How do I prepare for a cat?

First, find the best vet you can. He or she will answer any and all questions. The kitty’s first visit should be to vet’s. If you are getting the little guy from a shelter (and I hope you are) the people there won’t let you leave without giving you all the instructions you need and want.

A close friend adopted Max; the Animal Rescue Center has a hot line that she (friend and not Max) still uses.

The holding part i think is something that comes naturally once you have it, say, like you hold a baby for the first time, it’s an intuitive thing (at least is was for me).
The collar bell i have heard is not a good idea (my cat hasn’t got one, since it is a house cat) because it would alert the birds that he might chase.
Which is good for the birds but not for kitty, she would get very frustrated since all the time the birdies fly away before she gets the chance to catch them.
If the collar (bell) is intended for putting her name and address in then you can consider a chip instead.
Have fun with kitty!

Tear up your furniture, clothing and drapery.

Knock over your houseplants and rip up the foliage.

Set up a box of sand somewhere inconvenient and throw the rankest garbage you can think of into it every night, and then scoop it out every morning.

Pull your hair out and throw it onto kitchen counters, the remnants of your furniture, and any uncovered food.

Have someone close to you sporadically whip you with a piece of barbed wire.

Milo here: I wear a collar and two little bells; I go outside; I caught 50 mice, chipmunks and a few birds last summer. I almost got a garter snake and a piece of surveyor’s tape.

I am fastidious and go on rampages only rarely. Although Gail is still wondering why the Harrison’s rose she carefully planted last spring is failing to thrive.

@Milo
Pinnie here (rebbel’s pussycat).
So you say my human is wrongly informed, concerning the collar bell?
Well, that wouldn’t be the first time…, he, like all humans, is wrong regularly.
Bring me a mouse once, please, i don’t even know what they look like…

All you need is a bag of kitten kibble, a basic litter pan, and a bucket of kitty litter.

I strongly suggest buying the Clumping variety of litter as it allows you to remove the urine and poop while preserving the rest of the litter. Saves you some serious $$. Clean the litter box at least once a bay.

Kittens and collars are not a good match in my opinion. Kitties are very curious and can easily get hung by their collars. If you have to have a collar make sure you buy a “break-away” collar so you don’t lose your long awaited kitty to a hanging accident.

Cats are pretty independent and if you have “kitten proofed” your home it is pretty safe to leave them alone from the very beginning. I wouldn’t recommend making a big habit of it in the beginning since you are trying to bond with the kitten and you can’t do that if you aren’t there. Kittens like to chew on electric cords and the like so you really need to be thorough in your kitty proofing.

A really fun thing to get (especially for your boyfriend if he isn’t as excited about the kitty as you) is a laser pointer toy. They are available in any pet department. Don’t shine it directly into the kitten’s eyes. This “techno-toy” seemed to bridge the “I’m a man and I don’t play with no stinkin’ kitties” gap in my house.

I hope you get your kitten from a shelter as their are thousands of lovely animals a day being killed for the want of a good home.

I third the “no collar for kitty” thing. I was very fortunate that my kitty’s collar broke when she and I fell 10 feet out of a tree she got herself stuck in. She was hanging from a branch by her collar, and clawed me in the face when I tried to get her down. Snap, fall, crash. She was fine, I was in pain for a week. No collars.

Dry food is best for your cats teeth however some never take to it and can become finicky eaters.
Water is best but I’m not sure if they can drink cows milk when young. Your vet will be better able to tell you.
Litter box is a must. They are pretty good with using it.
By a soft brush to brush it. Yes they clean themselves but they also swallow a lot of hair and that causes problems. By brushing you can prevent them catching a lot of loose hairs.
Fix the kitten asap. Cats can become nasty and tend to wander more if not nuetered.
The bell thing is cute for us not so much for them. Animals have sensitive hearing and it may sound louder to your cat. If you buy one hoping you can hear him coming and not step on him than thats understandable. Try a soft sounding bell. If it doesn’t bug him than, why not. However once he is grown and running outside you might want to consider that a dog may hear his bell and chase him.
Do not declaw your cat if you are going to let it wander outside. Even if you don’t they can run away and not have a way to protect itself.
Get rid of anything poisonous that it may get its paws on.
Make sure there isn’t a spot around that it could possibly get into but difficult for it to get out. Cats are very curious.

I recommend high-end canned cat food. Dry food (if you must) get a low-ash type.

You will need a water bowl and food bowl.

You will need a littler box and scoop.

You will need cat toys.

@gailcalled Yea, I’m going to get him from a shelter. It’s good to know that they offer information.

I fourth the no collar thing. Especially, at least, when the kitty is still really young. Both of our cats managed to snag their collars on something when they were crawling between tight spaces. If they hadn’t been the collars that unhinge themselves for reasons exactly like that, they both would have choked to death.

