Yesterday I adopted a little 6 week old girl from a local shelter, I don't have any experience with a kitten so young, so would love if those with more experience can offer some tips.
It has been 1 month since my older cat, Twix, passed away. My 5-year old boy, Taro, has been living alone during this time, and I thought it was time to bring another feline into the household. I went to a local rescue shelter yesterday and fell in love with a little blue girl and started applying to adopt her. It was at that point that they told me she was 6 weeks. I thought it was too young but as I had already started the adoption application, I didn't want to turn back (plus didn't want someone else to nab her lol). The shelter said her mother is a feral stray and had 4 kittens, and that it was fine for them to leave at 6 weeks (her siblings were also up for adoption). She has been weaned, toilet trained, vaccinated and microchipped. The shelter gave me a voucher for desexing down the track.
I'm a bit freaked out because I've never raised a kitten so young. My previous kittens have been at least 10 weeks old. She's currently in the spare room and Taro hasn't met her. I'm going to follow the introduction methods in the articles. Although I wonder at what age would be appropriate for them to meet? Even if I wait 2 weeks she'll only be 8 weeks old, and still tiny!
For food, I bought some premium wet kitten food and she went through a 80gram pouch in 1 day. Does that seem like enough? I also have dried food out but she's not interested. I'm also worried that she doesn't seem to be drinking water, so I mixed a lot of water in with her wet food.
I'm trying to spend as much time as possible with her when she's awake, playing and cuddling. She's very confident, playful and has explored every inch of the room she's in, but she does meow when I'm not in the room. Is there anything in particular that I should be doing in the next few weeks to make sure she's well-socialised, given she doesn't have her mum/litter mates?
Apologies for the long winded post, but given she's so young I really want to give her the best start to her life as possible. I have added some pics of her...she doesn't have a name yet. But I was thinking Pepper, although it is a bit ubiquitous haha.
It has been 1 month since my older cat, Twix, passed away. My 5-year old boy, Taro, has been living alone during this time, and I thought it was time to bring another feline into the household. I went to a local rescue shelter yesterday and fell in love with a little blue girl and started applying to adopt her. It was at that point that they told me she was 6 weeks. I thought it was too young but as I had already started the adoption application, I didn't want to turn back (plus didn't want someone else to nab her lol). The shelter said her mother is a feral stray and had 4 kittens, and that it was fine for them to leave at 6 weeks (her siblings were also up for adoption). She has been weaned, toilet trained, vaccinated and microchipped. The shelter gave me a voucher for desexing down the track.
I'm a bit freaked out because I've never raised a kitten so young. My previous kittens have been at least 10 weeks old. She's currently in the spare room and Taro hasn't met her. I'm going to follow the introduction methods in the articles. Although I wonder at what age would be appropriate for them to meet? Even if I wait 2 weeks she'll only be 8 weeks old, and still tiny!
For food, I bought some premium wet kitten food and she went through a 80gram pouch in 1 day. Does that seem like enough? I also have dried food out but she's not interested. I'm also worried that she doesn't seem to be drinking water, so I mixed a lot of water in with her wet food.
I'm trying to spend as much time as possible with her when she's awake, playing and cuddling. She's very confident, playful and has explored every inch of the room she's in, but she does meow when I'm not in the room. Is there anything in particular that I should be doing in the next few weeks to make sure she's well-socialised, given she doesn't have her mum/litter mates?
Apologies for the long winded post, but given she's so young I really want to give her the best start to her life as possible. I have added some pics of her...she doesn't have a name yet. But I was thinking Pepper, although it is a bit ubiquitous haha.
Take care , Shellie 
