Friday, May 21, 2010

At what age do you start a kitten on cat food?

My cat had one kitten three weeks ago and of course is still nursing.but I was wondering when I should start introducing cat food into the kittens diet?
Answers:
The above answer is exactly correct, they need dry food as it cleans the teeth much better %26 does not cause diarrhea so bad. I personally never feed wet food %26 I usually start at about 4 weeks with dry %26 warm water just enough to make it moist a bit, they want %26 need to use those teeth.
At about 4-5 weeks. Plus you'll notice mama cat isn't nursing as much, because sharp little teeth are coming in.
Dry food is best and you can soak it in a bit of water before giving it to kitten so kitten doesn't choke. At 5-6 weeks you can leave dry dood out for kitten all the time %26 give a tiny amount 2 times a day.
Remember that a kitten's tummy is smaller than a walnut.
Wet food's ok - but only a teaspoon.
Kittens eat very fast and too much canned food will cause really stinky diarreah.
about 6-7 weeks old!
soften it withe water or milk and them offer it to your kitten.
You don't have to. The kitten will just start eating the mom's food. Usually it will happen at 6 weeks. But it can be longer or shorter depending on how good of a mother your cat is...
Well if it is still nursing you should wait until it is not. But after wards its safe to feed it hard food or any food that you will like.
when it is 6 weeks but i always started with gravy then slowly to the can food then the harder stuff
Kittens should not be fed cat food until they are one year old. That being said, you can start offering kitten food at about 4 weeks.
Offer very small amounts of canned or dry moistened with KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) in a shallow dish (a pie plate works well). KMR is available almost everywhere that has a pet department. If you can't get that, use warm water. Do not use any kind of milk or baby formula, kittens cannot digest it. Place it in the room where the kitten lives. Replace the food several times a day, so it doesn't spoil or dry up. Also offer a shallow dish of water so mama cat can teach her baby to drink that.
You should also by now have provided the kitten with a litter box. The box for a baby kitten should be a cardboard box cut down to about 2 or 3 inches high, with about 陆"-1" of litter in it. A little kitten cannot easily get in and out of a regular size litter box. Put this in the same room with the kitten, but not too near it's food or bed. Cats won't potty near where they sleep and eat. Mama cat can teach her baby to eat the food and use the box, but if you want to help, place the kitten in the box and gently scratch in the litter with it's little front paws. It will get the idea really quickly. Leave it in the box to explore, and so it can find it's own way out. Then it will know where the box is and how to access it.
Expect mama cat to eat some of the food, and use the box you've provided for the kitten. Cats teach their young mostly by example. What the kitten sees mama cat do, it will then do.
Hope this helps answer your questions. As soon as this kitten is weaned and independent of it's mother, please take her to be spayed. The kitten should be seen by then for it's first shots and worming, too.
Make sure the kitten is spayed between 4 and 6 months old. The earlier your vet will do it, the better. Cats can develop undesirable habits if they aren't altered, not the least of which is prolific breeding!
Just think a minute. An average litter is 4 kittens. If each of those and the mother has 2 litters per year, that's 40 offspring in one year! Now, if each of those has an average litter twice a year, that's 320 kittens by the end of the second year! Need I continue? You can see how fast they reproduce. Is it any wonder that pet over population is such a severe problem? Please do you part and help nip it in the bud. Get you pets fixed so that the homes that are available can go to pets that are already sitting in shelters waiting for someone to rescue them. Thank you!

At what age do most cats start having health problems?

