Kitty cats?

Question

I am interested in getting a cat. I had a wonderful little mixed dog, but she passed away, and I want another pet. I live very far out in the country, and I have discovered that I have field mice again. I was just wondering if it is hard to litter box train a cat? Also, is it a good idea to declaw the front claws? Thanks

Answer 1

Hi there...if you adopt a kitten select one that is at least 12 weeks who's been with their mother this long to improve it's chances for better litter box habits. Any younger sometimes they will need a little more help with training time as accidents can occur, but that is a 50/50 chance. To be sure to continue to help with excellent litter training, first place your new kitten/cat in a small room (e.g. bathroom) for the first 24-48 hours when you bring him/her home with a bed/blanket/towel the kitties litter box, food and water dishes too. This helps keeps the cat calm and feel some control of the sudden changes in moving to the new home. Also this will help kitty to find it's litter box easier and practice using it regularly. Be sure to clean the box often as some cats will soil inappropriately if their box is less than clean.

Make sure to vaccinate your kitties (two sets of vaccinations will be needed in it's first year (and then annually thereafter) epecially if you are considering to let it outside (then they will also need leukemia and rabies vaccinations too--see second weblink below). Cats in general are susceptible to feline diseases (these are not transferrable to humans) even if they are indoors only cats. Outdoors, cat are more at risk to diseases because of chance encounters with other cats and small rodents so they need extra vaccinations.

However, may I suggest that you would consider to keep the cat indoors as there's less of a chance of catching diseases, being attacked by roaming diseased cats, vicious dogs, coyotes taking their life, hit by a car (country kitties sometimes will wander far enough to busier roads), and/or worse if you have a neighbour who hates cats might do something terrible, etc). Please see the link below to read more about the dangers of outdoor cats. An indoor cat is at least safer and still can capture mice who get into your home.

Young cats will need to be spayed/neutered by the average age of 6 months. After this time females will come into heat and urinate around the home and males will begin territorial spraying/urine marking. Additionally, both unfixed sexes will try to escape outside to procreate increases chances of being infected by a sick cat. By doing this you will keep your home from becoming a casualty with urine stain accidents and your cats safe from the casualties of an outdoors lifestyle as well.

Declawing is not necessary as it involves removing the first digit of the toe and can later cause problems with some cats. The best solution is to purchase a few scratching posts/trees and scratching toys to leave around the home. Having the extra scatching toys are suggested so that it helps the cat from using your furnishings. When training them to use the scratching toys first place them nearby the toy and help put it's paws on it. Later if/when you capture a cat clawing inappropriately on your furnishings, gently pick up the cat and move it to the scratching post and wait for it to scratch then be sure to give it a kitty treat (something different than it's regular food). Do this everytime for several months when you can catch kitty so it learns that it is only rewarded for scratching in the right places and not the wrong places. Scolding, squirting a cat never works and if anything will only make them more difficult to train as they soon learn to fear the human that's is directly connected to the punishment. You always want to be associated with pleasurable experiences.

Finally, to help you get started with proper feeding, young kittens only need to eat a 1//4 - 1/2 cup of dry food a day and cats older than one year no more than 1 cup a day. Free fed cats (food that is left out for them all day long) will become overweight which leads to other medical health problems requiring expensive medical care.

Have fun with your new kitty!

Answer 2

Please don't declaw! People think it's standard practice, but it actually something that should only be done in an extreme case. Get a cat tree for your cat, and get one or more door-hanging scratch boards. If given a place to scratch, most cats will leave other stuff alone.

Litter box training can be simple or difficult, depending on the cat. Male cats generally have less trouble. I have a male who has never missed, and never needed to be trained, and I got him at 6 weeks. If the cat misses, put it in the litter box again and again to give it the idea. If it continues to miss, especially if sometimes it uses the box and sometimes not, confine the cat to a bathroom or somewhere else it can't mess up right after each meal. When it uses the litter box, let it out. It will see being let out as a reward for using the box.
A couple tips - don't ever scold your cat when it misses - that will make them want to hide and go in corners and do other neurotic stuff - certainly never speak in anything but kind tones when the cat is near the box. Keep the box in a private area, and keep it clean.
Good luck.

Answer 3

Your cat should come litter box trained if the house it came from had a litter box. If the cat will be going outside for the field mice, do not declaw the cat. How do you expect it to defend itself. Even if the cat was completely indoors, I think it is cruel to declaw cats.

Answer 4

Most cats aren't good mousers, so good luck with that.
If your cat is going to be an outdoor cat, there's no need to litter box train him. Show him where the garden is, and where the cat door is, and he'll put two and two together (maybe).
Never declaw a cat. Never ever. He needs those claws for climbing trees and digging after gophers!

One more thing: you need a couple of scratching posts. Your cat is going to claw your furniture anyway, but might do it less often if you have a couple of carpeted scratching posts. Adopt an attitude of "don't care about the couch, love the cat."

Answer 5

Get one from the shelter, they are usually litter trained already. Don't declaw a cat, they can be easily trained to scratch on scratching posts and boxes. If you want it to get mice, good luck with no claws.

Answer 6

It's not hard to litter train a cat at all, since they have an instinctual nature to cover their "poo". As for the declawing, it depends on the pet owner, but I myself think it is a cruel thing to do. I wouldn't want my fingernails ripped out. The claws are attached to bone. However, if you have a small child and are worried about it, I suppose it would be for the greater good.

Answer 7

Well if its going to be an outside kitty better let it keep its fighting tools "Front Claws" to head those mices off at the pass.... not to mention other kitties and dogs and other little kitty preditors on guard. No its not hard if you have a baby kitty just put them in the box of litter and they will figure it out from there...

Answer 8

first of all if you are going to get a cat are you going to keep it indoors? are you getting it to chase the field mice? if you have any inkling that you are going to let the cat outside you cannot declaw the cat that is his defense mechanism... it is very easy to litter box train a cat most cats do it without any "training" you just show the cat where the box is and he will do what he is supposed to do...mice are not good for cats mice are full of diseases...

Answer 9

its not hard to train a cat to use the litter box. it almost comes natural. and yea declawing the fronts ok. i wouldnt declaw the back feet though so she has some defense

Answer 10

cats are easy to litter box train, just show them the box! but DO NOT declaw, he will not be able to defend himself out in the country, he's got to have his claws.
I've got 10 cat's in town and none of them are declawed and i don't have any problems at all, and they are indoor/outdoor cats. whoever came up with that idea should be defingernailed! ; )