i am so excited! after much thought i have decided to get a cat. my children have been hassling me for ages but i have always been a bit reluctant to take on the responsibility of a pet but after thinking long and hard i have given in. i think the time is right, the children are getting older and i am not working full time anymore. having made the decision i rang the cats protection league and a very nice lady rang me back to say she had two ten week old kittens looking for a home. a little boy (black) called morris and a little girl (tortioseshell) called poppy. i cant believe how excited i feel!! i havent told the children yet. the lady is comeing next week to do a home visit but i cant see a problem. anyway i thought i would tell you guys cos i gotta tell someone! ;D
Great news for all the family I am sure that they will be great friends and good fun. Do post a pic :)
oh i am soooo pleased to hear you will be getting a pair!
2 kittens are the most hilarious thing in the entire world!
good luck with keeping your sanity intact ;D
i think living with two young children my sanity dissolved some time ago! i have to admit to be very excited and impatient now for them to arrive. i will certainly take pics if i can.
the lady said they are about ten weeks and past what she called the velcro stage where they cant retract their claws. they had to be given up by a lady who had loved them dearly but discovered she was alergic to them. will keep you posted :D
ooooh exciting!
a few things to remember if you have never had kittens before (forgive me if you have i dont mean to be patronising ;);
toilet seat to be kept down unless you are actually sat on the thing, kitties fall in and cant get out.
they can jump onto a swing bin (very funny if you happen to be there, worrying if you are not and cant find the little darlings).
there are magnetically attracted to cooker hobs, when you have finished with the ring pop a pan of water over it till it has cooled.
laundry baskets and open washing machines/tumble driers make perfect kitty beds. always shake your stuff before you put it in the machine and keep the doors closed. a friend of mine was devastated when she realised her kitten had gotten into the machine and curled up in the washing that was waiting to go on. sadly she couldnt get the door open before it was too late and the kitten drowned :(
they have magical abilities when it comes to windowsill walking, they can do a decent spiderman impression on the inside sills, and get teflon feet the second they try the outside sills, especially upstairs ones. mine fell off the upstairs one and landed in a tub of water :o
basically if they can get into it they will, if they cant they will try and if you spend huge amounts of money on a swanky bed for them they will sleep on an old newspaper instead ;)
thank you so much for the good advice, i had a grown cat when i was student but havent had kittens before so those tips are very welcome. gosh i would feel terrible if i lost one in any of the ways you describe. how awful for your friend knowing it was in the machine. i will take on board what you say and welcome any other advice. so will i ever be able to open my windows?
downstairs you should be ok as its not too far if they do slip. upstairs i either have closed windows or no cats, i never risk the 2 together (not now anyway).
hobby my youngest is the most accident prone cat i have even known, here is a list of what he has done so far....... (i promise i am actually a responsible owner!)
before he had his eyes open (where he was born) he had toes bitten of by the other female cat that lived there.
he has fallen out of the upstairs window 3 times.
he was bitten by either a dog or a badger on the face and lost a tooth alongside the other cuts etc he got from the attack.
he has hung himself from the cable of a mobile phone charger.
he follows me everywhere, including on a several mile dog walk, then followed me round the village and stood outside the chippy yowling because he couldnt come in.
he follows me out
on midnight-my-bitches-are in-season-so-i-have-to-walk-at-stupid-o'clock walks then decides in the middle of the field to go exploring, so i have to go find him at one in the morning ::), which leads me to my personal most important piece of advice...
when you get your squitties, teach them to meow when you call their name AND to come back to a whistle. if ever my cats are too long awol i can whistle them back and they come a running, if someone doesnt show it is because they are either hiding somewhere and too scared to come home or they are stuck/caught up somewhere. they all meow at the sound of their own names. it makes finding them much easier. i have a specific whistle sound i use, different to that i use for my dogs. if you can imagine what i write next as a whistle that is what i do and it carries far; weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep weep weep weep weep weep weeeeeeeep.
i have never had success trying to use a different 'tune'.
i personally dont put collars on my cats as i dont trust them not to get caught up, i know they are supposed to have safety catches but i still am wary knowing what at least one of my cats are like ;)
but yeah, teach your cats to come to a whistle and meow at their names.
you mean like a shepard calling a collie? thats what your weeps sound like? i will have to learn to whistle a bit better. how will i teach them to miow at their names? shall i teach by example and say their names and then miow? i do appreciate your tips i think they will be invaluable. shall i teach them to come to a whistle by rattling food to start with and calling their names?
Bunjies, you must have very intelligent cats, mine just look at me with disdain but they do come running from all areas of the house with just a click of the tuna tin!!! ;)
Sarah, it is great to have two kittens together, they are such fun and will be great for your children but don't be upset if they run and hide for the first couple of days, they will take a little while to adjust to their new surroundings and will need a bit of quiet patience til they feel more at home..............then it will be mayhem [but lots of fun too!]
haha ;D i just treated my cats the same as my dogs, and at first i was unaware that cats are supposed to be untrainable so i just trained em!
sarah yes the weeps are like that except made with just your mouth, bear in mind i cant whistle very well at all but this one seems to be ok ;) whistle them at tea time, whistle whilst you get their food ready, it wont take long for them to cotton on!
to get them to meow, once they have settled in try saying their names whilst making eye contact with them, cats are so gobby they usually cant resist, then give em a biscuit if they get it right ;D
ok thats good i think i can manage that. teach them young i guess is half the trick.
