Soon to be kitten owner ^.^

Originally Posted by pai-thagoras

Ok! New member and soon to be new to the cat owning family. I apologise in advance for the long post, but I have so many questions and excitement about this, I don’t want to miss anything that could be important for the kitty.

My pet experience previously has been dogs, with a variety of hamsters and birds while growing up and living with parents. I still (mostly) live with my parents and have a dog (currently aged 13, a collie and lab cross-breed) but my boyfriend and his flatmates have agreed to get a kitten after my sister's boyfriend's cat had kittens and they need homes, since they wanted them to go to people they knew.

So, since I am living more and more with my boyfriend while I complete my last year of university I will be taking part in the whole kitten experience

I am excited as I have only ever known kittens owned by friends and relatives, my boyfriend however has lived with numerous cats out in Northumberland in his parents’ home, which backs onto extensive woods and rural areas for the cats to really stretch their legs and enjoy themselves. He is the only one in the house with cat experience, but not particularly with kittens, since all his cats are rescued animals, only one being a kitten when he was a child, so he didn't really have much experience raising it.

Izzy, the mother is a Birman breed cat and this is her second successful litter (she lost her first pregnancy). With her previous litter of two crossbreed kittens (a girl, that Izzy’s owner kept and named Mia and a boy who was given to a family friend) and this litter she has had four kittens, two boys and two girls which are three weeks old at the moment.

This is the mother, Izzy and the litter of four (Izzy has decided this cupboard is currently the best spot for the kittens):


Here is one of the little kitties, one of the boys:


This is Mia, the two month old daughter of Izzy from her previous litter:

first of welcome to the site

but is that kitten really only 2 months old ? if so she had another litter very very close to her last which isnt very healthy.
Now that all the cuteness is out the way, I want to say how excited I am about the cat and to ask a few questions that I think will be best answered by other owners. The kittens are currently three weeks old, and will be 7 weeks old before we can bring one home so I have a few more weeks to learn about kitty care.
if there is any way the kittens can stay with mum and siblings untill their at least 10-12 weeks old? they are barely weened at only 7 weeks old, and they still need to learn so much from mum and sblings to be a well adjusted cat.
I have already ordered some books by the RSPCA on cat care and specifically kitten care, but I have a few questions at the moment:

1. I know that when you bring the new kitten home it should be in a room with food, its bed and litter tray, but should this be in the room where the litter tray or food is to be permanently, or is easy to move the litter box as long as you keep taking kitty to the box to remind it and when you catch them scratching at a spot or preparing for a tinkle.
this is correct.

2. In the same vein, where is ideal for a litter box? I was thinking the best place to allow the cat privacy and quiet would be the bathroom, but this is on the second floor and has moments where someone may be in the shower, etc. and kitty can't get in. Any ideas and suggestions on ideal spots?
any spot will be fine as long as they always have access or you may find mishaps, rule of thumb always kep to litter trays.

3. I was wondering which brands of cat food and kitten food is most recommended. I know there are lots of good brands out, and I just wondered if there were any particular brand recommended by the more experienced owners, or is it a matter of personal choice and taste (mostly the kitten’s than my own

)
i feed mine with royal canin, but there will be others along soon to give you some more good brands.

4. Again on the topic of feeding kitty, I was curious about which is better, dry or wet and meaty foods? I have read conflicting articles on the internet so far with my research where some sites recommend a mixture of foods (and flavours to keep kitty from getting to picky when their older) while others recommend solely dry for their teeth and encourage a proper intake of fresh water with such a diet or solely meat foods as dry can cause liver or kidney problems. I was looking into feeding a mixture of the two, but again, any extra information or tips on diet would be great.
i always feed 2 meals of wet per day and there is always dry food left down with freash water.

5. House kitty or outside kitty? I am reluctant to allow kitty outside since we live in an area close to a shopping high street and I would probably be up all night if the cat was out (but I suppose this would be natural…). Our next door neighbours are an older couple and have four cats who are allowed out, and regularly come and get their tummy tickled when I hang out washing or go to the garage (more often than not they will sit on the wall and watch into the window so I can come out for a quick play), but I don’t think I could share in this confidence about the area being kitty safe. I have been told by the owner of the mother that she does not go far when she is out, and a previous cat she has kept from the same mother (now 2 months) has a similar habit of only going a short distance from home when out. first of all a kitten can go into heat as young as 3-4 months, im sorry if she is already spayed, but imo 2 months old is far far far to young to be letting them outside.

I will post more pictures of the kittens after my next visit and keep you posted on kitty, and thank you all in advance for reading and any advice you can offer

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