[oscar&emmy]

Hello all, I'm new here. I've always had dogs, and I have a 7 month old pup now. But I just got my first kitty. She's beautiful - 5 months old.

I've read a lot about introducing the kitty(emmy) and the puppy(oscar), and that seems to be going well. At this rate, I bet I'll that they'll be ready to go face to face by the end of the week!

But I have so many questions .... Can I teach the Emmy to accept a lead so she can sit on the stoop with us in the evening? Is that safe? Can I bathe Emmy? I use a bio-groom shampoo for Oscar and it says it's safe for cats.

She has her claws, and I would never take them from her, but I guess they need to be trimmed .... can I do that?

I'm sure there are tons of opinions, but I know nothing about cat litter - got her the stuff they had been using in her old home -- but I've heard bad things about clay litter. Also, she was on Iams, and I won't switch till she's settled, but I took Oscar off Iams and put him on the Blu Buffalo food. Anyone know anything about the cat version?

I know it's a lot for one post ..... but thanks!

 

[Cooie]

Yes, Emmy can be leash-trained, but be sure to use a harness instead of a collar. Dogs have big heads in relation to their necks, so collars are just fine for them, but cats will slip through a collar in milliseconds. Actually, most of them can get out of a harness, too, but at least it takes a little longer and you usually have time to stop them!

You can trim her claws yourself - just look for the "quick" (the little pink triangle you can see through the claw) and make sure you never cut that deeply.

It is not a good idea to bathe a cat unless they have gotten something poisonous or really sticky or smelly on themselves, or they are too ill or injured to groom themselves. Not only is it unecessary becuase cats are meticulous groomers, but it can actually cause problems because cats have very delicate skin and the bathing can upset the skin's chemistry.

As far as the litter, it's a matter of your personal opinion and what your cat will use. The controversy over the clumping kind - well, you'll just have to decide for yourself. It is my and my vet's opinion that the stories of kitten dying after eating clumping litter are urban legends - but on the other hand, it's not that it couldn't logically happen, either.

 

[Gibsonsmom]

We were able to train Gibson to wear a harness within three times of him going outside, so that shouldnt be a problem. However, He is getting to big to fit in the harness we have so we got to start looking for a new one. I was thinking about going with an H-harness, any opinions?

We however, did have difficultly and still do with clipping Gibsons nails. Its not that we dont know how, its that he is a wiggle-worm. So what we did was lay him in one persons lap and have that person hold down his chest (no hard enough to hurt him) while the other one clips the nails.

 

[Gibsonsmom]

Oh yeah with the baths. It is a good idea not to bath them all the time. But when we do bath him (we had to sunday cause he got into the shampoo) we always use regular old dish soap. It works just as well as anyother shampoo, and they sell lemony fresh

 

[Cyprian]

Oh yeah with the baths. It is a good idea not to bath them all the time. But when we do bath him (we had to sunday cause he got into the shampoo) we always use regular old dish soap. It works just as well as anyother shampoo, and they sell lemony fresh

eep dish soap probably works fine, but I bet that it's way to harsh for a kitties skin, and dish soap is designed to remove grease, so you're probably draining his skin of essential oils.

When I bath my cats, which is rare, I use a gentle kitten formula cat shampoo