[Closed] First time cat owner tips

Keep it out of my garden please.

Switch it to dry food, wet is a pita.

It's a sociopath that wouldn't hesitate to kill you and eat your corpse if it suited it's nefarious purpose.

Dry food is better for their teeth, although we give our four a 50/50 mix as they love the wet food. Whiskers / GoCat is fine.

We self insure, which has probably broken even over the years. Had a couple of £500 vet bills (poorly rescue cats) but average monthly fees over 8 years and 4 cats and that's a lot of money in insurance premiums.

Cats are pretty low maintenance unless they get ill...

Pet Plan is excellent, if a bit expensive.

Wet and dry - see what the cat prefers. We have a mixture as the rescue has no teeth (although he manages dry OK, but he swallows it whole.

Get scratching pads, cardboard boxes are a favourite. Ours love the decorative bows for presents, stick two small ones together for a crinkly 'ball'.

We have 4 of the blighters, an older 13 year old that can't see any more, a 2 year old rescue ginger ninja, and two 1 year old ragdolls.

I've had a cat for 9 months so I am now obviously an expert (!)
- Your cat will pick the wet food it likes, give it that brand / flavour but not too much. It will ask for food because it wants food, not because its hungry. Give it more dry food than it wants as it won't like it as much as wet, but it needs it more. If it doesn't eat its dry food, don't give it any wet food.
- Find the cheapest insurance with the least coverage. It will satisfy your other half that you care about the cat, but when moggy gets splattered or a face tumour, sorry darling, it will have to go to cat hell (no cats get to heaven, am I right?).

My tip would be to socialise the cat as much as possible, especially with people from outside of the home. Have lots of people round etc.
And do this when it is young.

Kind of like a puppy.

Helps to give you a "friendly" cat for the rest of its life

That's a good point, our cat is a 7 year old rescue and was pretty shy / scratchy to start with but is now pretty soft and only runs away from the scrappiest of kids / toddlers. He even puts his claws away now when batting the kids for being too "affectionate."

Make friends with a tree surgeon, for rescue when it's stuck 8metres up.

And get it's Insta account set up NOW!

1. Kiss goodbye your sofa's.
2. When they get to their teenage stage, 14 weeks on wards, they act aloof and don't want human attention. This is the time to lay on the attention the most. It sets them up to be more sociable as they get older. Pick them up for hugs, plonk them on your knee as much as possible.
3. We made the mistake of giving our two Double Delicacies cat food. The most expensive you can buy. They now would rather starve to death than eat anything else. We should of just stuck to some mid-range food.
4. Do not take him outside till he's had his shots.
5. Don't keep him as a house cat, it's torture for the poor things. Accompany them outside for their first dozen or so trips. Will build his confidence.
6. If they get any cuts of deep scratches from scraps get them checked out. We almost lost ours to an ear scratch this year that we thought was "fine".
7. We got one.... then two weeks later decided to get another to keep her company. It worked.

Ours get (and got) both wet and dry, we used to change between sainsburys own and butchers choice wet food and Encore dry biscuits (expensive but great content)

We never insured ours, we have had/had them for 10 years and the fat lad cost 3 visits of £180/220 and a final visit of £480 at the end of life. His sister has cost probably £50 in vet fees in 10 years. Male cats tend to scrap more (2 visits) and the other visit was for crystals in his bladder which must have been bloody painful for the lad looking at his face when he finally did manage to pee.

Ours were hand reared so they we always fairly people orientated but definitely socialise them loads when they are young. Next door have a cat that no one can get near, even them !

If we lived near anything like a busy road then they would have been insured ......

Top tip - keep on top of flea treatments, an infestation is not fun for them or for you !

Our 4 are indoor (oldest only recently due to being blind - bitten by a fox then a nasty fall meant she stays in). The cat's do have a cat run that they access from the conservatory side window - that runs down the side of the garden, then along the top of the fence at the back (fields behind). The two ragdolls are a bit too soft/silly to be out near traffic, and the rescue has cat flu.

Oh, and Catit do a great 'kerplunk' style dry food hopper - our 3 love it - it makes them work for their treats.

It’s a sociopath that wouldn’t hesitate to kill you and eat your corpse if it suited it’s nefarious purpose.

So very, very true.
Then there’s the tens of millions of birds and other wildlife that cats, collectively, slaughter every year, just for the amusement.

