View Single Post
Old 07-06-2016, 05:30 PM   #54
FurnaceFace
Franchise Player
 
FurnaceFace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: 110
Exp:
Default

Litter box: buy a big rubbermade or similar storage box, the ones that are quite deep, and cut a hole in it starting a few CMs from the bottom. Fill with litter. It'll keep everything contained as some cats pee straight out not down. You might want to keep the lid up until the cat gets used to it. Also if you get one with smooth sides that works best. Some of them have a lip near the top and that just collects litter. Check with whoever you're getting the cat from as to what litter they use to help keep things consistent.

Food: as someone said don't cheap out, get good stuff. Again, find out what the cat is currently eating and get that initially. The breeder or whoever you are getting the cat from probably knows best. Try and avoid introducing people food if at all possible or the cat will be begging at every meal. I'm not sure it's even possible to do that as cats always seem to want our food but it might work with a kitten.

Travel: the cat may not like to travel. Ours didn't. Car rides were stressful, plane rides would have be awful.

Nails: the tip our vet showed us was to use a large set of human clippers and cut your cat's nails vertically, instead of cutting the nails as we do holding the clippers horizontal. The reason for that was cutting cat nails from the top and bottom crushes the nail a fair amount and can hurt more. Also be patient with nails, if the cat only let's you cut one or two at a time, that's fine. Just do it every day or so and reinforce the cutting process with treats. We found it easier to cut nails if my wife held the cat in her arms while I cut.

The cardboard scratchers seem to work awesome for most cats. Get a few so the cat doesn't use your furniture. If the cat starts in on a corner of the couch put some tinfoil around it to stop it. Also when they do scratch in the wrong spot calmly take the cat over to the right scratching area and help the cat scratch there. They usually clue in.

A feather on a string and something shiny is a great play toy. You get to interact with the cat and the cat gets to practice natural hunting skills. It also helps tire them out so you get a better sleep, and keeps them active/healthy. If you have stairs tossing a toy up the stairs or even a ball of paper can be hours of fun and good exercise for the cat.
__________________


Hockey is just a game the way ice cream is just glucose, love is just
a feeling, and sex is just repetitive motion.

___________________________________- A Theory of Ice
FurnaceFace is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to FurnaceFace For This Useful Post: