First Time Cat(s?) Owner: Should We Get One Or Two Kittens?

[Mamanyt1953]

That kitten is just too stinkin' cute for words! Ya "done good," my friend!

 

[HellsBells80]

Aww my goodness she is just the cutest little doll ever! Congrats on your new addition

 

[jacoby75]

I have never . . . ever . . . been a cat person. But she’s winning me over.

 

[Adway]

Pros for adopting 2 cats:
1. They keep each other company & provide comfort.
2. They take care of all the extra kitten energy.
3. If you are looking for a particular type of cat (Lap/Cuddly/Lovable/hunter/vicious/intelligent), the odds are better.

Cons for adopting 2 cats:
1. Food & Vets costs double, which can be a serious problem.

 

[jacoby75]

Cons for adopting 2 cats:
1. Food & Vets costs double, which can be a serious problem.

I will say we’ve already had to take her to the vet once, and they want us to get on this monthly flea/tick/worm preventative. If we had to double it, it would definitely be tough.

 

[maggiedemi]

I agree, she's a munequita (a little doll).

 

[talkingpeanut]

I will say we’ve already had to take her to the vet once, and they want us to get on this monthly flea/tick/worm preventative. If we had to double it, it would definitely be tough.

I don’t think a monthly med is necessary for an indoor cat. You might want a second opinion.

 

[Pucks104]

I agree with talking peanut and the flea/tick meds are not without issues themselves. Please do some reading and get more opinions before committing to heart worm prevention and flea/tick prevention for an indoor only kitty.

 

[jacoby75]

I don’t think a monthly med is necessary for an indoor cat. You might want a second opinion.

Yeah, we’ve heard it both ways from vets and others. The rescue lady said we need it, some friends have said no, but two vets have recommended two different things. One wanted to put her on an anti-flea/tick because they say you can bring them in on your person, even if the cat never goes outside. But you would need other supplements for the other stuff. It’s a drop you put on the back of their head. But then there was another one a different vet told us about that is only like $3 more, but it covers a bunch of other stuff. I’m not sure how putting a drop on her head protects her from heart worm, but I’m no vet. They said we can probably skip it for a few months in the wintertime. (We live in Michigan.)

 

[Pucks104]

So the last time I put flea/tick topical treatment on a cat of ours was many, many years ago. Within 20 minutes of applying the stuff to 2 of our cats they had trouble breathing, were drooling and meowing and in great distress. I bathed both of them and haven’t applied topical treatments to my cats since. My thoughts on internal treatments (pills) is that if after taking a pill the cat had a bad reaction I couldn’t bathe the cat and get the offending substance away from the animal. Feed your cat good quality species appropriate food to support a healthy immune system. Most parasites prefer a sickly host. As far as mosquitoes and heart worm are concerned, it depends on where you live and on how open your living space is to the out of doors. I live in NC in the US. I give my dogs heart worm treatment starting in May every 42 days until November when they are most likely to encounter mosquitoes outside. Due to heat and humidity we run the central AC during that time do the house isn’t open. Occasionally a mosquito will get in however I feel that the ingredients in the heart worm meds are potentially more harmful to the cats than the extremely low risk of an infected mosquito indoors infecting the cats with heart worm. Heart worm preventives don’t actually prevent anything they kill the heart worm larvae at a certain stage once an animal is infected.

 

[maggiedemi]

My brother's cats had bad reactions to a few flea topicals, but then he tried Frontline and they were fine. So that's what I've always used, I haven't tried any others. I've been using it for almost 4 years with no problems at all. I actually use the generic one from Walmart, it's the same ingredients, Fipronil. I don't know much about Heartworm or if we have that in Upstate NY. We do have a ton of mosquitos though, so I better research it. My cats do go out in the garage and some mosquitos do get in there.

 

[jacoby75]

We definitely have man-eating mosquitos in Michigan. Gonna have to stay on top of the heart worm stuff.

 

[Pucks104]

My brother's cats had bad reactions to a few flea topicals, but then he tried Frontline and they were fine. So that's what I've always used, I haven't tried any others. I've been using it for almost 4 years with no problems at all. I actually use the generic one from Walmart, it's the same ingredients, Fipronil. I don't know much about Heartworm or if we have that in Upstate NY. We do have a ton of mosquitos though, so I better research it. My cats do go out in the garage and some mosquitos do get in there.

Frontline was the product that our 2 cats had the bad reaction to!

 

[maggiedemi]

Awww, man! That's too bad. Was it different ingredients back then? I have used it like a hundred times on 2 different cats.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Re the Frontline...different cats react differently to different medications, just like people. What is great for one could actually kill another. Go with what works for YOUR cat(s).

I have never . . . ever . . . been a cat person. But she’s winning me over.

LOL, they do that, don't they?