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turtle777 · Jun 29, 2007, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by Demonhood

9 months old:

-t

KeriVit · Jun 29, 2007, 06:13 PM

Beautiful cat DH. I have to say the tiger cat of mine is looking a lot better than I thought she would...

shifuimam · Jun 29, 2007, 07:50 PM

Advice I can pass on after four family pet kitties and one of my own:

I don't buy the thing about keeping the water away from the food. All five cats I've lived with are completely fine with food and water next to each other. As far as food goes:

I feed my cat Purina indoor formula (or the offbrand, if Purina isn't on sale). My cat will eat anything (literally - including non-food items), so she's fine with it. She's an indoor-only cat, and doesn't get nutrients from eating little rodents outside, so the indoor formula is supposed to have more nutrients to replace that. I also give her a can of food every day (when I remember) - 9Lives or Friskies (again, whatever is on sale). An all-dry diet isn't good for your cat, but too much canned food will be bad for her teeth.

For toys - some cats chew on things, so things like rings from milk bottles and woolly toys can be bad. My cat will actually eat the wool from a toy or eat the plastic from a milk ring, so I have to be careful what I let her play with.

Talk to your cat a lot - cats are responsive to that kind of thing. Give her lots of hugs and pets and scratches and rubs.

If you have kids or are keeping her indoors and have valuable furniture, consider getting her declawed. I know that there is a lot of controversy over it, but here's the thing. I waited too long to get my cat declawed because I wasn't sure about it. Her recovery time was longer because of it. Declawing is not like removing a joint of your finger, since that joint barely exists on a cat's front feet. Once she recovered, she was totally fine and doesn't even know that she has no front claws - she still tries to scratch things and doesn't realize that she can't cause any damage. And the best part is, she's not tearing up the carpeting in my apartment anymore, which would have ended up with me losing my deposit and paying repairs when I moved out.

Get her vaccinated once a year. It's cheap and worth it. If she is going to be an indoor/outdoor kitty, take her to the vet at least once a year, since she can pick up worms and such from eating rodents. If she's outdoor at all, apply flea treatment every four months or whatever it is. Use Advantage - nothing else we've tried has worked as well.

Cute pictures!!

KeriVit · Jun 29, 2007, 08:05 PM

Anyone have advice introducing 2 kittens to each other? So far it has not gone well, with the lil one having a broken leg now from some incident...

andi*pandi · 10:30 PM

it depends on the cat's personality and takes time. Last time I tried it, I ended up not keeping the newcomer for other reasons, so the senior cat didn't have to adapt. If the little one is injured I'd keep them apart for now, and gradually increase together time. oh, and if the senior cat is possessive about food, make separate food spots so food isn't a fighting issue.

(re claws: my cats were trained somewhat easily not to scratch the furniture. Provide some positive scratch space, move them to it when they mis-scratch... spritz water, scold, etc. They know better now. Keeping them OFF the furniture, on the other hand... )

vexborg · Jun 30, 2007, 03:26 AM

Originally Posted by KeriVit

Anyone have advice introducing 2 kittens to each other? So far it has not gone well, with the lil one having a broken leg now from some incident...

One thing you could try is to keep them seperated from each other, but still so they are able to smell each others scent, when they then seems to be curious and interested, then you can introduced them...

The key is here scent, when the kittens are used to eachothers scent, then they're ok.

KeriVit · May 28, 2008, 01:02 AM

OK, about a year later. As some know, the 2nd kitten died for some reason. Yet, fate brought another into the backyard shortly thereafter. I'd like to introduce you to Mowgli and let you know how Zada is doing with her new brother.

Yes, for a dog person, me luvvems my cats!

andi*pandi · May 28, 2008, 09:34 AM

aw, serene tiggerness!

vexborg · May 28, 2008, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by KeriVit

OK, about a year later. As some know, the 2nd kitten died for some reason. Yet, fate brought another into the backyard shortly thereafter. I'd like to introduce you to Mowgli and let you know how Zada is doing with her new brother.

That's one happy looking cat!

Originally Posted by KeriVit

And I'm 100% certain that you've got an Bengal cat there (the one rolling on the floor) - we've got one ourselves, lovely cat, but extremely vocal when bored...

andreas_g4 · May 28, 2008, 03:07 PM

Thx for the update! Very sweet little guys you have there…

Zeeb · May 28, 2008, 04:50 PM

I want a kitty, too bad I'm allergic to them.

andreas_g4 · May 28, 2008, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by Zeeb

I want a kitty, too bad I'm allergic to them.

Shave it!

ghporter · May 28, 2008, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by vexborg

And I'm 100% certain that you've got an Bengal cat there (the one rolling on the floor) - we've got one ourselves, lovely cat, but extremely vocal when bored...

Here's the Wiki on the Bengal Cat. Gorgeous cats, but they get kind of big for some people.

Here's our latest acquisition. Amber is a very petite cat. At about 8 months old she's still only about 5 pounds.

And her "older sisters," Diamond and Saphire: