Caring for kittens

The Staff at Crown Street Veterinary Hospital have put together this page to help answer some common questions you may have about your new kitten.

Please do not hesitate to phone or call in and speak to one of our staff who will be happy to answer all of your questions.

THE FIRST NIGHT AT HOME

Firstly you need to organise a sleeping area. It is a good idea to set the ground rules now. Decide now whether your kitten is going to be allowed to sleep on the bed, in the bedroom or in another room in the house. It can be very confusing and distressing for a kitten to sleep on the bed for a week, then on the floor and then in another room. Make sure that whatever area you decide on is warm and sheltered. Remember your kitten is used to sleeping with his/her mum and lots of brothers and sisters. Have a box or basket with a warm blanket (and a well wrapped hot water bottle in the winter) to cuddle up to, in a secure sheltered area. Make sure your kitten is fed and has fresh water available during the night. DO NOT GET UP TO YOUR KITTEN EVERY TIME HE/SHE CRIES. By doing so you are rewarding the crying behaviour and they will learn very quickly that if they cry you come running to give them a cuddle. Have a good play session last thing at night then off to bed.

Generally, when you first get your kitten he/she will be aged between 6 and 14 weeks of age. This period is the most rapid learning time for your kitten. Early kitten hood experiences can play a major role in the kitten’s adult life. One of the first things you need to start teaching your kitten is good toileting behaviour.

TOILET TRAINING

As soon as you get your kitten home take him or her to the area that you would like to keep his/her litter tray. Your kitten has very little bladder control and will need to be taken to this spot every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day and night, as soon as he or she wakes up from a sleep and after every meal or drink. Take your kitten to the area and stay with him/her. As soon as the job is done reward him/her with a pat or piece of food. If nothing happens, go back 5 minutes later and try again. If your kitten has an accident in the house, rubbing noses and scolding is not the way to go. Simply clean it up. Remember how long it takes to get a human out of nappies.

If your kitten does have an accident avoid using disinfectants. They often have an ammonia smell that kittens can detect and they then recognise the spot as a toileting area. Clean up the accident with an enzyme based cleaner such as biozet or a plain soap and then spray the area with an odour neutralizer such as febreeze or nil-odour which are available from the supermarket.

WHAT SHOULD I FEED MY KITTEN?

You should feed your kitten on good quality dry food +/- tinned food. Your kitten can also have RAW chicken necks and wings to chew on which help with the teething process and keep their teeth nice and clean. Feeding your kitten on meat, cereal and milk can lead to nutritional deficiencies and brittle bones. This is easily avoided by feeding dry or tinned foods.

Please feel free to pop in and speak to one of our Nurses or Vets about your kitten’s nutrition requirements. We can advise you on how much and how frequently to feed, depending on the age of your kitten.

There are various qualities of food. The base level foods are food such as whiskas and go-cat kitten food. We recommend feeding a premium food for your kitten such as Hills Science Diet growth. Just like premium petrol for your car, premium foods will improve the performance (correct growth rate, with less chance of health problems) and are a cleaner form of fuel (they contain less bulking agents and therefore you need to feed less of them). There is also less pollution (smaller and less faeces). There are premium diets designed for your kitten right throughout its life from a kitten (1st 12 months) through adult and into the senior (older than 7) years.

VACCINATIONS

Your kitten needs to be vaccinated against Feline enteritis and cat flu. Vaccinations against Feline Leukaemia and feline immunodeficiency virus (cat AIDS) are also available.

VACCINATION SCHEDULE

6 weeks of age – Vaccinations against Feline Enteritis and Cat Flu.

12 weeks of age - Vaccinations against Feline Enteritis and Cat Flu.

16 weeks of age - Vaccinations against Feline Enteritis and Cat Flu.

After 12 months - Booster vaccinations against Feline Enteritis and Cat Flu.

YEARLY BOOSTER VACCINATIONS ARE REQUIRED BY ALL CATS.

HEARTWORM

Heartworm is a different type of worm to the ones that live in the stomach and intestines. It is a worm which lives in the heart and lungs. Although it is not as common in cats as it is in dogs, heartworm can still severely affect the health of your cat. It is transmitted from dogs to cats by mosquitoes. Your cat doesn't need to come into contact with other cats or dogs to get heartworm. Even cats that live inside and only go out to the toilet can get heartworm. Heartworm can be easily prevented by starting your kitten on heartworm prevention immediately. Revolution is recommended for prevention of heartworm.

DESEXING

Female cats generally reach puberty somewhere between 5 and 12 months of age and depending on the time of the year. At this time the female cat will begin having "heat" cycles, and is able to fall pregnant. In order to prevent unwanted pregnancy an ovario-hysterectomy is performed. It is best to have your cat desexed BEFORE her first heat period. The benefits of desexing are:- no unwanted kittens, a 90% decrease in the risk of mammary cancer if your cat is desexed before her 3rd heat period, and no risk of uterine infection. It will also stop queens calling male cats.

