We’ve just bought a kitten and the children are besotted.
It wasn’t a rash decision; we started mulling it over last year but the timing wasn’t right. Lockdown might have been a bit of a catalyst (no pun intended), but the real clincher was seeing the joy our twins derived from playing with a friendly Ragdoll cat that visited our garden last week.
Kitten research
We let our eldest in on our plans and got her to do some research about what kittens need in terms of food, sleeping, toys and toilet/hygiene. Then we ordered everything off Amazon in one go so it was ready and waiting for when we got our kitten.
Here is what we bought:
- Pet carrier
- A lovely soft bed
- Dry food – suitable for junior cats (under 1 year)
- Wet kitten food
- Scratching post
- Selection of cat toys
- Cat litter box with scoop
- Cat litter
Buying a kitten
Animal shelters are all shut right now so we headed to Pets4Homes, which is the UK’s most popular pet classifieds. We wanted a Ragdoll (or part Ragdoll cat) as that’s what the girls had fallen in love with. Happily, as a breed, they’re known to have a laid back sociable nature and are touted as one of the best cat breeds for children.
We discovered that kittens go quick, so when we found a match locally on the site we acted fast.
We had a good telephone chat with the breeder. She had a litter of four, eight-week olds (kittens shouldn’t leave their mothers before eight weeks). Their dad is a Ragdoll and mum is a British short-haired Tortie Tabby (Torbie). We weren’t too concerned about the sex of the kitten as once neutered there’s little to no difference as to which makes the better pet. A plus point for me was that they were already ‘toilet trained’.
We looked at the pictures and chose our favourite.
My husband Matt went to pick up on his own. The breeder was very good and took every precaution with sanitising and social distancing.
Life with a new kitten
The girls were absolutely gobsmacked when Matt and I introduced them to the kitten (even Sofia, who was in on the plan as she didn’t know we were getting one imminently). The girls were able to play with him immediately much to their delight and within 24 hours he’d really settled in. Jack – as named after a lengthy voting process – has already brought a lot of joy. He is a welcome distraction to lockdown and Jack playtime is seen as a reward during our homeschooling day.
He’s very lively, cute and is as bright as a button; he also likes lots of company. He tends to have a funny half hour at around 10 o’clock at night and has an obsession with peoples’ feet. Jack seems to eat a heck of a lot for a small thing. Taking advice, we tried him on wet food once he’d been with us for four days and it’s gone down a storm.
Jack already feels like part of the family although I’m not sure the budgies quite agree!
What we need to do going forward
We know Jack was wormed at two, four and six weeks. We need to make a vet’s appointment so he can be kept up-to-date with worming and flea treatment and have a general MOT. He needs both his vaccinations so we’ll discuss that with the vet. We also need to get him neutered (that’s usually at around six months old) and microchipped.
It’s all been great so far and we’re very happy with our new addition.
