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Kitten Advice Needed

Started by olive, February 04, 2012, 09:11:00 AM

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LilFaerieAimee

My final say?  Keep them.  They not only found a place in your home but your heart as well.  If by now you havent found an owner, truth is you might not, and you have obviously been wonderful with them, KEEP THEM!!  I am so being the little thing on your shoulder.  They're your babies, and you love them, you've named them even. 

My next tip- get a scratching post soon.  The two cats I own once lived with a good friend of mine and they scratched EVERYTHING he owns.  I took them in when I moved apartments and the first thing I did before moving furniture was to move in a scratcher.  Now they tear a scratcher to hell and back, and I have pristine wood furniture!


olive

#26
~grins~

Thanks LilFaerieAimee.

If I needed any encouragement to keep them you sure gave it to me, but as you said, I already adore them. On the other hand, I don't know if I mentioned I have three cats of my own and I'm babysitting two others for my oldest daughter as she house-hunts. If she'll come get those two, I'd feel better about keeping the little ones. I know they'll be well loved here but I worry there's only so much time and attention to spread around and my house is not the largest, either. As much as I would hate to see them go, if a suitable owner shows up, it would be selfish of me to hang on to them. "Suitable" being the key word, though. They would have to pass a rigorous application process to get the the olive-seal of quality.

I actually have an adult cat that was left in a pet store by her owners when they moved. She had already been spade and had all her shots but she just couldn't compete with all the cute little kittens for sale, so she sat in a small cage for nearly 7 months before someone (me) took her home. Although there are worse things that can happen, it still reminds me that even those that have taken an animal in initially, often abandon it if it no longer suits their needs or lifestyle. I want them to go to people like me--people that would take their cats to a tent under a bridge if their life happened to bottom out, rather than see them destroyed or in placed in questionable homes.

LilFaerieAimee

You and I are two peas in a pod, Ms. Olive.  I have two cats of my own both adopted less than three months after the other.  They actually belonged to a good friend of mine and his roommate who thought it was a good idea having pets.  The second one is the older and we adopted him as a playmate for the first.  It was a total Lilo and Stitch moment when we adopted him- we were at the vet looking for a rough house ready playmate and the nurses were trying to pawn this puffball of a white kitten on us.  We heard this massive crash and there was this giant orange tabby tom sitting there with this, "No not me, man." look on his face and this scattering of kennels.  We wanted him, and the vet said, "No you don't.  He's been returned three times already, he's too feral to be kept and he'll be put to sleep if returned one more time."  We took him anyway and he's been my best friend since then.

From a daughter's stand point, I also wanted to thank you.  I recently lost my job and moved home with my mom.  We have three cats at home (one has a dormant strain of feline leukemia) and now I added my own.  It was a tough move, and I couldnt bare giving them up.

olive

#28
Awww, I loved your story about your orange tabby. God love him, he had to trash the place to get your attention, is all. *grins*
I love to hear stories like that. People find the best friends in the most unusual places or circumstances. Thanks for sharing your fella's story with me.

And yes, my daughter tried to not bring them the 350 miles drive up here, knowing I already had 3 of my own, but when the folks she had left them with neglected them to the point of letting them be eaten up with fleas (without letting her know there was an issue), she had no choice. Her male long haired cat--Socks--looked like one of those shaved cats with the lion's mane. He was pitiful because he had an allergy to the flea bites. He didn't even look like a cat. He's all fat and sassy again, though.

That's Socks on the right, next to one of my male cats: "Little Guy"




Beguile's Mistress

They look so cute sitting there touching tails. :-)

olive

 :D Thanks! And don't they look hungry? Poor little skinny cats....

LilFaerieAimee

I feel so sorry for your daughter!  That must have been so heart breaking.  I am glad you, just like my mom, are so welcoming and allowed them home.  Yea my orange is my buddy.  When we brought him home, the two guys went to studying, and left me trying to chase after the two cats who were warring with one another.  Anyone that tried to pick him up ended getting the same treatment as if they stuck their arms in a disposal.  I pass out on the couch, wake up with this heavy sudden punch to the chest and there is this massive orange animal.  He looked down at me, makes one complete circle and passes out.  True love right there.

