The First Step in Bonding for Life
How to Gentle a Kitten
What the heck is "gentling a kitten," and what does bonding have to do with grooming? you might ask. The short answer is "the development of trust." You are teaching your kitten that you can be trusted, and that handling his feet and inspecting his mouth and ears are normal parts of a daily or weekly routine. It will make those future vet visits so much more relaxing for everyone involved.
Skin and Fur Care
How to Bathe Your Cat
Bathing a kitten is rarely needed, as he will do an excellent job himself. However, if you suffer from allergies, one of the suggestions to relieve symptoms is frequent bathing of the cat, preferably by a non-allergic helper.
There might also be times when your kitten gets into a mess, or for other reasons needs a quick bath. For those times, this how-to will come in handy.
Brushing and Combing
Daily brushing or combing is an excellent way of bonding with your kitten, as well as eliminating stray hairs that are potential hairballs. Most kittens love to be brushed, and it will become a pleasurable activity for both of you, one you'll both look forward to. You may find a grooming glove useful for for this grooming task.
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Your assignment this week: Brush your kitten at least four times.
Dental Maintenance
How to Examine your Cat's Mouth and Teeth
This is the first step in a program of dental care, and a process that your kitten needs to learn to accept. You've already laid the groundwork in your "gentling" your kitten lesson, and this article goes a bit further with the details. Once he's comfortable with your handling his mouth, move on to the next link.
How to Clean Your Cat's Teeth.
Examine your kitten's mouth once a month, brush his teeth two to three times a week.
Flea and Mite Protection
How to Clean Your Cat's Ears
Mites leave black, sticky gunk in your kitten's ears, and, although your veterinarian will clean them at the same time he or she gives mite treatment, cleaning them at home will be a process you'll need to repeat from time to time. This how-to makes it a fairly easy process.
Flea Protection
The very first rule for flea protection is: Never, ever put a flea collar on your kitten! Many flea collars contain toxic chemicals that can cause serious illness or death in cats.
Topical flea products will kill fleas and some will kill their larva and eggs, as well. Most of these products are safe for use on kittens over eight weeks of age. Ask your veterinarian first for his or her recommendation.
We use Advantage on all our cats, and haven't seen a flea for years.
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