Archive for the ‘Cats and Kittens’ Category

Feeding Your Kitten

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Your kitten has to get proper nutrition now so it can grow up to be strong and healthy. During the first ten weeks of life, it is essential for your kitten to feed from its mother’s milk. During this time period, your kitten will also grow substantially. In fact, most kittens weigh around three ounces at birth and they gain ½ ounce every day. By the time they reach the ten week mark, most kittens weigh around two pounds – that is a full ten times what they weigh when born. If the average human baby were to grow this quickly, he or she would be about 80 pounds when just ten weeks old!

Once your kitten is three to four weeks old, you can start to introduce solid foods. The kitten’s mother’s milk should still be the primary food source, but solids should be offered as well. Since your kitten still will not have all of its teeth and will have a tender tummy, you should stick with canned foods when first introducing solids. By the time your kitten reaches ten weeks old, you can start weaning it from its mother milk and feed more and more solids.

Once your kitten is fully weaned from its mother’s milk, it is important for you to maintain a properly balanced diet. This includes providing your kitten with protein, minerals and vitamins. If you are purchasing commercial cat food for your kitten, be sure to purchase food that is specifically formulated for kittens. This way, you can be certain it has the proper nutrition density. Some of the most important nutrients to include in your kitten’s diet include: Calcium, Essential fatty acid, Phosphorus, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Taurine, Thiamine, Zinc

As your kitten grows older, you should also try to vary the types of foods that you feed to it. Rather than feeding only dry food or only canned food, alternate between the two or offer a bit of each type of food each day. You might also feed dry food to your kitten that has been softened with some warm water in order to make it easier for your kitten to eat it. In addition, feel free to feed your kitten as much as it wants to eat up until it is about eight months old. Your kitten is growing quickly and needs plenty of nutrition to help it grow!

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Bailey’s Ragdoll

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Bailey’s Ragdoll is a small Cattery located in Lawrenceville, Georgia just 30 miles Northeast of Atlanta and is TICA Registered. Bailey’s Ragdolls dedicated to producing healthy and loving Ragdoll Cats. Bailey’s Ragdolls kittens are raised underfoot with lots of love in my home with children and are to date with shots and deworming. Bailey’s Ragdoll guarantee the health of all Bailey’s Ragdolls cats. A Ragdoll cat will steal your heart and will make you wonder who owns who.

Ragdolls have many characteristics similar to a dog such as retrieving toys, extreme loyalty to its owners, following you around everywhere, and are extremely devoted to you. One of the most outstanding traits in a Ragdoll is their sweet temperament and unique personality. Ragdolls are loving, placid and easy-going, quiet cats. Ragdolls love being with people and make excellent companions for children and adults. This magnificent breed incorporates beauty, grace, gentleness, fun and love all into one adorable package. Ragdolls are docile, large, affectionate and respond well to children and other pets.

Ragdolls are slow to mature physically obtaining full maturity between three and four years of age. Altered adults males may reach 15-20 pounds; females will weigh approximately five pounds less. The Ragdolls fur is rabbit-like, medium long with little sheeding. All Ragdolls have beautiful blue eyes.

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Training Aids for Cats

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

I don’t know if obedience classes for cats exist, but it seems unlikely. The idea of independent cats being paraded around on leads is somewhat hard to deal with but despite what dog owners would have you believe, cats can be trained using a few simple aids.

Feeding Time

Be consistent in the times that you feed your cat. Although they obviously can’t tell the time as such, cats appear to know when it’s their feeding time if you keep to the same time daily. A well-fed cat is unlikely to beg at your dinner table, particularly if it has already eaten when you sit down to your meal. If the cat does beg at table, remove it at once to its own food bowl.

Scratching Post

Cats need to claw at something. In the wild they use tree trunks but if you have no trees or have an indoor cat, a scratching post is a must in order to save your furniture and carpets. Whenever the cat shows signs of clawing where it shouldn’t, pick it up and take it to the scratching post. Soon enough it will learn what it can claw at and what it can’t.

Repellent

A liquid repellent can also be applied to furniture to stop cats from scratching, as the taste is dreadful to a cat. However, apply a very small amount to fabrics in a hard to see place to start with, just to make sure that there is no adverse reaction with the material.

Toys

A bored cat often becomes a badly behaved cat and kittens love to play but even older cats need exercise. Ping pong balls are great for a game of football – many cats are very dextrous and watching them is as entertaining for the owner. Something on the end of a piece of string which they can bat about and attack as you dangle it in the air or drag it along the ground is also fun for owner and cat. Wear your cat out with some strenuous exercise and it will be too tired to be naughty.

Treats

As with dogs, treats are a useful training aid for cats as they can be used as a reward for a task achieved or just for good behaviour. Some cat treats have other benefits such as removing plaque from the cat’s teeth and preventing fur balls.

Water Spray

A water spray is useful to train a cat that fighting with other cats or using your best plant pots as a toilet is not acceptable behaviour.

Cat Grass

Cats instinctively eat plant matter or grass to induce vomiting when they have a fur ball. If you don’t want your best plants eaten, provide a pot or two of specially grown grass for cats. It will be a lot better for them too.

Observation Post

Cats like to have a good view of the world. If you don’t want them sitting on the backs of your chairs or on your window sills, provide a specially built high up place for the cat to sit. As with the scratching post, if they make for your sofa back or bookcase, pick them up and put them on their observation post.

No matter what training aids you use, training your cat will still require patience but it will pay off in the end.

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