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C. RAISING
KITTENS
Cats are blind when young. If your kitten is very, very
young it is still blind. When a kitten is about to be born,
its mother looks for a dark, hidden place to give birth. It
needs to be dark because bright light could be harmful to a
newborn kitten’s eyes. At this stage it is recommended to
keep it in a small area with its mom and other kittens. The
mother cat wants to protect her kittens from danger, so she
chooses a place that no one can find.
The kittens need to be with their mother so she can feed
them milk. When they are old enough (about 7-8 weeks old),
they can start to eat the solid foods that older cats eat.
Please be careful when you hold it, it can slip off your
hands and you can hurt it.
It is also recommended to splash a tiny bit of water on your
kittens when they are 1 or 2 weeks old each day so your
kittens will not be scared of water.
If you don’t want your cat to have any babies, you can’t let
any male cats near it that can sometimes be wandering around
near your house.
Another suggestion is when your cat is four or five months
old you may want to get your cat de-clawed. This removes the
claws permanently so they cannot grow back again.
D. TRAINING
Mother cats train their kittens. They learn how to stalk
their prey, how to fight and how to protect themselves.
Kittens also play with one another in order to practice
these skills.
A cat owner must housebreak the kittens. That means that the
kittens must be taught what to do and where to go when they
need to use the bathroom. The owner takes the kitten to the
litter box after every time it finishes eating. After a
while, the cat will learn to do that by itself.
Another thing that a cat does is exercise its claws. Cats
will need to have a scratching post so they will have
something to scratch and not ruin your furniture.
E. CAT DISEASES
When a cat is healthy, its tongue should be pink and its
nose cool and moist. If it is sick, the tongue will get
coated or its nose will become warm and dry. If that
happens, the cat will have to go to the vet to get
treatment.
Cats can get a few diseases. The most dangerous one is
called cat distemper. This is a very serious disease that
needs treatment right away or else the cat could die.
A common illness for cats is colds. Cats can also suffer
from hairballs that form in their stomachs when they groom
themselves. They can also get ear mites, worms and fleas.
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