Kitten Care  

Your Ragdoll kitten is eating a nutritionally balanced diet which includes Royal Canin PRO Kitten 36 dry food (NOT Babycat) and fresh water. Please have dry food and fresh water available at all times.

If you wish to change your food, please do this over a 10 day period by adding the new food a few kibbles at a time or your kitten may develop loose stools.

Your kitten is using clay TidyCats multicat litter and is using a litter pan without a plastic bag liner and it does not have a top. If you wish to change litter or litter pan type, please change over a 2 week period by adding the new litter to the old very slowly.

Vaccinations
Your Ragdoll kitten has received one or two 3-way vaccinations (panleukopenia (FPV), feline viral rhinotracheitis (FHV-1), feline calicivirus (FCV) vaccination).  If your kitten has received one vaccination, he/she will be due for the second within 3-4 weeks from the date of the last vaccination.  Your kitten will then be due for the annual vaccination 1 year from the date of his last vaccination, and then every 3 years.  Depending on your state law, Rabies will be due between 4 and 6 months of age.

Arriving Home
The first few days will be difficult for your Ragdoll kitten as he has been used to being with his mother and siblings and suddenly they are not there anymore. It takes time to adjust to a new home and your patience and love are greatly needed at this time. Your Ragdoll kitten will call for his siblings and mama and may get loose stools due to stress.

When you arrive home, it would be best to confine your Ragdoll kitten to a small room such as a small bedroom or bathroom with his carrier, a bed, toy, litter box, dry food and water while he gets accustomed to him new family. Please leave dry food and fresh water down at all times. If you are able to, your Ragdoll kitten would love to sleep with you for the first few nights until he has settled in. Some people do not like to do this, but your Ragdoll kitten will love it and feel very secure.  After a few days allow your Ragdoll kitten access to 1 new room at a time.

Feeding
Your Ragdoll kitten is eating Royal Canin PRO Kitten 36 Dry (NOT Babycat) in the pink and white bag.  Please provide free access to dry food and a bowl of fresh water at all times. If you have more than 1 Ragdoll cat/kitten, I suggest a large stainless steel pie pan or their own separate bowls. If they are eating canned food, please provide only a small amount as canned food may give them loose stools. If your Ragdoll cat/kitten has loose stools, you may want to cut back on the canned food or not give it at all. Dry food is more nutrient rich and much better for your Ragdoll kitten. If you wish to change food, please do not do this until your Ragdoll kitten is about 4-6 months old, and then SLOWLY add the new food to his current food over a 10 day period as to not cause an upset stomach and loose stools. We purchase Royal Canin in the pink and white bag at any pet food store.

Pottying
Your Ragdoll kitten has been toilet trained using a litter box without a top and no liner as this just rips.  Your Ragdoll kitten has been using Tidycats multicat clay litter (non-clumping) long lasting odor control for multiple cats.  When your Ragdoll kitten is 4 months or older, you may change the litter slowly over a 7-10 day period by adding the new litter to his current litter. We generally start using clumping litter when the kitten is approximately 4-6 months as long as they are no longer eating the litter as all kittens do this occasionally. Please put the litter box in a place where your kitten can find it and try not to relocate it as he will forget where it is and this causes accidents. We suggest 1 litter box per kitten.

The litter box should be emptied and cleaned on a daily basis. Please use a disinfectant which is safe for cats. We do not use plastic liners as the kittens scratch right through them and causes more of a mess. Disinfectants containing phenols and cresols can be lethal to cats. They can absorb this substance through their paw pads. Please also be aware of the products you use in your bathrooms, kitchens etc. We suggest washing your litter boxes on a weekly basis with regular chlorine bleach watered down.

Please remember your kitten is in a new environment and any adjustments need time, patience and understanding of the occasional ‘slip ups’ that might occur.  Please keep your litter box quite a ways from your kittens food.

Grooming
We recommend combing or brushing your Ragdoll kitten on a weekly basis. This is also a great time to bond. 

We recommend clipping toenails every 10 days to 2 weeks, or when needed. You can purchase a nail clipper from Petco/Petsmart or use a human clipper. Whichever you are more comfortable with.

Your Ragdoll kitten will not need frequent bathings, but may need an occasional one. Please only use cat shampoos.

Scratching
Our kittens are trained from an early age to scratch on corrugated cardboard and siscal rope scratching posts. You kitten will still occasionally try to scratch your furniture. When you see him doing this, firmly tell him NO and pick him up and place him in the appropriate area to scratch.

Fleas and Worming
Even though your kitten is an indoor only kitten, he can still catch fleas which can be brought into the home on your pant legs etc. We recommend using Advantage for kittens under 9 lbs. in the spring and summer as we find this brand safe and the most effective. We also use Revolution occasionally. We no longer use Frontline plus as our vet informed us that is is not effective in our area any longer and it did cause our kittens to foam from the mouth. We suggest that your vet check your cat/kitten for worms and only worm him if he has them.

Safety
Please prepare your kitten’s home as if you were having a human baby. Crawl along your floor and look for any hazards that your kitten can chew or choke on.

When kittens are young you may want to watch the floor constantly when you walk as they will run between your legs often and you may step on them.  We are always looking down when we walk.

Be aware of washers, dryers, dishwashers, freezer & fridge as they may climb in when you are not looking. Please look down when closing all doors, dishwashers, fridge, freezers, washer, dryer.

A lot of plants are poisonous to kittens. Please see a list of these plants at
http://www.cfainc.org/articles/plants.html

Please do not set mouse traps where you kitten can find them. Please keep all cleaners in a closed cabinet.

Watch when sitting down as your kitten may be covered up in a blanket and you may hurt him by accident. Watch window blinds and cords as they love to batt these with their paws and they may hurt themselves.

Watch glass items or vases on a coffee table.

Watch electric cords as kittens do try to play with these. You may want to tape these together.

Two of my cats try to eat the clear packing tape so I would watch this too.

Rubber bands, paper clips, thumb tacks, broken balloons, Christmas tree tinsel and other small articles are irresistible to kittens. 

Please contact us by email

KYRagdolls@gmail.com

or Telephone (270) 726-1455

ChamiDolls Ragdoll Cattery - Ragdoll Cat Kitten Care - Kentucky near the middle Tennessee border Ragdoll cats and kittens - Rag doll Cats for sale - Chamidolls Ragdoll Cattery a ragdoll breeder located in Kentucky near the middle Tennessee border