Also, having a vet and hospital lined up before you get the kitty is a really good idea – especially if you’re going to let it outside. If so, getting certain shots for the kitty will be very important.

Other than that, a litter box and food dishes are pretty much all you need. And make sure anything dangerous is kitty-proofed. Like cords on blinds that hang low enough that the kitty will have access to, etc.

Also: If you have a dryer – check it every single time you do laundry. There’s a very sad story behind this comment that happened to a friend of mine, and I definitely don’t want it happening to you.

@rebbel I hope the hold thing comes naturally. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.
@Merriment He’d love the laser pointer! How do I kitty proof?

@Facade: They should let you meet and greet several kittens to see about compatibility. I would go back several times. Sometimes love at first sight is not the best way to make a choice. (Like with a man.)

I have wasted a lot of money on toys. The most successful is an old fishing rod with a long piece of knotted string tied to it. Also good are rolled up small pieces of foil, newspaper and your shoe laces.

I also use a break-away collar and bells (Milo goes outside) and only high quality dry food. Felidae in my case, buy my vet recommends EVO and Wellness Core, in addition.

I keep fresh water all over the place including outside and on top of the fridge. I sometimes splash a glass of cold water inside an empty bathtub. Milo rushes into the tub and laps. He also fancy freshly flushed clean toilets. On a really hot day, I drop an ice cube into some of the water containers.

@Pandora @marinelife Why the food preferences?
@DrasticDreamer Great tips!

@gailcalled and all: How much should I feed him?

That depends on age, weight and health. These are all questions for the vet and not us.

Some people feed their cats specific amounts of food at specific times of day. My cat, Milo, is used to self-regulating and so grazes. He gets very upset if the bottom of his feeding dish is visible and prefers his food to be shaped like a dormant volcano.

Kitty proof by getting down on all fours and looking around your home at all the things he could chew on, eat, or get tangled in. Then cover, block access to or remove those things entirely.

Then, once you have the kitten at home, watch him/her to see all the things you never dreamt of being a problem that he/she will find within moments of beginning to explore.

Be careful about closing doors…kittens are infamous for last second darting out and getting crunched in the door.
Close the lid on the toilets…they can fall headfirst in and not be able to get enough traction to get upright or out.
No mopping buckets sitting with cleaning water in them because they can fall in and if they inhale even a small amount of cleaning chemical tainted water they can die from lung damage.
If you have reclining chairs…never snap them shut without knowing the cat isn’t underneath.
Make sure you have laid eyes on the cat every so often. They are insatiably curious and can get inside closets or cupboards and get trapped.

The list is endless as they are endlessly curious…but don’t worry. As you get to know your cat you will also get to know what things especially appeal to him and what to be on guard against.

Its hard to keep their teeth clean and dry food will prevent gingivitis. Well not totally prevent it but soft food will rot their teeth faster. Its hard to brush your dogs teeth, even harder to do with a cat. However cats very much go by smell and most love fish products the best. Plus most are more like a nibbler than a chopper like dogs.

Make sure you have laid eyes on the cat every so often. They are insatiably curious and can get inside closets or cupboards and get trapped.

In early early days, I lost Milo overnight. By daybreak I was frantic, but finally discovered him in a guest room I rarely use (with the door shut).

I noticed the poop on the handmade needlepoint rug immediately, but didn’t find the dead mouse (and its attendant maggots) until several days later.

@Pandora: Don’t dogs simply inhale their food?

:

For food, I recommend Purina Pro Plan. it’s a little more expensive than other brands, but SO worth it. Cats have very VERY sensitive tummies and digestive systems, so that’s why they can’t properly digest things like hair and fur, which is why they cough up fur balls all the time. The beauty of this cat food is that it forces the hair/fur right through them and out the other end, if you get my drift. I’ve been using it with my cat since the day I got her when she was two months, and she has not had one hair ball. I have NEVER had a cat that didn’t have hair balls, so trust me, this stuff works. They also make a canned wet version that I like to give every so often (maybe once a month) as a treat, but it’s generally well known that canned cat food all the time isn’t very good for cats.

Also get lots of little toys and things to keep the kitty active. The more active they are when they are young helps them to be more athletic and spry as they get older. My cat loves fetching things, try throwing a small ball across the room and see if the kitty will bring it back. Mine loves it! Kitty proofing… yes. But you’ll just have to see where the cat likes to go. Some might like to jump on a mantle and knock over pictures, others might like to attack the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom until it’s nothing more than a big pile of confetti on the floor. That was a phase that was temporary, thankfully, but I did have to keep the tp out of reach for a while! :)

Good luck!

