KING RETIRED CH NICKY ANCESTOR of REGAL SIBERIAN CATTERY

silver tabby, red tabby (cream)(boys only), brown tabby kittens expected to be born

silver, blue, bi-color tabby kittens expected to be born

blue silver tabby,

 FEEDING

Feedings  should be twice daily with the food left down for about an hour (ex:  put it down when you first get up, then pick it up before you go to work  and do the same around dinner time). The benefit of twice daily feeding  over free-feed systems (leaving the food down all the time) is that you  absolutely KNOW the cat's appetite every twelve hours. Most cats will  run to the bowl, eager to eat. In this way we can gauge its appetite  very carefully.

If we allow free-feeding, it can takes sometimes  days to figure out if the kitty isn't eating enough. Which, as we  discussed earlier, is important since cats hide their illness very well  and it is extremely important to catch problems as early as they arise.

WATERING

No,  put the sprinkler away.We're talking about putting water out for the  kitty. This may seem way basic, but the water bowl should be cleaned out  and re-filled with fresh water twice daily.

Some foster cats  may be a tad, shall we shall, eccentric. Some cats will only drink from  glasses (human type glasses and sometimes only if it has ice and dash of  lemon!). Another favorite trick is to only drink from running faucets.  To these individuals, we usually cater. Just be sure everybody has the  fresh water they crave (condiments are optional ), at least twice daily.  

LITTER PAN DUTY

The  litter should be scooped twice daily. This way you can check stool  consistency and be sure the kitty is urinating appropriate amounts. Most  cats will defecate once to twice daily and urinate 2-3 times daily.  Each amount of urine should be about the same size and color. If the  kitty is urinating frequently (either large or small amounts), you may  want to consult your vet.

If the cat ever cries, strains or  spends an inordinate amount of time in the litter box, your vet must be  notified IMMEDIATELY. Especially with male cats. We use high quality  food and urinary tract problems are rare, but can happen so we must be  alert for them.

Anything other than nice normal brown, formed poop and nice yellow urine, should be noted and addressed.
 

 WARNING SIGNS TO WATCH FOR

If  the kitty does any of these things, even once, you should be concerned.  It most instances, it will be nothing, but again we always want to be  on the safe side.
Sneezing Coughing Gagging/hairball stuf Wheezing Tires easily Diarrhea Straining to urinate or defecate
Bleeding from any part of the body

Abnormal twitches Loss or decrease of appetite Change in attitude or behavior Lethargic or depressed Breathing heavily
Or any other problem or concern that you have!  

 INTRODUCTION INTO THE HOUSE

The  same applies to the cats.This is why we require a 7 day in-home  quarantine, which sounds far more foreboding than it is. Basically keep  the new kid in a bathroom or spare room, separate from your other cats.  Even if you don't have other cats, if the kitty should break with a cold  we don't want the rest of your house contaminated. The bathroom works  great because you're in there a lot on, well - your own 'business' which  involves significant 'sit-down' time. Plenty of opportunity to  socialize with the kitty and love it up.

Why seven days? Because  most cold and flu viruses have a 3-6 day incubation period. Therefore  if it doesn't show signs of illness with 7 days, it's probably free of  anything it picked up at the pound and we can allow it to start mingling  with the rest of the household.

Another advantage of isolation  ofother cats is for socialization purposes. It sounds strange that we  should keep cats apart, so they get along better, but it is absolutely  true.

When cats first meet, it seems they take an insta-matic  picture of the other cats response. If their first meeting includes:  arching, hissing, and spitting, it's not going to be a pretty picture.  They seem to carry this image of the other cat around with it and hold a  grudge, sometimes life long. It's as if each time they come into  contact with the newer cat, they pull out the picture (even if the newer  cat is being nice and calm at the moment) and say 'see, I don't like ya  and I never did!'.

If, however, you let them introduce under  the door first as they sniff each other, you have a far greater chance  of getting them to accept each other. They may hiss and spit at each  other, but since they can't see each other, they don't take this  'grudge' picture. Usually within their 7-day isolation period they will  stop aggressing towards each other under the door, you can let them see  each other, since they have already gotten use to each other's smell. If  either cat starts acting cranky, just shut the door and try again  later. It's that simple.

This technique is especially helpful if  you plan to foster sequential, (different) cats. If each time you bring  a new cat into the household and (in your resident cat's opinion) the  new cats are always spitty, hissy buttheads, your resident cat is going  to resent any visitor and could get stressed out. So we must make sure  your resident cat feels:
They are the king/queen of the universe
This new cat is only a minor inconvenience to their lifestyle
The new cats really aren't thaaattt bad, they just smell a little funny.
If  these introductions go well, resident cats usually adopt a non-chalant  (read: kitty arrogant) approach to these new invaders and simply ignore  the peons. Which is exactly what we want. If they want to make friends  and be buds, that's cool, but most older cats will simply be tastefully  disdainful and ignore the newcomers.  

 K I T T E N C A R E

This  category includes kitten over 4 months of age. We need to remember that  even though they are healthy, they've had a very stressful life lately  and most are just out of the pound. Just like us, after extreme stress  like finals or a big presentation at work, it's not until we're done and  relaxing at home that we come down with a cold or the flu.    Please try the following if you have an acceptance issue with  cats, dogs in the household and new kitten:

Bath  both cats, cat and dog, with the same shampoo. About an hour after the  baths new comer will be dried out by older cat/dog and accepted in the  house.  Also,  if kitten bites or scratches the owner, try to make a hissing sound  like you are a cat in pain, kitten would thing that he/she hurts its own  and remember not to do it again, repeated couple of times, but make  sure you do not do it too loud otherwise you would scare little fellow  and make more damage than good.