by Priscilla Ivester
Making your home safe for your new kitten Kittens have a great deal of natural curiosity and may get into things that can hurt them.
This is a guideline for making your home safe for your new kitten.
1. Kittens start to lose their baby teeth at around 4 months. They may want to chew on things to ease the pain of teething at this time. Electrical cords, computer cables and phone lines are particularly appealing for chewing. Unplug cords when they are not being used or make sure they are in places that are inaccessible to your kitten. Kittens and cats can receive burns to the mouth and tongue from shocks from electrical cords. They may also develop fluid in the lungs if the shock is severe enough. Any kitten suspected of receiving an electrical shock should be examined by a vet to determine the extent of the injury.
2. Kittens also like to chew strings, yarn and ribbons. Do not allow them to play with these unsupervised and put them away where the kitten cannot find them when not in use. Kittens may partially swallow a string or ribbon. Foreign objects in the intestines can cause them to become infected or blocked and result in death if untreated. Never try to pull out a partially swallowed string. If it is suspected that a kitten has swallowed a foreign object take the kitten to the vet for an x- ray to determine if surgery will be needed to remove the object.
3. Keep other small objects that may be swallowed such as needles, pins, push pins, thumb tacks and safety pins put away in areas inaccessible to the kitten. Many milk and juice cartons have a round plastic disk connected to a pull tab that is used to seal the carton. These are especially dangerous to cats, as they can lodge in the throat and obstruct breathing. Discard them in a trash can inaccessible to your cats.
4. Holiday decorations and wrappings can often be hazardous to kittens. Do not allow them to play with ribbon, string or tinsel or anything small enough to swallow. Place Christmas tree lights high enough to prevent kittens from chewing the wires or bulbs and tape down electrical cords to discourage them from chewing on them.
5. Do not leave drapery or window blind cords hanging free. They can be a strangulation hazard. Tuck them away to discourage the kittens from playing with them.
6. Many house plants are poisonous to cats. Consult a list of these plants ( www.cfainc.org/articles/plants.html ) and place any poisonous plants out of the areas where the kittens will be living.
7. Foods. There are a number of people foods that cats should not have, often because they lack the enzymes to metabolize them. Alcohol, onions and chocolate should be kept away from cats. Never feed cats chicken bones or any type of meat with bones included. If baby food is used to stimulate the appetite of a sick cat, check to make sure it does not contain onion powder. Keep all tobacco products away from cats.
8. Do not try to bring down an ailing cat's temperature with human medication. Cats cannot metabolize these products well and can be killed by them. A safe dose of aspirin for an adult cat is ? of a BABY aspirin once every 3 days. Acetaminophen is fatal to cats.
9. Household chemicals. Do not allow cats to drink out of toilets that have chemicals added to the water. Do not clean floors with cleaners containing pine oils or phenol. Keep antifreeze away from cats and spills in garages wiped up. Antifreeze is extremely poisonous to cats. Check these websites for other pet poisons. http://petcare.umn.edu/FAQ/Toxicology/NSAIDS.htm and http://www.petcaretips.net/pet_poisons.html . Keep lids/doors to washers and dryers closed when not in use. Check to make sure your kitten has not jumped in before using any appliance with a door.
10. Stairwells and balconies can be dangerous to kittens that have not developed a full righting reflex for landing on their feet. Do not let them play in these areas. If hard falls occur, watch for signs of internal injury and take the kitten to the vet as soon as possible.
11. Encourage your kitten to play with safe toys such as catnip pillows, balls and empty boxes. Feather and Mylar teasers on a stick are great toys for cats, but should not be left for them to play with unattended, as the feathers and Mylar can be chewed off and ingested. Many kittens and cats like to chase flashlight beams across the floor.
Priscilla Ivester
Prispurr Maine Coons
e-mail: ivester@wfubmc.edu
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