Thinking of getting some kittens

HungryHippos

HungryHippos

HungryHippos

Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2004
Posts
16,008
Location
Fareham
Hi guys,

I am currently staying with my bro and his missus at their house.

They originally wanted to get a dog but we think it probably wouldn't be fair to keep a dog and leave it by itself all day.

Instead we're thinking of getting 2 kittens, can the good people of OCUK help us decide if this is a good idea or not?

We read kittens need to be fed like 5 times a day which doesn't really work around working hours etc, and we won't be home between like 9:00-17:30.

Cheers guys,
 
Kittens old enough to be homed do not need to be given separate feeds like that. You can leave dried food for them. However, it's not a great idea to get new kittens and then leave them alone a lot (although better with two than one - they can keep each other company). If possible I'd suggest the three of you take turns taking a bit of holiday during the first few weeks while they're settling in so they're not left alone so much.

Also, if you do leave kittens alone for the day, be prepared to come home to find stuff damaged/messed up in your absence.
 
you might be better just getting 2 cats about a year old that are already house trained etc if their gonna be on their own all day.
 
Don't work that far away so can come home for lunch for the first couple of weeks. Also off work every monday for the next couple of months so may help a little.

Was going to go to a local rescue centre so probably wouldn't be getting 6 week old kittens but think we were looking for something still quite young.

Cheers for the replies so far guys, keep em coming.
 
We got 2 3 month olds 3 months ago. Much better with 2 as they mess about together all the time. We feed them twice a day with wet food mixed with dry food and leave dry food out all the time. I also give them a couple of tspoons of tuna each at lunch when I come home and they go mad for that.

Just leave lots of toys out and give them plenty of fuss when your about.

Here they are now 6 months old, boy (apple) on the left and girl (pip) on the right:

62yr.jpg
 
If you get young kittens half the fun is staying at home all day and messing around and playing with them!
My cat had Kittens just before the start of the summer Holidays back when i was in school, was awesome!
 
I'm a teacher and we got these two little gems just at the start of the Summer hols.

DSC00142.jpg


Sam is on the left and his sister Poppy on the right.

They're 5 months old now, obvipusly I was around when we first got them but you can leave food down for them during the day and they'll be fine if they're together.

I would say, if you've got a biggish house, maybe keep them in one or two rooms so that a) they feel more secure than just wandering around the empty house and b) they don't ruin everything (I never realised kittens were just like puppies, chewing up letters as they hit the doormat, shredding the toilet paper, and sadly, making claw marks in our brand-new leather sofas.

Bear in mind that when they're little, they can't jump very high and will use their claws to make their way up things, such as chairs, wallpaper... legs...!

They're fantastic though - they come and curl up with us on the bed, purring away, they're just lovely.

You'll find that when you have two, they play with each other all the time, play-fighting and exploring outside. They're really attached to each other, if one of them wanders off then the other wanders around pitifully miaowing till they find each other again! Had to split them up because I put flea stuff on them and didn't want them to lick it off each other before it dried - you'd think I was torturing them, the amount they miaowed for each other on either side of the door!

If you're not going to be there during the day time, I'd definitely get two rather than one by itself. Go for it!

And post pics when you get them!
 
hehe, very cute kittens guys! :)

It's a fairly big house but can't really segment them into two rooms really, because it's a 3 story house which means at most we can lock them into one room of the house at any time, otherwise there are basically two rooms on a floor.

They'll be my bros pets so in the end it's his decision, but so far the consensus seems to be that they'll be OK as long as you don't get ones which are too young. My understanding is the youngest you could get is about 6 weeks old but think we'll probably wind up with ones a bit older than that, though we are keen to get ones which are still kittens.

How old are they before you let them out? My friend Knubj3 on these forums got some kittens a little while ago and I know he's only just started to let them outside.
 
My kittens are 13 weeks old today. The vet told us that you can let them out about 1 -2 weeks after their 2nd set of injections. I think they have their first set around 9 / 10 weeks old, then 4 weeks after that. so around 15 weeks.

Something to consider tho, is if the cats are old to defend them selves from other cats and stuff.
 
Mine were 7 weeks when I got them, but they could've done with being a couple of weeks older, had a tough time getting Poppy to eat much to start with as she wasn't completely weaned I don't think - was eating solids but still on mum's milk too.

We didn't let them out until they'd been vaccinated, if you get them from the RSPCA they'll have had their first lot of vaccinations already and then you need to get their second lot done about 2 weeks later if I remember rightly. Ours had to wait a little bit for their vaccinations because they got cat flu when they were very little and have to be 100% healthy.