OT, but amusement is a human thing. Cats are following instincts,  helplessly doing what nature programmed them to do. (Owners that don't want litter trays and instead let tiddles crap in neighbours' gardens are another matter)

And PDSA for pet insurance. They have no qualms in paying out for obscene bills, specialist food and various random costs (don't ask me how I know).

I can only assume Petplan have dirt on every veterinarian on the UK.

Don't bother with insurance. If you are needing to claim its either a one off when they are young or Terminal.

Stick an actual Tree in your house if its a house cat. provide a good scratch mat. Train them to use it. Your sofa will be fine. Cat grass might be an idea for a chewy kitten.

Keep the Toilet lid closed unless you are training them to use it. It can be done.

The World's best Cat litter is well named.

Wouldn't bother with insurance. Assuming it's a moggy and not a pedigree cat they tend to be pretty healthy. We have had 1 cat for 15 years and another for 9 years. In that time aside from annual vet check and boosters we have had one bite needing antibiotics and last year the older cat which is reluctant to eat dry food needed a general anesthetic for a teeth scaling and one extraction. Around £200. Even that year I would have paid more in premiums and excess for the two cats than I cold have claimed back.

Our cat had her eye badly scratched by another cat and needed surgery costing £2000 so it was lucky that we had insurance!

I had to laugh at the title, you dont own the cat the cat chooses to stay with you as long as its happy.

Feel free to except and half dead gift at 3am
Feel obliged to have it steal your seat if you move.
NEVER attempt to run its belly even if the cat is being submissive that is a trap !
Never fit a new carpet ..

And if the cat yawns you must attempt to place your finger in its mouth to confuse it

We've had 36 mice presents from our one year old since January first, only two birds and one fish. She's an efficient Hunter & living next to open fields does give her an advantage. We rescued her and her sister. Her sister died after 3 months. She was a ravenous eater probably from starving on the street before she got rescued. The surviving sister loves dry food though and not a fraction interested as her sister was.
She's very affectionate when she wants but we picked her up and handled her constantly when she was young so she has no problem being handled now even to administer flea treatments. This is a must. Pick it up often and fuss it lots. Ours loves belly rubs

Firstly, you don't "own" a cat as the concept is meaningless to them. They however learn extraordinarily quickly how to manipulate you to achieve their ends. In effect, they train humans rather than the other way around.

Secondly, do not attempt to motorboat a cat lying on its back unless you want to act out the facehugger scene from Alien.

Thirdly, even the nicest cat will find a way to yack up their dinner over a freshly cleaned carpet. The bastards.

And today's conference call meeting with my entire department was interrupted by one of my furry little buggers who chose that exact moment to walk into the study and yell at the top of his voice to remind me that dinner time was exactly two hours and twenty-three minutes away.

Pet plan is very good.
Natures Menu is very good wet food for cats.
Royal Canine for Cats is very good dry food.
We keep ours in at night as too many foxes badgers and other cats around.
At night we give them white fish that comes from Tesco frozen counter.
Avoid Huss and other exotic fish I think its called Bay in a blue packet.
Female cats will be closer to you than males.
Moggies and rescue cats are less of a problem than pedigree.
Flea and worm external application once a month plus annual check up and injections.
Most vets have a monthly plan for spreading the cost of the bits you need for this.
They will also do the paper work for pet insurance.
It is always amazing that such an independent aloof self contained animal would choose to show you some affection.

Last year I got a father's Day card with a cute kitten picture and the words...

I will ignore you and trash your furniture for food.

Applies to cats and children equally unless they want something of course or if you don't want kwftjvsyjagtandtnabymav hagakgegejnsgsy inserted into the technical report you were trying to write then they will sit on your keyboard and demand attention. #workfromhome #shutthedoor

We give ours one wet and one dry feed a day. Wet food is handy for concealing long term meds in.😁 Ours do seem to get bored and we buy whatever food is going on a deal (within reason).

Another for self insure but do have a flea and tick subscription I think.

Buy it some catnip

Buy it some catnip

Yes, do this. The direction they will take varies, but it's entertaining.
Generally 3 responses:
- Chilled out
- Hyper, jumping around, playing etc.
- no effect

Switch it to dry food, wet is a pita.

This.

We feed our two IAMS as the picky little sods turn their noses up as anything else

Put some money aside for new furniture. You can buy them all the scratching posts in the world. They will be studiously ignored while they set about shredding your sofa.

You may want to give the local rodent population the heads up that furry armageddon is about to be visited on them

Oh, and get used to being woken up like this...

Insurance has been very useful for us over the years. £1000s saved when our older cat had illness after illness.

Both our cats have Hills dried food. It's great for their teeth and flies ignore it. We buy big bags direct from the vets and have loyalty cards so don't pay of every 6th bag.

I keep rolled up socks down the side of the sofa to throw when the little bugger is scratching the curtains or the other sofa.

If they are scratching it's their way of telling you they want to go outside - but not via the catflap they want you to open the door for them. because cat flaps are not preferred, they can't see what's on the other side (other cats/danger etc) and human door opener is also a protector.

start the insurance when they are early otherwise the premiums get ramped as they age and then you can't afford them when you need them.

my male cat is very affectionate. totally not arsed about cat beds, posts etc, just a cardboard box from amazon and a plastic straw to play with and he's as happy as larry.

He's also a stone cold killer, squirrels posed no problem when he was younger. they weren't presents, they were extra meals for the greedy git. now he has arthritic elbows he doesn't bother as much.

We got our first ever cat about 10 months ago.
The first time it went outside, we were worried sick that it would a. not come back, b.get stuck, c. get lost.
Now it vanishes for most of the day and we don't give it a second thought.
Since its been outside (around the start of this year), we have received one mouse and 14 birds 7 of which were newly hatched and stolen from their nest.

We had a mole yesterday. I managed to distract the cat and Moley disappeared into the bushes, I hope he survived but I also hope he doesn't set up house and dig up the garden.

Cats are intensely territorial and our two females defend their territory aggressively unless a bigger more frightening cat pops round, in which case ours want to get as high as possible for safety, which means shinning up a tree while crapping themselves, literally. They love being outside while we are in the garden because they feel safer and they have trained us to open the doors to let them in and out about 100 times a day. They are both moggies so have been quite healthy, even the very old one hasn't cost much but we have agreed that we are not going to throw money at the vet when she gets badly sick. The vet is a cycling buddy and he says he gives us mate's rates but I don't fully believe him.

Start voice training early.

https://twitter.com/atorwulfu/status/1086835099600072705

Totally agree with the cardboard box thing with cats.
Just put a box down with and open top and they just jump right in.
My new guitar case is covered in hair inside because I left it open.
Buy some practice ping pong balls. They are the ones that wont roll straight on a flat surface.
Roll one across the floor and watch them go.
One of our cats will actually flick the ball to us if it wants to play.
Get a scratching post for inside the house and I have put some round the garden to save our ornamental trees getting shredded. They need to be tall so the cat can stand on its hind legs and really stretch up.

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/

is good for some decent foods, as well as the cheap ones.

Insurance is probably worth it as vet bills are stupidly expensive - they had trouble getting an antibiotic I needed for the cats so I had to get it as the normal checmist and it was very cheap (£7) compared to what I would have paid at the vets.

Petplan is good - probably best at the all important life cover.

I have found these beds, whilst seeming expensive, to be very successful. They like scratching it and also lounging on it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004X6UEH6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If she/he is eating biscuits now make sure to keep them eating them, mine won't touch them now and her teeth are bad.

Cat carrier here :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Texsens-Innovative-Traveler-Backpack-Carriers/dp/B01FNJWPOQ/ref=pd_day0_hl_199_18?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01FNJWPOQ&pd_rd_r=eb1502bd-928c-11e9-aafe-154deeab4a5f&pd_rd_w=sGD8W&pd_rd_wg=9BBm6&pf_rd_p=92d624bb-a334-423e-8722-8024dd09667f&pf_rd_r=0B3SFYJJX2FSXAD1QDJB&psc=1&refRID=0B3SFYJJX2FSXAD1QDJB

If at some point you need a cat cone then I have found this is working really well as an alternate solution :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GP8YNPT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I found this tower also very good - a little bit of hassle putting it together as you need to make the screw holes alighn, but pretty sturdy :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009XDAV0Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

One of our cats is the fattest, laziest sod and will rarely move, until.... you get the laser pointer out. Then he will go absolutely mental chasing the red dot around the room. All good fun and he loves it!

