Kitties - help!

As some of you read yesterday - FH wanted to look in a pet store yesterday and as soon as i turn my back - hes purchased 2 kitties for our apartment - to join our bunny (our dog is at our inlaws - she refuses to use a leash!)

Can the cat owners give me pointers??

MORE IMPORTANLTY - my moms mentioned shes allergic! What do I do? Is it a death allergy or does that depend?? Maybe just sneezing.

She doesnt know - they come home thusday. 2 girls and we are thinking of names. Nothing too girly.

will post pics when they come home!

Aww congrats on your fur babies!

Allergies depend on the person. DH is allergic to dogs, but just sneezes if he plays with them. Some people cant be in the same house as a cat without constant eye watering and sneezing.

Let us know what names you pick! and POST PICS!!

The allergies really depend on the person. I have friends that come to my house with allergies and our G.G. doesn't even bother them. I have a cousin that comes to my parents house (4 kitties) and after he's there for awhile it bothers him (not as soon as he walks in, like some) but when it starts, his eyes water and his sinuses go crazy. Thennnn, I have another friend who is literally deathly allergic - no stuffiness, no runny nose, no sneezing - his lungs just shut down and he can't breath (almost like asthma).

I forget - do you live in the actual house with your mom or in an apartment downstairs? If it's separate living quarters and you keep the cats away from her it shouldn't be a problem. She can also try over the counter stuff (like Alevert) and see if it helps if she starts to show symptoms.

As for the kits - I would definitely give them a separate litter box from mr. bunny's. Also, DO NOT GIVE THEM MILK - contrary to popular belief, it's not good for their digestive system - regardless of how much they like it. You can try stuff formulated for them (in the pet food aisle - I think Wiska's makes it) but I had a cat that had IBD (no joke!) and the vet told me even the stuff intended for cats wasn't really good for them.

FH jokes that he saved me from a life of 'cat-lady-dom' so you can ask me anything

Steves sister is allergic to cats....we had one at the house and have a new one now and when she is rthere she does sneeze a little but as long as she doesnt touch the cat she is fine! maybe when your mom comes over you can put them in a back room to play for the time she is there??

as for names hmmmmm............

Jordan and joe can be girl names!!!!!!!

More stuff . . .

Don't go crazy with extravagant cat toys - I find they ignore them and prefer regular household items (for example, the rings from a milk container cap, a crumpled piece of paper, etc.).

I DO buy mine bouncy or foam balls and my G.G. LOVES furry mouses (real fur, unfortunately). Definitely invest in a scratching post before you even bring them home (and of course a little box). Make sure you put the little box where you intend to leave it for good (they hate when you move it) and introduce them to it as soon as you get them home. I prefer scoopable litter and my mum even has an electric LB (if you can invest the 100 bux).

I'll keep posting as I think of more stuff.

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Posted by Sharron70

The allergies really depend on the person. I have friends that come to my house with allergies and our G.G. doesn't even bother them. I have a cousin that comes to my parents house (4 kitties) and after he's there for awhile it bothers him (not as soon as he walks in, like some) but when it starts, his eyes water and his sinuses go crazy. Thennnn, I have another friend who is literally deathly allergic - no stuffiness, no runny nose, no sneezing - his lungs just shut down and he can't breath (almost like asthma).

I forget - do you live in the actual house with your mom or in an apartment downstairs? If it's separate living quarters and you keep the cats away from her it shouldn't be a problem. She can also try over the counter stuff (like Alevert) and see if it helps if she starts to show symptoms.

As for the kits - I would definitely give them a separate litter box from mr. bunny's. Also, DO NOT GIVE THEM MILK - contrary to popular belief, it's not good for their digestive system - regardless of how much they like it. You can try stuff formulated for them (in the pet food aisle - I think Wiska's makes it) but I had a cat that had IBD (no joke!) and the vet told me even the stuff intended for cats wasn't really good for them.

FH jokes that he saved me from a life of 'cat-lady-dom' so you can ask me anything

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ofcourse we have a sep litter box! I use yesterdays news for cookie monster and i think the kitties will be afraid of her, shes big and thumps a lot - perfect to drive the woman who lives below us nuts!

We have an apartment in a complex that allows all sorts of pets and is immaculately clean which is why we are living there!

Do they need 2 bowls or can they share? toys, when can i get them declawed?

Do they bite? sounds dumb but ive never owned a cat and its a little fear i have!

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Posted by angl2001

Steves sister is allergic to cats....we had one at the house and have a new one now and when she is rthere she does sneeze a little but as long as she doesnt touch the cat she is fine! maybe when your mom comes over you can put them in a back room to play for the time she is there??

as for names hmmmmm............

Jordan and joe can be girl names!!!!!!!

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Jason just saw that and said
NO HEATHER!!!

he knew u would suggest that!

I love Japanese names for kitties!

HANA: flower; blossom
SUKI: beloved

More here

HI JASONNNNNNNNNN

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Posted by madseason

ofcourse we have a sep litter box! I use yesterdays news for cookie monster and i think the kitties will be afraid of her, shes big and thumps a lot - perfect to drive the woman who lives below us nuts!

