Help with New Kitten

[Cheekyteddy]

Hi guys, we are getting a new kitten on 1st May, really excited about it, she will be a pet for my 11 year old daughter to be responsible for. Does anyone have any tips on bringing our new pet home? We have 2 dogs (shih tzu) who have lived with a cat before but he came as an adult cat when my eldest daughter came home to live with us for a while, this will be a tiny 7 week old kitten.

I am going to get a book, but you can't beat experience.

thanks

Cheeky

[wolf63]

No matter how small and fragile looking the kitten is he will have the dogs (and humans) obeying his every command with minutes.

Good luck

[paraffin]

Hi Cheeky:

We've always had doggies and moggies and have found that they normally get on like a house on fire once they've gotten to know and trust one another.

I agree with wolf that your little moggie will be putting your doggies in their places in no time at all.

However, while she's still little, I'd not trust the dogs 100% to be left alone with her for any length of time. There's just a tiny chance that they might try to gang up on her while she's still tiny and do her some harm.

Apart from that, I'd let them find their own levels and rest assured that before long your little moggie will be queen of all she surveys. Oh, yes, and make sure you get her a scratching post or two, otherwise she may "practice" on your furniture.

Best of luck. Hope your daughter enjoys the little tiddler and treats her with respect - it will be reciprocated.

[coccinelle]

When we brought our little kitten home for the first time our (belated) gordon setter was so eager to get to her (this was his territory after all) we kept them seperate but the windowed door allowed them to weigh each other up. Then one day, the kitten scratched on the door to get into the room where the dog was and she took over from there!!! Pets are incredible.

[Cheekyteddy]

Thank you, you are all very reassuring. We are so looking forward to getting her.

Cheeky

[quizbag]

For the first couple of days you could use a small travelling cage for pets so that they can get used to each other without any risk.

[jen78]

Firm but nice discipline, it can be so easy to give in when they're so young and cute but starting as you mean to go on will work out better in the long run for both of you.