Living with a Bengal kitten

Well, we've had Pyewacket with us for a month now. She was nervous at first and more restrained.
She is NOT nervous anymore!

The Ferret Nation crate is working out well, just like it originally did for Cricket previously. Pye likes to have her own space and we have seen her go in there to sleep on her own, not just when we say so. It's also helped keep the dogs from stealing her food or raiding the litter box.

Now that shes warmed up!
Nothing is safe, lol. I knew they liked to climb, but I didn't expect her to climb the window screen. I'm discouraging this but it might be a lost cause. She does adore her climbing tree and we are still laughing about the older gentleman who asked us "How many cats do you have?" when he saw us in line at PetSmart with it. We knew she would need something that she was allowed to climb and scratch!

I'm thinking something more elaborate and even taller for the future, like maybe this?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12843513

Well named, indeed.
Pyewacket is the name of the Siamese cat from "Bell, Book and Candle" starring Jimmy Stewert and Kim Novak. A long time favorite movie of mine. The name originated in the 1600's as the name of one of five imps claimed by a witch during her trial.  It was also the name of a rock band more recently in the 70's. And...our Pyewacket is definitely an imp!

She does something you don't want, like digging in my amaryllis pots. You make her stop. A few seconds later, back she goes, and she looks at you like. "So? I'm having fun, here!" It's a game to her.

Five minutes before that, she was leaping through the gauze curtain just behind my head where I was sitting on the sofa, claws out, latching onto my scalp, then jumping back, and repeat.


Scott reminds me with a grin, "You wanted this."

Yes. Yes, I did. I still do, lol. Wouldn't miss a minute of it.

Mojo's Stalker.
Mojo is being excellent with her! I was really worried about him, with his high prey drive, but he's been trying really hard to be good and he seems to enjoy having a cat here again. I think he really just wants to play with her at this point. She has to get more comfortable with the idea though.

Right now, she stalks him when he's not looking. She's jumped across the sofa at him and landed right in his face, then arched her back, hissed and growled like he invaded hers. I've seen this about six or seven times now. Eventually, she's just going to jump on him.

Yesterday, she was playing in the vine that sits on our coffee table. Mojo got really interested in what she was doing, so he came over for a closer look. This turned into a back arch/growl scenario, but Pye didn't leave the coffee table and Mojo didn't wander away very far before he came back. Pye finally just continued to play in the vine while moving around and watching Mojo watching her.

It's going to be really fun and really noisy when they finally comfortable enough to rough house. Both breeds play really rough with a lot of mock biting and growling. 

Risa touches noses with the kitten and moves along. She's such a big, gentle girl.  Pyewacket is mostly comfortable around her.

Nursing and insecurity.
For all her bravado (and she has tons), little girl has some insecurities. I have seen cats nurse before on shirts, blankets and pillows, but I have never seen one nurse on her own belly! Pyewacket does this while purring like a lawn mower. She'll purr even louder if you pet her at the same time.



I had the vet look her over during her recent trip for vaccination. She's not hurting herself, so I'm not going to stress over her stress. We'll give her lots of love and hopefully, she'll outgrow it.

Pyewhacket's Gotcha Day!

Today is the day! We pick up our little girl.
The den is as cleared as we could get it since we are not quite done with the utility room, but it will be done later this week.

Her Ferret Nation two story crate is ready and loaded with toys and comfy places as well as a dining area and rest room. Her cat tree awaits. The food is thawing.

We are as ready as we can be for the Bengal invasion. *gulp*

More later.....

Pyewhacket - House Prepping for the Kitten

It's Tuesday! We pick her up next Monday. 6 days! Woot.

The utility room is painted, just have to put in the wire shelving and I'll have my den back to more or less normal. Then we can set up the two story ferret nation crate as the kitten crate.

Pyewhacket's raw food is prepped and in the freezer.
We have a nice tall climbing tree and a bengal spotted kitty bed. CAMO KITTY!
I have an appointment set for the vet to look her over the day after we pick her up.

This is what she looked like at 4 1/2 weeks - She'll have grown so much!

