Cat owners - advice please!!!

We've had our kitten for three weeks now. He was a bit older than yours when we got him - he was 12 weeks old. He's had both his first set of jabs now, and the vet says he *could* technically go out a week after the second lot, but he's still so small and immature that she recommended waiting until he's neutered at six months. He'll also be microchipped then.

We've also got a glass back door, and apparently you can get cat flaps fitted, you just need to contact a glazier and I guess it'd cost a bit more than usual.

We feed our kitten two pouches of kiitten food a day and a bowl of biscuit in between, which he just nibbles at. He doesn't have milk anymore, just a bowl of water.

I've not sorted the insurance yet, but am planning to go with Petplan as the vet said they were good, and my parents used them for our family pets. She said not to go with the 'ones you can pick up at the checkout'.

Erm....have I missed anything? I can't see your post...gah. I don't think so.

It's great fun having a kitten! Do you have any pics? This is our little chap...

I think you've got most of it covered. I would keep trying her with the biscuits as well as the wet food because it's good for her teeth later on. The cat milk is just a treat really and not got anything essential in it that she needs she'll get that from her food.

I wouldn't bother with a flea collar because although it might work slightly if she got fleas badly you'd still need to use something else. The best flea prevention is something from a vets but you can now buy Frontline from pet shops etc. Supermarket ones and cheaper ones aren't as good either. She won't need flea prevention until she goes out and then it's up to you whether you do it regularly or during the summer when its worse.

You will need to worm her once a month until she's 6 months old then once every 3 months. You can get worm stuff as a paste, sachet or tablets an if you want to get them from a vet they'll probably want to check her over once before you can buy them.

As for going out you can leave it until she's had her injections or wait until she's a bit older. I would highly recommend getting her microchipped as I used to work in a vets and it was heartbreaking when we couldn't reunite cats with their owners because we couldn't trace them.

Can't wait to see photo's!

Insurance, make sure you go with ones that are "for life" and not a max per condition - petplan, m&s and axa/halifax are the three biggies. There are a couple of others but underwritten by E&L who are notoriously crap payers.

Food, that should be plenty. Before they are spade the self regulate their eating uite well.

She has got water - it's a double bowl so water on one side, food on the other.?

The only other advice I can give is to ensure you let her sleep when she wants to so get the kids to give her a bit of peace and quiet whenever she wants a nap.

Other than that, enjoy!

Catchat is a good website to get information. https://www.catchat.org/

I've got petplan insurance for mine which covers for the lifetime of the animal, and not just 12 months per illness (so if they should get an illness which requires treatment for the rest of their lives, then it'll be covered for ever) My vet , for invoices over £100, will claim their fees direct from Petplan so I just pay the vet the excess and they do the rest, which saves me work/hassle.

I would always have a catflap but plenty of other people manage without. I have one in a glass door but it was fitted at manufacture - I believe you can only fit one when the door is made and can't retrofit them. You can replace the glass panel with one with a catflap fitted, or replace the glass panel with a plastic panel and easily fit a catflap yourself.

Please Please Please get your kitten neutered as soon as you can, and don't let her out until she has had this done. It used to be done from age 6 months but more vets are doing it slightly earlier now - around 5 months.

Flea collars are next to useless - as is any shop bought flea product. You'll need frontline from your vet if your cat gets fleas. She'll also need worming tablets regularly until she is 6 months and then every 3 months -- again your vet will go through all this with you.

You don't need to go mad with cat toys unless you want to. A rolled up ball of kitchen foil or the 'branch' left after eating a bunch of grapes are two of the favourite toys of my lot. You may want to get a water spray to discourage her from doing things like scratching the settee, or jumping on to kitchen surfaces.

Keep your washing machine door shut - or at least check it before you run the programme !

She will probably never sleep in the bed you provide for her.

Cat milk isn't necessary and they shouldn't be given cows milk - water is all they need.

You've got everything covered I think. It's very good thinking to not give her the run of the house immediately- H and I both got scratched to pieces pulling our rescue kitten out from underneath bookcases and chests of drawers.

We have glass back doors too and we decided to get the flap installed in the wall instead. We used this guy https://www.catflapman.co.uk/

Catwoman your kitten is gorgeous! Makes me all broody but H has limited me to 2 cats.

Don't let her out until she's neutered and vaccinated.

ours are insured with petplan and they have been fine.

Oh andf where's the cute kitten photo? ?

Thanks for all the advice!!!

I've taken Fluffy to the vets this morning and it turns out she is actually a he!? The vet says he's a tad on the small size (but I knew he was the rubt of the litter when we chose him), but that he's basically perfectly healthy and should so fine if we feed him up a bit.

He's had his first jabs and is booked in for the 2nd lot in 3 weeks time. Turns out he also has a few little visitors so the vet gave me some stuff for worms & fleas to put on tonight (so the kids don't stroke him with it on).

We're going to book him in to be castrated at 6 months and the vet said he can put a microchip in then too for £8. He won't be allowed out until after that.

At the moment he is living in the dining room, but we have let him have a bit of a run about the house and he comes in the living room in the evening, although keeps getting into all the wired behind the TV and has scratched the back of the leather sofa!

The children are playing with him intermittently and we've been out a bit too so he's had plenty of time to sleep.

I will try and get a picture on soon - he is very very cute - black & white with fairly long fur and the sweetest little face!!!?

Ohhh i'm having a very clucky fur baby moment.

I can highly recommend Pinnacle pet insurance- "life of illness" cover. I have made 3 claims, all settled swiftly, with absolutly no fuss.