Questions - Round Two

Hey, ya'll. I'm back with more questions, hoping for some more comments, suggestions and some sage advice. Here goes:

1. For the first few days, should the kitty be confined to one room, in order to acclimate to it (and to feel more secure)? My kitten book suggests this method. I'm just concerned that if I put the food dishes, litter box and cat bed in our bedroom, the kitty will get confused when everything gets moved elsewhere in a few days' time. Thoughts? (I should mention that we live in a two-bedroom apartment, but one bedroom houses our two birds and will--at least initially--be off-limits to the kitty.)

2. This isn't a question. It's a vent. I so badly wish that I could afford a second purebred kitty. (No, I'm not advocating purebreds over mixed breeds.) It's just that I've recently fallen in love with the Norwegian Forest breed and know of a very reputable breeder who has two available babies right now. The one I just adore is the same age as my Rag baby right now (7 weeks). I bet they'd make awesome playmates. But I can't afford two purebreds at the same time, nor can I actually own two cat--on top of two birds. *sigh* The art of letting go is something I've not fully learned yet. LOL

I'll have more questions. They seem to come in spurts these days.
:tounge2:

Take care,

Jenk

1. For the first few days, should the kitty be confined to one room, in order to acclimate to it (and to feel more secure)? My kitten book suggests this method. I'm just concerned that if I put the food dishes, litter box and cat bed in our bedroom, the kitty will get confused when everything gets moved elsewhere in a few days' time. Thoughts? (I should mention that we live in a two-bedroom apartment, but one bedroom houses our two birds and will--at least initially--be off-limits to the kitty.)

The experts here at TCS also recommend this method. Others who reply may be able to give you more information about this.

2. This isn't a question. It's a vent. I so badly wish that I could afford a second purebred kitty. (No, I'm not advocating purebreds over mixed breeds.) It's just that I've recently fallen in love with the Norwegian Forest breed and know of a very reputable breeder who has two available babies right now. The one I just adore is the same age as my Rag baby right now (7 weeks). I bet they'd make awesome playmates. But I can't afford two purebreds at the same time, nor can I actually own two cat--on top of two birds. *sigh* The art of letting go is something I've not fully learned yet. LOL

If you and your husband are both working during the day a second kitten would help to prevent your Ragdoll from becoming bored and lonely. My cat, Snowball, used to have a companion cat who was older and has passed away. It was always a lot of fun to watch them playing and interacting with each other. Also, having a purebred cat has never been the most important consideration for me. I have often heard that crossbred and mixed breed animals make better pets than purebreds because they are healthier and live longer.

I hear ya Jenk, I recently have fallen in love with Pixie Bobs! Wow- incredible cats! Of course all cats are incredible.

The way to prevent a problem of having your kitty's personal accessories *G* relocated, is to do it a bit at a time. Just move it short distances, until you get to where you want the kitty to be permanently. Make sure when you move the litterbox, the bowls etc, that the kitty can still see the items from the old location, yet make sure the litterbox is far enough away from the food bowls, or the cat won't eat if they are close. Make sure in the final location, you have a private place to put the litterbox so kitty doesn't feel spied upon! *G*

Good luck, and we want pictures soon!

I kept my two in our bedroom for a couple weeks. Of course, I didn't really know what I was doing, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I wanted the bedroom to be their safe place, and I wanted to make sure they didn't get into anything dangerous. Even when they were allowed out of the bedroom, I still shut them in at night for about another week. I think part of that was selfish, though. I wanted the little fuzzies to sleep with me. It seemed to work out for us, although I think I overdid it time-wise. I was just a little too overprotective, but they are none the worse for it.

I kept Corky confined to 2 rooms wen we first got her, and when I had to move the litterbox I just showed her were it was after she had eaten and she had no problems at all. With Jinxy she was confined to one room as part of introducing the pair of them and used the same method with the litterbox, again with no trouble.

As for getting a purebred you could go to your local cat shelters as they do sometimes have purebred cats available for adoption.

Out of the three dogs I've lived with in my lifetime, only one was a purebred. And the only reason we got her was that she was a stray who needed a home. We took her in, no one ever claimed her and she became a part of our family for two years (until we had to put her down due to cancer). I've read that purebred and "mutt" kitties are about the same healthwise, whereas purebred dogs seem to have a lot more physical ailments than do mixed breeds.

The reason I cannot get two cats right now is that we live in an apartment. One bedroom is used for our two birds. I'm sure that, eventually, any kitty would be allowed in that room once the birds are cat(s) are acclimated to each other. However, I don't know if we'd be pushing it, asking the apartment complex to let us keep four pets, when they really only allow up to two cats. (They okay'd us having the birds because they think they're caged all the time. Little do they know about birds. Heh-heh...)

Plus with our space constraints, two litter boxes would be pushing it. Actually, I've no idea where we'd put a second litter box. And, as my mom said, "don't overwhelm yourself" (petwise) until you know what cat ownership entails. True enough. I shall see.

If we do take in a shelter kitty (purebred or mixed--or both! ), age is a big factor because of our birds. I'd want a kitten, so as to more easily teach the kitty that our birds are friends, not lunch.

Take care,

Jenk

You don't have to have 2 litterboxes for 2 cats. We have 2 kittens, and one litterbox. Depending on the size of the litterbox, you could probably have 3 using it, so long as you clean it daily and wash it out once a week.

. For the first few days, should the kitty be confined to one room, in order to acclimate to it (and to feel more secure)? My kitten book suggests this method. I'm just concerned that if I put the food dishes, litter box and cat bed in our bedroom, the kitty will get confused when everything gets moved elsewhere in a few days' time. Thoughts? (I should mention that we live in a two-bedroom apartment, but one bedroom houses our two birds and will--at least initially--be off-limits to the kitty.)
We put our cats in one room when we first brought them home. when all their tests came bace ok then we let them out into the whole house. I had no problems with them pottying in places they shouldn't and I showed them where the food bowls were so they had no problems adjusting to it.

2. This isn't a question. It's a vent. I so badly wish that I could afford a second purebred kitty. (No, I'm not advocating purebreds over mixed breeds.) It's just that I've recently fallen in love with the Norwegian Forest breed and know of a very reputable breeder who has two available babies right now. The one I just adore is the same age as my Rag baby right now (7 weeks). I bet they'd make awesome playmates. But I can't afford two purebreds at the same time, nor can I actually own two cat--on top of two birds. *sigh* The art of letting go is something I've not fully learned yet. LOL
I understand what you are talking about. I have four cats, we started out with two, lost one, got another and were going to stop there. but I started to feed the ferals and was hooked, so I brought them inside also. but now I am at my limit and can't get anymore.
If for you it is a financial thing, will the breeder accept payments?
can you afford to have another cat? they can get expensive, as you know. It's all up to you. if you can afford another cat, then why not look at the humane society? then you can get the playmate for your cat and another life will be spared.
I have cats of all backrounds here. One farm cat, one purebreed, and two feral mix breeds. good luck in whatever you decide.

Tink started out concentrated in our living room...we bottle-fed her there, bathed her there (in a little tub), and had her litter box there (when she was still learning we had problems with her going to one area). She was not confined, though...for a long time, she only explored that room. Then she slowly started to check out the rest of the apartment. When we moved things (like her food and litter box), we would GUIDE her to them, not pick her up and take her. She learned pretty quickly. If you keep your kitty confined, they might not ever want to move from that room.