Taking care of a kitten
Going to the vet is a normal part of every pet owner’s routine no matter how old your pet gets. Here is the rundown of what to expect from a routine check up at the veterinarian:
Your kitten will be weighed, have his temperature taken and the veterinarian will listen to his heart. After doing a general check over of your kitten’s skin/paws, the following quick exams will be conducted:
An oral exam—your vet will look into your kitten/cat’s mouth to make sure his teeth are healthy and that there are no signs of periodontal disease.
An ear exam—your vet will look into your kitten/cat’s ears to check for ear mites and other signs of damage. Sometimes hearing loss can be detected with a routine ear exam.
An eye exam—your vet will make sure that your kitten/cat responds to visual stimuli, check for cataracts, etc.
If all goes well, your kitten will get a clean bill of health and won’t have to have another vet visit until he or she is six months old, when it will be time to be neutered or spayed.
During the first five weeks of a kitten’s life, he will nurse from his mother. This is the only food he will get and it is important that the mother and kittens have plenty of time to spend together (even if you plan on giving the kitten away later). Once the kitten is five weeks old, his mother will start to wean him from her milk and it will be up to you to provide kitten-friendly food for him to eat. Make sure when you buy food for your kitten that it is made for kittens and not for adult cats. You will want to start the kitten out on canned kitten food. Don’t give the kitten dry food for another couple of weeks because his teeth aren’t yet strong enough to crunch the food safely. By eight weeks of age, your kitten needs to be completely weaned from his mother. You can start to introduce dry food into the kitten’s diet.
At five weeks it is still okay to give your kitten milk to drink, but you will want to gradually introduce water in the next few weeks. Milk is only good for very young kittens and older cats. For regular adult cats, milk can sometimes be harmful!
The kitten’s mother should also be fed kitten food as it is higher in nutrients than adult cat food. After nursing for more than a month, the mother cat’s body can be close to malnourishment so it is important that you provide her with a nutrient rich diet to help her regain her strength.