We are sure your new kitten will be a wonderful addition to your family. We have put this information together to help you with their transition into your home.
Your kitten is now eating Royal Canin Siamese mixed with Royal Canin Indoor 27 dry food. Royal Canin is available at PetCo and PetSmart stores and at most pet food suppliers. Alternative dry foods are: Innova EVO Cat and Iams Lamb & Rice. If you desire to feed a wet food in addition to dry, Nutro kitten canned is recommended or Fancy Feast roasted chicken or minced turkey. Kittens should be allowed to “free feed”. Their energy level is high and they require a constant supply of food and fresh water. Their stomachs are small and cannot handle large meals. If you wish to change their diet, remember to do it slowly by mixing in increasing amounts to their current diet. We also recommend supplementing their diet with Missing Link Supper Food Supplement for Felines. This will give your feline any dietary ingredients they might be missing. If you are having difficulty finding these foods and this supplement they are all available at www.petfooddirect.com .
A change in your kittens normal eating habits for longer than 24-48 hours is cause for concern; however, it is not unusual for a new kitten to be too busy exploring his new home to eat for a day or so. If he acts lethargic, has a decreased appetite and/or has mild diarrhea and is 4-6 months of age, look in his mouth and see if he is teething. This can disrupt them for a few days and is very normal.
Your kitten has been trained to use “The World’s Best Cat Litter”. The World’s Best is a corn-based litter and is organic and scoop able. I do not recommend clay based litters, if ingested they can block intestines. The World’s Best litter can be obtained at Pet Smart or on line at www.petfooddirect.com. If you do change brands of litter, please note that the kitten may not realize what the new litter is. You may wish to change litter slowly by adding new litter to the old in increasing amounts until you are using predominantly new litter. You can also put two litter boxes next to each other, one with the familiar litter and the other with the litter you wish to use. The kitten will tend to associate the two and eventually will use both and then you can remove one of them. Also, please make sure that this kitten can find the new litter box. When first exploring they can become “lost” and accidents can happen.
Also note that water changes can also affect a kittens’ digestion. You may wish to use bottled spring water for a while if your water contains chlorine. We have well water, which has no chlorine.
We personally do not believe in Declawing. This is a surgical amputation that actually removes a joint from the kittens’ foot which is disfiguring. We strongly suggest that you try alternatives before deciding on this procedure. This kitten has had access to many kinds of “cat trees” and scratching posts and has been trained to use them. The newest type of scratching posts, wrapped with sisal rope or squares of sisal “carpet,” seem to be the cat-scratching medium of choice. You should get into a routine of trimming your kitten’s nails frequently (every 1-2 weeks). The more you trim their nails, the shorter you will be able to trim their nails. Take care not to cut into the pink. There is a vain that can be severed. Clipping nails and providing a scratching post should eliminate any destructive issues.
It is recommended that if your kitten is going to a new home that has other cats, the new kitten should be quarantined for two weeks. The stress of moving to a new home can bring on a “kitten cold” that you don’t want your current cat to catch and the best way to introduce the new friends is behind closed doors. Your new kitten should have a room of their own for 2 weeks. The established cat will see you going into that room and become “Curious.” They will wait until you are not looking and see if they can find out what is on the other side of the door. This will usually result in paws poking both ways under the door. Playing under the door soon follows and if all goes well, when the two meet they will be familiar with each other and become fast friends. Also, if you have not had a kitten for a while you may wish to initially confine the kitten in one room while you are not at home. That way if your kitten finds something inappropriately interesting in the rest of the house you will be there to take care of it.
We require that you take your new kitten to your veterinarian for a “well-kitty” visit within two weeks. This will allow your veterinarian to set up their records and discuss when to schedule their altering procedure. Show your veterinarian the vaccination papers so that shots are not needlessly repeated. Your kitten has had his FVRCP shots, the last of which was given on or just prior to fourteen weeks of age. This shot needs to be repeated annually. Our Cattery has been tested for FeLV and Aids and is negative. I guarantee that your kitten comes from a FeLV/Aids negative household. You may however decide to give the FeLV/Aids vaccine to protect against future exposure (It’s about 80% effective). There are two shots in the series given three weeks apart and then repeated annually. If you chose to give this vaccine we suggest that you wait until your kitten is done teething as this vaccine frequently causes fever and lethargy. One stress at a time is enough. FeLV /Aids is not a concern for an indoor-only cat like yours, but it is highly contagious and fatal for those that are living out of doors or have contact with those that are.
Your kitten requires minimal grooming. A metal flea comb is recommended to comb out loose hair. It will of course also produce fleas if present. If you ever do see fleas, consult your Veterinarian for treatment advice. We use and recommend “Advantage”, which is available from your Veterinarian. I do not recommend the use of “Bio Spot” which is available in stores. I have personally seen adverse reactions to this product.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
I look forward to hearing about my kitties, so please keep in touch and send pictures! If you would like to share a photo and story of your UnKämen Kitty with us on our web site click here to get in touch with us, we would love to include them in our Extended Family page.
