Hello! I was a prior cat owner (ex kept the cats since they were more his pets) that has has only dogs and reptiles for 10 or so years. A feral cat decided to have a litter of kittens in the attic of a building where I work. The guys who worked in the building were watching her and making plans with a local shelter when she decided to have 7 kittens in the attic. They were found pretty soon after their birth and rounded up along with mom (albeit with much more drama on her part).
The area that I live in has only no-kill shelters, and they tend to get full. So, one of my coworkers who has a mini farm (chickens) brought them home and mom and kittens lived in his bathroom while they grew. Obviously I ended up buckling and getting one, since I am here. The two dogs that I have were adopted as adults and they are old and cranky when it comes to kids. Even though my son is pretty gentle with him, they still only hang out if I'm busy or not around. He promised to be responsible (6th grader) and I hoped we'd fine a pet that would be a bit more playful (the dogs rarely play in any form) and would bond to him. We've only had the kitten for a few days, but he's been totally down with my son as a companion, which makes me pretty happy.
My kid named him Siberious and here we are. He is the runt of the litter and, though he had a few days of mom with only two siblings, still felt like a little bag of bones when we got him. The people who hosted mom did try to give him kitten milk a few times, but I guess he just ate the nipple of the kitten bottle. He has tried to chew on my and my son a few times when he became hungry (we of course stop him) so I'm not sure if he is just a runt due to ill luck or if he was a poor nurser. The host family is also a, "we just buy dry catfood in bulk," types and they didn't buy kitten specific food, so that might also be part of his low weight. He was eating dry food, but it didn't seem to be doing much to fatten him up. They are keeping the biggest kitten as their own and Siberious was maybe half of the size of her. At 7.5 weeks (I know, too young, but I didn't pop on here until after we adopted him) he was less than a lb (he's already had his first vet visit).
He is on a high quality wet kitten food diet now and his energy levels have definitely gone up in the three days that we have had him. He was pretty timid as well (even at his home of origin) and he's gained more confidence as well. I figured I'd join in case anything came up that I wanted to post about, though the search bar has already been very helpful.
Photo of the mini-kitty for tax.
The area that I live in has only no-kill shelters, and they tend to get full. So, one of my coworkers who has a mini farm (chickens) brought them home and mom and kittens lived in his bathroom while they grew. Obviously I ended up buckling and getting one, since I am here. The two dogs that I have were adopted as adults and they are old and cranky when it comes to kids. Even though my son is pretty gentle with him, they still only hang out if I'm busy or not around. He promised to be responsible (6th grader) and I hoped we'd fine a pet that would be a bit more playful (the dogs rarely play in any form) and would bond to him. We've only had the kitten for a few days, but he's been totally down with my son as a companion, which makes me pretty happy.
My kid named him Siberious and here we are. He is the runt of the litter and, though he had a few days of mom with only two siblings, still felt like a little bag of bones when we got him. The people who hosted mom did try to give him kitten milk a few times, but I guess he just ate the nipple of the kitten bottle. He has tried to chew on my and my son a few times when he became hungry (we of course stop him) so I'm not sure if he is just a runt due to ill luck or if he was a poor nurser. The host family is also a, "we just buy dry catfood in bulk," types and they didn't buy kitten specific food, so that might also be part of his low weight. He was eating dry food, but it didn't seem to be doing much to fatten him up. They are keeping the biggest kitten as their own and Siberious was maybe half of the size of her. At 7.5 weeks (I know, too young, but I didn't pop on here until after we adopted him) he was less than a lb (he's already had his first vet visit).
He is on a high quality wet kitten food diet now and his energy levels have definitely gone up in the three days that we have had him. He was pretty timid as well (even at his home of origin) and he's gained more confidence as well. I figured I'd join in case anything came up that I wanted to post about, though the search bar has already been very helpful.
Photo of the mini-kitty for tax.