There is no benefit to the cat in allowing her to have a litter before desexing. The heat period generally lasts about 2-3 weeks. Your cat can be desexed while on heat if necessary but there is a slightly increased surgical risk and an extra fee.

Male cats reach puberty between 6 and 18 months of age. Male cats that are not going to be used for breeding purposes should be desexed. The benefits of desexing are - less unwanted litters, no risk of developing testicular cancer, less chance of developing prostatic cancer or prostatitis, less chance of being hit by a car which commonly happens when male cats go chasing a female in heat, less aggressive tendencies and spraying on furniture and other areas around the home and garden.

WORMING

Cats are often affected by worms which live in the stomach and intestines. These worms are called Tapeworms (including Hydatids), Roundworms and Hookworms. Many kittens are born with worms as they are passed across the placenta from the mother. Kittens should begin on regular worming at 4 weeks of age. Roundworms and Hookworms can cause severe malnutrition and anaemia in young kittens.

Kittens should be wormed fortnightly from 4 weeks of age, monthly from 12 weeks to 6 months then every 3 months for the rest of their life.

FLEAS

Fleas are a parasite which commonly affects cats. Some fleas carry tapeworm eggs. Fleas can cause severe irritation to your cat. Many cats are allergic to the saliva of the flea and just one bite can make them very itchy It is possible to effectively control fleas on your cat.

The fleas that your kitten gets are the same fleas that infest other dogs, cats and rabbits. All animals within the environment at your home need to be treated for fleas. Your kitten gets a flea infestation from the environment. Each flea lays thousands of eggs while on your pet and as the pet walks around the eggs fall out of the coat into the environment. They develop through a larval stage into a pupa in the environment and then wait for a host to come past. When they detect a host they quickly hatch, and jump on and that is where they stay for all of their life.

For flea control on kittens we recommend, FRONTLINE PLUS or REVOLUTION. These are both monthly spot-on treatments which are put onto the back of the kitten’s head. They start to kill adult fleas within 48 hours. They are stored in the oil glands of the skin and so provide continuous cover for the whole month. If you continue to see fleas on your kitten it is because there is a large infestation in the environment and this will continue until all of the pupae have developed into adult fleas and then died. This generally takes less than 3 months. Generally, flea collars are not effective on most cats for flea control as they do not cover the whole coat. Flea shampoos and powders will kill the fleas on the kitten at the time but as you rinse it off, there is nothing left on the kitten to keep killing the fleas. YOU MUST BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE PRODUCTS YOU USE ON KITTENS. MANY FLEA CONTROL PRODUCTS FOR USE ON ADULT CATS AND SOME DOG PRODUCTS ARE TOXIC TO KITTENS. Please feel free to come in and ask our nurses about the best flea control for your kitten.

PARALYSIS TICKS KILL!

Paralysis ticks are very common in the Illawarra region. They are a small 8 legged parasite which attaches to many animals including cats and dogs. The paralysis tick buries its head into the animal’s skin and sucks on their blood. As it sucks the blood it also injects a toxin which causes paralysis.

It is essential that you check your kitten EVERY DAY from head to toe and back for ticks. This can be easily done by feeling all over and investigating any little bumps. Ticks occur all year, not just in the spring and summer. It is impossible to completely prevent ticks with collars, tablets or rinses, but there are products available to assist in tick control.

If you find a tick on your cat the tick should be removed as soon as possible. If you wish you can kill the tick while it is on the cat or dog by spraying or dabbing it with a flea or tick spray. If you don't have any, try fly spray. Once the tick’s legs have stopped moving (this may take 10 to 20 minutes) you can remove it with tweezers. It is very important that you then watch your cat or dog very closely for the next 48 hours. If there is any sign of tick paralysis, seek veterinary attention urgently. There is an antiserum available.

SIGNS OF TICK PARALYSIS

• choking
• inappetence
• vomiting
• voice change
• wobbliness when walking
• inability to jump onto the bed etc.
• hind leg weakness or paralysis
• difficulty breathing - forced breathing.
• total paralysis
• inability to swallow, drooling of saliva.

IDENTIFY YOUR KITTEN IMMEDIATELY

Most stray cats that are bought in to us have no form of identification and therefore we are unable to find the owner. It is essential that you have some form of identification on your cat immediately. You can identify your cat with a tag on his/her collar. We have small brass and stainless steel tags available from $12.95 which has your name, address and phone number on the front and our number on the back.

We strongly recommend having your kitten microchipped. A microchip is a means of permanently identifying your kitten. A small silicon chip is injected under the skin between the cat’s shoulder blades. (No anaesthesia or sedation is necessary for the chip to be inserted). The chip contains a number which is linked to you and your cat on a central computer data base. Many cats go missing without their collars and tags but they can’t lose their microchip. A microchip is often the only way of identifying a cat if an ownership dispute occurs.

It is important to keep your ownership details up to date on the database. If you give your cat away, move house or change phone numbers you need to contact the council to change the details on the database.