Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Bryony84 on May 18, 2008, 20:47:04 PM
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My best friend told me a couple of days ago that her new housemate is getting a kitten, so I was telling her various things about kittens, which she passed on to her housemate. In particular I suggested that her housemate rescued a kitten, especially with the time of year. Then out of the blue yesterday she said the kitten had arrived! The housemate doesn't seem to have much of a clue about kittens and I feel sorry for the poor baby.
- The kitten is apparently 6 weeks old, way too young to leave mum and despite my friend telling her the kitten was too young, she jsut decided it would be fine.
- I very much suspect the kitten has come from a BSB who charged a lot and knows very little, especially if they allowed her to have the kitten so young.
- My best friend has a large 4 year old male cat who has never lived with other cats so its impossible to know how he will react.
I'm worried that despite sending my friend the wizzcats link, they won't be introduced the right way and Socrates (My friends cat) will end up injuring the kitten. Why won't people listen!
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6 weeks ... poor little mite will be so sad and scared it will also not have learnt any "manners" on how to be a cat yet!
Fingers crossed Socrates will see this little one as no threat and will leave it alone ... most animals recognise "babies" and with any luck Socrates will be able to teach this little one all the things it's mummy should be teaching it.
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Poor little thing. Fingers crossed it works out ok and the existing cat accepts the kitten. All you can do is keep on chipping away and hope that some of the advice is heeded. Now that she's got the kitten, I would make sure she understands the importance of neutering and doesn't let him outside until then.
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<sigh> sadly Bryony, you could tell them til your blue in the face and they still won't listen!
I feel for the wee mite and fingers crossed he'll be OK.
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At what age are kittens supposed to leave mum? I got 2 of my cats at 6 weeks and they were fine and still are. On the other hand I got Ollie at 4 weeks, told he was 9 >:( He was a case of neglect and I had to ween him myself.
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Minimum is 8 weeks, CC. It's adviseable to keep kittens with their mum until 12 weeks, though.
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Neutering is another issue. The new baby will not be able to go outside as they live in a 3rd floor flat, Socrates has been neutered when he was little as he used to be an inside/outside cat before my friend moved. Apparently the housemate thinks that because the kitten will not have have contact with unneutered cats of the opposite sex, she doesn't need to get them neutered.
I don't know if the kitten is a boy or a girl, but either way I know there are health behavior issues with either if not neutered so I've been trying to make my point there as well! I'm hoping to go over there at some point and talk to her housemate, she's only been living there a month so I havn't actually met her yet, everything I've said so far has been through my friend.
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if its a boy cat it will spray (it may do after neutering) but it will stink - tomcats can be smelt several yards down wind. A Full tom may also be more aggressive.
If its a girl it will most likely call when in season and though this doesn't sound like much, my experince of it is constant crying for a week followed by two weeks off for it to start again - it'll drive your friend and her neighbours mad.
There are the most obvious benefits of neutering - It doesn't sound like you friend would be that bothered about the health benefits to the cat....
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Use the spraying as your line of attack, girls will do this too ;) some cats will call constantly and its a horrible noise :tired:
CC, kittens at 6 weeks may be eating solids and capable of surviving without their mum but they need to learn important social skills from their mum and siblings aswell, this isnt all done in 6 weeks :(
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if its a boy cat it will spray (it may do after neutering) but it will stink - tomcats can be smelt several yards down wind. A Full tom may also be more aggressive.
If its a girl it will most likely call when in season and though this doesn't sound like much, my experince of it is constant crying for a week followed by two weeks off for it to start again - it'll drive your friend and her neighbours mad.
There are the most obvious benefits of neutering - It doesn't sound like you friend would be that bothered about the health benefits to the cat....
You're right - taking the line of the disadvantages to her would probably work better. Its not my friend though, its her housemate, who I've never met. My friend did everything right with her gorgeous boy, she totally agrees with me, but its hard to make someone you don't really know see sense.
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Perhaps you could point out to your friend the potential problems of her housemate keeping an un-neutered cat alongside her own cat. If it is a male kitten, not only is he likely to spray, but he may well start fighting with Socrates, even though Socrates is neutered. If it's a female kitten, going into heat may encourage mating behaviour from Socrates as even neutered cats may attempt to mate with entire females when they come into season. Or he might start spraying due to the conflict.
What is the housemate situation - are they equal tenants or does your friend own the house? Who was there first? Is your friend in a position to tell her housemate that she cannot keep an unneutered cat in the house?
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My friend owns the house, she has 2 bedrooms and has always rented the other one out as she can't afford the morgage repayments and bills on her own. Unfortunately this is her 3rd housemate in the year and a half she has had the flat, the first was a good friend of hers but went off to get married, the second was through advertising the room but had some kind of mental breakdown and went back to live with her parents, this housemate only arrived last month so I don't know much about her but I know my friend would be quite reluctant to impose too many rules in case she left as it has taken her 3 months to find someone new and she struggled during those months. She is also really not a confrontational person.
I will certainly encourage her to list all the reasons why having the kitten neutered is the best plan of action.
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Think I've just found someone who's worse. This is not a good week for people irritating me!
This kid at work, (he's about my age but acts younger) has just announced that when he moves in with his brother, he wants to get a cat. Fair enough, if he treated it like he treats his daughter it would have a great life. Then he changed my mind by saying he's not going to ask the landlord, he's just going to get the cat, then the conversation got on to spaying/neutering and he said he wouldn't do that because 'its not fair' and despite me telling him all the reasons to do it, first he said he wouldn't let the cat out (he wants a girl cat) then when we (me and another colleague) explained about cats coming into season etc. He just turned the whole thing into a big joke and now I'm all wound up about it. So glad I'm leaving this job in a couple of weeks!
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spaying costs loads and that puts people off doing it. this is the main reason i have found. many places do cheap or free nutoring, cat action rspca, pdsa. and not just for low income families. people hear free and they are more up for it. and it would cut down on othercosts- vet costs. electic shock (spraying in plug sockets) fights, c sections. also cuts down on cleaning bills. as every one one on here probly agree with me on spaying im not telling you this its just as insentive for others who **** responcible owners off. (sorry for the realy bad spelling and english :()
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Even free neuterings and offers of free transport for the cats still isnt enough for some people to pull their head out their backside :sigh:
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any thing worth a try dont give up :Crazy: