Cat Care in your Home

As you know cats are playful animals. If you are planning to get one, you should know the basics about keeping a cat in the house.
The moment the cat is brought home, you should give it his or her own room for a while with food, water, litter box, and a bed. If your kitty has not yet been litter box trained, you should start teaching it right away so they don’t start urinating on the carpet. Teaching the cat how to use the litter box can initially be done by carrying your cat to the box as often as possible and when your cat needs to go. When you see the cat “does the deed”, praise and reward your cat so they know that this is the right thing to do. The exact dimension of the litter box depends on the size of your cat. You have a choice of three main styles of litter boxes.
➣  Regular Litter Pans
➣  Hooded Cat Litter Boxes
➣  Self Cleaning Litter Boxes
The type of litter you choose is up to your preference and mostly your cat’s preference. We recommend several types of litter both natural and clay based. Find the litter that best suits your cat. Cats are very picky and when you find a litter they use stick to it!!! Fill your litter box(s) as per instructions or typically 2-4″ thick across the bottom. Scoop your litter box daily or at minimum every other day to remove the urine and feces. You can top off the litter each scooping to maintain the correct litter levels. It is a good idea to clean out the litter box entirely when needed of at least every 2-4 weeks. The litter box must be cleaned by using mild soap, hot water, and maybe a bit of vinegar.
House rules must be set regarding what the cat can and cannot do in your home. If ever your cat does something wrong like climb up on the table or scratch the furniture, you must never scold them. Anytime your cat does something wrong you can enforce discipline without causing any harm by squirting them with water bottle or making a load noise using a “pet corrector”.
You must provide fresh food and fresh water at all times for your cat. The feeding dish and bowl should be made either of plastic or aluminum and cleaned out regularly. Your cat’s diet must start with a high quality, premium dry cat food that contains meat or meal as the first few ingredients and no-by products or fillers. Although our premiums cat food may be more expensive than the other grocery brands, you know that it has the right vitamins, is a more balanced diet, and has a higher k/cal count. The K/Cal count means how much food is getting utilized a metabolic energy and what comes out as waste. So even though the grocery foods cost less you feed a lot more and it actually can wind up being more expensive because you go through the foods more often.
Premium pet foods you tend to feed less of so that means less waste and less litter box messes. Aside from dry foods, you can also give your cat’s wet foods. Cats get over 80% of there moisture from wet foods so it is very important to feed wet foods to your cat. Vitamins are always and option for your cat. One such example is fish oil which provides extra omega 3 and 6 oils that are good for skin and coat.
For those that have other pets in the house like a dog, you should give some time for the two to be acquainted with each other. If you have a dog, make sure it is kept on its leash first and has time to get used to your new cat. If you have another cat, make sure to acclimate them to one another slowly. There may be aggression toward on another at first or one may just go run and hide. Give it time they should eventuality be accepting of on another. It is a good idea to also provide a scratching post in your home that your cat can climb on so it can play around without causing any damage to your furniture. Cat Furniture should be 3 feet in height and placed near their bed. When their nails get too sharp, and the scratch pad is not keeping them down you can have the nails trimmed by a Sierra Fish & Pets employee. (See Pet Trimming) It is a good idea to keep nails trimmed so they don’t hurt you or themselves. One of the most important things about cat care is proper grooming. You can bath your cat (even though they may not like it) by wetting their head, body, and tail with warm water and shampoo.
Never lather their ears or eyes. Make sure to wash them thoroughly and dry them using a clean towel. Brush the hair lightly. Lastly, you must bring your cat to the vet regularly or when you see something new in their behavior. Keeping in tune with your cat health and regular vet visits could prevent a possible sickness from getting worse. If you don’t know any vets we have some great recommendations. House cat care can be challenging but is very rewarding. You just have to put in the time and effort when you decide to bring a cat into your home.