Your Singapura kitten(s) has been engaged in fun and play, nurtured, loved, socialized and cared for from day one. He/she is fully ready to be your devoted companion for many, many years to come.
Your Singapura wants to be engaged with you. But it’s much more than that.One of the important ways all of my queens and their kitten’s, including your kitten(s), is cared for is through excellent nutrition. It is one of those items I take very seriously, as it’s essential to your kitten’s long term health and wellbeing. I know you share that sentiment, that same commitment.
I often get asked “what do you feed your cats and their kittens” and “what should I feed my kitten(s) once I get him/her”? I would say continuity is important initially: maintaining the diet your little one has gotten used to will, along with your love and attention, lessen the initial stress of his/her new environment. Once he/she has settled in, you can gradually make changes to suit your (and your kitten’s) own needs.
In that spirit, and for your own information, this is what your kitten(s) has been eating and drinking…..
Besides momma’s milk, at about 4 -5½ weeks of age, your little one(s) starts out (briefly) with a little Gerber’s chicken on the tip of my finger, then quickly graduates to a variety of Fancy Feast wet foods for kittens (Tender Chicken Feast, Tender Turkey Feast, Tender Ocean Whitefish Feast and Tender Salmon Feast) in 3 ounce cans mixed with a bit of warm water. Baby get as much wet food as he/she wants, often three plus times per day. The very first dry food your kitten is introduced to is Mother and Baby Cat kibble made by Royal Canin USA, Inc. St Charles MO; www.RoyalCanin.com, 1-800-592-6687 (momma is encouraged to crunch this dry baby food too, right through the gestation period before your little one is even born). Baby and mother quickly graduate to a custom blended dry kitten food mix: 4 parts Purina Pro Plan Kitten Chicken and Rice Formula, 3 parts Royal Canin Mother and Baby Cat kibble, 2 parts Purina Kitten Chow and 1 part IAMS Proactive Health Healthy Kitten formula. Later on, baby is allowed to crunch the custom blended dry food mix that’s available to the adults 24/7. Everyone loves this dry mix (see below). Baby continues to get a variety of Fancy Feast wet foods daily (both kitten and adult varieties). The adult varieties everyone likes include Beef, Chicken and Turkey Feast in Gravy and Seafood, Salmon and Shrimp, and Tuna Feast in Gravy plus Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp, Salmon, and other Fancy Feast varieties..
That dry mix, which everyone loves, consists of the following products: 1 part Purina Kitten Chow Nurture, 1 part Purina Cat Chow Indoor, 1 part Purina Cat Chow Naturals with added Vitamins, Minerals and Nutrients, 1 part Simply Nourish Source Grain Free Adult Indoor Chicken and Turkey Recipe, 1 part Authority Adult Chicken and Rice Formula, 1 part Purina Beyond Grain Free Wild Caught Ocean Whitefish & Gage Free Egg Recipe and 1 part Purina Cat Chow Complete! You will be provided with a baggie full of both of these gourmet dry food mixes with the delivery of your kitten(s). (Did I mention my cats and kittens are spare no expense pampered!)
Mixed into these wet and dry foods every day are three nutritional supplements. The first one is called Platinum Performance Feline Wellness Formula by Platinum Performance Inc. Buellton CA; www.PlatinumPerformance.com, 1-800-553-2400. A small sample will be included with the delivery of your kitten. I highly recommend it as a nutritional supplement for your little one going forward. The second supplement, added to all wet and dry food is an essential amino acid, L-Lysine HCL. The brand I use is Viralys by Vetoquinol USA, Inc. www.Vetoquinol.com 1-800-267-5707. A small sample of this will also be supplied to you upon delivery of your kitten(s). Stay away from supplements made in China. The third supplement, added to all foods wet and dry is a probiotic: The brand I use is Probios, made by Vets Plus, Inc. www.probios.com. A fourth supplement that I mix into the wet foods that nursing mothers and older weaned babies get is a calcium-phosphorus-vitamin D supplement called Pet-Cal made by Zoetis, www.zoetispetcare.com 1-888-963-8471, that I purchase from my veterinarian. It may be available elsewhere.