Ours have been going out from about 3.5 months, it really all depends, when you've got them, on:
a) what the area's like - are you on a road that's busy, or is there anywhere like woods etc where they can wander and get lost?
b) are there lots of cats around already - some cats are territorial and won't want two whippersnappers on their turf so you may want yours to be a little bigger before they go out,
c) what kind of temperament they have - are they confident, would be easy to get them back in, or are they skittish, might run away and hide?

Make sure they're wormed and flea'd before they go out too though fleas shouldn't be too much of a problem if it's cold. The advantage of getting ours in the summer was that it was still warm enough to just leave the door open one day and let them come and go (we've got glass doors and rent, so can't have a cat flap), knowing they could run back in if they felt nervous. They did this for the few first days, stayed around our patio and garden, running back inside if something scared them, and they have ventured further and further.

If you're in the same position, and will be leaving them out for a while, whilst you go out etc, then it's good to have somewhere they can shelter, like a greenhouse, shed, etc.
 
vicisthebest said:
another day, another shredded toilet roll... Seems they can now reach the bathroom windowsill, my loo roll will never be safe again...
Click to expand...

my best friend has 2 kittens. They are about 10 months old and can both open doors lol. He has to lock the door before his front door, else they escape lol. He lives very close to a busy dual carriage way so they mainly stay in doors.

Quite creepy when you hear / see the door handle moving :p
 
Bit of a holy thread revival batman post, but we're adopting two strays from the local RSPCA rescue centre around here. I've been to see them yesterday and they are very cute, approx 4-5 months old so not really really tiny kittens but that's OK.

The boy has a completely black coat, short haired, and the girls' is kind of a black tortoise shell, medium haired.

She is very playful though whilst he is still pretty timid, and although neither of them seem to like being stroked and they get scared quite easily, with time and care I think they'll be fine :)

We are waiting for a home visit to take place which apparently takes 7-10 days, after that we need to wait 48 hours before we can actually pick them up. So we think it will be another 2 weeks before we can get them back here.

I wish they'd release them sooner, seems unfair to keep hold of them for so long after we've agreed to take them on :(

I'll get pics up etc as soon as they arrive.

My understanding is that they're completed innoculated, have had health checks, are neutered etc before we get them, so they literally just need to have insurance I think.
 
Eulogy said:
Hi guys,

I am currently staying with my bro and his missus at their house.

They originally wanted to get a dog but we think it probably wouldn't be fair to keep a dog and leave it by itself all day.

Instead we're thinking of getting 2 kittens, can the good people of OCUK help us decide if this is a good idea or not?

We read kittens need to be fed like 5 times a day which doesn't really work around working hours etc, and we won't be home between like 9:00-17:30.

Cheers guys,
Click to expand...

steal knubs
 
Congrats on the (soon to be) new arrivals :D

Weird reading your description - my little lady is the braver of the two, her brother being more timid, and she's fluffy while he's short haired. Just like yours :)

They should indeed be vaccinated and neutered if they're from the RSPCA. Having said that, a friend of mine got a female cat from there which then had kittens a few months later. Turns out a "staff error" meant she had slipped through the net and hadn't been neutered. :eek:

Not meant to scare you though. I am sure yours will be sorted and ready to start their new lives with you!

With them being 4/5 months, why were they there? Were they brought in with their mum or were they unwanted pets? Just that kittens at RSPCA tend to be tiny ones who've come in with mum/born at RSPCA.
 
vicisthebest said:
Congrats on the (soon to be) new arrivals :D

Weird reading your description - my little lady is the braver of the two, her brother being more timid, and she's fluffy while he's short haired. Just like yours :)

They should indeed be vaccinated and neutered if they're from the RSPCA. Having said that, a friend of mine got a female cat from there which then had kittens a few months later. Turns out a "staff error" meant she had slipped through the net and hadn't been neutered. :eek:

Not meant to scare you though. I am sure yours will be sorted and ready to start their new lives with you!

With them being 4/5 months, why were they there? Were they brought in with their mum or were they unwanted pets? Just that kittens at RSPCA tend to be tiny ones who've come in with mum/born at RSPCA.
Click to expand...

Hey vicisthebest,

They were strays/abandoned kittens, so going to take a bit of work to get them back to normal I think.

Still, time and care should get them back to normal pretty soon! :)

Just a shame we can't take them back sooner, seems unfair to leave them there for another couple of weeks really, but they seem to be living in quite comfortable areas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom