New Cat Owner, a question.

[iloveprincess]

Congrats on your new kitty! He is ADORABLE!

 

[stewball]

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• payaza2000
• Oct 30, 2013

He is beautiful. His colouring is gorgeous and I love love love tabbies.

 

[payaza2000]

Thanks everyone for the advice and help. As we speak he is in his cat cave, while am watching the Cowboys game.

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• payaza2000
• Nov 3, 2013

 

[mservant]

How cute is it that he sleeps with his head hanging out so he doesn't miss out on anything!  Take it he's bored by the Cowboys game then? 

 

[stewball]

Thanks everyone for the advice and help. As we speak he is in his cat cave, while am watching the Cowboys game.

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• payaza2000
• Nov 3, 2013

Yay you bought a lovely one. What does it have on it?

 

[stewball]

Yay you bought a lovely one. What does it have on it?

Is he scratching on it. Have you been to the vet yet?

 

[payaza2000]

Three floor cat tree. With cave on first, and two perchs on the second and third floors. I have a feeling if he grows anymore ?, than he may outgrow it though.

Vet said that his lungs sound fine. And said that since we smoke, we smoke on our balcony apartment, Flea is probably allergic to the smell or smoke on our clothes. He gave him a shot and all is well only one sneeze in the past three days. Gonna go in this week to get him neutered, rabies, second distemper, as well as a microchip.

 

[mservant]

Sounding pretty good then, and Flea is trying to help you cut down on the smokes and stay healthy for him too! 

  Good to hear the vet doesn't think it's anything else and the sneezing stays minimal.

Hope he's fine after his shots and that 'little op'. 

 

[payaza2000]

Hey this is another question of pure curiosity. How large can I reasonably expect Flea to get currently he is 5 pounds at 4 months. He is a mixed breed. When do cats hit their ceiling in terms of growth ?

 

[stewball]

Three floor cat tree. With cave on first, and two perchs on the second and third floors. I have a feeling if he grows anymore ?, than he may outgrow it though.

Vet said that his lungs sound fine. And said that since we smoke, we smoke on our balcony apartment, Flea is probably allergic to the smell or smoke on our clothes. He gave him a shot and all is well only one sneeze in the past three days. Gonna go in this week to get him neutered, rabies, second distemper, as well as a microchip.

And clipped claws. Besides the furniture will save a lot of scratches to you two.
What book did he prefer?

 

[stewball]

Very good to understand how important the claws are to a cat's well being. But, not to belay the obvious, but a scratching post or board is the first place to start. Some say to put catnip on it, but I found that doesn't really matter - and many kittens don't respond to it.

Basically introduce him to it (his own curious nature will lead him to investigate it) - it is likely he will give it a scratch or two immediately. Praise him. Bring him to it right after he wakes up. Cats will often stretch and scratch right after waking up.

Many scratching posts can be had for under $20 at the pet stores. But one thing I've noticed. As they get older (and heavier), they begin to really pull on the pole when they stretch before scratching and, in my case, it causes it to be less attractive by toppling it. Don't worry, that's months away. So my guys began to gravitate to the furniture.

The solution then is a really tall and sturdy scratching post like the one I just got...


Now I'm not "selling" this to you, just showing what I found is working best for me. My Ragdoll now pulls down any ordinary scratching post simply by his weight when he stretches. Most cat trees have scratching posts as part of the structure... make sure he knows it. Take him to it when he wakes up from his naps.

Almost forgot, another way to get him interested in a scratching post (should he find it less than attractive) is to play with a wand toy near it so that in trying to grab the tease part of the toy he catches the post in the process. It is really funny when this happens because sometimes you can almost see the light bulb go off in their head - hey, this is great!

Handsome little guy!

Wow that really is a lovely scratch post. Lovely and large and wide and sturdy. I wish I could get one here but for Amazon to send it to me would probably cost 10 x thr the cost of the item. The more you have the less likely they'll scratch the furniture.