To promote tooth and gum hygiene, I use an oral hygiene solution in our pet’s drinking water once per day (fifteen water bowls changed fresh at least twice a day). That product is Oxyfresh Pet Oral Hygiene Solution by Oxyfresh. Coeur d’Alene ID, www.Oxyfresh.com, 1-800-333-7374. The other dental hygiene product I use, sprinkled on all wet and dry foods is Vetri Science Laboratories’ Perio Support, a “daily support formula for dental health and hygiene”; www.VetriScience.com 1-800-882-9993. I consider these products to be a first line of defense against pet periodontal disease. I strongly recommend you continue your commitment to your pet’s oral hygiene health into adulthood to also include an annual dental checkup.
Of course health and wellbeing involves more than just careful nutrition…
Many years ago, I had a brief infestation of fleas. I am told I may have brought a few in initially from the garden…I immediately declared war. Using an intense multi-pronged strategy, I quickly eliminated every last flea. Asiatica Cattery is and stays flea free. Your little one(s) is being delivered to you flea free and as long as he/she stays indoors and stays flea free, there is no need to preventatively treat your pet(s).
Every 90 days on an on-going basis, all of my adult cats get the preventative worming medication Strongid at a dosage rate of 0.1 ml/pound of body weight for life. This medication can be purchased from your vet and has a long shelf life. I administer this by mouth every quarter, Jan 1st, April 1st, July 1st and October 1st making it easy to remember “it’s time”. I strongly recommend you continue this on-going preventative program on your own.
A word about litters: for the first couple months of your kitten(s) life, I use (and have used) several brands of organic litters, made from ingredients like corn, wheat or walnuts, to guard against the possibility of your kitten(s) trying to eat a clay based clumping litter. The kittens quickly “wise up”, see the clay based litter mom is using, and like children and adolescents everywhere, want to emulate mom, which is fine once they’re old enough to get up into mom’s box.!! I’ve used a wide variety of clay based scented and unscented
clumping litters. In my opinion the best of the major brands is Arm and Hammer’s Multi-Cat unscented clumping litter in the box with the blue label that says “hard clumps for easy scooping” on the front or the box with the red label that says “extra ammonia blockers” and “superior odor control” on the front. Another excellent litter is Arm and Hammer’s Clump and Seal Multi-Cat unscented clumping clay litter. Recently I’ve found a truly excellent, dust free corn based litter, World’s Best Cat Litter Advanced Zero Mess multiple cat strength cat litter (look for the distinctive black bag with a blue stripe). www.worldsbestcatlitter.com. This is widely available everywhere including on www.chewy.com.
I use open, clear plastic 55 quart Sterilite storage boxes for the adults and small, white 14”x 10 ¾”x 4 ½” tall Sterilite boxes for the babies. The best scoop on the market is made by DuraScoop. You can buy these at www.Amazon.com.
I always have one adult litter box and one baby box available per cat/kitten, plus one, as per American Association of Feline Practitioners guidelines. Additionally, to prevent the spread of any potential harmful microorganisms between litter boxes, I am now using one dedicated scooper for each litter box. Litter boxes are cleaned and disinfected in a multistep process on a regular basis. I start by spraying each emptied box with a 25% solution of Odoban, www.odoban.com, 1-800-841-1904. Each box is then thoroughly scrubbed with high quality dish soap then dried. Each box is then sprayed with a 25% bleach solution, or a 25% solution of Rescue concentrate, a one step disinfectant, cleaner and deodorizer made by Virox Technologies, Inc. www.Virox.com, 1-800-3877578 on an alternating basis, which is left to dry on the boxes before they are refilled with fresh clean litter.
I’ll mention two treats some of my cats adore: one is dried bonito tuna flakes. The brands I like are Citi Kitty Tuna Treats, Citikitty, Inc. Morrisville PA 19067; info@tunatreats.com; www.tunatreats.com, or Cat-Man-Doo Extra large Dried Bonito Flakes, Bellevue Washington 98008, www.CatManDoo.biz. , The other treat almost everyone loves is Temptations , Seafood Medley flavor made by Mars Petcare, Inc. www.temptationstreats.com. 1-800-525-5273
Thank you for allowing me to provide you with a truly wonderful little creature. Here’s to your Singapura kitten(s) long term health and wellness!
