I am My Cat's Mom: Kitten Care 101
May 19 '00
I have a cat. She is beautiful, and she hates me.
At least, that's what I think, since she barely glances at me ever since I brought that child into this world. And then I had the audacity to do it again! She seeks refuge by sleeping on my husband's side of the bed. She is sure I married him to entertain her, and there's no point in rocking the boat at this point.
Be that as it may, I am still My Cat's Mom. That means I do the things that Moms do to take care of their little ones. These routines started when she was a new-to-me kitten, and therefore she is accustomed to them. She doesn't like these routines, but they are essential to her well-being and happiness in this house. My experience as a Cat Mom makes me want everyone to share in the wonders of cat-ownership, so here are my thoughts on:
1 How to take care of your kitten
2 General advice on getting a kitten
3 What you can expect your kitten to do
4 Things cats dislike
5 Things cats like
I hope that reading this will help others in their decision whether or not to get a kitten, and in caring for a kitten once they bring one home.
When you bring your kitten home, here is a list of routines that you should establish:
Brush your kitten every day.
You may have to experiment; my sister-in-law uses a regular hairbrush on her cats, but my cat only likes the "slicker" brushes. If you get into the habit of doing this every day, your cat will actually like it. Brushing does your cat a world of good, and greatly reduces the amount of fur on your furniture, carpet, and clothing, and also helps to prevent the formation of hairballs.
Now, brushing a kitten is a bit on the ridiculous side. You won't get anything in your brush, depending on the age of the kitten, because they don't have that much fur. But the point is to accustom them to the feel of the brush, and also to spending the time with you, both of which are very good things.
Learn to do kitty manicures.
I beg you, please do not declaw your cat.
Cats naturally detest having anyone touch their paws, but since you are a Cat Mom or Dad, your cat will learn to tolerate this. You can examine your kittens claws by grasping the paw and squeezing gently between the pad and the top of the paw, just behind the claws. The claws should extend, and you can see all those needle-sharp points that you need to snip off.
I recommend using a baby-size nail trimmer. Cats' nails are very small, even on full-grown cats, and most of the nail trimmers that are sold are for dogs and they are too big to use comfortably. With a tiny nail trimmer, you just snip off the tip. Be careful, but be quick! Kittens are very wiggly and they don't like this, so it takes some practice. Once your cat is full-grown, it is a lot easier to do this, since there is more to hold on to. But also, once the cat gets used to it, you can accomplish it very quickly... squeeze paw, snip-snip-snip-snip-snip, next paw. It's a good idea to give a little treat (my cat loves Pounce) of extra loveys after a nail trimming.
You may only get to do one or two paws at a time; be grateful for what you were able to accomplish, and try again later. Don't get your cat so upset with you that you end up getting bitten. Generally growls mean "I'm not liking this, but OK," whereas hissing means "I'm getting ready to bite you!" Some cats don't vocalize at all and move straight to biting, so be careful!
Use hairball eliminator religiously.
Unless of course you have one of those freaky bald cats. Poor dears, they always look cold to me.
The Pounce people have come up with a treat that has anti-hairball goo inside it; my cat just loves these. They are really pricey though. I just go with the pump-style hairball remedy that you can get in PetsMart. I give my cat 2 pumps twice a week, and it really does help cut down on the hairballs. She seems to be a much happier cat when she is getting it. If I run out for a while, she will make an ungodly mess, usually in a way that expresses her opinion of my children (as in, on the kids toys).
Caution: do not give hairball remedy to very young kittens; when in doubt, ask your vet.
By or make cheap toys.
A string with a knot in one end will keep a kitten entertained for hours. Just make sure to tuck it up out of reach or the cat will eat it, necessitating emergency surgery that will set you back several hundred dollars (I speak from personal experience). Cats like to chew on string, but once they start swallowing, they can't stop, so they get into trouble. This goes for yarn, fishing line, etc.
Great toys are cardboard tubes from toilet paper, empty film canisters with a paperclip inside to make a "rattle", old socks with some knots tied in them, little rubber balls. Scratching posts are excellent, I recommend keeping one at the most available corners of all your upholstered furniture. That way when the cat goes to scratch the sofa, she'll have the post there instead. Plus, with her nicely clipped nails, she won't be able to do much damage anyways.
I've heard people recommend laser pointers as cat exercisers, and this may work for kittens, but older cats are too smart. They know that the little red dot has no scent, so it's not "real", no matter how you make it dance around. My cat just yawns at me if I take it out.
