Lots of questions, only 1 thread

[lunatuna]

Originally Posted by Carolina

Yeah....... this if all goes well and the kitty follows your plan to get sick according to budget - not the case a lot of times. Bugsy has been with me for 2 1/2 years, I spent thousand on him already... $30 a month wouldn't get even close. In an emergency that doesn't cover the e-vet most of times - and that is saving the whole year! ($380 was one tiny emergency with Bugsy for a UTI/e-vet, for example)

I understand. I have vet insurance on two of my dogs but recently I had a $1700 claim when Milo was hospitalized for 3 days and insurance paid $340... hardly worth it given how much I have paid over 8 years of having insurance and they weren't there when I needed them.

There's two sides to the story for ya! Whatever works best for you!

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by lunatuna

I understand. I have vet insurance on two of my dogs but recently I had a $1700 claim when Milo was hospitalized for 3 days and insurance paid $340... hardly worth it given how much I have paid over 8 years of having insurance and they weren't there when I needed them.

There's two sides to the story for ya! Whatever works best for you!

I don't know what insurance you have... I can only speak for the one I have - which is Awesome. I have used it MANY times - MANY. With Bugsy, I can't even count how many. I have also used with Lucky and Hope too... Never, ever had one issue - they pay for everything, aside from the one time per incident deductible and 20%.
On that bill $1,700, I would have paid $460 and the insurance would paid the rest. Anyways,.... Based on my experience, I will never, ever ever miss a payment on their insurance. Because of it, Bugsy is alive.

 

[calvin&i]

I have insurance for both Calvin and Hobbes but Hobbes was ill before his insurance kicked in and so we have had to pay his echocardiodiogram since that would fall under the "pre-existing" thing and have used care credit card. He will need another echocardiogram and so another 500$. I think we've spend about 1200$ or so on Hobbes since we got him in February. So what I'm trying to say is that vet expenses can be - well - expensive and sudden. And with his asthma will be have some ongoing expenses and precuations that we will have to take, which has resulted in some changes in our lifestyle (mainly in the form of getting rid of allergens).

Fortunately, since we got out kitties from rescues, they were fixed and have some vaccines. Also since Calvin came from a good foster home, he was well socialized. Hobbes was from an overcrowded foster home and less so. Also I think one of the best decisions we ever took was to get Hobbes as a buddy for Calvin. If we had known better, we would have got another kitten when we got Calvin but we are glad that we got our special baby Hobbes (he would probably have been put down or died if his issues were not addressed). They play with each other and wrestle (be boys really) and have a known face if we are not home and they have a petsitter.

Calvin is really good about using scratch posts - he prefers the sisal verticals on his cat tree and then also the cardboard horizontal ones. Hobbes only likes the sisal and also carpet (which we've really not been able to stop him from doing). He has his favorite spots and so we've just put accent rugs there and that's helped save the carpet. So I guess 1 has to be a little creative. We have microfiber sofa set in our living room and they don't scratch those but sit on the back to look out of the window. I use a throw that catches any fur. Also we recently got leather sofa with reclining ends for our media room. When we went shopping we were looking for either microfiber or leather since their claws could get caught in the weave. We are also prepared for some scratches - guess that comes with pet ownership. But the thing we have to be careful about is that when we have the sofa on recline, the cats love to go and sit beneath the sofa in the gap. So we have to be extremely careful.

As to toys, they get bored easily and so we rotate toys. Da Bird is a huge hit and the laser pointer even so. Paper balls also do the trick.

Wish the OP all the best with his new friend.

 

[buffalo-mitch]

I GOT MY NEW KITTEN TODAY!!!!

Her name is Nala, she is a 12 week old kitten from the local shelter. I will post the rest about her on a different thread, but I do have 1 question.

Its nightime and I obviiously want her to sleep. I turned off all the lights in her room with her bed, litter box, food/water, etc., but I think shes still up. She'll just fall asleep, right?

