Kitten raising advice

[DaveC426913]

Kitten is now on half wet food and half kibble, three times a day. Eats it all up.

Donning my Googles, I see "...young kittens (under 3 months) should have free access to dry food and several meals of wet food per day."

I'm little worried about giving it free access to dried food.

It currently spends some of its time in a (very large multi-level) cage. I am concerned, if I put a dish of dried food in there it will just keep eating.

I know supposedly cats don't tend to gorge themselves, but I'm not sure with this cat.

I guess what I should do is put a bowl of kibble in its cage and monitor how much it's eating.

According to this, a 2lb. kitten should get about 160kCal/day. I can do the math on the wet and dry foods and see what I come up with.

 

[DaveC426913]

TEN SECONDS!
TEN SECONDS!

For seven weeks, this kitten has been supervised every second of the day when she is outside her cage.
Today, I stepped out of the room. I even said to "Stay out of trouble!"

I wasn't gone ten seconds!

CRASH!

I ran back in to find her sitting, innocently in my spot. She had found the most expensive, most fragile thing in the entire house and managed to knock it onto the floor. My laptop.

 

[berkeman]

 

[DaveC426913]

What do my laptop's outer cases have that so fascinates my kitten?

I have two laptops, both with brushed grey cases; one PC, one Mac. My kitten seems to have a thing for "making biscuits" on them. Doesn't seem to be about heat. One is off and cold.

She doesn't do this anywhere else.

 

[Bystander]

What do my laptop's outer cases have that so fascinates my kitten?

I have two laptops, both with brushed grey cases; one PC, one Mac. My kitten seems to have a thing for "making biscuits" on them. Doesn't seem to be about heat. One is off and cold.

She doesn't do this anywhere else.

By all means encourage the behaviour---save yourself a fortune in upholstery; it's probably an idiosyncratic preference built into his/her nervous system.

 

[Rive]

What do my laptop's outer cases have that so fascinates my kitten?

Likely there is some scent on them she likes.

 

[DennisN]

What do my laptop's outer cases have that so fascinates my kitten?

I have two laptops, both with brushed grey cases; one PC, one Mac. My kitten seems to have a thing for "making biscuits" on them. Doesn't seem to be about heat. One is off and cold.

She doesn't do this anywhere else.

Could be some scent, as @Rive said.

Or maybe she has noticed you are using them often and is interested in them and/or wants your attention.

My cat has a habit of lying in front of the tablet to get maximal attention (photo here).
It's hilarious .

It's even more hilarious when she straddles the tablet with her front legs in front of it and back legs behind it, while I am lying and reading on the tablet. Hmmm, I should try to get a photo of it, I laugh whenever she does this .

My first cat (who sadly is not alive anymore*) sometimes laid down on open books I was reading in bed.

* Though he got a long and good life; he became 18 years old.

 

[berkeman]

Maybe you should get her a gravity feeder...

 

[DaveC426913]

Man, I hate being micro-managed...

 

[DaveC426913]

Sprinkles is now 20 weeks old (at the time of this posting).

She needs exercise. Being an indoor kitten, this falls to us.

I am looking at treadmills, but I want to make sure I get the right thing and I have little idea what to look for. Some factors:

Size: obviously but what is the deterimining factor?
Weight: some have a weight limit, which means it will only last us until she's part grown.
Material: Plastic or wood - some complaints about plastic ones warping and not assembling correctly.
Speeds?: Some seem to have speeds? does that mean they have motors?
Sound: I'll want one that's quiet.

I figure I'll spend between $100 and $150. Can't seem to find them in stores, so I'll have to buy from Amazon.

What is your experience / recommendation?

I figure I will get her interested in it with the laser pointer.

(Oh my God, she loves the laser.pointer. Will chase it back and forth till she drops. She immediately figured out what makes it go, so now she is jumping on the couch and pawing at the laser to get it to go.)

 

[DaveC426913]

So, she came back from getting snipped. She has been on three days of painkillers. They also trimmed her claws. She's stuck in a onesie to protect her incision while it heals.

She has become extremely affectionate. She now wants to spend ALL of her time curled up and purring on my chest or on my wife's chest.

I don't know if it's the change in chemistry - too soon. She was like this the day she got back.
Could be the painkillers making her loopy. We'll see what the next week has in store.
Maybe her visit to the vet has given her pause, and caused her to see the error of her biting, scratching ways.

 

[DaveC426913]

"Hon, I got good news and bad news."

"The good news is: our kitten, Sprinkles, is a mouser..."


Actually, it went more like this:

"Hey, what's she got in her mou- AAAH IT'S ALIVE!!!"

