This page is to help kitten owners ensure they are ready for their new arrival, and what is expected from them re the kittens care.

What you will need to prepare yourself!

Kitten food

We feed our kittens either Pro Plan kitten dry food or Royal Canin kitten Dry food.   We also feed Royal Canin Mother and Babycat mousse to start with, and we also offer them the Pro Plan Chicken kitten sachets.  When they are a little older you can offer cooked chicken, or cooked beef diced up finely as a treat.  We always leave the dry food out for them to graze on, and ensure they have fresh clean water at all times.   From about 4 months you can offer them raw chicken neck to chew on.   This will assist with teeth cleaning plus teething.   You can give them twice a week.   I like to supervise them while eating these.

Litter and Trays

We use Breeders Celect recycled paper litter.   This can be purchased from The Warehouse, Animates or pet.co.nz.   Please dont change the litter or the kitten/s wont know what it is.   Remember they are only babies and it pays to stick with what we do.   It pays to have a large litter tray and clean it at least daily.   If you have a large home you may want to make more than one litter tray available to the kitten/s.

Scratching Posts

All our catteries are well equipped with cats play gyms and scratch posts.   These are great to save the furniture also.   The cats and kittens love to sharpen their claws on them.   We highly recommend the Kattack scratching posts.   They are expensive but are very good quality.

Toys

We give our cats and kittens plenty of toys to keep them amused.  It often looks like a crèche here but with cat toys instead!  They love the tunnels to run thru and hide from others.  Crinkle balls are great along with ping pong balls.  A lot of our Burmese tend to fetch and retrieve so toys are really important.  Please ensure you purchase good quality toys so you know your baby is safe.

Affection and stimulation

Our Burmese really thrive on affection.  They are given plenty of love and attention when they are with us and we recommend you give them the same if not more when you get them home.  Our kittens are not scatty, but confident little Burmese with outgoing personalities, and bombproof natures.  We brought a pair of Burmese kittens here in NZ who were so scared they went thru a crack in the floor and would not come out so we had to take up the floor, and then they went down the wall of our house (as it was an upstairs floor) so a hole had to be put from floor to ceiling to get the poor kittens out.   That sort of behaviour should not be seen in Burmese kittens (or any) and if you do come across a kitten like that, I would suggest you contact the breeder ASAP!  That was a very sad situation and makes us more determined to breed friendly, well socialized kittens!!

Sleep time and Sleeping Quarters

Kittens are just like babies.  They sleep most of the time when they are younger and wake up and have bursts of energy and play time.  It is important to let then sleep and not over tire them.

Kittens like secure places to sleep.  They will always have favourite places and your bed will usually be the first place.  When you get your kitten home always ensure he or she knows where the litter tray is and if need be put 2 or 3 litter trays around the house so that wherever the kitten chooses to sleep there is always a tray near by for them.  It does pay to put the kittens into a small room with their food, water, and litter in it when you first get them so that they can adjust to their move.  Remember getting a new kitten is like having a 3yr old toddler dropped off in your house.  Of course they are going to be shy and dont know where anything is.  You need to show them.

Should I keep my kitten indoors?

Yes your kitten should be kept indoors for at least a couple of months.  If you live on a busy road, I suggest you get a Cat enclosure for them.   These are great and can be purchased from www.catnets.co.nz.  They are easy to put together and are reasonably cheap to buy.   There are different sizes and they can fit on your deck.   Some people like to put a collar on their Burmese.   Please ensure it is a quick release one only.   Burmese are very keen on climbing and they risk injury if it is not a quick release one.  Burmese are not good with road sense, so keeping them away from roads is a good idea.