Everything is so new...

Hey everybody,

I just joined today and I'm excited to learn more about cats. I am married to my wonderful hubby and we have a daughter who is just shy of two. He also has an older daughter about to have another birthday pretty soon but she lives on her own now. I have had lots of pets in the past but mostly what you would call "pocket" pets. I have had many house rabbits over the last several years and I know more about how to take care of rabbits than is probably normal...unless I were a vet. I work at a nursing home and I love it.

I recently came across a litter of kittens. There is an orange one, a grey tabby and a black tort. Our landlord caught them and he is currently socializing them since the mom was feral, but really calm. She would let him pet her but I think that is just because he has been feeding her for years. He is going to keep the grey one and I'm getting the black tort... The orange one seems to be the wild child out of the three and so we aren't really sure about him. In my experiance all of the solid orange ones have been more wild.

After he caught the kittens I realized that I know very little about cats and their needs....Atleast not as well as I do with rabbits. I could tell you all the off label meds that you could give them...and pretty much most of the safe fruits and veggies as well as the toxic ones. ....But when it comes to cats...well I just don't know. So I am looking forward to learning as much as I can about these cute creatures 

Also, I'm trying to think of names for our black tort kitty which we should be getting next week or so. She is mostly all black with a small patch of orange over her eye...

Welcome to TCS!  Your soon-to-be new furbaby sounds cute!!  The kitten care forum (pregnant cats & kitten care) may be a big help to you.  As well as the Behavior and Nutrition ones.  Don't hesitate to post your questions!  We'd love to see pics of her sometime too!

An "eye patch," huh? Maybe name her after one of the female pirates?

Cats are very different from all other domesticated animals, both in temperament and in biology.

Thank you mooch...we have taken in some kittens over the years but just until we could find them homes because we weren't techniquly supposed to have pets....our landlord now is really cool...I will def. look at those sections

mrblanche I was kinda thinking that...or patchy. but unfortunatly i have to run it by hubby. I wanted to name her cammie cause it kinda looks like war paint but he knew someone named that and she was really annoying apparently....too bad. I thought it was cute.

I have a question about how to keep both the new kitty and my daughter safe and how you would discipline a kitty...I'm not sure if you even can. I'm not sure what section that would be in...kittens right?

I would ask about that in the behavior section.  I also have a 2 year old and a 3 month old.  My cats are 7; so more on the mellow side I guess.  Mostly they dont want anything to do with the kiddos.  Noodles will keep DD in line and swat at her from time to time if she is "too much" for her.  But she has always been a grumpy cat; unless she is hungry or it's 3 am and you got up to use the bathroom.  She prefers the top of the cat tree where she can't be bothered by DD anyway.  Mooch will just run from DD if she's had enough.  I am working with DD on how to be gentle, to not chase the cats, but also to tell Noodles "no" if she starts up.  I have DD give them treats and throw toys so they can associate her with something positive.  Of course it doesn't help when they walk away from her and she starts following them with the treat or toy...which makes them run...which makes her run...    We are getting there!!  Mooch will sniff her fingers and sometimes let her pet her a bit. 

For my 2 cats we just correct them verbally.  Shouting really isn't necessary for them; but we either make a noise to distract them or sometimes clap our hands.  In some ways cats are like toddlers.  Redirecting them helps.  Removing some things helps when they are small too. 

The folks in the Behavior forum are the experts on this subject though.  Don't hesitate to ask there for some other opinions.  Also; don't hesitate to ask your vet for some ideas. 

Oh; I forgot to add; our kids sleep with the doors to the bedrooms shut (as do we, DH is allergic).  So the cats can't get in and sleep with them.  I dont think they'd risk it with DD at this point though.  But they would sleep under her bed.  Giving the cat a safe place to go, where your DD can't bother her, is a big help.  For us it's the cat tree; but also areas that are gated off in the house.  When my 2 were kittens they slept in a big dog kennel together.  It had a small litter box, a bed, water, etc.  They also went in there when we weren't home. 

I think that's all I was thinking of.

My discipline for my cats runs the gamut from "Y'all quit"  To "please don't do that"  to  "Sugar, if you don't stop that, I am going to FedEx you to Florida"   all spoken in a normal tone of voice.   I think the different words mean nothing to them, but getting their attention sometimes helps.  It is midnight here and they are having the 10:00 crazies, ROUND 2.   Actually they are spoiled rotten and do pretty much what they want that isn't too destructive. 

Thank you for all the good advice. I have heard about water bottles and spraying the cats with it...but that doesn't seem very fair. I am sure it would work...but it's a bit on the cruel side for me...

As for my daughter goes...I guess it would be better for her not to hold the kitty. I'm afraid she would squeeze too hard or something. She is walking now but she tends to trip over everything...and things that aren't there so I definitly dont want her carrying the new kitty around. So it would probably be best to let her pet the kitty while on my lap...

Since there are so many stray cats around here I have been teaching her not to go up to strange cats and let them come to her...but she will still chase them if they run ._. and I have to remind her fairly often...but that might just be her age....

I'm probably stressing about this more that need be...I think I saw an entry on here about how to create a cheap cat tree thing.... 

I have an account on a house bunny forum and they came up with a really cool and cheap way to make those tubes that bunnies and cats like to run through....She used a 5 ft tube for construction and put sand paper (like 40 grit i think she said) or carpet...for traction and voila! no more buying expensive tubes. The cement tubes can be found at lowes or home depot...

Hi there welcome along to TCS