Happy Pets

Although a cat’s maintenance costs are relatively low, there are certain unavoidable expenses that cat-ownership will incur over the years. These include providing your feline with the minimum of two meals a day of a nutritious proprietary cat food; buying cat litter for anindoor cat; settling an annual veterinary bill for vaccinations; and funding any additional veterinary treatment that a cat may need as a result of an accident or illness. Investigate these costs by paying a visit to your local pet shop or supermarket and veterinary surgery, noting down prices and asking for information.

Are my family circumstances suitable?

A cat’s primary requirements are a regular supply of food and water, along with a safe and comfortable place of shelter: potentially your home. Can you guarantee to able to feed and water it every day, ideally twice a day, at the same time? Would your home suit the feline lifestyle? Although some cats do live in one-bedroom flats, most would prefer more space to roam around in, although a garden isn’t necessary if you can supply alternative opportunities for exercise within your home. Despite the legendary feline independence, a cat will pine without some affection and attention — could you provide this if you are out working all day and partying at night? How would a cat fit in with any existing family members, children and other pets, for example? And what arrangements would you need to make to ensure that it would be well looked after when you go away on holiday? Could you call on a neighbour to cat-sit, or would you need to arrange for it to stay in a cattery?

If, having considered these issues, you feel that you could give a cat a good home, there are still more decisions to be made.

Cat or kitten?

The essential question to ask yourself when deciding whether to adopt a cat or a kitten is whether you have sufficient time to devote to a young animal’s needs. Although you should in any case never take a kitten from its mother before it has been weaned (usually when it is between eight and twelve weeks old), which makes feeding it easier, a kitten still requires a considerable amount of attention. Will you have the time to bond with it, to play with it (a vital part of kittenhood), to guide it as it becomes acquainted with its new household, to teach it human- and furniture-friendly habits, to rescue it from the scrapes that it will inevitably get itself into, and, above all, to make it feel a loved and valued member of your family?

There are also certain practical and financial considerations to be taken into account. You will probably have to take a kitten to the vet’s for its first set of immunisation vaccinations, for example, and should also be prepared to foot the bill for medication, as well as provide nursing care, should it develop any ailments that you hadn’t bargained for (in Caspar and Melchior’s case, ear mites and ringworm). In addition, you may find yourself having to wean it from a diet to which it has become accustomed. All of these nonnegotiable responsibilities take time and cost money. That having been said, kittens are fun- filled, captivating creatures, who are more tolerant of boisterous children than older cats, and it is fascinating to watch their personalities develop as they grow into adulthood. And when a cat has lived with you for most of its life, and you have years of shared companionship behind you, life simply wouldn’t be the same without it.

Although it may require more patience to make it feel at home, adopting an older cat brings its own rewards. Certain aspects of its care will be easier: it will almost certainly be house-trained, for instance, and won’t demand as much of your time and attention. The main difficulties will probably be educating it in the ways of your household and gently dissuading it from persisting with old habits — and you may even have to learn to live with them — as well as winning its trust and affection. If you persevere and forge a strong bond with it, however, even the most wary of adopted older cats will offer you their friendship, thereby enriching your life immeasurably.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 2:19 am and is filed under Cats, Deworm, Foods, Frontline, Kittens, Pet Medication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.