New kitten

[x_jessicarae]

Picking up a kitten on Wednesday, it's a rescue kitten who is 8 weeks old. Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[OHWS]

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[bobbys girl]

I agree 8 weeks is too young to be leaving mum.

However, Willow was less than a week old (eyes barely open) when I found her and I had no experience of cats AT ALL! I didn't know all the lovely people on Cat Chat then and the 'advice' I received from the local vet was, shall I say, pants!

But with help from a friend with cats and lessons from my dog, Rosie, (maternal instinct knows no bounds) I think I did OK.

Books I found helpful were 'The Family Cat' - a Collins book and Vicky Halls' 'The Secret Life of Your Cat'. You'd better get reading!

[Crewella]

Some rescues will home kittens from 9 weeks onwards, but 9 weeks is the earliest I'm aware of - as OHWS says those early weeks of learning from mum are important. The Cat Chat advice page on a new cat isn't kitten-specific, but still a good base of knowledge:

http://www.catchat.org/index.php/new-cat-in-the-home

Good luck!

[Ruth B]

I have heard of rescues homing kittens from 8 weeks old, i think it is a case that they don't appear to be kittens long and some people want kittens not young cats. I also remember when I was a lot younger, a cat adopted us looking rather bloated, my parent were just off on holiday, leaving me and my sister at home with our grandmother. It was decided that if she was still around when they got back it would be assumed she was a stray and taken to the vets for a check up, we assumed it was a bad case of worms or something. A couple of days later she came back looking a lot thinner. Four weeks later, i came down to her and four kittens in the kitchen. Those kittens were rehomed at 6 weeks, as was normal at the time. Things have come a long way since then.

I would also recommend the Vicky Hall books, she has done several, but they do start to get a little repetitive after reading a few, but the information in all of them is good.

Even at 8 weeks the kitten should be able to eat solids and know what a litter tray is for. The only problem you might have that I can foresee is that it won't have had the play time with its litter mates to learn just what is acceptable behaviour when playing, you need to make sure that it knows that real biting and scratching is unacceptable. Also remember that without litter mates around you are the main source of entertainment, so you will have to give a lot of quality play time, otherwise it might start to entertain itself in a way that is detrimental to your soft furnishings.

I haven't a lot of experience myself with kittens, so others might be able to give some pointers.

[Mayday21]

Hi both Mayday & Harper were very young - Mayday 4 weeks (someone tried to drown her & I heard her screaming in the water & found her). She always thought I was her mum & Harper 6 weeks. With Mayday I worked at a hospice & the nurses used to give me special milk formula for me to feed her. No issues with Mayday but Harper had coccidia & I ended up having to treat TC & Snow Girl. I'd watch for diarrhoea with your kitten & spend lots of time with it if you have no other pets for co. Don't let it out as so young no sense of direction. Think this is how Harper was a stray & handed into the vet clinic where I volunteer. This is my experience hope it helps. Vivian

[Hietak]

I Adopted a kitten 2 months ago. He is now 6 months old. He acts like he is hungry all the time. My vet wants me to feed him 1 tbsp canned food and 1/2 cup dry food total daily. It doesn't seem to be enough for him.
Anyone else had this problem?

[Kittenlady123]

I have a 6 week kitten what’s the best litter to buy? Non clumping please and something that won’t harm him if ingested

[Ruth B]

6 weeks is very young for a kitten to be separated from its mother, it used to be common to rehome at that age, but now it is more normally 12 weeks. During the 6 to 12 week period they learn a lot from playing with their siblings and from their mothers about how to behave and things like how to play without hurting someone. As you have yours that young you will have to make sure that he learns those lessons from you otherwise you could end up with a cat that doesn't understand that biting and scratching hurt.

As for the question, is there a reason why you don't want clumping litter. The litter I use is called Siria and I get it from Amazon, but is a clumping one so may not be suitable, but as it is made from corn kernals it is certainly safe should a kitten try and eat it. There may be none clumping variants around but it might be that the clumping nature is a natural part of being made from corn kernals. Did the people you got the kitten from give you any idea of what litter they used for the mother and the kittens, if they did then that is probably a good starting point as the kitten will regcognise it and know what it is for.