playing with it.
 

Anninyn

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We're going to visit them on monday, just to make sure we all like each other. One is apparently very confident, the other shyer, so they want us to take both, which we're more than happy with.

I spent a happy half hour on the pets at home website last night favouriting all the things I might want to buy for them.

When we get them (fully weaned and trained to use a litter tray) they'll be 9 weeks old, so still all fuzzy, squeaky and clumsy.

Here is a picture of them, their mother and their sibling - the grey one, which has already been claimed:

kittens.jpg


Sorry, that's huge. Let me resize it.
 

alleycat

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Are you familiar with Cat Claws? It's an online store for cat stuff. The only reason I mention it is because they have the best scratching pads I've found (with organic catnip). My cat goes crazy over the things.
 

alleycat

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Uh, probably not. I didn't think about that. Sorry.
 

Anninyn

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It's alright! I'm sure there's something similar in the UK. I may have to browse. I mainly went for pets at home because - and this is a sad, pathetic admission - when we were renting and not allowed to have pets, we'd go to pets at home once a month to wander around and look at the hamsters and the rabbits and the rats and the fish. It stopped my 'pet need' getting too over the top drastic.
 

alleycat

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Yeah, pet stores usually have scratching pads, but the ones from CC are the best ones I've found.
 

heyjude

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Aw! Kitten cuteness! Congratulations. :)

Someone get Stlight--she has great kitten stories. That will, uh, scare anyone away from getting a kitten. Never mind...
 

jjdebenedictis

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When we get them (fully weaned and trained to use a litter tray) they'll be 9 weeks old, so still all fuzzy, squeaky and clumsy.
D'aw, now that brought back memories. My friend got her kittens at 9 weeks, and yes, they were these fuzzy, fairy-boned creatures that, in an explosion of curiosity, nosed feverishly into absolutely everything and then passed out in exhaustion an hour later (in our laps.) It was great.
 

Anninyn

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D'aw, now that brought back memories. My friend got her kittens at 9 weeks, and yes, they were these fuzzy, fairy-boned creatures that, in an explosion of curiosity, nosed feverishly into absolutely everything and then passed out in exhaustion an hour later (in our laps.) It was great.

I can't wait. I was so young when Olive arrived as a kitten that I don't really remember that, and Zeus was six months when we found him, so physically at least almost an adult.

We're hoping that them being young will mean they adjust faster and suffer less from the disruption.
 

jjdebenedictis

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We're hoping that them being young will mean they adjust faster and suffer less from the disruption.
It also means you have a better chance of training them. Want to walk them in a harness someday? Start them on it young. Want bath-time to not be a nightmare? Start them on it young. Want to clip their claws without it being a two-person ordeal requiring a thick towel? Start them on it young.
 

BeatrixKiddo

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Awe...kitties! All of our cats were strays, every single one. They always "found" us somehow. Our last cat, who was the one that was with us the longest, found my mom in a parking lot one night. She was still pretty little at the time. We had her 18 years before she passed.

Congrats on the new soon to be "fam".
 

Anninyn

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It also means you have a better chance of training them. Want to walk them in a harness someday? Start them on it young. Want bath-time to not be a nightmare? Start them on it young. Want to clip their claws without it being a two-person ordeal requiring a thick towel? Start them on it young.

We were never able to 'train' Olive. She remained a borderline psychotic dictator from when we got her to when she died and we loved her for it. Dad did succesfully make her into a shoulder kitten when she was small enough to do so, though - she stopped when she was an adult because she'd fall off, but when she was a kitten she used to wrap herself around his neck and go to the shop with him.

In fact, she startled the girl working there the first time, because she was sleeping around dads neck, the girl asked 'Is that a fur scarf?' and Olive lifted up her head and went 'Mrrow?'.



Awe...kitties! All of our cats were strays, every single one. They always "found" us somehow. Our last cat, who was the one that was with us the longest, found my mom in a parking lot one night. She was still pretty little at the time. We had her 18 years before she passed.

Congrats on the new soon to be "fam".

Olive was a rescue, Zeus was abandoned. This is a friends cat having kittens - they need to be gone by the 10th of november because the friends baby is due on the 30th. She doesn't want to have to give them to a rescue centre, so we said we'd take them
 

Corussa

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I'll see if I can track something similar. I believe in drugging cats with catnip, because it's hilarious.

If you've been haunting Pets at Home, they should have a good one there (in the 'Willow' range as I recall), which one of our cats, Isis, has been single-mindedly working to destroy for some time now. And we got a good cat tower off Amazon for our two to clamber on, in the absence of much outdoor space. Plus various kitty toys (I try to restrain myself now when at P@H, honest).

Of course, they're just as happy with the cardboard boxes we sometimes have, and pieces of string. Sigh...

Hope the kittens settle in well - I haven't had kittens for SO long, I'm really quite jealous. Though I'd never say that out loud - especially right now, since Isis is on the back half of my office chair and I'm perched on the front. Apparently this is How Things Should Be.
 

zahra

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Consider keeping the little blighters indoors. Really. US folk do it much more than Brits, but it's honestly worth it, especially if you live in a traffic-heavy or fox-heavy area or one with lots of outdoor cats and strays. Indoorsies live so much longer on average.

I'm also a fan of raw meat instead of commercial food, or in addition to it, but don't do pork as it has parasites if uncooked.

Keep an eye on things like the washing machine; I've known more than one kitten come to grief in them.:cry:They're so small, they get everywhere, so kitten-proof your place and be aware of dangers to them.

But the biggest thing, as everyone says, is to instil the habits you want early on.

You're going to have such fun! Wheeee!
 

Anninyn

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Olive was an outdoorsy cat and lived to 18 - Zeus is outdoorsy too. They both seem to have good road sense and Zeus at least is not much of a roamer. But there is a main road close by, so we'll think about it. The house already has a catflap - the previous owner had two cats and I've seen plenty of happy, healthy, well-fed kitties around the area which suggests good things to me. Still, it'll be a month or two before they start going out. In my experience you can't keep cats inside when they want to go out. We once tried when Olive was sick and in the 30 seconds the door was open when I left for school she bolted and then stayed out for four days. Mind you, she was undisputed queen of where we lived and had a territory stretching a good half mile.

But we will definitely consider it if the area seems unsafe or if they seem happy to be indoor cats. Some cats are more wide-roaming and adventurous than others.