Fleas Make sure that any flea products you use are safe at your kitten’s age.
There are a number of monthly products that are be applied to the back of the kitten’s neck: Revolution and Advantage are safe from 6 weeks and Frontline is safe from 8 weeks.
Program is an alternative way to control fleas. It does not kill fleas but prevents them from breeding and is given either as a monthly paste or a 6-monthly injection.
Intestinal Worms All kittens should be given the correct dose (according to weight) of an “allwormer” at 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age. With kittens, most owners find a paste easier to give than tablets.
Heartworm, although a parasite of dogs, can occasionally affect cats too. Monthly products such as Revolution will prevent this parasite, please discuss this with us if you wish to find out more.
Toilet Training Cats are usually very easy to toilet train. Just have a clean litter tray ready for your new kitten and, chances are, he or she will know exactly what to do with it.
If you have more than one cat, it’s a good idea to have one tray for each of them and, ideally, one extra. Always make sure the trays are cleaned regularly and try to put them in quiet spots.
Feeding For the first week, it’s usually a good idea to stick to the sorts of foods that your new kitten is already used to. This should avoid bowel upsets. After a week or so, you can gradually change over to other foods.
Good quality commercial tinned and dry foods are well balanced for nutrients and convenient for busy owners. Super Premium foods such as Iams, Advance and Hills Science Diet contain high quality proteins mostly derived from meat, fish and eggs.
It’s a good idea to give your kitten a raw chicken wing or neck at least once a week. This will help to keep teeth and gums healthy.
Homemade diets need to be carefully balanced, including the addition of a calcium supplement. Speak to us for further advice on this.
General Training Never let your kitten do things that you won’t want him or her to do as an adult cat. Bad behaviour should be discouraged by a firm “NO”. If that doesn’t work, grasp the kitten by the scruff of the neck and give him or her a little shake. Don’t smack a kitten.
When young, kittens should have plenty of human contact. Make sure there are toys that he or she can play with and join in as much as possible.
A scratching post covered with carpet or hessian may help to prevent damage to furniture. If the material on the post becomes ragged, don’t replace it, that’s when it gets really interesting!
Going Outdoors Once fully immunised, decide whether your kitten will be allowed outside. A popular option is a cat run or enclosure. We recommend Catmax for the design and building of cat enclosures and have had very positive feedback from clients who have used them.
If you do allow your kitten outside it’s a good idea to supervise him or her the first few times. There may be other cats that have made their territory in your backyard and may be quite aggressive towards a new cat.
Desexing We recommend desexing cats between 5 and 6 months of age. We offer a discount if it is done before 6 months of age. Desexing surgery involves a general anaesthetic and we always use a long-acting painkiller injection to allow a comfortable recovery. It is remarkable how quickly young cats recover from this surgery.