Happycatz - the cpl lady told me i must keep them indoors for the first three weeks and accustom them slowly to the house and its occupants. my two boys are pretty good and i will make sure they understand how strange it is going to be for them to start with (the kittys i mean - not the boys!). I am sure i will have tons ofquestions when they get here (i am feeling very impatient!).
Get a cardboard box, fasten the lid down then cut an entrance hole, they will love that,beats an expensive bed for now. DONT buy the pink cat litter from Tesco it stains their feet. Move your treasures off the mantle piece and put foil on the soil in your houseplants.
Enjoy your babies, two is smashing.
I clip my cats claws every Sunday, they don't like to but they get used to it, the sharp end is snipped off , avoids problems with my Pekes eyes, works for kids too.
XX Jeannine
Fab sarah, will be popping round for a brew armed with bits of string! Kids will love them as 2 are so funny together. x
oooh ooh and you can play the marble in the bath game ;D
take one medium sized marble(big enough so it cant e swallowed), one bath tub (empty!!) with the plug in and a kitty or 2 of your choice.
watch the ensuing wall of death and laugh lots.
remove marble before bedtime or you will get no sleep. trust me on the last one ;)
hee hee i dont knw why i didnt think of getting kittens before its obviously gonna be a riot!
I have two cats. One a fully grown grumpy female, who only wants a cuddle when she is hungry, and a 10 month old kitten, who is the funniest cat I've ever had. Far more nutty than other kittens I've had. I had him at 4-5 weeks old, as the woman wanted rid, and I was a little worried what she was going to do if I didn't take him. Beastly woman.
Watch out when you're going into the freezer - one of his brothers (not belonging to me I hasten to add) climbed into the freezer, and was only just saved in time!
Give them lots and lots of cuddles after the first few days, thus ensuring they will continue to be cuddly throughout their life. Didn't work with my female, as she was already grown when I rescued her, but my little boy has cuddles every day, wants them first thing in morning, and last thing at night, and yowls if I don't let him have them! He already comes to his name, and will also meow if he needs a poo, which is just weird! Bless the little freak!
He loves fruit and veg, especially sprouting broccoli, so make sure you let them try a little bit of everything, also pasta.
awww thanks knbs your two sound like a right pair. i think by all accounts so far that raising two small children has merely been training for the arrival of these two kitties and i am going to have to be on the ball. thanks jeannine i am not the sort to buy anything at all if i dont have to so will definately be making a cosy bed from a box and old baby blankets. still no word from the cpl lady though so i shall have to ring her if i dont hear soon. i hope she hasnt forgotten me. no surely not. i am so glad i posted this thread ( i thought youwould all think i was silly being so ecxited!) the advice is going to be such a help inthe early days i think. i am sure i am going to have the best trained cuddliest miowiest squittens ever.
whats your opinion about changing kittens names? should i keep the names they have been given (morris and poppy) or are they young enough to change. not that i have any alternatives in mind. was just wondering.
Quote from: knbsallotment on April 10, 2007, 21:24:43
Give them lots and lots of cuddles after the first few days, thus ensuring they will continue to be cuddly throughout their life.
Please tell my cat this will you? She was cuddled and is still under the illusion that she is a very small lion.
ha! i call my cats different things all the time and they still know who i'm on about!
especially 'damnyoucatyouregonnabeslippersifyoudothatoncemore' formerly known as 'hobby'.
yes i had to go and get the cooking fat back from th field AGAIN last night.
this time i left it 3 hours after our dog walk in the vain hope the imbecile would come home on his own. oh no! just before midnight after checking the animals and tucking them into bed, i have to go wandering round the fields calling my cat >:( lol
sorry for the rant, just pick a name and use it whenever you have food for them. it will take approximately 4 biscuits ;)
Cats will respond to the tone of voice more than an actual name!
However nice to end the name in a "Y" as this keeps voice pitch up and happy - cats seem to love this ;D
My two are Bailey and Kahlua - but she's known mostly as Squeeky as she miaows all the time!
I'm v excited for you too!!!
I've been reminiscing about when Ags was a wee kitten and could fit in the palm of my hand... now she's a big bruiser ;D
the onlt thing to remember is: if you think "a kitten'll never get in there!" the minute your back's turned they'll be in like a shot â€" actually, that's cats of all ages. mine has even been in the cavity walls: the cupboards in the kitchen have holes in the back, so the minute you leave a door open she's in like a ferret up a drainpipe, only to be lured out with "special things" (treats) and swearing. then when she does come out, she has paper and polystyrene insulation hanging from her whiskers like tinsel ::)
we do actually have a "special" drawer, where the "special things" are kept, and that's always handy for getting her attention. 99% of the time she completely ignores me but the minute the "special" drawer opens, she's hanging off my shoulders purring ;D
If i make a sort 'meeap' noise my cat will chat to me for ages. You can have a very long and meaningful conversation with her!
Only one thing I'd say is that if possible, introduce a comb when they're really young, especially if they're long haired. We did it with our cat, Amber, when she was a kitten and combed her in between lots of stokes. Now she prefers it I think to the strokes (but only just!), she's completely in her element while she's being combed, padding paws, dribbling, purring, the works. lol. Our older cat doesn't like it, but we didn't get started when he was that young.