New kitten - after some help please :) Options

[Tuxedocat]

Hi :)

We have a little kitten, roughly 8 weeks old. She is a long fur black and white girl, just a common moggy who we love. We bought her as we originally had a dog for our two young daughters, 18 months and 5 months, however the dog kept waking up the girls of a night so now the inlaws have the dog and we got the kitten, so far so good.

Anyway, we went to the vets today and booked her in for her vaccinations and got prices and ages for desexing and microchipping, all good and no problems there.

So some questions.. she will only use her litter tray (laundry) if we leave the light on during the night. Last night she had two accidents as we turned the light off, whereas each night we have left it on, no accidents. Will she learn to use it with the light off? The laundry is in plain sight from the lounge where she spends most of the day and we change the litter every second/third day and take out all solid mess whenever we notice it and aerate the rest. How long will it take her to get the hang of it? We also take her to the tray and scratch her paw through it. It's breeders choice litter.

Also, we feed her kitten dine wet food and she has supercoat kitten dry and whiskas kitten milk. Her poo is very very soft and smelly. Is it meant to be? How often and how much wet should she have?

Thanks heaps for any replies, very much appreciated :)

I can tell you anything about birds and parrots, but not much about cats!

[Muffy]

She's very young. Breeders don't usually let kittens go until they are about 12 weeks old, so some extra time may be needed for you baby.

Here is a link on training a kitten

http://www.catsofaustralia.com/kitten_toilet_train.htm

Good luck & some photos would be lovely

[Tuxedocat]

Thank you so much :) I'm using the internet on my phone so can't post a pic, but as soon as our new laptop charger comes in the post I will post a picture of her! She's currently asleep on my leg! Left the laundry light on last night and no accidents have been found yet :)

[Furrballz]

You could try a night light in the laundry too I was thinking :)

I agree she is still very much a baby, not your fault she was ripped away far too young from her family, just something to keep in mind and be extra patient :)

[Tuxedocat]

Thank you :) might buy a night light today and see how we go :) the next time we buy a kitten it will definitely be from a registered breeder!! We just fell inlove with this little kitten!!

[bixx]

if the nightlight doesn't help...it might also help to read up on how to socialize feral kittens (he's not feral, but there's a lot of helpful tips here when dealing with very young kittens). 8 weeks means he doesn't have the mother cat to teach him how to behave so now that role is up to you. This means you'll need to expose the kitten early to different situations, people and sound to maximize the socialization. bring in the neighborhood kids to cuddle him if you can....have a dog sniff him...

when i got my kittens (at 12 weeks), i left the light on for the first three nights in the area where their litterbox is. AND i slept in the living room with them just to see they don't begin any bad habits... It could be due to your kitten's age, his confidence needs building up. It might be he needs to get used to a small space first.

as for wet food...give him the recommended portion 2x a day so long as the poop looks good (and no diarrhea). if poop is too soft, change the brand or (my choice) skip the wet food and stick to quality dry food until the problem goes away. some breeders give their kittens 3x a day wet food (and that's raw meat). Probably ask the vet about the milk too at this age. Unfortunately, with kittens, it is always with trial and elimination that we find what works best with their tummies...

good luck!

[ChocolateDots]

Congratulations on your new addition.

I have night lights for my cats and kittens near the litter trays.

The poo issues could just be from a change in diet, are you feeding the same as he was brought up on? Supercoat would not be my choice, if you want supermarket Purina One or Optimum are better choices, and the Whiskas milk may not be helping either.

Wet food I'd give 3-4 times per day, but twice is fine if that's what your schedule allows.

[Tuxedocat]

What's wrong with the milk? I'm not being defensive, just interested :) I want to learn as much as I can about giving her the best :) when the supercoat is all gone I will buy a better one. Also, what is good wet food? Where do you get chicken necks from? Thank you all so much :)

[bixx]

i feed my kittens royal canin kitten 36 dry food and wet food brand Applaws. i don't give them milk though (never had to any of the cats i've had). i think at 12 weeks onwards, what's more important is that they drink a lot of water..


hope that helps.. :)

[Tuxedocat]

Thank you everyone :)

Photos have been added to the photo section of the forums!! :)