I'm a proud owner of a siamese cross cat. She's only one and a half year old (sterilised) and has been with me for about a year. She seems healthy but I'm concerned if there's any signs or health problems that I should look out for..and at what age do problems usually arise?
Answers:
If you get annual vet checkups for your cat, that can reassure you that your pet is healthy. I think Siamese are usually a very long-lived breed of cat. My friend had one that was 22 and only started having health problems in her later years.
As with humans, sometimes the health of a cat can be determined by it's genes. If the parents were healthy and long-lived, the kitten could, too. If the parents developed diabetes or kidney problems, the kitten may also. Keeping a cat inside can extend it's life by about 5 years.
I had a domestic longhair that didn't start having problems until he was 14 years old (average age for cats to live). I had 2 littermates and they had problems at that age, too. They had stopped absorbing the nutrients from the food they ate and lost weight dramatically, but did not have any parasites.
At the present time I have 3 Scottish Folds, one age 9 and two age 8, which have never, ever been ill. I have no information on their parents, but they are inside cats and have no problems.
It's good you're concerned about your cat's health. Get yourself a good cat health book so you can have a reference book for cat health. I'd recommend 'Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook' by Delbert G. Carlson, DVM and James M. Giffin, MD. (available online thru Amazon or other book stores)
I think once they become a senior cat you need to keep your eyes peeled for health problems, starting at around age 8 you may be on the lookout for kidney problems.
If you are concerned about health problems in the future, lets talk about nutrtion and what to feed your cat
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat鈥檚 health
Contrary to what you may have heard, dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i鈥檚 and a host of other problems. The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...
There's no age limit to health problems. You just keep a close eye on their condition and behavior, and when you see something that's not normal, you ask your vet.
Siamese cross cats sometimes get the same problems full Siamese get--the binge and purge eating (Royal Canin Siamese 38 is a food designed to stop that), and overly vocal antics (if you encourage talking, the cat will ALWAYS be talking to you even after it's not cute anymore). They're very smart and like to climb.
Keep her on good food, play with her for exercise, and interact with her. They bond strongly to one person and can do major grieving when given away or separated for two weeks.

At what age do Male Cats begin SPRAYING in the house?

My male kitten just turned 6 months old. Please help with the following questions:--------------------...
When should I get him neutered?
Is 6 months too old to do it?
What is the neutering Process (like how they do it, do they put him to sleep, will he be in pain, will he need special care afterwards, will they cut the testicles off only and leave his other male part?)
Answers:
As a professional breeder I have my male kittens neutered at 12 weeks. This is to prevent any future unwanted sexual behavior. Your kitty should be neutered as in YESTERDAY.
Most vets will open the sac and remove the testicles and stitch the sac closed.
I just had 4 kittens neutered yesterday. Within a few hours they were awake and by evening they were playing like nothing happened.
Go for it and quickly!
Get him neutered now. If he starts spraying it will be harder to break him of it!!

They do sedate him and he will be droggy at first but will never know it was done.
My last male also had to have a hernia repaired so he also has a huge incision from that and it didn't phase him.
6 months old is the perfect age to get him fixed...he will start spraying soon...yes they will knock your cat out for the surgery, he will be sore for a day or two, no special care, just don't pick him up let him come to you, and yes they only remove the testicles they leave his penis intact...you and your cat will be much happier, and you will lengthen his life considerably since there will be no chance of him getting testicular cancer
Get him neutered ASAP! I've had cats and kittens for years, and they usually begin breeding at around 6 months, although once I had one that got pregnant at 5 months. They will put him to sleep, he won't be in too much pain, and he won't need much special care afterwards. Just make sure you give him lots of head rubs and be careful of his stitches - be very careful if you have to pick him up at any stage. Make sure he has a nice comfy bed near his litter tray, and provide him, as I'm sure you do anyway, with plenty of fresh water and food. He'll probably be a bit zonked out anyway after the anaesthetic, so he won't be in much pain. I'm delighted you're taking the responsibility to get him neutered. Good luck, I hope all goes well!
Yah, this should be a good time, just check with your vet to be sure. Our vet suggested 8 months. Of course he wasnt let out until he did get fixed.
As for spraying, even neutered males can spray. They may not but it is part of their instinct for protecting their territory. Spraying is usually caused by stress if the cat feels that other males are invading his space, even a new neighborhhod cat can bring out this behavior suddenly.
your vet will tell you when you can get him neutered - (once the testicles have dropped) he might be ready now.. or usually around 8 months - but many vets book neutering appointments well in advance.
he will not suffer - and he will have his other part... its the best thing a pet owner can do - he wont risk testiclular cancer and he wont spray (which usually starts at 1 yr)
you should get him neutered now.they can get neutered as young as 6 weeks up to 4-5 years. and i believe that they start spraying at around 8 months old or so. i know because i have(had) a male cat and i got him neutered around june when he was about 8 months old. and to answer your questions yes they put him to sleep.the cat really shouldn't be in any pain.and the cat will have to wear the cone around his neck(they will supply u will this for a small fee)for a week also during that week u will have to substitute the cat litter with shredded newspaper because the dust of the regular cat litter can infect the wound.(and yes ums how should i put this cut the lil testicles off and leave the other part)

Arthurs cat food has been renamed in honour of the white cat in the advert. what was it originally called?


Answers:
Kattomeat rings a bell.
Eric.
Katkins?

Edit: I think Goose is right!
Oh wait I know this one... oh...uh...uee...uh..ah...was it...ahhhh...wait a minute are we on jeopardy dude? Dude wears my car? Dude...sweet.Oh yea the winning question for 100 billion dollars and world domination... is it Pretty Kitty bitty bites? (no) AHHHHLL man... so close . . . .. .
The food used to be named Kattomeat I believe.
Goose is right, it did used to be called Kattomeat.
Excerpt from Life on Mars - Cat Style no. 2, by Sarah Hartwell on the Messy Beast web site;
"It was midday and everyone at the yard was having a short nap. A black-and-white TV was playing in the corner. Sam, with his colour vision, had found black and white disturbing. There was also a distinct lack of cat-oriented programming apart from a white cat called Arthur dipping his paw into a can of Kattomeat. Sam knew that some time between monochrome 1973 and full colour 2007, the product would be named Arthurs."
Kattomeat - and it was renamed Arthurs years ago!

Around what age do cats start to recognize their names?


Answers:
I have fostered five and six week old kittens and they have responded to their names in a matter of days.
One of the cats I brought home from the shelter (unclaimed stray aged 4 yo) responded to his name within 48 hours. Mind you being a Burmese he is quite smart ... LOL
All my cats respond to their names and did so very quickly.
Like any animal, I believe it depends on the individual, and if they can be bothered responding
Around the same age as you say their name to get them to come eat
by the time they get use to you there is no real age my cat is almsot 2 we got her when she was only 6 mounths. it took her only a few mounths to know her name
My cat has known her name since she was only 2 months old she is now three months and respnods every time we call her by her name
It took us a few weeks to find my baby's name, we tried a few and when we started calling him Cedrick he responded. I think that he liked it
it depends on the cat. some cats will never respond to their name. some cats will only respond to names that have an E sound at the end. and some cats will respond to the name in a matter of days or weeks. one of my cats doesnt know his real name because we call him by a nick name. his real name is Bandit but we call him Bandy because he responds to the E sound a lot better
ALL CATS R DIFFERENT SO THAT CAN'T REALLY B ANSWER 4 SURE

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Arnt cats the best things a live?

