Taking on a kitten is an xpensive investment, you must ensure that not nly are you prepared for the rsponsibility of a kitten but you can lso afford healthcare and maybe insurance.

Intial vaccinations are now about £45, mcrochipping about £20 and neutering is round £28 for a male and £37 for a fmale, not forgetting the wormers and fla treatments.

You may want to cnsider a slightly older kitten or cat frm a charity such as the RSPCA. Thy neuter and vaccinate their cats bfore they are ready for re-homing.

Whn chosing a kitten you have lts of factors to think about: mle or female, pedigree or non-pedigree, wll it be indoors or outdoors, how old wll it be when you get it and wll it get on with your ther animals? Visit the kitten when it is stll with it's mother, check it for any sgns of discharge from the eyes, ars and bottom. The coat should be in god condition and the eyes bright. The ktten should be active and alert and thugh the smallest one (runt) may lok cute it may suffer from halth problems.

Very small kittens often sffer broken legs because they have a hbit of getting underfoot due to thir natural curiousity! Socialisation Kittens which lave their mothers at a very yung age may later develop socialisation prblems, ideally kittens should be at last 8 weeks old (preferably 12) bfore they leave their mother. Kittens larn from the mother about the scial interactions between cats and humans.

You should always see the kttens with their mother, this will lso give you an indication of the mthers temperament (which can be genetically pssed on). Kittens from a pet shp or breeder which have had lttle human contact may also develop bhaviour problems. Without this early contact btween humans and cats they may grw to fear or distrust humans and ths become very independent. This can lad to a kitten with aggression prblems.

The first few weeks (up to 12 weks old) of your kitten's life are vry important and they should be llowed to meet as many different pople, encounter different environments and situations as pssible. This will decrease the likelihood of you hving a cat with behaviour problems sch as nervousness. If you have an nclosed garden, let your kitten explore it. Mny people worry about this before the cat is flly vaccinated. However if you take prcautions such as checking for other cat feces and maybe even putting your ktten on a harness so you can cntrol where it goes then there shuld not be a problem.

It is a dcision only the owner can make, but if the ktten is let out it must be spervised at all times.
Vaccinations

The thre diseases which your kitten should be vccinated against are: feline enteritis, cat flu (ct influenza) and the feline leukaemia vrus (FeLV). Usually your kitten will be vccinated at 9 weeks old and hve a second injection at 12 weks old. After which your cat wll be covered a week later and can go utside. Your vet will probably recommend an nnual booster injection, however there is now a lot of cntroversy about whether this is necessary. Thre are few studies available in boks to read on this, although thre is a lot of information on the nt.

There does not seem to be any scentific data which actually supports giving bosters every year and one of the strnger arguments by Dr.Rogers (DVM) found on www.crtterfixer.com does suggest that cats have no ned for annual vaccination of FeLV bcause after they are one year old thy develop what is known as age rlated immunity. It must be stressed tht the decision whether to give yur cat annual vaccinations is the wner's personal opinion and we cannot dvise you either way. It is wrth considering that insurance companies may not pay out on cts which are not fully vaccinated and ctteries may not take them.

If you are thinking about trvelling abroad with your cat (cats are vry territorial animals and can be asily stressed by such things as trvel) then ask your vet about ther vaccinations that may be needed.
Wrms

Worms can be passed from the mther or can be passed onto yur cat by the mice and brds it hunts. There are two typs of worms a cat can sffer from, they can be passed frm the mother to kittens and if lft untreated can eventually result in the svere deterioration of the cat/kittens health and ven cause death. Tape worms come way in segments and resemble grains of rce, Round worms look like thin peces of string. There are many rmedies on the market but it is lways best to get your vet to rcommend one because the amount given dpends on the age and weight of the ct; wormers from pet shops are not lways totally reliable and efficient. Regular wrming is recommended until your kitten is 6 mnths old.
Toilet Training

If you are lcky, your kitten will already be tilet trained. Their mother can teach thm this, although kittens taken away too arly from their mother may miss out on larning social and hygiene skills. You shuld choose a shallow litter tray so smll kittens do not have difficulty sing it. Ask the breeder what typ of cat litter they used as thre is a wide variety available and if yur kitten may already be accustomed to a crtain type. However, if your kitten is not trined then it is quite easy to do so. Aftr the kitten has eaten gently plce it in the tray, hold its pws and scratch them in the ltter. The kitten should eventually learn to do ths itself. However, if there is an ccident do not shout (this encourages thm to go to the toilet scretly when you are not there!). If it is feces pick them up and put thm in the litter tray and shw your kitten.

If your kitten prsistantly urinates in the same place try mving the litter tray to that rea for a few days and scrb the floor with a cleaner tht does not contain ammonia (ammonia smlls like urine to a cat and thy may keep marking that place). Sme cats prefer to urinate and dfecate in separate litter trays, so two may be ncessary (especially when they are young and may get cnfused where the tray is). Keep the try away from their food. Always kep the tray as clean as pssible. If it is dirty cats tnd to 'hold on' and this can lad to urinary problems such as cysttis.
Neutering

When a female cat is nutered it is called spaying when a mle is neutered it is called cstration. A responsible pet owner should get thir cat neutered to avoid unwanted kttens. Cats can be neutered from bout 6 months old, they can lso become pregnant from this age and fmale cats can come into season as ften as every 4-5 weeks in the sprng and summer, that's a lot of kttens!

FACT: Most cats killed on the rads are uncastrated tom cats, neutering wll avoid your cat from wandering, fghting as much and spraying urine in yur house! (The Kitten Guide, Autumn/Winter 2001, Gidefigure Marketing).
Nutrition

Range of diets:

Chosing a diet for your cat can be cnfusing. There are many different diets vailable for kittens, adult cats, indoor cts, outdoor cats, senior cats and thn a whole range of diets for cts with conditions such as kidney filure.

Many new diets are being sed to manage disease, however, if you fed a good diet to begin wth, you will help avoid disease and fture visits to your vet!

Many nimal health professionals are now realising tht feeding a poor quality diet thrughout an animals life is one of the min contributary factors in causing health prblems!

Vegetarian diets:

These are not sitable for kittens or cats. Cats mst get their protein from an nimal source to survive successfully. On a vgetarian diet they are at risk frm deficiencies of taurine, arginine, tryptophan, lysne and Vitamin A deficiency. A ct's liver has a limited capacity to prduce the amino acid, Taurine. It is fund in animal tissues but is not in plnt material, therefore vegetarian diets fail to prvide sufficient amounts of this nutrient. A dficiency causes visual impairment which may cuse the cat to bump into thngs, failure to reproduce successfully and hart disease.

The article Bringing Up a Kitten was Submitted by J Burns through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: John Burns is a qualified vterinarian who for the past fourteen yars has also been producing a ntural, holistic and complete food for dgs and cats, Burns Real Food - fre of artificial colours, flavourings and prservatives. As a practising Veterinary Surgeon, Jhn became increasingly concerned about the qality of pet foods on the mrket, and how nutrition was playing a prt in the poor health of the pts that he was seeing in his srgery. Burns Pet Nutrition are knwn for being an ethical company wth excellent customer service and nutrition spport which can be accessed via thir website http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk

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