hey guys. remember me? :( i sure hope sooo!! well ive been super busy BUT a few days ago i just adopted the most precious kitten in the world. growing up i had a cat but never a kitten so there are just a few questions im wondering about that i am unsure about. if you have a second for pretty old me and my dollface i would appreciate it:)
first, is it alright to feed kittens treats? when i adopted my kitten they gave me a bag of some free things with some treats but im not sure if it is alright for kittens.
second, with my cat at home i swear she never ****s like once a week the litter box is cleaned. im sure if its because she is a kitten that she is seriously ****ting a lot, or if its normal, or if it is something in the food maybe upsetting her tummy :(. so if any of you guys have had kittens and they **** more haha let me knowwww!
also, the debatable question! my landlord really wants me to get her front claws declawed :( right now she is 10 weeks old, and doesnt use them much i guess she may as she gets older more, i know its too early to declaw her now, (she will be an indoor cat) , but im not sure if i can do that to my babyface. opinoins etc with the declawing aspect appreciated!

love always
your fav.
dod :)

Never, ever, declaw you cat. It's a cruel and barbaric procedure. What the hell business is it of your landlord's to get your cat declawed or not? What an arsehole. Some people are so horrible, I can't believe he suggested to someone they should declaw there cat. It's illegal in an awful lot of places :mad: I'll post you some info to give him on why people should not declaw their cats if you want.

How often is she pooing? It doesn't seem to be clear from your post. Pooing every day is normal, and a couple of times a day for a kitten is ok. What sort of kitten treats did she come with? Some treats are fine, some are a bit dodgy. I don't think we can really answer that one unless we know what sort of treats you are talking about.

Treats are fine. Whatever food you end up using as a main diet, just always use the same food. Switching around can upset their stomachs.

Most cats poop daily. Kitten poop is especially rancid smelling. You should have a stool sample (and your entire kitten) checked out by a vet within a week or so of getting it, make sure everything is in order. Worms can make poops worse.

Declawing is completely unneccessary, exceptionally gruesome, and horrifically painful. It is totally inhumane. Many adoption agencies won't allow you to adopt a cat if you intend to declaw it. Its illegal in various places throughout the world. I've watched it done, and I would NEVER put an animal through that. It is an amputation of the first DIGIT of each finger. A tourniquet is placed around the arm and tightened down to cut off circulation. The paw turns white, and then they amputate the first digits. They end up with a small pile of fingertips on the instrument tray that get thrown away. Cats with insufficient pain management generally wake up screaming in pain. Even those with pain meds hop from foot to foot in pain, and often for months, as their paws heal. Sometimes they ooze blood while they're healing. Pain meds can also lead to surgical complications, speeding up or slowing down heart rates to dangerous levels. Imagine having each of your fingers cut off at the first knuckle? THEN you have to walk on your hands?! Thats what they do to the cats. How the heck is your landlord going to know if the cat is declawed? If it was going to destroy anything, it would probably be your couch. Its easy enough to train them not to claw things. My two boys are totally off the wall nutso, but when its time to scratch, they run to their post.

What you need to do is to start trimming her claws on a regular basis (I do my cats' weekly) NOW that she's little and can get used to it. Don't wait until there is a problem and then try to correct it. Get her a REALLY tall scratching post now (one that she can grow into. It should be big enough for her to extend to her full length at her full size), and try not to get a carpeted one (cause thats just teaching "Hey! Its ok to claw carpet!"), and leave it in a place she goes. She's too young to be interested in cat nip (most cats don't care until about 8-10mos), so just while you're playing with her, crawl over to it and scratch on it as though its something YOU enjoy doing, and pay no mind to her. They like to copy what you're doing. Silly kitties.

Speaking of claws I have to clip my cat Hannah's claws, they are getting a little long and sharp. She was an adult feral when I got her, and has not had her claws clipped before. This is going to be fun! :/ On an up note, if you clip them from when they are young they are fine with it. There are "softpaws" (I think that's what they are called), a kind of sheath that goes over the cat's claws. I have heard they work well, although I have never used them myself.

Rabidchild said everything I would have said, but better and in much more detail. Please, please, please don't declaw! And take kitty to the vet to get checked out ASAP.

There's never a good reason to declaw a cat. Do what rabidchild said, get her at least one scratching post (we have about five, of varying shapes and sizes all throughout our house) and teach her how to use it. If you catch her scratching at something always take her right to her post and show her that she needs to scratch the post. Be vigilant about it. We were, and none of my three cats have any scratching problems.

We have carpeted posts and they don't seem to have caused any problems.

To go along with the declawing crowd, declawing also affects balance and has the potential to affect your cat's personality, making them less sure of themselves.