If you’re getting a kitten (not an adult cat), you should start training her. For all of these things, try and do them for a little bit each day—just until she starts fussing, and then stop.:

1. Start brushing her teeth with one of those rubber tooth things. Even if you end up giving it up or forgetting, it’s good to train her that being prodded in the mouth isn’t the worst thing in the world—this helps later on in life when you need to give oral meds.

2. Touch her paws. Rub them. This is really good training for when you clip her nails—I’ve never had a problem with Basil and clawing furniture since I keep his claws short—and he doesn’t go crazy when I clip his nails because I’ve been training him since he was a baby.

3. Once your kitten is acclimated to your house, bring over as many people as you can to play with her—socialization is a short window and makes the difference between a scaredy-cat and a lovey-cat.

4. Don’t play with your bare hands (I screwed this one up). Really. If you must, use a glove or a pen to play with, but don’t roughhouse with your hands. Even though kitten playing is the cutest thing in the world, it gets way too easy to train them that hands are things to nip and bite.

Even if she is going to be an indoor-only cat (which I recommend since they have much longer life spans), I’d recommend eventually getting a breakaway collar with your phone number on it—just in case.

Whenever I move, I leave the front door open and stealthily spray Basil when he reaches the threshold. He very, very rarely makes a break for the outdoors.

As far as food goes, I started with wet food but transitioned to dry as soon as possible to cut down on the number of teeth cleanings that I have to do for Basil.

Enjoy, and show us pictures!

I also found this book entertaining when I had a kitten.

@andrew I second the hands thing. Oh, if I knew then, what I know now… my hands would not be constantly covered in scratches because kitty likes to play rough. sigh.

@gailcalled Sure do.

Kittens are the best-ist things in the world. And if you treat them right, they will grow up to be one of your best friends.

BASICS:

1) A cat litter box – do NOT get an electric box for a kitten, save the electric box for when they are older.

2) Cat litter – use a low tracking low dust, CLUMPING litter.

3) A litter SCOOP – get a litter strainer/scoop for cleaning the clumps out of the litter box once a day.

4) Food: Hill’s Science Diet is excellent, as is EVO. IAMS is so-so. Avoid “purina cat chow” and “meow mix” and other low end crap.

Food Notes:

I suggest allowing the cats to eat dry food, with wet food as a “treat” – with wet food you will have to put out fresh food twice daily, while with dry food you can leave a bowl or feeder out for the cat.

Part of this has to do with how much money you can afford – wet food will be more expensive, though it may not matter if you have only one cat.

Also a cat accustomed to wet food will be resistant to acclimating to dry, whereas I’ve had cats that started on dry, and never really like wet that much.

Unlike humans cats do NOT need variety, they seem happiest with NOT changing their diet often.

5) WATER: Cats needs plenty of CLEAN water. Ideally get an electric water bowl with filter, or just give them fresh water daily.

6) Cat nail clipper. Cat claws are sharp, and if indoors, they will need to be trimmed every few weeks. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER declawing a cat.

7) Along with this, a good cat scratching post is a necessity. You can (and should) train your cat to ONLY scratch the post, so they do not scratch your furniture and other belongings.

8) I don’t suggest a collar for cats. If the cat will be outdoors, and local regulations require it that is a different matter – though a microchip may be a better solution. Flea collars are useless. For fleas, use “Advantage” from your vet.

9) Toys: red laser pointers are fun, and a fluffy thing on the end of a string is fun. Little ball toys are usually lost within about 2 hours, and you won’t find them till you move. Fresh catnip is also a nice treat.

10) TREATS: Milk – yes cats love milk, but they can’t digest the lactates properly, so give them only LACTAID MILK, and just a small bit at time.

11) VET: Get shots annually, ESPECIALLY if the cat goes outdoors.

GENERAL CARE:

1) Hold your kitten as much as you can, at least a total of an hour each day. Cats that have human affection as kittens become very affectionate cats as adults.

2) Yes, you can go away for DAYS and your cat will be fine at home. Best once the cat is well trained where to scratch, etc. Not so good for small kittens. Just make sure there is plenty of DRY food and plenty of fresh water – here, a watering feeder is good. Nevertheless, if gone for more than a day, it is good to have a friend check up on the cat and give it some love daily.

3) Training: how you treat and discipline your cat will have an enormous impact on it’s future behavior. Google the term “cat discipline”, and you will see a dozen different opinions, and beyond the scope of this post. But remember that cats are intelligent individuals who deserve respect.

My cats respond to “HEY! STOP!” – if she was scratching something I didn’t want her to, I would then pick her up, take her to the designated scratching post, and put her claws on it saying “good kitty” and pet her, so she understood that when she wants to scratch, that is where.

This covers the basics – have fun and love with your new friend!