TO DO LIST:

• Assemble crate. Spray it with the SCO10x solution to remove any previous cat scent.
• Clean the cat carrier. Spray it with the SCO10x solution to remove any previous cat scent.
• Put breakables AWAY/behind glass. Jersey Devil glass piece in particular!
• Get a shelf for inside the china cabinet to add space?
• Put things away!
• Kitten proof as much a possible, block crawly type spaces somehow.
• Tie up all loose cordage shop cyberguys tiebacks? use releasable  cable ties? 

I don't expect her to be unattended enough to actually get a chance to chew on a cord, but you never know.

So excited!

Diabetes, Diet and The New Cat

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Having discovered through Puff's developing diabetes that her lifelong diet was, to put it bluntly, crap, I'm now extremely concerned with the diet for our new cat when she arrives. I want her to be as healthy as possible for as long as I can. YourDiabeticCat.com and DiabeticCatCare.com: If your cat is diabetic, these are GREAT support groups, especially DCC!

This is an Indian Creek Bengal. She's a brown  spotted hybrid cat. She won't be home with us until sometime in April. We get to meet her officially on Monday. I'll probably go nuts with a kitten drool-y blog post then.

So. A healthy, balanced diet. Low carb, good protein. Should be easy, right? Aarrgh!

There are a gazillion (yes, I know that's not a real number, lol) cat foods to choose from!

CANNED

Processed dry food = BAD. Almost all of them are loaded with grains of one kind or another.
First thing I learned in the YDC and DCC forums was to avoid them all. I've eliminated a lot of choices right there. http://diabeticcatcare.com/nutrition

Too many Fruits and Veggies = Bad. A lot of canned foods are overloaded with these, which sounds great and balanced for a person, but for a carnivorous animal, it's too much of a good thing. Carnivores do not chow down massively on fruits and veggies. More foods off the list. I'll allow for a small amount for vitamin content, figuring that a cat in the wild would get this much from it's prey's stomach. Gross, but true. Again I'm looking for a good, healthy balance.

Made in USA = A MUST. I don't want food manufactured in foreign countries. You'd be surprised how many there are once you read up on it. We have standards here that aren't enforced in other countries, and I want that. http://www.petfood.aafco.org/IngredientsMakingPetFood.aspx
There have been some serious illnesses and deaths. Look up pet food recalls for more information.

So...as far as canned foods go, I've narrowed it down to Before Grain, by Merrick.
The cattery lists this as one of their recommendations along with Wellness (too many veg/frts) and Weruva (Thailand), but I read up on them all, as well. I was considering B.G. kibble as well, because it's the best ingredient mix for dry that I've seen, but even with a healthy cat, I want to try and avoid the kibble.


RAW

I've read much about RAW diets, especially as recommended for the hybrid cats. I'm reluctant to go full out homemade raw because of the difficulty in balancing the diet so that all essential nutrients and vitamins are covered. There are some good quality commercial raws out there.
 
I'm concerned that some of the processes to make these safe to eat or handle might also be damaging to the natural probiotics in the foods. More reading to do still. I'm leaning towards Honest Kitchen to supplement the canned food.

Biggest factor may be, will my cat eat ANY of it?

Treated Raw:
The cattery recommends/uses Blueridgebeef.com I'm a little leery of the "charcoal process" I'll have to read up on that some more before I try this out.

Dehydrated:  Honest Kitchen has the best reviews. http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/cat-food/

...are gently dehydrated (not canned, baked or extruded) and are served with a high moisture content, which is optimal for cats’ digestion and urinary health. We only make 100% human grade cat food, and production takes place in a human food facility.

Freeze Dried: 
 http://www.grandmalucys.com/artisan_chicken_fish.html 
  Grandma Lucy's might be a little potatoe heavy according to one review, I'll have to try it and see.

Some helpful reading (starters):
Feeding Your Cat: Know The Basics of Feline Nutrition
http://www.holisticvetcenter.com/pet-food.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_feeding
What's Really In Pet Food?
Dr. Zoran's article on carnivores