[rdswan14]

I am new to forums of any kind and am learning here, so I hope I'm doing okay.

Petey is the name of my new cat/kitten. He was adopted and I am sorta new to cats. I had one many many years ago but don't know a lot about cats.

One of the questions I have is about nutrition, specifically how much food to give. I have looked online and gotten a lot of good information. However I am curious about how much and how often to feed when the kitten phase of free feeding is finished.

I adopted a rescue cat named Petey. He is a neutered black and white domestic shorthair that joined our family on October 9, 2012 and I can't imagine my life without him.

He was abandoned and found wandering the streets. He knows his name and answers (when he wants to of course).

The rescue place we got him from said he was 5 months old, and the vet said 8-12 months old. Am curious which one is more accurate, but I Love him no matter which it is.

I just bought a cardboard scratcher toy with catnip to put on it. I thought the catnip would induce him to scratch the board as that is what the claims are. All he does is roll on the catnip and then take a nap after a few minutes. When he plays with his catnip mouse he acts much differently. He stalks it, pounces on it, and bats it around. Is this a natural reaction to catnip applied to something?

 

[rdswan14]

Question on Grooming

Does anyone use the Furminator to groom their cats? I need to brush Petey almost daily and he is still shedding quite a bit. I know his winter coat is coming in, but I want to help him avoid hair balls by helping him with the shedding so he doesn't lick it all into his stomach.

 

[acco]

Hello - I'm also new to this forum! I've been a cat owner for over 20 years, though. If you feed dry food, the back of the bag will tell you how much to feed - just split that amount into 2 or 3 meals. I feed my cats wet food only, and they each get the equivalent of one 5.5oz can per day (split into two meals) and this has maintained healthy weights for them. I think it's best to have set meal times and set amounts you feed - if you have food available all the time, they tend to get pretty fat! Plus, they bug you less in between meals if they have set times. I'm not sure at what age you're supposed to switch to "adult" vs "kitten" amounts, though, it's been a very long time since I've had a kitten.

I've seen the furminator for dogs, but I just use a regular cat brush - it has a single row of thin metal teeth set very close together. That gets fur out pretty well, but admittedly, I don't brush mine very often :\

As for scratching, it does seem some cats prefer a certain surface to scratch on. They sell the cardboard type, the carpet type, and the sisal rope type. If he ignores the cardboard, perhaps try another type. I have one cat who only uses the cardboard type and my other cat prefers the rope. And, yes, cats love to roll around in catnip (even eat if, if you sprinkle some on the floor)

 

[NiteMresPrncess]

Hi. I use to use forums all the time when I was into some roleplaying sites I was on then I stopped but I just recently got a kitten and I have questions and everything because I am new to owning a kitten.
I haven't used that. I say just use a soft bristled brush on him. Not one with the wires yet. Thats what I'm using on my Eclipse. They seem to help get the fur off them pretty good.