That being said, both of my cats are declawed, although it was done long before I adopted either of them, so I don't have a lot of advice on how to train them to use a scratching post. For the record, any future cat that's adopted will not be declawed should they come into my house with them.

oh I forgot one thing... positive reinforcement! Once our babies started getting the hint and going to the post on their own, we always praised them and told them they are good kitties. Ours seem to respond well to it. :)

I'll toss in my $0.02 on declawing as well: totally a bad idea. It's painful and unnatural. Please please don't do it. Does your lease require all cats in the apartment/house to be declawed? If not, just tell your landlord that you won't be declawing, and (to relax him/her) tell them you'll be trimming your kitty's nails. If the lease does require it: leases can be revised. I moved into an apartment complex that requires declawing. I told the landlord that I wouldn't be declawing my cats, but that I would be willing to use Softpaws (the sheaths that cover a cat's claws mentioned above) if need be. I also mentioned that I would, of course, pay for any damages done by my cats, but that I would have to do so anyway by law. The landlord told me that the declawing requirement wasn't a real 'rule' of theirs (to which I suggested they take it out of their standard lease agreement--which they haven't, of course) and so I crossed those sentences out of the lease, initialed and dated them, and that was that. If you're a responsible tenent or the landlord is hard up for renters, you often have a lot of wiggle room, even in an already-signed lease.

No to declawing and BTW if my vet did do declawing, I would find another vet. It's cruel and you leave your cat defenseless if your cat ever escapes and gets out into the real world. Cat can't even climb a tree to get away.

thanks a bunch guys. i have bought two scrathing posts for her. and i do have an apt to take her to the vet. i think her pooping is normal then. also one more question. a stupid one sorry. how do i clip her nails with just a normal nail clipper?? and like what once a week?thanks again guys. i think i can talk the landlord in to not declawing.
i appreciate your responses
-dod
ps meatless our kitties look alike! <3

I have a cat nail clipper because I found a normal one (human) made the nails ragged whereas the one made for cats kept them clean. They are cheap. If you haven't done them yet, touch your cats feet and get her used to touching her toes and try to 'bring out" the nails so she is used to that (by gently pressing on the toes near where the nail is) That way when you go to clip, she is used to it. I have 6 cats and 2 don't like to have their nails clipped so I do them in stages and do them when they are sleeping so they are relaxed. I can usually get 1 paw done before they "bitch" so I spread it over a 2 day period. I can't really tell you how often I do mine because the it seems that some cats nails grow quicker than others so I just do a check when one is in my lap.

Good luck! :)

Generally infants have smaller, more immature digestive systems so they compensate by eating and pooing more frequently. I wouldn't worry about it unless it was especially watery or smelly.

Declawing is mean. Plus, what if your kitty had a run in with another animal and needed it defend itself? It's not like the cat is going to ruin the paint job by scratching the walls or something.

Check out www.softpaws.com for a great alternative to declawing. They aren't very expensive, and they come in cool colors. That might make your land lord a little less nervous about damages. Most kitties won't scratch carpet/furniture if they have enough of their own toys. Our cats have their own couch and bedroom, and they don't scratch their own couch up. We have like ten scratching posts and a ton of little floor toys. Be careful when purchasing cat toys, I'm starting to notice that a lot of them are made from rabbit fur. :down:

One of my cats clips her claw herself. She bites them down to the right length! I've never had to clip.

One of my cats clips her claw herself. She bites them down to the right length! I've never had to clip.

Don't I wish!!

Kittens can poop an amazing amount!!! I've rescued several over the years and it never ceases to amaze me how much can come out of a little critter! I think it has to do with the rapid growth...but if it's well-formed and basically brown with no living "thingies" in it, it's probably fine (provided the kitty was indeed already wormed). Best of luck!!!

thanks a bunch you guys! my landlord agreed to the no declawing.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/illdiepretty/RUTHIEONCARDSTOCK.jpg

she says thankyou

yay!

thanks a bunch you guys! my landlord agreed to the no declawing.
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<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/illdiepretty/RUTHIEONCARDSTOCK.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
she says thankyou

:up: :vebo: :bobo: :nana:

By the way, if the above is meant to be a link to a pic, I think you botched it. :-/

Check out www.softpaws.com for a great alternative to declawing. They aren't very expensive, and they come in cool colors. That might make your land lord a little less nervous about damages. Most kitties won't scratch carpet/furniture if they have enough of their own toys. Our cats have their own couch and bedroom, and they don't scratch their own couch up. We have like ten scratching posts and a ton of little floor toys. Be careful when purchasing cat toys, I'm starting to notice that a lot of them are made from rabbit fur. :down:

My vet uses them on the "house cat" that lives in the office. After all, you don't want to bring prized Muffy to the vet, only to have a crazed cat scratch his nose on you :lol:

I'm so glad your landlord is okay with it!
And your kitten is so cute! She looks just like my baby did when she was that age!