He will also get in any bag or box that is open and go to sleep.

Buy yourself of Jackson Galaxy's book "Total Cat Mojo: The Ultimate Guide to Life with Your Cat". Despite being a long-term cat dude, I still learnt a lot from the book.

Catnip is a bit hit and miss, both our two previous and current four are totally indifferent to it, although some go mad for the stuff.

On this,

The breeder has been using Whiskas, which I’m keen to move away from due to only 4% meat content – far too low surely?

I don't know where you got this from, but it's incorrect (or at best misleading). I'm assuming one of two things has happened here:

First, wet cat food - and meat generally - is mostly water. (The human body is like 60% water). So if you're comparing dry weights then yes, the actual "meat" content will be surprisingly low but stuff like Whiskas is still going to be predominantly meat in the can / pouch.

Second, this might be referring to a specific meat. Like, if a cat food is advertised as "chicken flavour" then it might well be 4% chicken, but 80% other meats.

... and Google would suggest that Whiskas is minimum 85% meat.

Hide / get rid of your sudocream.

Ours get Applaws tins - this is 75% actual chicken breast/tuna fillet, if that is your concern. The smell is much less offensive than cheap stuff if it’s been sat in the bowl all day (and also on the way out!). Tinned tuna would be cheaper mind.

This supplements biscuits - James Wellbeloved Hairball, as they are both long haired. Can’t be sure from your pic but she looks possibly long haired, so a good brush a few times a week really helps with this.

Don’t forget water (especially if they’re only on dry food). We’ve a water fountain which they both love drinking from. A previous boy had complications down there - he wouldn’t drink from a bowl.

Keep an eye out for Vets4Pet's lifetime vaccination offers. Cost me £300 for our two new cats, and that cost will be recovered by next year (3rd year). Our other two cats are with a local vet, so it was a no brainer doing the deal.

Mine has both.

Well to be more precise it comes in and see's dry food, pesters you for wet food, once you put it on the floor it will eat some dry food, go outside, and kill everything in the garden.

Cats gonna cat.

Anyhow, cute kitty (that is clearly plotting your demise) deserves better picture.

Applaws wet cat food is very good. A decent grain-free dry food and an automated feeder (Petmate ) will save you getting woken early in the morning.

Petfun.de for cat furniture from the country that gave the world the Tiger tank - they are solid, last, still look good after extensive use. You don't need the extra-strong poles.

Cat springs ( Amazon ) are great fun for hard floors.

Forget catnip - valerian is where its at for crazy fun.

Nice kitty kat OP!

Applaws wet cat food is very good.

most of the Applaws tins I have looked are ony complementary so you will need to ensure they eat decent biscuits as well.

However the Canagen tins, which look similar, are complete - so prefereable.

Indeed - it is good practice to not feed a cat only one type of any food.

Mine get applaws tins of chicken as a treat.

Its Russian roulette with taking insurance or not - ours racked up a £6k bill at Fitzpatrick referrals for a broken rear leg. Petplan coughed up the whole lot.

Don't leave a roast chicken out on the kitchen top or cooker.

Several other things:

Regular program injections or spot treatments for fleas make a big difference, however flea collars and flea powder don't work.

Get the cat chipped, unfortunately it doesn't make them go any faster (however they might give better MPG) but if they go awol there is a good chance they can be identified. You can also get cat flaps that read your cats chip and unlock only for them which prevents other cats coming into your house.

Cats will kill small animals. They're little carnivore hunters who simply "dont do the whole vegan thing". A cat that meets a small animal will normally do a passable impression of Michael Madsen in Reservoir dogs only without the can of petrol and steelers wheel soundtrack...Expect to be left or presented with "gifts" of whole bodies or perhaps a kit of parts. If you are very lucky they may keep their prey alive and bring it into the house and release the rodent (or bird, frog etc)...with injuries that vary from mild psychological trauma as they hide under the cooker to the rodent equivalent of the end of the Kill Bill Japanese restaurant scene that greets you as you walk downstairs in the morning. Invest in some patience and a good humane mousetrap for the former and carpet cleaner for the latter.

They will just kill rats, my advice is make a big fuss of them when they do this if they do it right (full on kitty Leon-style uber-cool assassin : all business, high speed and no wasted moves) or get to the vet pronto if it goes wrong (v. rare).