FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Collecting your kitten and details

What to feed your Kitten/Cat

We feed all our cats, Bengals, Bsh and Selkirk Rex on a mainly raw food diet, turkey, chicken, beef, rabbit, lamb, fish.    We also feed raw chicken bones and raw lamb bones at least twice a week.   They are also feed raw vegetables and fruit  ~ raw feeding

The Bengals love to play with the bones, and will throw the bones in the air and act like they have caught and killed there food. 

Raw bones are very good for cats for helping them to chew and this helps to clean their teeth and helps their gums.   

Cubes of raw meat also helps to clean teeth.   Kittens as young as 6 weeks know how to rip meat from a bone.  Its amazing to watch.

My cats also have dried biscuit, Royal Canin or James Welbeloved this is down all day.   

I occasionally feed tinned food, Kitten Meatloaf (Whiskas) and Felix.   Water should be available all the time.

We use a few different cat litters, Sophisticat Antibacterial, this can be purchased from most Pets at Home, Kittysoft which is paper based, so can be composed or burnt, and EverClean which is brilliant, but quite expensive, this is a clumping litter and does certainly make cleaning litter trays a lot easier.   Kittysoft and EverClean can be purchased at any GCCF show or by contacting  R&L Products.

 Vaccinations

Our kittens are vaccinated for Feline Enteritis (Panluek) and Feline Herpes and Feline Calici (Cat flu) and Chlaymidia.   We do not vaccinate our kittens for Leukaemia, as we are a leukaemia free cattery.  

A cat can only be infected with Leukaemia if they meet an infected cat.  I do recommend that any cat that is to go outside, should be vaccinated for Leukaemia and Feline Aids. (FIV)

Settling kitten into his new home

Have everything ready before you leave to go and collecting your new baby, decide which rooms they are allowed to go into, and which will be their main room.  Have a litter tray ready, some fresh water and some food, a bed if you have one. 

When you return home, open the kitten carrier and let kitten come out on his own, then show him his litter, tray, I usually suggest that you put kitten into the tray, he will remember where it is, offer him some food, and then let him explore, listen to your kitten, if he his happy with you and settled, then he can explore as much as you want, start as you mean to go on, don't give in to him if he cries during the night, if hes to sleep downstairs in the kitchen, then that is where he must stay, if you give in, this will only make it harder for him to learn.

Leave his carrier in the room with him, he may use this to sleep in, but its somewhere he will feel safe, I leave my cat carriers out around the house as the cats get used to them and then its far easier when you have to take them to the vets.

Your kitten should be fairly settled within a couple of days, if you are worried then call your breeder, that is what they are therefore.

A kitten should be eating and drinking happily hopefully within 24 hours, and should use their litter tray.  Kittens sometimes do get upset tummies, this is usually to do with food, the breeder will tell you what they have been feeding, you need to stick to this or change their food very very slowly. 

My kittens are used to dogs, and usually are happy with other dogs.  Introduce any new dog slowly, accidents can happen, never leave your kitten alone with any other pet until you are really sure they are happy together.

At night your kitten may cry, this will be the first time they have been away from their siblings, if you want your kitten to sleep downstairs and not with you, make sure they are warm, have somewhere nice to sleep, clean litter tray, food and water and then leave them, do not go back, they will get used to be on their own. 

If you are happy for them to be in the bedroom with you, then usually they settle very quickly and don't cry, but do not take them upstairs with you unless you want to do this always, don't give in to them because they are crying and you feel sorry for them, they have to learn the rules, and they will learn very quickly if you stick to them.  If you don't want them to get on your worktops, dont let them, tell them NO and put them on the floor. 

Kittens are very nosy and inquisitive, they like to explore, there are lots of dangers in the home:~

Toilets, please keep toilet seats down.

Baths, kitten can drown, so never leave a bath unattended, always fill with cold water first, a kitten could very easily scold themselves.

Washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers, these are very dangerous,  Keep all doors closed, always check that your kitten is not in them before turning on.

Some plants are toxic to cats, especially lillies.

Keep all chemicals locked away in safe containers, cats love bleach, and this will burn if ingested, Anti freeze tastes very sweet and will kill.

 

Should my cat go out.

This is a real difficult one, there are loads of dangers for cats, not just roads, but diseases, poisons and people.  Unfortunately, people do hurt animals.  I always let my cats out until we moved to our current home, its on a main road, now that I breed, my cats are unable to go out, what they don't know, they don't miss.   I do feel that each home has to be considered as a separate case, but a cat is far safer indoors and I do believe that you have a much nicer pet, they want to be with you, you are their entertainment, so they want to join in with whatever is going on.  Its always said that cats don't like water, mine love it, they love to play with water, I think its because cats always went out, so we didn't see them play with water, mine will sit for hours playing with water.  Its lovely to watch.

Bengals need a lot of space, they are lively, and full of energy, so I do feel that they need some outside space, but this can be provided either with an outside run or by cat proofing your garden.  We have a huge run off the back of our house, which the cats access from our conservatory, we are also hoping to enclose our whole garden with electric fencing.  There are numerous options available on the market to cat proof a garden.  I do feel that some outside time is ok, but this should be monitored, I don't agree with a cat being allowed to run freely, all day and all night.   This is when accidents happen and if your not about, then your cat can be left to die in agony.

The cheapest and easiest way to cat proof a garden is to use chicken wire and tip the top of the fence.  A 18" piece of wire placed along the fence on an angle, you will need supporting rods, to hold the wire up, this needs to be secured to the fence but should not be firmly placed, along the top edge, the overhangs stops the cat from going over the fence, as its not secure, the cat does not feel that it gives enough support for them to climb over, it works very well, not 100% cat proof, but it certainly gives them some deterrent.  If you wish to cat proof your garden like this and want more details, please give us a call.  There are companies that will provide the equipment and will also fit this for you.

Cats do not suffer from being kept indoors, what they dont know they dont miss, mine do love to sit at an open window and breathe the fresh air, but none of them are eager to get outside, they are very happy being loved and cared for in a safe environment.