Contents:

  1. What you need if you have decided to take a British silver shaded kitten home

  2. The basics in rearing kittens

  3. Toilet training for kittens

  4. Feeding kittens

British silver & golden shaded cats

What you need if you have decided to take a British silver shaded kitten home:

1. Scratching post

2. Nail clippers

3. Grooming brush

4. Bed (a basket or bed of soft easily cleaned material)

5. Ceramic bowls. One large one for water, one for dry food, one for wet food.

6. A collection of toy mice, balls etc

7. Litter tray with hood. For a smaller kitten a litter tray with lower sides

8. Two trowels for picking up solid waste from litter (one with holes one without)

9. Filler for litter tray

10. Cat carrier

11. Cat food!

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The basics in rearing kittens

    The conditions and attitude of people to a pregnant cat has a significant bearing on the health and character of the subsequent kittens.  The pregnant cat must have good food including raw meat (beef, turkey, chicken) and dry food of the Premium standard that includes all necessary vitamins and minerals for the growing kitten embryos.  The mother cat should also get fresh greens in addition to the vitamins and minerals in her dry food.  They should be surrounded by love and care and in advance, about in the middle of their term they should be provided with a comfortable and private “den”, out of drafts, of the light, somewhere she knows she won’t be disturbed.  She will appreciate this attention and will trust you to take part in the birth.  Trust and mutual understanding is very important at this most important time.  In our experience, directly as they are born each kitten is examined.  The mother allows us to take the new-born kitten into our hands and her calmness and trust in us is transferred to her kittens from the moment of birth.  The character of the mother is passed to the kittens , as one says, through their mother’s milk. The psychological and physiological development of the kittens needs to be given great attention.  They soon get used to the presence of people and look on them as big, caring mother cats.  Depending on the quantity of milk from the mother, the process of weaning begins when it seems the kittens are not getting enough.  This happens approximately at a month old.  At the same time the kittens are taught to use the litter tray. 

     As soon as they open their eyes, the kittens become interested in the world around them and a curiosity awakens in them.  They try and get out of their “den” and meet the wide world of our apartment and its other inhabitants.  It doesn’t mean there are no rules for the kittens. They must know what they are allowed to do and what is forbidden.  They mustn’t damage the furniture, carpets, wallpaper or household plants.  We have many big plants that the cats do not touch. We watch them and stop them from doing something with a loud voice, a clap or sometimes with a water pistol.  Kittens need to be watched like small children.  The cats have sleeping places throughout the flat.  They get to know other household pets, our dog and guinea pig, our friends who come to visit.  Meeting people outside our “cat family” widens their experience and teaches them not to fear new people.  This all helps a kitten to get used to a new family when it is time to leave.

     When the kittens are 45 days old they are assessed by a qualified specialist of our cat club and are given a birth certificate and a number, which will be written on their pedigree.

     Kittens are vaccinated with all necessary vaccinations at the vet’s.

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Toilet training for kittens

     It is essential to teach a kitten to use the litter tray from its first steps.  You need to make a small pen around their box and put two low trays inside with some filler made of  specially treated clay. Kittens, like babies like to try things in their mouths.  Clay will not harm them, in fact from ancient times it has been given to calves and piglets for stomach problems.  It’s worth just digging a little yourself in this filler and the kittens will try too.  Then having dug a hole their natural instinct to “go” kicks in.  Curiosity and the desire to copy siblings encourages the others to try.  Their pen should stay up for about 2 weeks as they could get lost elsewhere and not have their litter tray on hand when they need to go.  To avoid accidents make sure they all know where to go first!  Some teach kittens to pee in a tray without filler but without filler the smell is strong and the kitten will not want to return there and will do her other business next to it on the floor or elsewhere.  What’s the difference as there is nothing to dig there?

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Feeding kittens

     Weaning kittens starts at about 4 weeks, earlier if the mother hasn’t enough milk. The first food is single cream with egg yolk and honey, then curd cheese with honey diluted to the consistency of single cream. It’s important to add calcium glycerophosphate (and not gluconate). It digests better.  Later “scraped” raw meat.  This is done literally by scraping the surface of a piece of  defrosted meat with a spoon.  Why defrosted?  Well, when freezing, dangerous bacteria in meat is killed. The soft meat is rolled into pea sized balls and is popped right into the kittens’ mouths.  Some hungrily grab it and you must be quick to get your fingers out of the way, others spit it out with distaste.  This means that this kitten is not yet ready for meat.  Don’t worry, in a week or maybe less he, like the others, will be only too delighted to eat meat. The portion of meat should be increased gradually.  When they have got used to the taste of meat there is no need to feed them directly they will race to eat their portion.  It’s important to watch that the quicker ones don’t eat someone else’s, I simply give this kitten a little more and in this way work out the quantity for each kitten.  You can also use commercial kitten foods. Our balcony is an area used by our cats throughout the year and there are pots of grass that all the cats love to eat.

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