New Kitteh... Advice Please? :)

hattoncracker

Hi guys,

Myself and my OH were going about our usual Sunday routine when we got a phonecall from his mum. There was a stray kitten at her local Spar and they had to keep throwing it out of the shop. She took it home with her and rang us and asked us if we would take her. We've been wanting to get a cat for a while, and when we saw her it was absolute love at first sight. She went straight to my OH and up into his arms, and had no issue at all being stroked. When she came into our house she walked around for 2 minutes, then hopped up on the sofa and is right now asleep beside me.

She's very friendly and has obviously been socialised, we'd say she's only a few months old. But she's very thin and freaked out a little in the car so we think she may have been dumped. She's been fed, and we are going to take her to the vets during the week to be checked out, and eventually neutered.

Can anyone give me any advice on what to ask the vet? I haven't owned a cat in a long time, so should there be things to look out for to make sure she's healthy? What foods would you guys recommend for her, etc?

Thanks in advance!

SillyMangoX

Definately get her a worm and flea treatment, that could be why shes skinny. Get her vaccinated too! Very cute

MOR66

Congrats on your new family member! I'd suggest taking her to the vet asap.
Unless you want pregancy to occur (which can occur as young as 4 months!) then your first query should be about spaying her.Since you don't know her background,they might want to perform a blood test for feline leukemia\flu virus, which is common in feral cats. If she's clear they will just protect her against these by injections every year or two.

Ideally she should be fed a diet of dry and wet kitenn food. Whiskas is a good brand of catfood but maybe get some sugestions from the vet.

Good luck!

angeline

Almost all kittens have worms so she definitely needs to be flea and worm treated. Also you will need to get her spayed if she isn't already and get her vaccinations. I would suggest feeding her Royal Canin dry nuts. My cats have always done well on this. Also you can buy pouches of wet Royal Canin food which you can give her every day along with a supply of nuts and fresh water.

angeline

I was given a stray kitten picked up at side of road at 7 weeks old. Brought him to the vet and he had lice, ear mites, you name it. But I got him on the proper treatment and he turned in to the most wonderful pet.

x Purple Pawprints x

I'd say definitely get her a flea and worm treatment and also vaccinated because she looks to be over the 8 weeks (first vaccination is generally done at 8 weeks). Good on you for thinking about neutering, it really is the best thing. That can be done from 6 months onwards, the younger the better really. You could also think about microchipping if she's going to be an outdoor cat at all. Get her started on eating dry nuts. If you don't want to start on dry nuts right away try half nuts + half soft food and then gradually increase the amount of nuts along with decreasing the amount of soft food over about ten days to two weeks. She's a dote, best of luck with her!

hattoncracker

x Purple Pawprints x wrote: »

I'd say definitely get her a flea and worm treatment and also vaccinated because she looks to be over the 8 weeks (first vaccination is generally done at 8 weeks). Good on you for thinking about neutering, it really is the best thing. That can be done from 6 months onwards, the younger the better really. You could also think about microchipping if she's going to be an outdoor cat at all. Get her started on eating dry nuts. If you don't want to start on dry nuts right away try half nuts + half soft food and then gradually increase the amount of nuts along with decreasing the amount of soft food over about ten days to two weeks. She's a dote, best of luck with her!

she's very beautiful, and has slept since she arrived.. Only woke up a little while ago, had a little food and is now curled up beside the OH, snoozing... She loves him.. It's actually so cute.. He's over 6 foot and has this tiny little thing flying about after him..

is it normal for her to sleep this much, or do you think maybe she's just tired from all the stress?

Morf

I have a 12 week old kitten at the moment. He sleeps a lot (like cats in general). I wouldn't worry about that. My cats have always been more active at night than during the day.

x Purple Pawprints x

hattoncracker wrote: »

she's very beautiful, and has slept since she arrived.. Only woke up a little while ago, had a little food and is now curled up beside the OH, snoozing... She loves him.. It's actually so cute.. He's over 6 foot and has this tiny little thing flying about after him..

is it normal for her to sleep this much, or do you think maybe she's just tired from all the stress?

Cats in general do sleep a lot, kittens sleep much more. I wouldn't worry, the fact that she's a kitten along with the fact that she might be a little stressed if you think she was dumped, is making her sleep. Sounds like she's found a fabulous home with you and your OH though.

Shenshen

She's gorgeous! Take her to the vet soon as you can, to get her de-flead, de-liced, de-wormed and de-everything elsed. It's amazing how many parasites can fit into and onto a small kitty. And as others have said, get her spayed quickly, but not straight away I would say. Give her a week or two to settle in a bit first, it is surgery after all and you want her to be as strong as she can be so she'll heal quickly.

All the best to you and your new little friend!

Bubblefett

hattoncracker wrote: »

she's very beautiful, and has slept since she arrived.. Only woke up a little while ago, had a little food and is now curled up beside the OH, snoozing... She loves him.. It's actually so cute.. He's over 6 foot and has this tiny little thing flying about after him..

is it normal for her to sleep this much, or do you think maybe she's just tired from all the stress?

Ah she's beautiful. I ended up with my kitten last month after he kept wandering into a local shop too!
Get her flea'd and wormed asap and get her first vacination. As for the sleep the day I found my kitty he slept the entire day away. He was knackered, don't know how long he'd be wandering for. However he hasn't stopped playing since!!
Get your litter tray and scratching post set up as soon as you can too if you haven't already done so I was too slow buying the post and now my sofa is in bits!