We have an apartment in a complex that allows all sorts of pets and is immaculately clean which is why we are living there!

Do they need 2 bowls or can they share? toys, when can i get them declawed?

Do they bite? sounds dumb but ive never owned a cat and its a little fear i have!

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I would get them two bowls for food (they sometimes like to 'dine' together) and start out with one water bowl and see how that goes. Becareful with the water as a lot of cats like to move the bowl around - something about having the water moving and splashing when their drinking. Not all do it but of course all mine do (at parents and the one I have here).

Yes, they can scratch and bite - mine does but she's a frikken psycho. I'm convinced it's because she's an only child. My mother's, not so much. They're like human's in that they all have different personalities. Of my mother's, only one bites but he's just funny about having certain parts of his body touched or when he gets bored with your loving and petting he'll give a little 'love bite' to say 'ok, enough, you're on my nerves, now fck off'.

Oh, yeah - declawing.

Personally I don't like it (especially if there are other animals in the house or if they get out - they need to defend themselves). I could give you a website on it but I don't want to upset you.

However, the sooner the better - there's less pain and shorter recovery. I would say between 6 and 7 months or even earlier. It's not a simple procedure where they just clip the nails - it's actual surgery because they have to remove them from the bone.

YAY kitties how exciting My boss loves kitties and is allergic to them. He's had them as pets in spite of his allergies, he suffered mostly from itchy watery eyes, sneezing and it flared up his excema. He found washing his hands immediately after handling the cat helped along with benadryl.

Mike and I will think up some names, but I'm warning you we pick weird ones, hence our kittie's name 'Scuttle Butt'

I can't wait to see pics of them YAY

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Posted by mRm2008

'Scuttle Butt'

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I love funny, unusual names. Some of the best names I've seen are on my 'Stuff on my Cat' desk calendar.

Corey Feldman?

Porterhouse?

Bob?

Hey hun. We have two male kitties, but they came with their names, so I'm not sure how much I can help there. I knew someone who named her cat Mouse though and I thought it was cute. Maybe name them after horror movie characters?

FH is allergic, but as long as he take his Claritin he's fine. I don't buy them many toys, but they love the feather toys that come on the end of a stick and of course cat nip.

Start with a small cat scratcher and when they get to be a couple of month's old, invest in one of the kittie condos. They love to climb all over it and take naps on it.

Be careful to not give them yarn to play with. They can swallow it and it would have to get it removed at the Vet.

Keep them contained to one small room when you first bring them home. A big new place can be scary to them, plus when they are little, it can be hard to find them.

FM me if you want to know anything. I've had kitties my whole life.

Congrats!!!! I WISH DH would just bring kitties home lol. A lot of people are allergic to our cat. I bought these allergy wipies and I wipe my baby down before they come over. They have made a difference. Also they have Febreze Allergen and Dander reducer so I spray that before allergic people come over. They even mention how they dont feel allergic to her when I do these things. As far as food, Ive fed my kitty eukanuba cat food since she was a baby and she is still in great shape and people always say how shiny her coat is. She also RARELY has hairballs. A great site for the allergy wipies and a bunch of other cat products is Dr. Foster and Smith. Heres the link:

Drs. Foster and Smith

Have fun with your new babies and post pics!!

I became a cat owner about a year ago. You are so lucky to be a new cat mommy

If there are any questions you have along the way, feel free to FM me. I don't know what kind of advice I can give off the bat but I just want to say that u really can't keep the cat out of anything. When we first got mine we agreed that we would train her to not go on the counters, etc but there really is not getting around it. We love her so much though that we really don't care We love our little girl so much that we are thinking about getting another this summer!

When we first brought her home we left her in one room for a few days. That's what they suggested where we adopted her. They said we should do that until we know what she is capable of (in terms of damage, etc. to furniture). We saw she was literally harmless and finally let her have free range of the apartment. Make sure their nails stay clipped. They won't mean to, but they will probably accidentally scratch things while playing if the nails are too long.

Good luck, I am the biggest kitty fan there is so feel free to pass along any concerns

I LOVE hearing people say they adopted kitties - they are a tremendous amount of them that are homeless - we have 2 of them - we got one almost 3 years ago and the other one about 1 1/2 years ago - both we got as they were babies and adopted them basically off the street when there were between 4-6 weeks old (they were extremely tiny)
We tried with them to keep them off of the counters and off the bed at night, which was an adventure in the beginning, the counters they have conquered - the only good piece of advice about kitties in the bed is that both of mine, when they were babies (along with ALOT of other peoples feedback) is that they tend to wake between 5-6am and have a knack for smacking you in the face with their paws - problem being, it wakes you up very early and they have sharp claws, so its uncomfortable, in the beginning we slept with the door to the bedroom closed, after a few months they know they are unwelcome to sleep on the bed so they got 100% better.

We invested in the LitterMaid LitterBox Pro (its at Target for like $100 - it was the best thing we could have ever invested in (cant use it until they are over 6 months old). It waits 10 minutes after they use it and it automatically cleans it.

Absolutely feel free to FM me with any questions-

My favorite 'paired' names for pets was Dietz & Watson (they were two dachshunds ) and another friend of mine had two dogs one named Macaroni and the other Cheese