New Kitten 101, Part 1: The Basics

There’s nothing quite like bringing home a new kitten—hearing her purr, watching her bat around new toys, and seeing her personality come to life. Congratulations on your new furry friend! To help the new addition to your home go as smoothly as possible, we’ve put together a New Kitten 101. In the first of this two-part blog series, we’ll overview living arrangements, deworming and parasite prevention, spaying and neutering suggestions, and diet recommendations. Part two is all about vaccines.

Living Inside or Outside?

We strongly recommend that all cats remain indoor only. The outdoors poses many dangers to cats. Encounters with other cats, dogs, and wild animals can lead to injury and the spread of disease. Run-ins with cars, motorcycles, and bicycles can cause serious injury and death. Exposure to fleas, ticks, and worms is common, especially for cats who are hunting and consuming prey. And toxic substances, such as lilies and antifreeze, are tempting for cats to taste but can lead to kidney failure and death.

Most cats take to being indoors with ease, especially if you make sure to provide them with entertainment and stimulation. Bird feeders, open windows, and/or screened-in porches are usually very popular with the indoor feline crowd. Interactive toys also can help keep a cat engaged and entertained.

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

Kittens are susceptible to a number of internal parasite, including hookworms, round worms, and tapeworms. Hookworms are commonly contracted when a cat ingests hookworm larva or ingests infected rodents. Signs of infection can include weight loss and anemia. Round worms are frequently passed from mother to kittens during nursing or when a cat ingests infected rodents. Signs of infections can include diarrhea, poor growth, and a swollen abdomen. Finally, cats acquire tapeworms from eating infected fleas or prey animals.

When it comes to a deworming schedule, kittens are typically given a broad spectrum dewormer starting at 4–6 weeks of age and continuing every two weeks until the kitten is 12 weeks of age. Many monthly parasite preventatives cover intestinal parasites. Ask your veterinarian about which product is right for your cat.

External parasites include fleas, ticks, and mites. These are acquired outdoors and can be passed between cats and other animals in the home. Fleas cause itching, scabbing of the skin, and—in severe cases—anemia. Ticks can carry serious disease, such as Ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Anaplasmosis. Mites typically affect the ears and can cause severe itching and discomfort.

To avoid these dangerous pests, we recommend that all cats to be on regular monthly parasite preventatives. These come in both topical and oral varieties, and different products cover different parasites. Your veterinarian can help guide you in choosing the preventative that best fits your kitten’s lifestyle and risks of exposure.

For further reading, Merck Manuals offers a great Pet Health Edition that details even more parasites and details about them.

The Big Fix

To prevent unwanted litters, all kittens who will not be used for breeding purposes should be spayed (females) or neutered (males). It is recommended that the procedure be performed between three and six months of age, although it can be performed as young as two months.

Spaying involves surgical removal of the female reproductive organs (ovaries and uterus) through an incision made into the abdomen. Spaying reduces the risk of developing breast cancer later in life as well as eliminates the risk of uterine cancer and uterine infection (pyometra). Spaying also eliminates the female cat’s heat cycle and her desire to wander outside.

Neutering involves surgical removal of the male reproductive organs (testicles), usually by a small incision directly into the scrotum. In some kittens, the testicles do not descend all the way into the scrotum; in these cases, an incision into the abdomen is needed in order to remove the non-descended testicle. Neutering eliminates the risk of testicular cancer as well as decreases a male cat’s urge to mark his territory by spraying urine and his urge to wander.

What’s Cookin’?

The market has a plethora of pet foods and products, and the choice of which to feed your kitten can be overwhelming.

Generally, any commercial pet food that is marketed for cats should be safe to feed your cat. The American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is a voluntary membership organization that oversees the production and distribution of animal feed. The AAFCO has no regulatory authority; however, many states have elected to adopt the AAFCO standards as their own.

When selecting a pet food, it is important to read and understand the label. The AAFCO website is an excellent resource for what all that label jargon actually means, including Reading Labels and What’s in the Ingredients List.

Considering a raw diet? The risks of feeding raw or undercooked meat and other animal products to pets are similar to the risks in people. Improper storage and preparation can lead to contamination with harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella or E. coli.

The FDA has some excellent resources on the risks or raw food as well as how to properly handle and store raw food to prevent food-borne illness in pets and family members.

Of course, preparing your own pet food is an option. However, the nutritional needs of cats, while similar to humans and dogs, do have some significant differences. For instance, certain protein precursors, called amino acids, can be manufactured by the body, but some amino acids must be obtained from food. Cats have a limited ability to manufacture amino acids, and so they must consume food that contain these amino acids. Humans do not have such strict requirements, and so many human foods do not contain all of the amino acids that cats need. Cats with amino acid deficiencies can experience issues such as blindness, weakened bones, and neurologic disorders.

If you wish to home cook food for your cat, we strongly recommended consulting with a veterinary nutritionist to ensure that your cat is getting all of her necessary nutritional supplements. Most veterinary schools have a Nutrition Department, and many of these nutritionists are available for long-distance consultation. You also can search the American College of Veterinary Nutritionists Directory.