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Being a new pet owner has its challenges, even more, if you have never had a pet before. You’ll need to know certain things depending on the animal you’ve decided to take care of, and cats are unique on their own.
They can be playful at times, but also very independent and lonesome. Small and adorable, but at the same time pretty chilling and lazy, some people have different opinions regarding them. I, myself, believe that people who constantly work and are not at home as they would like to, cats are better options than dogs because they don’t require as many companies, but they can get lonely if you don’t pay enough attention to them.
Some people may believe that cats don’t require as much investment because of their independence, but if you want to have a healthy lifestyle along with your cat, you’ll have to invest a few bucks.
Don’t worry! In this guide, you’ll probably learn whatever you may need to know about taking care of a cat, and you can always visit Pet Cat Friends for more detailed information.
Starting A Life With a Cat
The first thing you want to know about cats is that, depending on their age, milk might not be the best choice when it comes to food. There’s a huge misunderstanding about milk and cats that may have taken many kitty lives over the years because of it. Don’t get me wrong, cats do love milk, but until a certain age, whole milk can be harmful to their tummies and give them a severe case of diarrhea, which may dehydrate them and cause their deaths if you are not careful.
I want to point this out because many times people rescue or adopt kitties that are too small to drink whole milk. In those cases, I’d recommend you give them milk mixed with water to avoid this, or lactose-free milk, which can be one of the best options you have.
If the cat has teeth and can eat solid food, you can give it a canned food or dry sustenance watered to make it a little softer for their teeth. We’ll cover which one is better later on in this article, but we have to cover some other things beforehand.
Now that you know this, the next thing you want to cover in their training. Housetraining a cat can be rather simple, or a complete nightmare, depending on the cat and how willing he or she is to listen.
The first step of this training process is the litter box. The texture of the sand is something that cats love and will look up to whenever they need to go to the bathroom. To make sure that the cat understands that the litter box is the place to do their things, place it somewhere that is quiet and place the cat on it. It’ll understand right away if you are lucky.
You’ll need a scoop to keep the litter box clean, and you should try to clean it every day. Cat litter smells a lot and if you let it be for a couple of days you’ll a rancid smell around your house, so be careful!
Some people like to have several litter boxes around the house so their cats have multiple options when going to the bathroom. This is a really wise decision considering that cats have no sense of rooms, and believe it or not, they get easily lost inside houses.
Try to let it have as much peace as possible whenever he’s using the litter box to let it know that it is a safe place where he can do its thing without worrying about its surroundings. Try to stick to the same litter box and sand as much as possible because cats tend to get rather upset about the change.
Take Their Age Into Consideration
An animal’s age is really important to consider. Since animals age way faster in comparison to humans, a couple of years can mean a lot. That’s why you should know your cat’s age or at least have an approximate. For example, young cats can’t tolerate milk that well, and they’ll probably need more attention since they are still in their infant state.
Older cats, on the other hand, tend to be way more independent, but they’ll need to eat more food. Senior cats may have joint problems and kidney complications depending on the diet they consumed, so you might consider purchasing oils for their muscle pains and have a diet specially made for them.
The Food
I recommend going for either canned food, dry food, or both. Vets and cat owners usually recommend adding both things to a cat’s diet because of both compliment each other very well.
You can feed it two times a day, once during dawn and the other one during dusk since those are the times they are the most active.
You can always go for homemade food but this may be way more expensive than purchasing canned food and dry food. Those two types of food have their own advantages and benefit your cat in different ways, and if you decide to mix them in its diet, it’ll be more than enough.
Things to Consider
As this article portrays, cats can be a little playful and cheeky. They might jump on surfaces that they are not supposed to be in, and act in a way that is not wholesome. In those cases, you want to make sure that they understand that what they are doing is wrong.
With that said, do not hit them or scream at them when they act like this. It’ll make them fear you, and that is something you don’t want to happen. What you should do is get yourself your hands on a water sprayer, and spray them with a little water whenever they jump on something they shouldn’t be on.
To relieve them of anxiety, you should get them some toys and furniture to scratch. Luckily, you can find many choices online.
Cats don’t require as much bathing as other animals since they are rather clean pets but try to accustom them to being batch from a very early age so they understand that they are not in danger inside water.
Brushing your cat every now and then is also very important, and brush their teeth too. If possible, visit the vet every few months to check their health and see if you need to change something about their lifestyle or diet.