New cat advice

[chelonophile]

Hi all!

Here is my situation (may be a little lengthy).

I had several cats many years ago and absolutely loved them, time and big life changes caused me to have to find them all new homes. Now, I was just recently able to talk my husband into letting me get a cat! Then I got two...they were brother and sister and I couldn't bear to separate them :-) My hubby has never had an inside pet before and the only example of cats in homes that he has seen has been bad ones - homes with between 7 and 15 cats that have one litterbox that doesn't get cleaned, fleas everywhere, no training whatsoever, etc. It was a long, tough, 3 year road to convince him to let us try out having them in our home, especially considering he's a germaphobe. Now to the crux of the issue.

The two cats we got are around 5 months old, they came from a home like the aforementioned one where pooping in the general vicinity of the litterbox was fine and tearing up the furniture was expected.

Before we went to get the cats, we stocked up on everything I used to have for my cats that I knew they should like: good litter, litter box, lots of toys, two different shaped scratching posts, no scratch spray and of course flea shampoo.

One of the husbands stipulations (and I don't blame him) was that they had to have a flea bath before they were ever allowed out into the house and I can't say that I blame him. I did the baths for them, got plenty scratched up - yay- but they still have fleas on them, even tho they died off of them in droves. Not sure I can go through the bath again. But my husband is convinced if there is even one flea left that we will be infested and over run.

What type of flea products does everyone use? What works the best? Can we even eliminate all of them?

Another possible issue: my cats were older when I had them years ago, these are much younger and seem to claw everything. By claw, I mean have their claws out. They're too small to easily jump up on the couch or in my chair, so they climb up with those claws. My husband is worried the furniture will get all torn up. My adult cats just jumped wherever they wanted to go.

At what age will they stop using their claws to climb all over everything?

Is there any advice anyone can offer in general?

Thank you guys in advance!

Sincerely,

A cat lover trying to calm the nerves of an unsure husband.

 

[chelonophile]

Oh! I got off subject, I also meant to ask something else. Coming from the type of home that they did, where everything was a toilet and meant to be torn up, do you think they're still young enough to be easily trainable?

I ask because I start nursing school in about two weeks. At first it won't be bad, four, 8 hours days a week, but later I'm going to have to be gone a while and lots of studying when I'm home. I was hoping they'd adjust fairly quickly, get used to where to poop and where to scratch, etc.

Any thoughts?

Thank you all again!

 

[badkitty06]

  

I get the topical flea drops from the vet and they work like a charm. Kills existing fleas as well as prevents them from coming back. It is a good monthly maintenance medication during the warm months (flea season).

As far as the scratching goes, I have 6 cats and not one of them scratch my furniture...I keep plenty of scratching posts, kitty condos, ect around the house. I started by taking them over to the scratching post every so often daily and putting their paws on it and made the scratching motion as well as putting catnip on them. Worked wonders for me.  

 

[di and bob]

They will stop climbing everything (even you) when they are big enough to jump! I would call your vet to get advise on flea treatments for small kittens, some can be deadly. I use a corrugated cardboard scratcher for my cats, they totally left the furniture alone when I got them. Cats are clean creatures, try to keep them in the room with their litter box until they are good at going in it, even very young kittens go in a box if shown where it is. Kittens are like small children, they are into everything and always active, I think your husband will enjoy them when they are older and settled down. Good luck, and many years of enjoyment!

 

[Columbine]

They should settle into a new routine just fine. Think of all the cats that end up in shelter's - they adapt to new homes and rules at all kinds of ages

The spot on flea treatments from the vet are definitely your best option. We use them regularly and haven't seen a flea since we first started using them (which would have been sometime around when they first came on the market ). That includes us at one point having 6 indoor/outdoor cats, some of whom hunted, and now with indoor only cats but also with 2 dogs who get into everything (and we live in the country!)

With the scratching, just make sure you have plenty of appropriate scratching surfaces about. If there's any furniture you're really concerned about you can always drape a cheap blanket over the sides to protect it whilst the kittens learn the new rules. Given that cats generally hate citrus, you could get some lemon essential oil (aromatherapy oil) and add it to a spray bottle of water - 1 drop per 10mls. Shake the bottle then spray it on the areas you want the kittens to ignore. You might need to repeat the spraying regularly, but it's a cheap and harmless deterrent.

With the litter box, if there are continued issues with 'missing' then you could try using Dr Elsy's Cat Attract cat litter. I've not tried it, but a lot of people here swear by it for training or retraining cats to the litter box.

Good luck with your new babies, and enjoy them !

 

[mingking]

I asked my vet about fleas the first time I adopted my cat (my cat didn't have fleas but I was just interested), and he recommended Revolution and to their site which has a few steps on how to stop a flea infestation. http://www.revolution.com.au/treatment-and-prevention-plan.aspx

However, your cats are kittens so it is much better to consult a vet about what treatments to do. 

I would suggest having at least two litterboxes since the general rule is one for each cat PLUS an extra one. However, I do have friends who have two cats that get away with two litterboxes (even one). 

 

[chelonophile]

Thanks so much guys!

So far as it turns out, I was worried over nothing. Aside from the one accident, both cats are consistently using the litter box now (it's in the bathroom). They will be getting a second box, but not until the expansion on our house is done, right now there isn't enough room for a second one anywhere.

Hubby has warmed up to them quickly and his allergies haven't acted up. I think it was the nasty living conditions associated with the pet owners he knew, rather than the actual animals that always bothered him. I've caught him loving on the kittens more than once, and they even curl up with him when he's in the room, I think that will work out wonderfully.

I'm worried a bit about the fleas. I gave them the flea bath the first night they came home and I saw a lot go down the drain, but later I still saw many crawling on their feet and face. So I later tried the flea spray on them that is supposed to kill the adults, still scratching all over. I finally tried the monthly liquid applications to the back of the neck. There's still some scratching but I just did it so hopefully it's just the adults actually dying off. As soon as I can find one (went to three different local stores and all of them were out of cat items) I'm going to use a flea comb and go over them super well to weed out the last adults. These will be inside kitties but I know they can still get fleas, I'm hoping the monthly stuff will keep new ones at bay. Oh, and they are about 6 months old so they aren't too small for the flea stuff as many have expressed.

They don't scratch the furniture purposefully but they climb every where and I can feel hubby wince with every little scratch sound on the fabric. Where they do scratch, I use a natural citrus spray and they stop.

I can't seem to get them interested in the two scratching posts they have. Right now they're just cheap lil ones from walmart and the only interest they have in them is the female one playing with the springy ball on top. We plan to build them a large tree to run and jump and climb all over, I hope they take to it better than these ones. I've tried showing them to scratch on it, but they just pull away and run off. They also shy away from almost all the toys they have, only playing with one jingly ball. I don't know if they're just skittish or still getting used to such calm that's so different from the hectic, cat filled, home they came from (there were ten cats in the house).  Maybe in time they'll warm up and get more playful.

Thanks again for all this great info and advice!

 

[Columbine]

The best way to teach a cat about a scratching post is to use a wand toy. Get them really engaged in chasing it around, then drag it up and around the scratch post. They should follow it and, in trying to catch the toy, will realise it's a great scratching surface. It's how I taught my girl about scratchers.

Great to hear things are going so well