 

[calvin&i]

Originally Posted by buffalo-mitch

I GOT MY NEW KITTEN TODAY!!!!

Her name is Nala, she is a 12 week old kitten from the local shelter. I will post the rest about her on a different thread, but I do have 1 question.

Its nightime and I obviiously want her to sleep. I turned off all the lights in her room with her bed, litter box, bed food/water, etc., but I think shes still up. She'll just fall asleep, right?

Congratulations on your first kitty! Nala is a beautiful name.
She may fall asleep eventually but cats are generally nocturnal and get more active in the evening. That's why a good idea is often to tire them out before you go to bed. The good thing is, kittens (cats more so) sleep long hours and so, yes, she will fall asleep eventually. Also you should realize that she is in a strange place and may be a little nervous and stressed. Calvin stayed with us in our room and the first night was one of the only nights he slept/ stayed awake in bed with us. After that he has been sleeping at different places all over the house. WHen we got Hobbes he was kept in our guestroom but because he was ill, hubby and I took turns to sleep in that room at night. He would hide all day and then come out to be friends with us at night, after we turned off the lights. Now they know our schedule and though they are pretty active for a couple of hours after we go to bed, they settle down eventually.

There are tons of resources on this forum regarding introducing a kitty to a new household and am sure others will share their wisdom with you.

 

[carolina]

Yeye!!!! I am SO happy you got your kitten from the shelter instead - at the right age, and you saved a life

Way to go!!!

Welcome home Nala!!! Congrats to you!!!
Kittens have TONS of energy, be ready to spend lots of time with her! Have fun, and please, please, post pictures!!

 

[buffalo-mitch]

Nala is a very fun kitten and I'm so glad we got her!!

I will post her pictures if someone will just tell me how, hahaha

 

[jcat]

Congratulations! Don't be surprised if Nala makes a racket at night playing with anything she can get her little paws on till she tires herself out completely. It's a good idea to look for and remove anything she could hurt herself with or swallow.

These threads will help as far as posting pictures is concerned:
Posting a photo on TCS
How to Post Pictures

 

[frankthetank]

My 2 kittens are about 7ish weeks old and they sleep through the night in my bed....i know that is NOT normal, because all my other cats I have had as kittens did not do this, so I am thinking it is because we bottle fed these babies.
Anyway, I give them their last meal of the evening around 8pm, and play w/ them for about 30-40 minutes, letting them run around, giving them toys and finding ways to wear them out. They are VERY playful and half the time I just watch them play together. Around 9 I go to bed, and they usually jump up on the bed, run around for another 10-15 minutes then burrow under the covers with me. I wake up often through the night, and they are always still there.
I feed them again at 415am when I wake up. Sometimes around 1am they are hungry and wake me up so I can feed them. I leave dry food out if they want it but they would prefer canned food so I just let them wake me up when they want it.
Congrats on the new kitten!! What changed your mind from the barn kitty? Either way, awesome job adopting from a shelter

!!!
Spend lots of time with her, play with her and be her best friend, and she will show you SO much love for life! A tip on "discipline"...don't smack the kitten when she does something wrong, even a swat. Keep a bottle w/ water in it and when she bites hands/feet, scratches or other things like that, spray her with water until she stops. Cats dont like it and it has saved me in disciplining my cats!

 

[stephanietx]

When we got both Hannah and Tumbles, we sequestered them in a room until they were comfortable with the sounds of our home and with us. We turned the lights off (with a nightlight on) and went to bed. When it was safe to release them from the room, we still put them back in the room at night and when we were gone during the day. When they graduated to being out 24/7 they had no problems sleeping through the night and not being active.

One thing we do is have a nice playtime before bed followed by a snack. Just a few crunchies or a small serving of wet food helps fill their tummies so they'll sleep through the night.

 

[buffalo-mitch]

Thanks for the links! I should have pictures of her up soon!

 

[jcat]

A cute little tiger girl!