Thank you for your interest in kitten/cat care. I have put together this information that I have found to be very useful when caring for our new family members. These suggestions aren’t the only way to care for your kitty but have proven to work well for me. I will cover the following things in this packet: Vaccinations, Food, Litter and Grooming.

VACCINATIONS are very important in keeping your kitty healthy. On your contract I have stated when the last shot was given to your kitty. If it was at 12 weeks you can just give the annual booster or you can go ahead and vaccinate at 16 weeks and then do the annual booster. I do another shot at 16 weeks because I have a multiple cat household. When I vaccinate I use a 4 way shot which is an all-killed shot. This shot protects your kitty against Feline Rhino, Calci, Panleukopenia (Feline Distemper) and Chlamydia. I do not vaccinate against Feline Leukemia because it isn’t 100% effective and I know of people that have had problems resulting from it. I do have my kitties tested for it and by doing this and NOT letting your cat be exposed to other cats that aren’t tested seems to be the best way of prevention.

FEEDING your kitty can be a lot of fun! Finding a food that your kitty likes and one that you know is good for your kitty is a real challenge sometimes! You want to avoid giving your kitty table scraps because this doesn’t provide your cat with the proper balance of nutrients. You may be killing your friend with kindness by doing this. Instead be sure to provide them with a diet that is designed for the age and activity level for your cat. Problems can occur when changing foods around. This can irritate their systems and cause loose stools. If you feel the need to change their diet do it VERY gradually. Take at least a couple weeks to do this. Also MILK is NOT part of the diet for a kitty! Not all cases but quite a few get a very upset tummy from this and then get loose stools. This is no fun for you or your kitty! Not meaning to promote any certain name brands but I start the kittens off on Pro Plan Kitten. When they start maturing I gradually put them on Science Diet. I like to use these foods because they agree with the cats systems well and they only have one stool a day which is nice for all! I continue with the kitten formula mixed with the maintenance formula on my adults because they are breeding but when not breeding you should switch to the adult formula around 8 months to a year of age.

LITTER is a very important subject! Nobody wants their friend using the house as a giant litterbox! It is also important for the health of young kittens to NOT use scooping litter for them. Kittens have been known to eat the litter and the scooping kind will turn to cement in their tummies and will cause them to die. PLEASE be sure to use regular clay litter for your kitten. Once they are adults though scooping litter is my preference. It keeps odors down and is so much more convenient. You still need to be sure to dump the old scooping litter out though before bleaching the box and adding fresh. The brand I use and love for it’s terrific clumping abilities is the scooping litter available at Sam’s Club. It is simply called Litter Clean. You want to be sure that whatever litter you use is NOT heavily perfumed though. Your kitties nose is much more sensitive than ours and when you can smell that nice fresh litter a room away it is to overpowering for your kitty, more than likely, and he will probably choose somewhere else to do his business. You also want to be sure that the box is plenty big enough for your kitty to move around in and that they aren’t going to be hanging out over the edges when going! I like the large and extra large covered litterpans and have had good luck with them. Some cats won’t feel comfortable in them though because there is only one exit and you really need to see if one is right for your kitty or not.

GROOMING is a very important thing with this breed of cat for obvious reasons! Yes, not all of the Himalayans and Persians need to be brushed daily and there are some that have a certain texture of coat that really doesn’t mat when brushed weekly. It is important that if for some reason you can’t keep on top of the brushing of your kitty that you have him shaved down. Once these guys start to mat you will have one giant mess on your hands! It is also painful for your kitty to be matted because as they scratch at the mat it will ball it up a little bit more and make it a little bit tighter on the skin. I prefer to use a Greyhound comb on my cats. You can find Greyhound style combs in most pet supply stores and catalogs. These will get to the hair next to the skin and will separate any hair that is thinking of matting and is good to use to work out any mats if they occur. How often you comb your kitty is really an individual thing. I have had some that twice a day wasn’t enough and I have had others that weekly was plenty and If you have an exotic you have nothing to worry about! Start with daily, especially with a young kitten, to get them familiar to the brushing routine and as they age you will learn how much is needed for your cat.

Cleaning your cats eyes will also be an individual thing. The lighter colors generally need cleaned more often. The best way to do this is to just take a warm washcloth and wipe away any debris. You do not want to let any tearing accumulate on the kitties face as this will cause the skin to be irritated and bacteria will thrive in this environment. Besides, it doesn’t do much for the looks of your pretty baby either!

I bathe kittens weekly mainly because they need it but also to get them accustom to the bathing routine. Adults that aren’t being shown usually get a bath once a month unless needed earlier. Yes, bathing your non-show cat is important! If you are interested in a bathing routine for a show cat please get in touch with me and I would be happy to share mine with you. A good maintenance bath though is very simple. I take the kitty to the kitchen sink. I make sure that I have everything that I need handy so I am not carrying a wet kitty around the house searching for anything. You will need a towel, some Dawn dish soap, a tear-free shampoo and a washcloth. If you desire you can take a small leash and tie it to the faucet to help hold your kitty in the sink. Then proceed to wet your kitty down being sure to NOT get water inside the cats ears. If you like you can put cotton balls in the ear to help prevent this. Then take a small amount of Dawn Dishsoap and rub into the cat. I prefer the lemon scented or clear kind so that way I don’t have to worry about turning my kitty blue! After you get this worked in especially behind the ears and on the rearend and tummy, you need to rinse and rinse and rinse and then rinse some more! If you spend 3 minutes washing your kitty then take 10 to rinse! When washing the face you want to be sure that you have a good tear-free formula shampoo. You can work a tiny dab of this into the face with an old toothbrush and then use the washcloth to rinse and rinse being careful not to get water down your kitties nose. If you like you can use conditioner afterwards to help detangle your kitties coat. I prefer to use Nexxus Humectress. This will separate each hair and leave it feeling like silk. Again after applying this though you want to be sure that you have it rinsed out completely. Then you need to towel dry your baby and dry him. You can purchase a dryer made for drying pets or you can use a regular hair dryer. Whatever you choose to use be sure that it blows cool air and NOT hot air. This will burn the kitties skin and damage the coat. You do want to be sure to get your kitty completely dry. Inside the ears and all.

You will want to be sure to trim your kitties nails every couple weeks too. This will help on wear and tear of your cat trees and scratching posts! If you do not trim the nails then they can curve around and grow into the pad of your kitties foot. I also recommend trying every possible means so de-clawing is not needed. Provide plenty of scratching areas for your kitty with either scratching posts and trees, or even inexpensive cardboard scratching posts attract the cats. There are also covers that you can get to cover the nails of your cat.

Dental care is important too for these short nosed breeds. They seem to be prone to buildup on teeth. By just putting a dab of cat toothpaste (available at pet stores) inside the cats mouth it works at helping prevent tartar buildup. You can do this daily but I have had luck with doing this weekly and being sure to check what their teeth are looking like.

There is so much more to caring for your new friend but I hope that these tips can be helpful. Always remember that you can call me if there is anything at all you need to know. I will do my best to get you an answer!