Triplets Female Kittens Wants Mom Attention To Play

Raising a cat requires that you provide not only for its most basic needs, such as food and a clean litter box, but also for its health, its comfort, and its mind. If you are interested in raising a cat, take the time to understand the commitment you are making and learn how to raise it right. If you do this, you are more likely to end up with a well-adjusted, happy, and healthy cat.

When raising a cat it is important to provide it with nutritious food. Canned and dry food are both fine as long as the food includes mostly animal protein and not a lot of filler.

When your cat is young, you should feed it kitten food, which gives it more fat and protein for its growing mind and body. As the cat ages, you should feed it food that gives it complete nutrition without giving it so much that it gets overweight. When your cat gets older, you may need to transition it onto senior food, which provides the type of nutrition that geriatric cats need.

If you have a long-haired cat, it is a good idea to give it hairball-preventing food, especially if it has a history of choking up hairballs. In most cases, this type of food helps to prevent hairballs by increasing the amount of fiber your cat is getting. Fiber increases the rate of digestion and moves food, and hair, through the digestive tract more effectively.

The amount of food you give it will depend on the size of your cat. Look at the food packaging and follow the directions there for portion sizing, which is usually based on your cat's size and age. Cats who eat too quickly should be fed smaller, more frequent meals.

It is very important to provide your cat with clean water at all times, as dehydration can make your cat very sick. Put the water in a clean, small bowl and replace it daily, so that the water is appealing for the cat to drink.

Once you bring a cat home and name it, you should get it some identification. This can be in the form of a tag on its collar, but you can also get it microchipped at its veterinary office. Even if you plan on raising the cat to live indoors, having identification is important -- remember, if it gets out, it will have no experience finding its way home.

When raising a cat, you will need to teach it to use a litter box. For most cats, this is a relatively easy process. Once you bring a cat home, keep it contained in a small space with food, water, a bed, and its litter box. The cat may naturally head towards the litter box to go to the bathroom, as they are naturally clean animals that like to pick specific bathroom areas.

If the cat doesn't use the litter box automatically, move any feces or urine into the litter box and clean the areas where the cat went to the bathroom outside of the box. If the cat smells feces and urine in the litter box, it will know that is where it should go.

To ensure that your cat uses its litter box, you should make sure to keep it clean and tidy. Remember to remove solids daily. You should also empty it completely, clean the box, and put totally new litter in weekly.