Kitten Care

Cats are more than pets, they are family

PREPARE YOUR HOME

Before you bring your kitten home, prepare a small room or space that will be it's own for the first few days or weeks, preferably your bedroom. Secure all electrical and blind cords, block or remove things that they can get stuck under. Clean your house, because having a short nose, exotic cats don't like dusty and dirty houses. Make sure, that you don't have any loose small objects anywhere, because kittens may swallow it. Check your house and garden for plants that are toxic for cats and remove them. Some of them are very common, for example: lilies, chrysanthemums, tulips, and narcissus are toxic for cats and may cause even death. Click here to find the list of poisonous plants.

Cats don’t like to eat next to the litter box. Place the litter box on one side of the room and the food and water dishes on the other. Make sure that your kitten can get in and out of the litter box without help. To help your kitten feel secure, make sure that the room has hiding places. If there isn’t furniture to hide underneath, place cardboard boxes on their sides.

When you bring your kitten home, put the carrier in the room you’ve prepared. Open the carrier door, but let your kitten come out when it is ready. After your kitten comes out, leave the carrier in the corner as another hiding place. Each day, scoop out the litter box and provide fresh food and water.

The stress of leaving mom, siblings, and a familiar environment may result in loose stool. In this case, have on hand your veterinarian address and phone number. Dehydration is very dangerous for kittens as for human babies. React immediately.

Your kitten may cry at first and hide form you, but will explore the room, when no one is watching. Eventually in a few hours or days your kitten will become more comfortable. Later, your kitten will want plenty of attention from you and you will fall in love with this exceptional creature.

After becoming comfortable in his room and developing a regular routine of eating, drinking, and using the litter box, you can let him explore the rest of your house. At this point, you need to make sure that your kitten stays safe and has enough privacy to eat, sleep and use the litter box. Keep your kitten’s bed, litter box, food and water dishes in the same place so that he knows where to find them.

5 Requirements For Kitten Care

1. Keep kittens warm.

2. Provide kittens with adequate nutrition.

3. Keep kittens clean.

4. Provide socialization with people.

5. Do your best to protect them from infectious disease. Vaccinate and avoid contact with ill animals.

Spay/Neutering

You will need to spay or neuter your kitten between 6 and 8 months of age, or else he/she will start to mark territory and try to escape from the house to look for the opposite sex and you might lose your pet.

IDEAL TENDER LOVING CARE PLAN FOR EXOTIC CATS

Daily: feed according to the age, clean litter box, clean food and water bowls, clean eyes (with the alternative products 2-3 times a week)

Weekly: comb beautiful plush fur. (In the shedding season more often, as often as you can.)

Every 3 weeks: clean ears, trim claws

Monthly: (for long haired cats) give a bath and dry

The difference between short and long hair is that a longhair will need more attention to their fur.

SPECIFIC EYE CARE FOR EXOTIC CATS

Caring for Exotic cats is not much different from caring for other breeds. The only exception is eye care, exotic cats have tearing eyes, similar to dog breeds such as Poodles and Maltese. Taking care of them will only take a few minutes, you just need to be prepared and organized. You can choose one of the following methods:

Simple and cheapest method:
Clean eyes daily by carefully washing with a soft washcloth and solution of Boric Acid, which you can buy at Wal-Mart Pharmacy or other drug stores. Prepare the solution by mixing one teaspoon (3g.) in a cup (200 ml.) of warm previously boiled water.
More expensive and more effective method for white coats/light coloured cats:
Clean your cat’s eyes two/three times a week with a soft washcloth and Eye Envy Tear Stain Remover Solution, then apply Eye Envy Tear Stain Remover Powder. Catitude Cattery uses Eye Envy Tear Stain Remove System, and you can order it directly from a distributor in Canada

FEEDING

Have fresh water available 24/7. Change water every day.

Feeding schedule for kittens:

1-2 month -- 6-5 times daily

3-4 month -- 4 times daily

5-6 month -- 3 times daily

7 month -- 3 times daily

8 month -- 2 times daily

Adults -- 2 times daily

By the time our kittens go to their forever homes, they are usually weaned and eat all types of food. They eat raw ground beef, canned and dry pet food, drink water, and drink 10% half milk half cream. They also might eat a little bit of sour cream.

We prefer to feed our kittens and cats natural raw foods, and recommend our customers to do the same, if you have enough time and are willing to do it. Do not feed raw if you are not certain of the quality of the meat.

Some kittens may not like to eat dry food or will start to eat dry food later in their life than their littermates.

You need to keep in mind that just like people, kittens may like some type of food and may not like another food. Some prefer milk, while others hate it, and will not drink it at all no matter what you do. Some kittens will drink milk to the certain age, then will stop. If your kitten stops drinking milk, it's okay, do not force him to drink milk. Adult cats don't like to drink milk and may have diarrhea because of milk. There are also cats that drink milk all their life and don’t have diarrhea. Eating habits are very individual.

If you will buy food for your kitten or cat in a pet store, we recommend buying GRAIN-FREE products.

We do not recommend fish products at all life stages, because food manufacturers put too many flavor and odor improvers into these products, which can make kittens develop allergies.

We try to feed our kittens and cats as little chicken products as possible. It is the cheapest protein, and other proteins work better to meet their nutritional needs. Also chicken may cause an allergic reaction in some cats.

We recommend to feed kittens:

Raw ground beef, mild: Please buy good quality at the big stores, not at small shops or butcher stores. Then freeze it in the freezer for 3 days to kill bacteria, and then defreeze to room temperature.
Raw salmon
Dry food: Authority. Salmon and Rice Formula. It is hard to find grain-free and chicken-free food for kittens.
Canned food. We prefer Authority. Kitten. Chicken and Liver Entrée, Authority. Kitten. Turkey Entrée, and Authority. Kitten. Salmon

For adult cats we recommend to buy GRAIN FREE dry food. We also like:

Go. Grain-Free Lamb and Wild Boar
Pro Plan. Sensitive Skin and Stomach, Lamb and Rice
Pro Plan. Urinary Tract Health

Wet/canned food that we recommend for adult cats:

Authority. Adult. Turkey Entrée in Gravy
Authority. Beef Entrée

If you wish to introduce new foods to your adult cats, please do it gradually by mixing and adding to the food, that your kitten ate before. Start from adding ¼ new food for 4 days, that add ½ new food for days 5-10 and so on. Some kittens and cats are very sensitive to changes in their diet.

All food must be room temperature, not cold and not hot.

Some kittens and cats have a tendency overeat. Pay attention to portions and correct eating habits. If a kitten overeats, he/she will have an upset stomach.

Your kitten will become adult at 8 months of age. You need to start gradually switching to an adult diet at 7 months.

CORE VACCINATION AND HEALTH PLAN FOR INDOOR CATS

A protected response is what the veterinarian is aiming for when vaccinating your kitten, priming the immune system to produce antibodies and neutralize infectious organisms before they have a chance to induce disease. Ideally, this is achieved through a standard schedule involving vaccines at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age

8 - 9 WEEKS OF AGE

Vaccination - FVRCP (1st) Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis, Calicivirus, Panleukopenia (distemper)
Strategic deworming and flea control

12 WEEKS OF AGE

Vaccination - FVRCP (2nd)
Strategic deworming and flea control

16 WEEKS OF AGE

Vaccination - FVRCP - 3rd
Vaccination - Rabies
Strategic deworming and flea control

6 MONTHS OF AGE

Ovariohysterectomy (spay) - female cats
Castration (neuter) - male cats
Strategic deworming and flea control

YEARLY

Vaccination - FVRCP
Vaccination - Rabies
Strategic deworming and flea control

TOYS

The best is different sized soft balls. If you have toys with feathers, strings, beads, etc make sure that the kitten cannot swallow the parts.

NECESSARY ITEMS FOR KITTENS

Food and water bowls
Food (canned and dry)
Litter box and scooper
Kitty litter
Carrier
Scratch post
Nail clippers
Comb (metal). For longhair cats a sleeker and loose coat brush
Bedding
Washcloth (soft)
Boric Acid
Shampoo
Toys, catnip toys

I love the smooth face!

Bowls should be very shallow and big around, because their faces are flat. Stainless steel and ceramic bowls from the dollar store works for Exotic cats the best. Have bowls with fresh water always full and dry food available at all times.