Thinking of taking a Kitten

xzanti

I've been offered a 4 week old kitten from a litter.

I have been thinking of getting a pet for my toddler Son.

I just have a few questions.

A. Is 4 weeks too soon to take it from it's Mother?
B. How much would I be looking at paying to have its shots/neutering etc
C. How soon could I start letting it out? We live in a rural area surrounded by fields - What are the chances it will run away or be attacked by a fox or something?

Thanks in advance

SillyMangoX

4 weeks much too young, you'll need to wait until 8 weeks at a minimum. Vaccination wise it all depends, shop around a few vets and get the best.price you can. I personally wouldnt leave the kitten outside until all its vaccines are finished and its neutered. Best chances for it not to be killed is to keep it inside once it is getting dark. I kept mine inside for the first year, then when I started leaving them out i made sure they were hungry so after an hour I called them back, fed them and broght them in so they associate coming back with getting food.

ShaShaBear

I think it goes without saying that getting any pet for a toddler son is worth some extra consideration, since he won't be in any position to care for it until he is at least 5 or 6 years old, and even at that he'll need to be supervised. So, it will be your cat.

Second, 4 weeks is far too young to take a kitten from mammy, as said above

No letting kittie outside until all vet treatments have been completed.

STRICT supervision of kitten-toddler interaction must be exercised as I find kittens are much more claw/teeth orientated when playing than puppies, and are far less tolerable of pulling, heavy petting, tugging of tails and ears, and so on. More care here than with puppies again, because something as simple as a baby gate is never going to restrain a cat, and it will be fully grown in about 8 months, and far less tolerable. High chairs, couches, cots, door swings will all be perfectly accessible for a cat that wants to attack/play/steal food so you need to be very careful.

Of course it mostly depends on the personality of the cat and your son's attitude and interest toward the animal, but in my own personal experience I would not recommend a kitten or cat as a pet for such a small child - when it has teeth, I recommend waiting until your son understands caution. A lot of new pets end up looking for new homes after defending themselves from boisterous babies because parents, rightly so, want to protect their kids.

Again, I love cats - think they make great pets, and less likely to leave poo and pee in places where baby can find them before you but I just think he might be a tad too young

xzanti

Thanks for the replies..

Yeah I've thought about it long and hard and I don't think now is the right time for a pet..

As my OH said, we should wait until he is old enough to name it himself

Cheers.

Lollers

When you do a pet though, you won't regret it, pets make for some of the best childhood enhancing experiences.