 

[stewball]

When I got the little round scratching mat I took whisky to it, held his front paws gently and scratched with his paws for him to see what it was for. Blighty just does what whisky does.

 

[stewball]

Three floor cat tree. With cave on first, and two perchs on the second and third floors. I have a feeling if he grows anymore ?, than he may outgrow it though.

Vet said that his lungs sound fine. And said that since we smoke, we smoke on our balcony apartment, Flea is probably allergic to the smell or smoke on our clothes. He gave him a shot and all is well only one sneeze in the past three days. Gonna go in this week to get him neutered, rabies, second distemper, as well as a microchip.

How about this being a good time to stop smoking. Second hand smoke is just as bad for animals as it is for humans and think how much better you both will feel and how much money you will save. For the kitty it's a jolly good reason isn't it?

 

[stewball]

Hey this is another question of pure curiosity. How large can I reasonably expect Flea to get
currently he is 5 pounds at 4 months. He is a mixed breed. When do cats hit their ceiling in terms of growth ?

Most kitties are considered full grown cats at about a year give or take a few months. Ask the vet next time you see him. Also varies if he's lots of fur or heavy boned but I doubt he'll be any bigger than an elephant so don't sweat it. ;-)

 

[penelopess]

I guess Its a little late to reply to this, but you said cat would meow in the morning before you leave, and said you give him dry food before leaving. I would say give him a can of wet food also before you leave AND a bowl of dry food - in addition to the other two you give already -

Also I agree the laser pointer issue about them going crazy because they cannot get it. It's a good way to make them run and waste some energy but I love to give the cat the satisfaction to get and chew what I make them play with. I wanted to suggest you to try peacock feathers (the full sized long ones) as well as any other long feathers. Those work great because they are long and flexible, cats love them, you can move them fast. Cat can grab the tip of it (the eye) chew it a little, but you can also pull it straight out of their claws or mouth(delicately in this case) and start playing with it again after having given them the satisfaction of having it. I used to have a peacock in my garden so we had lots of these feathers, and we used to play with cats. You have to keep it though and not let them chew the stem of it or it will be completely ruined in a short time. So you just let them play with the tip of it. Eventually they do break them slowly and eventually I do let them chew them. Then I get a new one and start a new game.

You can find them at craft stores like michaels or so.

 

[payaza2000]

Hey guys so I took Flea to the Vet this morning for his:

-Neuter
-Rabies
-Distemper
-Deworm

Anyways my Vet has a couple cats in his office. Three are free roaming in his office, and two where caged in like a large enclosure. So I took the opportunity to introduce Flea to the cats. First like two minutes would mildly Hiss and Growl. And than after that he would ignore (more interested in getting out of carrier) the two enclosed cats who where very interested in him. The only other time he hissed was when one of the enclosed cats stretchoud his paw towards his carrier. He seemed generally ok. Wasn't going "wild" or anything. So does bode well as I would like a multi (two) cat household at some point?

 

[stewball]

I don't know if you can really tell unless they're really in each other's space. My whisky took to blighty very quickly and wouldn't stop washing him but I've had the opposite too. He's probably small enough to accept a friend. You won't know until you try.

 

[the cat and us]

To stop cat s scratching the furniture try putting tangerine or orange peel around the furniture, or rubbing the surface with orange peel. Cats usually hate the smell of citrus fruits! They scratch to leave scent markings so if you cover what is yours with a strong smell they don't like they should leave it alone, but you have to give them a scratching post so they can still scent .

 

[varsettie]

My cat Atari was almost five years old and solitary when I brought Fawkes home and initially they wanted to kill each other. With some scent swapping, using the bedroom to contain one cat while the other was out playing, and feeding them on opposite sides of the door from one another they soon came to realize they might actually like the company. There were some small ‘fights’ which was mostly Atari hissing at Fawkes for trying to play with her and it took them three months to completely settle once their initial introduction was over, but they’re happy and fine together now. They even sleep together.

With your cat it may be 'difficult' to introduce another cat if Flea is kept solitary for a year or more, but it's not impossible.