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- Jan 3, 2010
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I may be taking in a 4-5 week old kitten that was abandoned by it's mother, but I'm unsure what is needed and want to be fully prepared before agreeing to take it. I would really not like to take it only to find out that I wasn't prepared and have to shuffle it off somewhere else.
We have a spare dog crate that I was going to set up for it for the first few days to introduce it to our cat and the dogs, after it has been seen by a vet then I would start introductions. Prior to that, it will be kept in the "studio" in an exercise pen that we have for puppies with a small litter box, water and some food.
Does this seem like a reasonable set up until it can be introduced properly? It will be kept in there when we are not home to watch what's going on with it and our cat, the dogs are always crated when we can't watch them so that won't be a problem.
We still have quite a bit of kitten food left over from when we got Leiki (in Feb), she was about 10 months old when we got her so we transitioned her to adult food right away as per our vet's recommendation. The food has been kept sealed and in the freezer, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. We also have quite a bit of wet kitten food left still (I found the stash yesterday, I had forgotten where I had put it when we got her). Are kittens eating mush or solid food at this point? Or will the baby have to be bottle fed? My boyfriend is working from home right now, so someone will always be here except for when we go grocery shopping or something similar - the most we would be gone would be 2 hours.
Other than that, is there anything that I should be prepared for that I'm not thinking about? Like I said, I don't want to have to shuffle the kitten at such a young age.
On the plus side, if we do take it in, we may have two homes interested. One is our assistant building manager, he's been looking for a cat for quite some time. The other is a friend of ours that was staying with us, he fell in love with Leiki (no idea why, she's a PITA, lol) and wants to get another cat. He had persians growing up, so he's been around them a lot. He wants to get a cat to keep him company, and also for his daughter when she visits. She's 2 but VERY good with animals. She listens very well and has always been gentle with all of our pets.
We will only be taking it in if we can get a rescue lined up for vet care and petfinder listing though, as I simply cannot afford the vet bills for a kitten right now with everyone else's shots and exams coming due in the next few months.
Any advice appreciated!
We have a spare dog crate that I was going to set up for it for the first few days to introduce it to our cat and the dogs, after it has been seen by a vet then I would start introductions. Prior to that, it will be kept in the "studio" in an exercise pen that we have for puppies with a small litter box, water and some food.
Does this seem like a reasonable set up until it can be introduced properly? It will be kept in there when we are not home to watch what's going on with it and our cat, the dogs are always crated when we can't watch them so that won't be a problem.
We still have quite a bit of kitten food left over from when we got Leiki (in Feb), she was about 10 months old when we got her so we transitioned her to adult food right away as per our vet's recommendation. The food has been kept sealed and in the freezer, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. We also have quite a bit of wet kitten food left still (I found the stash yesterday, I had forgotten where I had put it when we got her). Are kittens eating mush or solid food at this point? Or will the baby have to be bottle fed? My boyfriend is working from home right now, so someone will always be here except for when we go grocery shopping or something similar - the most we would be gone would be 2 hours.
Other than that, is there anything that I should be prepared for that I'm not thinking about? Like I said, I don't want to have to shuffle the kitten at such a young age.
On the plus side, if we do take it in, we may have two homes interested. One is our assistant building manager, he's been looking for a cat for quite some time. The other is a friend of ours that was staying with us, he fell in love with Leiki (no idea why, she's a PITA, lol) and wants to get another cat. He had persians growing up, so he's been around them a lot. He wants to get a cat to keep him company, and also for his daughter when she visits. She's 2 but VERY good with animals. She listens very well and has always been gentle with all of our pets.
We will only be taking it in if we can get a rescue lined up for vet care and petfinder listing though, as I simply cannot afford the vet bills for a kitten right now with everyone else's shots and exams coming due in the next few months.
Any advice appreciated!