Adopting a kitten is like a dream come true, however it’s a step you need to give a lot of thought to. A cute little kitten will grow into a beautiful cat that will be with you for 15 years and maybe even longer.
Adopting is a rewarding act that will give an unlucky kitten a chance to live a long happy and healthy life. A rescue kitten is as beautiful as any other pedigree and has just as much love, affection and entertainment to give.
Your new kitten will be entirely reliant on you to ease his transition from his foster home to ‘this strange unfamiliar place’ that will soon become his safe haven and forever home. For a kitten, everything he comes across must be investigated, tested and if possible played with. As a new owner, you need to kitten proof your house: wires and cables must be kept hidden, washing machine doors closed, no loose small objects that your kitten might chew on and swallow. Be vigilant as sadly, curiosity can kill the cat.
Although everyone will want to hold the kitten, limit handling for the first few days while your new pet adjusts. Set up his bed, litter box and food in a quiet room where he can be secure until he gets to know his new home. Introduce one family member at a time, allowing the kitten to come to you and learn your touch. Show your children how to hold the new kitten - with one hand just behind the front legs, the other supporting his hindquarters. Teach them never to grab a kitten’s tail or ears, or pick it up by its scruff. Always supervise their interaction with the kitten, especially if they have friends visiting.
Here are some fun kitten facts:
- Playing is much more than mere fun for your kitten. It’s a vital way of learning and enhancing the natural behavioural skills. In the wild, cats spend up to six hours a day hunting. At home you should provide a variety of toys and cat trees for your kitty as well as spend time every day playing with him. Kittens and cats are particularly active at dawn and at dusk as those are prime ‘hunting hours’.
- Cats do have a language and your kitten must learn how to talk ‘cat’. To begin with, the vocabulary of kittens is limited to a high-pitched ‘mew’ but soon will develop into a different ‘meow’ when its food time, play time or cuddle time.
- The ‘milk tread’ which your kitten associates with the immensely pleasurable process of suckling from its mother is carried on into later life. Older kittens and adult cats continue to tread on soft surfaces like blankets, cushions and your lap.
- Cats adore catnip, smelling, rolling in and chewing it. A kitten’s reaction to catnip is inherited. There seems to be a ‘catnip gene’ which 30% of kittens do not have and so they do not get excited by the plant. Even those that do possess the gene will not usually respond to catnip until they are six months old.
Here are some of 38smiles’ kittens that are looking for homes. Email info@38smiles.com or go along to the adoption day to meet them.
Pepper
Pepper is a firecracker. If she could sit still she would but she can’t so she doesn’t! She is always playing and always looking for attention. Because of her young age (only 4 months old), it is best for her to have another feline friend and some human friends to play with.
Minnie
As cliché as it might sound, the worst place for a kitten to be born is in a construction site in Sharjah, surrounded by building materials, sand and loud noises but that’s exactly where Minnie was born. Luck was on her side when she was rescued along with her brother and mother. Minnie is an adorable young lady, a little shy at first but very sweet and gentle once she gets to know you.
Polly and Peta
Polly and Peta were an unexpected birthday gifts as they were rescued during someone’s birthday party! Imagine talking to your friends, chilling out and enjoying yourself when you suddenly see two skinny little kittens running across the grass at a restaurant. Before you know it, you are asking the waiter for a take-away box to put the little kittens in! Long story short from 5 weeks old, skinny and dehydrated kittens to beautiful, crazy and inseparable 4 month old girls Polly and Peta have turned the corner and are ready to find their forever home together.