Some general kitten-getting advice:
Don't get a new kitten if you're a workaholic.
If you, or someone, can't be around a new kitten for a majority of the time, please wait to get a kitten. If they don't spend a lot of time around people when they are young they don't get properly socialized. That's part of the problem with my cat. That, and she just has attitude to spare, but that's part of all cats, too. When I brought her home she was a tiny 3 month old kitten. We spent four days together before I had to go back to work, and I was in the midst of a killer deadlined project. I was working 70-80 hrs/week regularly, and she bonded with my roommate more than with me. She of course still resents my roommate's departure when I decided to get married. My husband made a poor substitute for the roommate, at least from her perspective.
Don't expect your kitten to do what you want it to do.
As a recovering control freak, I had my first experience in complete-lack-of-control when I brought my kitten home. What an eye-opener! You will be amazed at the small spaces a kitten can squeeze into. Mine liked to sleep under the stereo cabinet...all 2 inches of it. Kitten-proofing is way more intensive than baby-proofing, because kittens can, and do, jump. All I can say in this category is, Good Luck. Every time I thought I had made a space "kitten proof", my sweetie proved me wrong by squeezing through some hitherto unknown passageway. In her defense, though, I will say she never got stuck anywhere. She could always get out.
Things to expect from your kitten:
* Chewing on cables. Go to your nearest home improvement store and by some 5/8 inch clear vinyl tubing in the plumbing section. With a sharp knife or a heavy scissor, slice open the tubing, cut it to length, and put the cables inside it. For some reason, cats find printer cables and cable TV cables very tasty. Bite holes in these cables can affect your print quality and the quality of your cable reception. Cover those cables!
* Eating plants. Get them out of the way, which is nearly impossible, or get rid of them entirely and replace with fake ones, which is what I ended up doing. Much easier to take care of, and my cat isn't yakking up strange green stuff. Cats will also use planters as litter boxes, depending on what you have covering soil. You might think rocks would work well, but some cats like to dig in rocks. Spanish moss may get nibbled, but most cats don't like to dig in it, so it's a good alternative if your cat has your house plants and its litter box confused.
* Attacking toes (or other body parts) that are under the covers. Self-explanatory, this is a great game to play when they are tiny. They never completely grow out of it.
* Ankle biting. I'm serious, they will pounce on your feet and bite your ankles, practicing their predator moves and wanting to play with you. For this reason, you will invest in a spray bottle (not a squirt gun, they run out of ammo too quickly) and you will squirt the kitten whenever she does this. It is a very annoying habit, I have the scratched ankles to prove it. They never grow out of this habit entirely, either.
* Predator play, as described above, but also, the desire or tendency to leap on your hand like it's something it wants to kill. No matter how much you are tempted, do not let your kitten maul your hand! You think, "Oh, he's so tiny, and this is so much fun!" It really is fun, too, but it's a great way to teach your cat to bite your hand and to scratch the daylights out of your wrists. This is no big deal when they are kittens and they are weak, but a full-grown cat can do some serious damage, even when its claws are trimmed.
* Adopting the Christmas tree as her very own. My cat sleeps in the tree. When I lived in New England and had a real tree every year, she always drank the tree's water. She would climb up inside the tree and knock every single one of a particular type of ornament off, and then horde them under the radiator. It was rather amazing. Clearly, the Christmas tree itself was a source of joy for her, so I never felt compelled like some Cat Moms to actually buy her a Christmas present. But it is important to make sure your tree is very stable, since your cat will climb it. And sleep in it, too, most likely!
Things cats do not like:
* Baths. Unless your cat is sick, there is no reason to give it a bath.
* Having air puffed into their faces. This is a good way to get a cat to back off something: just a tiny puff of air, blown into the face.
* Being squirted with water. This is much more effective if they can't see where it's coming from.
* Loud, unexpected noises.
* Touching their paws, their ears, or their backs, just above the tail
* Babies, toddler, and pre-schoolers.
Things cats love:
* Sunny places to curl up and sleep.
* Cosy blankets, sweaters, or towels to sleep on... no matter where you have left them.
* Secure places to sleep: under a cabinet, on top of a high shelf, wedged into a corner.
* Eating.
* Being scratched behind the ears and under the chin.
* Playing with you.
* Sleeping on you.
Hopefully this brief introduction to kittens and cats will help make your cat-owning experience more positive. I do love being My Cat's Mom, even if she isn't too thrilled with me anymore!
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Member: Joan Hedman
Location: Chandler, AZ
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Busy. Life. You know.
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