i love cats to death!dont u?? if u dont ur heartless. btw dont be mean to me if u think i dont like dogs i love them 2 just less than cats
Answers:
Depends on the cat... when they go feral they tend to destroy things. A mate has a cat that kills anything from rabbits, birds, mice, you name it. I prefer dogs (sorry)
Yes Maam!
My kitty loves me uncondionally. He is awsome. I like all animals
I love them!! So much that I have 3.
cats are blah dogs are good.
My cats are my life. They make me so happy when I'm home and when I'm having a bad day I just look at their picture and they instantly cheer me up : )
I'm a dog person, they show affection. Cats act like they don't even know you.
Ha! No!
Yes.
Yeah! I'm a huuuuge cat lover! They have the most gorgeous mannerisms and they are great companions! :-)
I used to speed up when a cat ran out in the street in the city.
They are certainly some of the most entertaining critters around!
way no! dogs!
CATS (we are owned by 3)~~~~ THE QUEENS ~~~~ THEY RUN OUR HOUSE~~THEY CHASE OUR DOGS ~~~~
THEY OWN US !!!!!!!!!!...
Like pepole used to say CATS RULE AND dogs DRULE
CATS HAVE BETTER PERSONALITY
I LOV CATS!!! I LOV CATS!!!! I LOV CATS!!!!
WHEN SOMONE SAID THEY HATE CATS I WOULD GIVE THEM A COMBACK THEY WOULD NEVER FORGET .
people who say cats don't show affection, have no personality, or hate people are OBVIOUSLY IGNORANT. don't judge cats until you know them. cats are super affectionate and very playful - especially with their owners. my kitty has to be involved in everything i'm doing! she helps me make the bed, lays by me when i make lesson plans, lays on the graded papers when i'm grading papers, sits by me when i scrapbook, plays with yarn while i knit, follows me around the house when i clean, and cuddles with me in bed and purrs me to sleep! i love her to death. dogs on the other hand (i have 2 of them) are needy bastards that are loud when they bark at 4 am cuz the wind blows, obnoxious when they bark at neighbors, and drive me crazy when they think everything is theirs, get jealous if i say hi to another pet, and beg for food every time i eat anything or drink anything... and if you want to spend the night at a friends - forget it! unless you want to mop up dog urine and scoop up dog poo from your floor...
so yes - I LOVE CATS!!
I've had both cats and dogs throughout my life and the most devoted pet I've ever had was a cat. He was a Persian and was the most loving little guy... I had to shave him about every 6 months though to keep the shedding to a minimum. Now I have a Siamese kitten and she is just as sweet and adoring as my other cat was.
If you've never had a cat before... don't judge them! My husband's daughter was upset when she found out there would be a cat in the house. She had never lived with a cat before and knew nothing about them. Now she's attached to the cute little baby!
I agree with you sooooooooooooooooo much!!! I love cats. Dogs are ok. I just don't understand how people are scared of such adorable little cats!

PS. We have 5 cats. Fiona is the queen and we are her kittens. She will come up to us every day and lick us. (give us a bath) I loooove cats!
I have 3 indoor kitties that we adopted and 3 outdoor kitties that adopted us and we just LOVE them all! (We want a little dog too!) Cats are awesome!
You got it babe!! The cutest little furry balls of fun to ever walk the earth. I need a kitty fix about every hour when I'm at home, just a snuggle or a kiss. My new puppy loves kitty too!! He sees her and his tail starts a-wagging!!
My husband thinks I go too overboard with the pets, but I don't care. They're mine and I'd do anything for them!!
cat dont do carp now dogs they can garud your home PLAY WITH YOU and so on
Cat's are my life. Always have been, always will be. There has never been a time in my life that I have not been owned by one (or more that one). People that don't like cats don't understand them. To like them does not mean you prefer them over dogs, it just means you understand them. I think some people feel intimidated by them because they present such human behavoirism. I have spent my life watching, learning and loving cats. I volunteer at my local animal shelter where I take care of both cats and dogs. Although, I have to tell you, the more people I meet, the more I like my cat!

Aren't cats just an illusion?

You know those optic illusions. Or maybe they are just deformed dogs..That's why the dogs chase them-- Just like humans don't accept different people, it's the same with dogs. who agrees?
Answers:
yes, i have always thought that. finally someone else who shares my view!
I sure as hell don't.
You just have to have faith! BELIEVE! %26lt;--(the power of caps lock compells you!)
im gonna give you a star becuase this is the best rant ive ever heard.
:D! u r so funny! disformed dogs? cats are not a allusion,they are animals i bet when a cat brushes up against your leg its a allusion! o and i bet when you buy food for the invisible cat the allusion will eat it ha! Cats are real,they are not disformed dogs! thanks for the laugh tho! l0l! woo! u r funny.