So you are thinking of opening your home to a kitten, well be prepared to open your heart and consider taking 2! Here is the 10 things we think you need to know about homing a new kitten.
- Vaccination
Your kitten will usually require two vaccinations, three weeks apart, from nine weeks old. Young kittens are susceptible to cat flu or infectious enteritis, both of which can be fatal at a young age. Your kitten is not fully protected until two weeks after the last vaccination, so no mixing with unvaccinated cats until this time.
What are we vaccinating against:
Cat Flu: Runny sore eyes, sneezing, anorexia, eye ulcers, mouth ulcers, weight loss and ill-thrift are some of the signs we associate with cat flu. Ocular ulcers can become so severe that loss of the eye can occur. In severe cases especially in kittens this condition can be fatal.
Chlamydophila: Reccurrent eye infections in cat that can cause ulceration, sight loss and even eye loss in severe cases.
Feline Enteritis: This viral infection causes a debilitating diarrhoea and stripping of the lining of the gut. It is extremely debilitating and can often cause death in young kittens.
Feline Leukaemia Virus (Felv): A very serious viral disease that is spread through mating, biting/fighting and even sharing of food bowls. This disease causes depression of the immune system in young –middle aged cats. Your cat’s immune defences become lowered and allow opportunistic infections to occur when a normal healthy animal would fight them off. And it is often these secondary infections that your cat will succumb to. This disease can also lead to intestinal tumours. Once infected, your cat now poses a risk to other cats. To help protect them, vaccinating of all in contact once confirmed Felv negative status and making your infected cat an indoor cat is the best course of action.
A Note on FIV in cats: We cannot yet vaccinate in Ireland against Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV in – the cat version of HIV. This is a disease spread by mating, biting/fighting and sharing food bowls.i
Neutering your cat reduces the chances of your cat being infected with Felv and FIV greatly as there is no mating post neutering and biting/fighting is greatly reduced.
2. Fleas, Ticks, Lice and Mites
External parasites,(on the skin) especially fleas and ticks, suck blood and can transmit infections such as Lyme’s disease and worms. A large infestation can lead to anaemia, which can be very serious. Please ask us for help in choosing the correct treatment and prevention of external parasites for your young kitten.
Most treatments will need to be repeated once monthly/ 3 monthly as a spot-on treatment onto the skin at the back of the neck. Again, careful using shop bought products in very young kittens as we do see a lot of allergic reactions to them.
3. Worming
You should assume that your kitten in infected with worms. They get them from their mother’s milk and are thought to be a human health risk as dog worms are. Heavy worm burdens can lead to serious impactions and even be fatal. We advise to worm your kitten once every 2 weeks until 3 months of age, once monthly until 6 months and every 3 months thereafter. For advice on the most appropriate product for your cat or kitten, then please call us for a chat. Liquid wormers are appropriate in very young kittens, tablets and spot-ons as they get older. Again, careful using shop bought products in very young kittens as we do see a lot of allergic reactions to them.
4. Microchipping 
Though not a legal requirement yet, but microchipping is the only way to permanently identify your kitten. A microchip the size of a grain of rice is implanted under the skin at the back of the neck, which contains a number that is unique to you and your pet. And allows you to be reunited with your kitten should they go missing. (We now also stock ‘mini microchips’ for little kitties in Clare street & Shannon Vets.). They also cane used to open cat flaps and food bowls, all very helpful.
5. Neutering
Cats are excellent at reproducing. They can get pregnant as early at 4 months old. So we recommend early neutering your kitten once they are 4 months old or greater than 1kg weight. If you would prefer to wait till 6 months old then neutering can also be performed at this time. But please do mind them as 1 can become 5 very quickly. At Clare street & Shannon vets, we perform both Ovariohysterectomy & Ovariectomy depending on which is more appropriate. For our early neuters we pre-oxygenate, keep them warm and reverse their anaesthetic as soon as the procedure is completed. And once they are awake enough they have a blood sugar restoring meal.
6. Nutrition
Mothers start weaning their kittens as early as 3 weeks old and they will start to eat what their mother is eating. A specially formulated kitten diet is best for their correct development and growth. We at Clare Street Vet & Shannon Vets recommend Specific kitten and Royal Canin starter or Growth foods. If you introduce these diets at an early age, your kitten will get into the habit of eating dry food which will help to maintain their dental health into the future. Dry food is also cheaper than wet food. If you are hand rearing very young kittens we would recommend Royal Canin Babycat milk.
‘Cat’ milk, cows milk, natural yoghurt are not good substitutes. All species have their own specific requirements. Did you know that dogs can eat cat food, though not correctly balanced for them, however cats not eating a specifically formulated cat food may go blind! Cats are not small dogs and have very different food requirements.
Besides species specific requirements, there are lots of variations within a species. Diets should be specifically tailored to suit specific needs, be it LIFESTAGE (e.g. kitten).
7. Dental Healthcare
Cats can be notoriously fussy when it comes to food and they usually prefer the type of food that is worst for their dental health. Soft food- gravies and jellies often means that as your kitten ages their teeth develop hard calculus – calcified plaque. This moves up under the gum line which will cause loosening of the tooth, infection and eventually loss of the tooth with considerable discomfort.
At Clare street and Shannon Vets we provide dental treatment involving a short anaesthetic, descale (removal of the calculus with ultrasonic equipment) and then polishing the tooth to make it difficult for plaque to re-adhere to the tooth surface. By starting your kitten on dry diets as soon as is appropriate, decreases the onset of the calculus build up and hence the need for these dental procedures & potential tooth loss.
We try to reduce the build up of tartar/calculus by feeding a specific tooth diets uch as Royal Canin Dental and if you’re feeling very brave you could even try brushing but unfortunately most cats don’t tolerate this very well.
8. Pet Insurance
Having a sick pet is worrying enough and with pet insurance at least you would not have to worry about the money aspect. Insurance allows us to get on with the diagnosis and treatment of your pet whilst you have the peace of mind that your finances are in good order. See Allianz pet plan for more information for example.
9. What do you need? Be prepared
A bed, a litter tray, a food & water bowl, a scratching post would also be recommended. Lots of love and affection! Take them in pairs, with little kittens they often do much better, train quicker, thrive when they are homed in pairs, so consider taking two. And it really isn’t twice the trouble! More like ½ the trouble. Remember always have an extra food, water bowl and litter tray e.g. if you have 2 kittens you need 3 litter trays.
10. Preventative Healthcare Plans 
Here at Shannon Vets & Clare street vets, we have just recently launched our new Preventative Healthcare plans. In short we are trying to promote “prevention is better than cure’’ and start our kittens on the right path from the earliest age, so they go on to live a long, healthy and happy life. We are aware that there is a substantial cost to owning a pet, and for a cat/kitten that is estimated at up to €1000 per year. If you couple that with some unexpected visits to the vet it can be quite expensive. Our plans help to spread the cost of your pets veterinary care over a year and allow you to plan & budget for their veterinary care. Allowing you to be the best pet owner you can be and your pet to be the healthiest it can be. With pet owners and vets working together to achieve this.
If you would like more information on our plans then please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@clarestreetvets.ie or info@shannonvets.ie and we’d be delighted to fill you in.