So since you did it... here are my kids:

         

Tachi

#32
One of my cats we got as a kitten of 2 weeks. His mother had died and we bottle fed him. When it was time to wean him we put out tuna in oil. Tuna in water doesn't work, they want the oil and that gets them wanting wet food after a while. Then go from wet food to dry food.

Edits with more info:

Wean kittens at 4-5 weeks.
Tuna in oil to wet food to dry food takes about a week. Be sure to give them milk (bottle) along with the oil if you think they aren't eating enough. After getting them on wet food they're good with water. If they don't take to water then start mixing tuna oil with water until it's just water.

Vorcen

Confession time. I own 5 cats. Used to be 6 until my elderly Jenny passed on. Which I'm fine with, she was -really- old, 20 in cat years give or take I believe. Either way, four of my cats are all sisters and we rescued them from a barn. Their mother was a feral who'd been hit by a car and we quickly realised something was going to have to be done to save the litter, so we spoke to the RSPCA about getting some traps in order to catch the little things.. they were five to six inches big but still little horrors. And thus after two days we ended up with a catch with, two identical tabbys (we'd presumed there was only one), a black and white cat and an English blue. After feeding them ourselves for several monthes, names finally became apparent.

Tabby number 1 with a skin complaint - Toffee, she's sweet, thus Toffee. She has an amusing habbit of standing on her hind legs like a meerkat.
Tabby number 2 - Fudge. Foisty fudge, she's the bully girl. :)
Black and white cat - Onion, on account of the fact she didn't stop eating and ended up as round as one.
English blue - Originally it was going to be Sage to go with Onion, however, she kept trying to escape as a kitten and thus we decided, 'Mack' would be a good name. Mack being the person from the great escape whom kept trying to go over the fence.
Existing cat, a tortoise shell - Jenny or Jennifer. She was an old girl who was quite put out to be sharing a house with whippersnappers. Amusingly they all thought she was there mum. I firmly believe she hated this but she could still be seen with a kitten sleeping on her every now and again.

We thought that was going to be the last of our cats. However.. after a few monthes a small black and white kitten turned up, unannounced, and started eating our cat food. Thinking he was someone elses cat, we kept putting him back outside. Each morning he was waiting at the backdoor to be let in, shivering. Eventually our resolve broke and we adopted him as well. He grew and grew and grew. I'm pretty sure he's more closely related to a panda bear than a cat, but because he's our only male his name is Boyo. He is fat, playful and sassy. Currently me and him are in contest for the Alpha male position. He likes to ambush my shoes as I walk out of a room. I like to wrap him in a towel and treat him like a baby as he scowls at me. I'd say I'm winning this competition so far.
Due to unforeseen circumstances I'm away until the 6th/7th October. I will get back to you, promise.

"Once you have removed the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132264.0 - My On's and Off's thread.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132598.0 - My Request Thread. (Always in progress).

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: Trieste on February 18, 2012, 07:44:12 PM
I already love Agador! Waffles is a sweetie, but I have a soft spot for the little grey ball of fluff. :) My husband would leave me, though. >.>

Who would be more upset, your husband or your rats? ;D

Trieste

The rats don't care so long as the cats keep their paws away from the cage (and they aggressively enforce that rule when one of the cats tries to put a paw in there)... so probably the husband. He seems to have resigned himself to crazy animal house-ness, though.

TheGlyphstone

Ah. Didn't realize you already had a mixed-species pet collection.

Trieste

8 rats, 3 cats, 2 gerbils, and one Beast. ;D

Autumn Sativus

Quote from: Tachi on February 22, 2012, 04:25:21 AM
One of my cats we got as a kitten of 2 weeks. His mother had died and we bottle fed him. When it was time to wean him we put out tuna in oil. Tuna in water doesn't work, they want the oil and that gets them wanting wet food after a while. Then go from wet food to dry food.

Edits with more info:

Wean kittens at 4-5 weeks.
Tuna in oil to wet food to dry food takes about a week. Be sure to give them milk (bottle) along with the oil if you think they aren't eating enough. After getting them on wet food they're good with water. If they don't take to water then start mixing tuna oil with water until it's just water.

Be extra careful with this. Some tuna in oil is plainly labelled to include vegetables. Onions are extremely toxic for cats and you've got to be extra careful the tuna has nothing onion related in it (most do, I can only give my cats tuna in water as a result).
Us against the world
Just a couple sinners making fun of hell


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olive

Tachi, thanks so much for the advice, and Saffy for the warning. I think they'll be okay, now. They are nibbling at the cat chow along side momma cat.

Vorcen, I appreciate and I enjoyed the confession. Wow, five cats...I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one who just cannot say no to the little fellas. It's cool how you picked their names or rather their names picked them.

And Glyph, I haven't given up hope that Agador might live happily ever after with Trieste. I mean, if I can have 7 and Vorcen can have 5, surely one more little beast won't hurt much, right? *giggles*

Beguile's Mistress

If she dyed them all blue he'd never know unless they were all in bed with him at the same time. :D

olive

Oh wow, that's the best idea....just keep him confused and have all the kitties she wants. *nodsnodsnods*

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: olive on February 22, 2012, 08:47:34 PM
Oh wow, that's the best idea....just keep him confused and have all the kitties she wants. *nodsnodsnods*

Unless the rats tattle. I wouldn't put it past those critters to start spelling messages with their feed pellets.

Trieste

What would happen would be that one of them would start to spell out one message, another one would come along and start to spell out another message ("Treats plz!") and then a third or fourth one would come along and start picking up the pellets and squirreling them away. Someone else would find the squirrel-spot and steal food from that spot to hide it in a completely different spot. Then it would be rat-war...

To be fair, though, the one laid back rat, Korben, would probably watch all of it from the comfort of one of the hammocks, too comfortable to be bothered.

Beguile's Mistress

Dysfunctional rat family. *nods*

Vorcen

Quote from: olive on February 22, 2012, 06:41:41 PM
Tachi, thanks so much for the advice, and Saffy for the warning. I think they'll be okay, now. They are nibbling at the cat chow along side momma cat.

Vorcen, I appreciate and I enjoyed the confession. Wow, five cats...I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one who just cannot say no to the little fellas. It's cool how you picked their names or rather their names picked them.

And Glyph, I haven't given up hope that Agador might live happily ever after with Trieste. I mean, if I can have 7 and Vorcen can have 5, surely one more little beast won't hurt much, right? *giggles*

We thought about putting them into the cat home when they grew up. But.. they're so fat and sassy. I just ban them from my room and provide food.
Due to unforeseen circumstances I'm away until the 6th/7th October. I will get back to you, promise.

"Once you have removed the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132264.0 - My On's and Off's thread.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132598.0 - My Request Thread. (Always in progress).

olive

Quote from: Vorcen on February 23, 2012, 12:37:27 PM
We thought about putting them into the cat home when they grew up. But.. they're so fat and sassy. I just ban them from my room and provide food.

Is the cat home like the old folk's home?  :-)  I think it's great that you are keeping them. I banned mine from my youngest daughter's room too. She needs one spot in the house not covered in cat hair and catnip toys. Of course that is the one room they think the must get in to. Cats don't like boundaries, I've noticed.

Zipporah

I don't have any advice, but those kits are so. incredibly. cute. 

Vorcen

Nope. Cat home for unwanted cats. RSPCA ran, essentially people who want cats go and choose. After being told the average stay is 9 monthes. We weren't keen. Now they're all sassy and lovely.

And yes, if they can get into a banned room, they will try. I even hilariously found one trapped in my room, she was asleep on the bed after I'd come in from a full day of education, must have snuck in, in the brief period I left my door ajar when brushing my teeth that morning. Suffice to say, I allowed her to stay that night as something to cuddle. But the next morning rules resumed.
Due to unforeseen circumstances I'm away until the 6th/7th October. I will get back to you, promise.

"Once you have removed the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132264.0 - My On's and Off's thread.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132598.0 - My Request Thread. (Always in progress).

gsptGoddess

Quote from: olive on February 04, 2012, 09:14:48 AM
Agador-Spartacus and Waffles
So, the naming of these two.... How'd that happen? :P