Calling all cat owners **updated**
 

Help is needed please.

We had a stray cat who adopted us, she was heavily pregnant and despite our best efforts no owner was found. Our local rescue group have collected her today and she’s not chipped. So they’ve said once she had the kittens and been spayed would we like her back? We have said yes, and also one of her babies which the rescue place are delighted about. My mum is taking another kitten and my sister 2 more. So let’s hope that side of it all goes well.

Anyway... the reason for my post. I had cats when I was younger but have ALWAYS had dogs at home. I’m pretty cat clueless. What is the best to feed them? What cat litter do I need? What type of litter tray? Do they need scratching posts?

The list of questions goes on.

So are any owners able to make me a ‘shopping list’ or recommend/ don’t recommend things for her please.

**UPDATE 30/3**

Catcat had 4 kittens; 2 jet black and 2 white and grey. The cat rehoming charity have now changed their minds about her coming back to us as she’s shown signs of not setting very well in her foster home. They are worried she would wander off if she came back to us. We are all really sad about this, I’m dreading telling my son.

However, we are instead having 2 of the kittens.

So... any kitten advice? Food? Toys etc?

No advice sorry, I’m more a dog person.

But good luck to you, such a lovely thing you’re doing for Mum and her babies x

How lovely ❤️
We always use wooden pellets for litter - £7 for 30 litres at Pets at Home. Lasts a good while and doesn’t smell plus it’s properly biodegradable.

Such a variety of food, we use a mix of wet whiskas and purina pro sterilised biscuits which were recommended by a vet once ours were neutered.

We use catsan for litter. Expensive but cheap stuff is a false economy.

Scratch post - must have purchase if you want to keep your settees half decent.

Ooh food. Our cat is a lovely ragdoll. She is fussy but doesn't each much. She has Perle in the morning topped up with dry in the afternoon. Purina one.

This is what confuses me. Our cats growing up never had one and the sofas survived. I wonder what they scratched?

Thanks everyone. Feels weird thinking about going to the dark side after having 6 rescue springers.

Aww how lovely! And so exciting!

I think most cats are different when it comes to food, litter and litter trays as they like what they like and not what we want them to like!

For food, I’d stick with what the shelter are feeding them at first, especially with the kitten as you don’t want to change it suddenly as you’ll upset their stomach. If you do decide to change, generally something with a high meat content is best, but change it gradually, bit by bit, don’t just switch.

We have a large litter tray for ours, it’s a sifting litter tray from pets at home, but we use wood pellets as we’ve always found these best, but it’s personal preference I think, for you and the cats. Again though, for the kitten, I’d ask the shelter what they’re using as some kittens won’t use a new type of litter or tray! Our cat when we got him wouldn’t use our litter tray as it had a side on, we took it off so it was identical to his old one and he used it no problems!

Scratching posts, cat tree and toys are a must I would say, for enrichment and to encourage natural cat behaviour. Ours has a cat tree with scratching posts built into it, plus loads of toys which we rotate to stop him getting bored.

Musts I would say,
-multiple litter trays, at least two or three, a lot of cats won’t share.
-bowls, we’ve always had metal bowls that are on a stand as plastic bowls can cause cat acne and we chose something large as cats can get whisker fatigue.
-claw clippers, to give them a little trim if they get long as they can get caught on household items and hurt themselves
-scoop for scooping poo from the litter tray!
-a cat friendly cleaning solution for accidents or for when you clean the litter tray (we got ours from pets at home)

You’ll soon not remember life before cats!

Definitely Catsan litter. And a scratching post, and a nice cat bed . Can’t advise on food as my cat likes whiskers or Felix pouches and whiskers cat biscuits, but he has cooked chicken a couple of times a week, he’s 11 in June. Good luck , cats are gorgeous xx

I have three cats and I've always has cats.

- I use wood litter from pets at home, cheap and better for the environment.

- Rule of trays, 1 per cat plus an extra one. I prefer covered for boys, as they tend to spray.

- Water bowls should be mental or ceramic. Water fountains are fab, as cats are bad Water drinkers.

- Try and keep to one cat food. As switching can cause stomach issues. Try and get the best you can afford. We use appaws, but my elderly cat was on go cat and he lived for 23 years. So don't worry too much.

- cat trees are a must if indoors. It helps them with natural behaviour and stops them using your furniture and walls.

Congrats on your new fur babies!