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I has a new kitty! Ginger
I just got this seven month old calico last night. Her name is Ginger and she's really brave. Her mother was run over when she and her litter were only 3 weeks old, and her previous owner bottle fed them until they were old enough to be given away. However, she doesn't really know how to clean herself, since she was never shown, so I have to giver her a baths. Here are some pics of here I took with my cell phone. I'll take better pics when I give her a bath today.
>> Ginger
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And another.
>> Anonymous
one solution to the bathing aspect might be to get a second kitty who was raised by a proper mother kitten and hope this one learns the tricks of the trade from the other
>> Anonymous
Cats are naturally fastidious, so smear some honey or something on her (just a little will do, enough to annoy her where she can reach it) and she will clean it off. you might have to do it a few times to make it habitual.
>> Ginger
Honey on my kitten? Sounds like that'll just make her sweeter for my two wiener dogs when they eat her. I guess I'll try that, since I dunno if I can get another kitten. Besides, I planned on giving her a bath tonight anyways.
>> Ginger
Oh, and about what age do kittens transition from wet foods, to moist or hard foods?
>> Anonymous
>>95643
about 4 months ago by your cat's age
>> Ginger
>>95646
What are you talking about? I said it was 3 weeks old...
>> Anonymous
>>95703I just got this seven month old calico last night.
>> Ginger
>>95704

lol woops. Disregard that, I suck cocks.

She's 7 WEEKS old. So I should try to wean her off of softs to hard food around 3 months old?
>> Anonymous
>>95705
yea, around three months would be good for dry food, around 9 - 10 weeks go moist. Do it slowly, cats digestive systems don't like rapid shifts in diet change. So take like a week transitioning from one to the other. 2 days 75% old stuff 25% new stuff, 2 days 50% 50%, 2 days 25% old stuff 75% new stuff.
>> Holly
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I'm currently hand raising kittens found at 4 weeks. They're now 6 weeks and there are 4 of the cute buggers. We had some problems with suckling, so we segregated them in carriers with hot water bottles/heating pad until they behaved when left alone all together in the kennel with the litterbox and squishy warm care bear comforter.

I haven't trained them to clean themselves, but they do it on their own. Wiping their mouths with a kleenex after eating seems to convince them to clean themselves. :D They also litterboxed themselves fairly by theirselves. Whenever a cat can figure out how to chew well, I've practiced letting them try 3 pellets at most of hard food. All but one knows how and to crush it before swallowing. So far, there's been no bad effects from the once-daily training.

As a first-time surrogate, what do you recommend me to teach them? All of the damn kitten books out there say what you need to do in general, but not how, when, or why. They piss me off, so if you'll tell me what problems your kitten is having otherwise, lemme know so I can avoid it in my and mum's own current experience.
>> Holly
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>>95805
These notions were influence by the vet caring for them otherwise. I asked like, 400 questions about this kinda thing, so it's never too early to get them accustomed to things. This is a vital learning time. Nice to see you have a sweet kitty, though. :)
>> Holly
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>>95554
P.S. Also, sorry if I'm flooding. I wanted to encourage you to be careful, but to try feeding them this little recipe I've concocted that I believe will really make hard food transition much easier.

1) Crush up kibble with a hammer (and miss your fingers, too. I made this mistake this morning. :() 2) Let the rather fine crumbs soak in a bowl of KMR in a covered bowl in the fridge. 3) Mix wet food and that together in a bowl and heat in the microwave at 8-10 seconds. ATTENTION--- Only mix up/feed her like, one and a half scoops of that, and 1 1/2 scoops of wet food, depending on how much she actually eats currently at a time. I don't think refridgerating it after mixing it and heating it is safe.

Hill's has a great formula called a/d for both dogs and cats that you can only pick up at a vet office, but mot will sell it to anyone who asks. The price I've got is $1.25-$1.50 a can that can really last a long time with just one kitty. That's loaded with calories to help her grow.
Sometimes you may need to add water, maybe a teaspoon, to it.

Kittens smack up this stuff like ambrosia. If she doesn't eat it, getting a syringe from your vet or Wal-Mart in the Pharmacy section and feed it that way. We had some sick kittens and after a vet visit and 2 feedings done that way, they regained the idea to eat it on their own, or they're gonna get wrestled by mommy. :D
>> Anonymous
>lol