KITTEN CARE

You’ve just acquired a kitten and with it, a lot of joy and pleasure, but also a set of responsibilities to ensure its health and well-being. Kittens should be active and playful when awake; but, when they sleep they should sleep deeply.

Contact ANIMART’s Vet Clinic at 608.242.2142 if your kitten:

  • Tires easily during play; decreased activity level.
  • Has coughing, sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea or discharge from the eyes or nose; labored breathing.
  • Has a “bloated: appearance (a full, tense abdomen)
  • Has a poor appetite.

INTRODUCING YOUR NEW KITTEN

Settling a new kitten into its new home takes time and patience. Introduce them to their new home, family and other pets VERY SLOWLY. Kittens can get overwhelmed very easily. Introducing them too fast could stress their immune systems, allowing them to come down with an illness.

Many cats adopted from rescues have upper respiratory infections either brewing or obvious. If you have other cats in the household, verify that all their vaccinations are current before bringing your new kitten home. Keeping your new kitten completely isolated from your other cats for at least a week will help protect the health of all cats and help introduce the new pet into already “claimed” territory.  

Provide your new kitten its own “private room” for the first week with their litter box in one corner and their food/water in the opposite corner, a bed and some toys. This will help ensure successful litter box training and is the quickest way for a kitten to feel secure in its new home. Slowly introduce the new kitten to the rest of your house and other pets with lots of supervision and positive reinforcement.

KITTEN PROOFING

Cats love to climb and explore and, because they clean themselves, are more likely to be poisoned. Watch to make sure your new kitten doesn’t chew on cords, dig or chew on plants, jump on counters (unless you don’t mind him/her jumping on counters), or do anything else that kittens should learn not to do! Beware of poisonous houseplants (philodendron, dieffenbachia, poinsettias, & mistletoe), cleaning products, insecticides, rat poison and automotive products. Never give aspirin or Tylenol to your cat.

Do not encourage biting or aggressive play with your hands. When it comes time for grooming and administering medications, your cat must associate your hands with gentleness.

NUTRITION

Proper nutrition is a key factor to maintaining your cat’s health. Kittens should have a constant source of a high quality kitten food until 9-12 months of age. When making a change from kitten to adult food or when changing brands, do so gradually over several days, mixing the two types before changing over completely to the new food, to avoid upsets and diarrhea.

Cats are strict carnivores and require taurine in their diet provided by meat proteins. Cats also need plenty of water in their diets to help prevent common kidney and bladder problems. A cat consuming a predominantly dry-food diet must drink ample water. A Drinkwell fountain can help encourage your cat to drink sufficient water. Canned food – even with extra water mixed in – can also help increase water intake.

Table scraps can lead to allergies, internal problems, diarrhea, obesity and begging. Cow’s milk will cause diarrhea in most cats.

LITTERBOX TRAINING

Your kitten’s “private room” is an important first step in successful litter box training. Position the food, bed and litter box in opposite corners, as cats don’t like to soil near their food or bed. The kitten will soon become comfortable in it’s private room and develop good toilet habits. As you gradually let the kitten explore other areas of the house, return it to its room frequently for quiet time and food, water and use of the litter box.