Owen Sound Animal Shelter

CAT CARE

Age To Get Your Kitten: If you have a choice, the best time to bring home a new kitten is between 8 and 10 weeks of age. By waiting to bring your cat home until she or he is 8 to 10 weeks, you allow time for proper social interaction with litter mates and the mother which leads to better social skills as an adult cat.

Don't discount a stray with little or no known medical or family history. Some of the best and most loving cats are former strays. Having been without food and shelter for awhile, they are grateful for their newfound home. Most cats will not turn shy or mistrustful after a trauma. They tend to look on the bright side. When you give them a good home, they know they have been rescued.

Handling: Handle your new kitten for at least an hour a day when you bring him or her home. Stroking, handling the feet, head, ears, and mouth and teaching your cat to accept gentle restraint is very important. Cats with confident personalities will blossom under the handling even if their early socialization could have been better. Timid or more aggressive temperaments can usually be significantly rehabilitated with time and patience.

House training: Because cats are instinctively fastidious about where they eliminate, house training the average cat is usually very easy. Get a smooth-surfaced pan that can be easily cleaned and disinfected or use disposable litter boxes. Line the pan with kitty litter and put it in an accessible place but not near the food or water. If you have a kitten, be sure the sides of the pan are not too high to climb over or that the kitten doesn't have too far to go to get to the litter.

Place the kitten into the pan after eating, when he awakens or after play. Praise when you see the desired results and administer correction if elimination begins in the wrong place by saying, "No!" sharply and firmly and placing the cat back in the litter pan to finish.

Remove stool from the litter pan daily. Wash the litter pan thoroughly at least every fourth day. (Use a laundry sink or do it outdoors. Do not wash in a sink used for washing dishes or bathing) Use hot water, detergent and bleach then rinse well and allow to dry before replacing the litter. Do not use disinfectants containing phenol, cresols, resorcinol or hexylresorcinol as they are toxic to cats. Also avoid products with ammonia. Baking soda can be used in the litter to decrease the odour. Most cats do not like wet or dirty litter pans and will begin to eliminate in abnormal places when dissatisfied with their normal toilet area. It is also a good idea to have at least one litter pan per cat.

Toys: Be sure to provide your cat with sufficient diversions at home. A bored cat gets into trouble. Provide permissible entertainment. All cat toys should be big enough so that they cannot be swallowed and sturdy enough so that they cannot be torn apart and eaten. Avoid string and thread and also balls of yarn as many cats will unroll them and chew on the strands. The string, thread and yarn can cause serious gastrointestinal problems including obstruction. A patch of fresh catnip, catnip-stuffed toys, paper bags, empty thread spools (large ones), stuffed socks and bones (avoid chicken as they splinter) that can be chewed on but not swallowed are good, inexpensive toys.

Scratching Post: Cats love to stretch out and exercise their claws, so it's important to start training your new pet immediately. You should have scratching post ready when kitty moves in. Cats tend to scratch when they awaken and in areas where they commonly greet others, such as in doorways. A spot near your cat's bed or next to a door is a good location for a scratching post.

As soon as the cat goes for your rugs or furniture, direct the animal to the scratching post and encourage him to use it. You can even attach a few hanging toys to attract him.

Behaviour Correction: Each time you get a new cat, you will have to determine what method is best for that individual. Avoid physical punishment. Instead, use positive rewards for positive behaviour. When your cat is doing something undesirable, a sharp "NO!" will often startle him into stopping. If harsh words are not sufficient, a loud hand clap is quite often effective. Physical punishment leads the cat to associate the punishment with you. Therefore, you get a cat who behaves when you are around and not when you are away. A squirt from a water gun or spray bottle will often work because the punishment is not associated with you directly.

Acetaminophen: Never give acetaminophen to cats. It will make them sick and can even kill them. Cats do not tolerate Ibuprofen well either. You need to consult a veterinarian before giving your cat any pain killers at all.