 

[symbolipoint]

"The good news i

it went more like this:

"Hey, what's she got in her mou- AAAH IT'S ALIVE!!!"

I'm too lazy to remake the quote...
Some information exhibited somewhere before was that cats may enjoy hunting and also want to play with, if it'd be called that, what they caught for a while.

You could preguess that if you are having a mouse problem there, then soon you will not be.

 

[DaveC426913]

She's grown a little.

 

[DennisN]

She's grown a little.

She looks lovely!

 

[pinball1970]

She's grown a little.
View attachment 369928

If she is an out door type please but a bell on her. Local wild life is impacted significantly by domestic cats.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/p...larger-impact-on-wildlife-than-wild-predators

 

[DaveC426913]

If she is an out door type please but a bell on her. Local wild life is impacted significantly by domestic cats.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/p...larger-impact-on-wildlife-than-wild-predators

Definitely an indoor-only cat.

 

[Rive]

please but a bell on her.

Useless. They learn fast, and after a week those bells won't give a sound during hunts anymore (but they can actually endanger the cat, just as those flea-collars can).

By my opinion the key point of that article is, that:

The study also showed that cats do much of their damage to wildlife in disturbed habitats, like housing developments.

Those areas were never meant to be wildlife habitats. Those cats are doing exactly what they were 'developed' for.
There are plenty of things what seriously affect wildlife around human settlements and activities, at a far worse level than cats could ever do - it's just that they are just considered 'normal' and are harder to be exploited for activism.

 

[DaveC426913]

Sprinkles dun all grow'd up.

(On the outside. On the inside she's still a silly, silly kitten.)

 

[pinball1970]

Sprinkles dun all grow'd up.

(On the outside. On the inside she's still a silly, silly kitten.)

View attachment 370262
View attachment 370263

I actually detest cats Dave. They are selfish predators that decimate wild life, have fleas, hair, feces....

Very lovely photos however. Reluctantly upvoted.

 

[symbolipoint]

I actually detest cats Dave. They are selfish predators that decimate wild life, have fleas, hair, feces....

How is the mice or rat pest situation where you live? You could change your position, depending on conditions there.

 

[pinball1970]

How is the mice or rat pest situation where you live? You could change your position, depending on conditions there.

Totally fine at work, we have traps. Nothing at home and no cats either.
Are you not concerned with natural wildlife numbers?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors

 

[pinball1970]

How is the mice or rat pest situation where you live? You could change your position, depending on conditions there.

In terms of rats, real infestations, dogs not cats are used. Farms mainly where that's an issue. Difference is dogs do not run wild.

 

[pinball1970]

How is the mice or rat pest situation where you live? You could change your position, depending on conditions there.

In the UK domestic cats have an impact on birds and small mammals. This needs to be addressed.

 

[symbolipoint]

Are you not concerned with natural wildlife numbers?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors

Indecisive!

 

[symbolipoint]

In terms of rats, real infestations, dogs not cats are used. Farms mainly where that's an issue. Difference is dogs do not run wild.

My guess would be, the use of some kind of Terriers.

 

[DaveC426913]

I actually detest cats Dave. They are selfish predators that decimate wild life, have fleas, hair, feces..../

Strictly Indoor cats don't decimate any wildlife and don't have fleas.

As with dogs: don't blame the pet, blame the owner.

 

[DennisN]

Cats can be absolutely lovely when you get to know them :

 

[Rive]

Difference is dogs do not run wild.

They often do. Both out in the wild, and around the (farm)house.
It may be surprising, but dogs do more damage both on wildlife and on (small) livestock, than wild foxes.

In terms of rats, real infestations, dogs not cats are used.

Dogs and ferrets, yes. Bigger cats occasionally can take down adult rats, but that's more of an accident than habit and capability.

 

[pinball1970]

They often do. Both out in the wild, and around the (farm)house.
It may be surprising, but dogs do more damage both on wildlife and on (small) livestock, than wild foxes.

I am not a big fan of roaming dogs either.
Cats in the house only is mainly for their protection, so they do not get stolen or squashed running across the road. Dogs on the other hand are kept in the house/garden and taken out on leads so they do not run off chasing something and they are capable of doing some damage to a human. Thinking about the environment they live in is not a priority for dog and cat owners who let them out to run free.

ONS in the UK gives numbers of around 30,000 dog attacks in 2022 with ten fatalities. Looking back through the years to the 1980s average seems to be about 3 deaths per year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_Kingdom

https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/tran...tionfoi/deathsbydogbiteorstrikefrom1988to2023

About 30-50 deaths in the US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States

In the UK cats kill around 50 million birds per year, in the US it is in the billions.

So at least some people are letting the cat out.

Perhaps the responsible cat/dog owners can have a word with the others?