NEED ADVICE FROM CAT EXPERTS..

I originally posted this in the lounge, but someone suggested I post it here too...

We have a little stray kitten that's been hanging around for a couple of weeks. It had been sneaking around, eating whatever it could find from the scraps we throw to the chickens. We've been feeding it and now it's just the friendliest little thing-really REALLY affectionate. My question is this, would it be possible to bring it inside and try to raise it as a "housecat"? Normally I would let it be and just keep feeding it (we've had strays from time to time), but it's getting colder here, and although it has been finding space either in our garage or the chicken house, I'm worried it won't make it through the winter. I haven't seen it's mother, and I don't think it knows how to hunt. It's not very old, maybe a couple of months...it hasn't reached that "gangly" adolescent stage yet. Could it adapt to being inside? What about litter training it? It's used to doing it's business where it wants.
I already know it gets along with our dog, whenever we let her out she rushes up to the kitten and the kitten rubs on her and follows her around, so I don't think that would be a problem.
I appreciate any advice. Thank you in advance!

Get that kitty inside, he loves you already. Take him to the vet and get him fixed, and enjoy the love he's gonna give you. :)

the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. Christmas came early to you, my friend. hug your baby for me.

Take him to the vet to get his shots and get him bathed to kill any fleas the poor little guy might have - you don't want those on your dog or in your house.

Most outdoor cats were housecats that somehow got lost -- he was probably born a few miles away from you. I would bet he will adjust to being exclusively indoor really quickly - especially being as young as he is.

As for litterbox training - get a simple litter box and unscented (or low scent litter) - and put the cat and litter box and food and water and toys in a small room without carpet or rugs (bathroom or laundry rooom will work great). Leave kitty in the room until he figures it out. I visited the kitty room often with both of my cats and put them in the box several times to make sure they had seen and felt the litter. They used the box the very first time and returned to it ever after.

If you want to make SURE kitty will figure out the litter box buy a bag of "Cat Attract" cat litter - at $10.99 for a 20 pound bag it is not much more expensive than other litters and will be most likely to get your kitty doing the right thing.

Let us know how it goes!

:)

All of which are available at Whole Foods if you have one near you.

The Nutro stuff is good, but they're a very red company, so I quit giving them my money some time ago. Plus, my kitties like the Lick Your Chops and Pet Guard stuff a LOT more (especially the lamb and brown rice flavor Lick Your Chops for some reason, they go ga ga over the stuff).

"Pet grade" ingredients, as does Science Diet (meat which isn't considered safe for human consumption, yet big corporations still profit hugely by putting the stuff into pet foods-even "premium" brands). Try Wellness, Innova Evo, Natural Balance, Petguard, Solid Gold, Artemis, Organix or any other complete diet that contains USDA human grade meats.

veggies and meat. If not Wellness, then go for Sensible Choice or some of the brands mentioned below... If this is the first time you purchased cat food, keep in mind that it is more expensive, but they eat less than big dogs!

:-)

It's what they would eat naturally. If you can't do raw, at least don't feed dry.

Good luck with the new kitty! :)

Here are some links to a lot of excellent info on cat nutrition.

http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.catinfo.org/commercialcannedfoods.htm

She lists good brands and bad brands. Note what she says about Science Diet ... bad brand.

I should be able to find her a good cat food. We were just feeding her cheap dry food since she started coming around (I know it's not the best for her) but I just grabbed what I could and started giving something to her so she wouldn't starve. She was eating out of the chicken yard, whatever scraps she could. She'll probably feel alot better once she's eating a good diet. I noticed tonight that her belly is kind of swollen-probably from all the filler in that cheap food.

The info in those links talks about dry food. We used to feed it to our kitties and couldn't understand why they were so sick ... and neither could the vet. We have a new vet now who knows more about cat nutrition, but catinfo got us on the right track and I will forever be grateful to her for saving our cats with her excellent nutritional advice.

I hope you'll post some pics of your new little darling. :loveya:

Let us know how it goes.

I agree with the above advice. Make this kitty your own.
It sure sounds like it is ready to be a house cat, and join your family.
There is nothing cuter than a cat and dog love match.
It is usually the cat that is the boss.... :D

I've had cats in the past (though it's been several years ago) and dogs, but never together. I would worry more about it, but my dog and this kitten have already made fast friends. It will be cute to see them cuddle together. Our dog is a little mini dachshund (also an adoptee)and they look really cute when they play outside.

defend our cats. (they were brain damaged and suffered physical unsteadiness. best. cats. ever) Lovely piccies.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=243x10321

After a few weeks of this he just walked into the condo. Now he looks like this:










Some feral cat he was! Already fixed and some bastard had declawed him too. If I hadn't of taken him in, he most likely would have died.

Ain't he pretty! :loveya:

I hate the declaw thing. Poor guy. Why the hell do people do that to cats? It's so cruel.

Some people on the DU think it is ok for some STUPID reason (save my new leather sofa please!). :puke:

I wonder how these people that do this to cats would like having their hands cut off? :grr:

:kick:

get it to a vet as soon as possible for a check-up and shots

our Calypso was rescued from the shipping yard where I work -- she was probably 8-10 wks old, still pretty wild, but had an upper respiratory infection so she wasn't in any shape to "fight". I brought her home with the intention of getting her back to health and then taking her to the shelter

3 days later and on medication she was sitting in any lap she could find and purring loud like a vacuum cleaner. My partner "caved in" - told me "she's staying - what do we name her?"

she's around 4 months old, healthy and purrs at a drop of a hat