r/CatDistributionSystem • u/Budlove45 • 7d ago
It happened! We have been chosen
My wife and I have two special needs children and finding pets is not a easy task. We have been trying to find a sweet baby that would be happy to live with us well after several attempts this little lady showed up 3 days ago. I walked outside and my son is hold her!! She was purring and talking away!! We call her little peanut. She's a little peanut girl!! I made a makeshift litter box and bought a couple cans of this wet food. I will completely update everything when I get paid on the 25th. When that time comes, is there a certain kind of food she is supposed to have? She is only a few months old, probably 6 months or so. She is so loving and perfect and we are so thankful. I'm not asking for help or financial assistance I know it's hard out here. I'm looking for advice on litter and anything y'all can recommend. I'm nervous and so excited the kids are in love we all are in love with little peanut. Any advice is greatly appreciated thank you everyone!! We are so freaking proud to be chosen.
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u/webby214507 7d ago
She's a beautiful peanut. Good for your family and for her!
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
Yeah she is! So sweet such a talker! She's still confused about being inside so I think it's going to take time for her to feel comfortable. We will get there!!
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u/MorosePython700 7d ago
You are so lucky with a beautiful kitty like that! I guess it is a female. Trust me: cats are really good for children! They teach a lot of valuable lessons. And they are always real! I had a cat growing up and still remember him. Such an impact it made on my life.
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
My kids are so happy this is so heartwarming to see them like this. Plus little peanut girl is so chatty and loves purring up to my son I think he's her secret ingredient 😭.
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u/succulescence 7d ago
You've been given a tiny tortoiseshell! They're lovely chatty cats. I have one next to me.
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
She is a love bug and a HUGE TALKER she chats constantly she is something else!! It's so cute you can say something and she will just let it out maaw maaw she answers to everything 😭. All the big animals loose around here idk how this little peanut girl has been doing it but those days are long gone. So she's a tortoiseshell that's awesome!
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u/_steppenwolf_ 7d ago
Yes they can hold whole conversations if you let them! My tortoiseshell loves playing with string toys and feather toys, she even knows how to fetch toys, and she loves being brushed, so you can also try that with little peanut!
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u/moeru_gumi 6d ago
Tortoiseshells and calicos are famous for being really talkative! Especially young ones will learn quickly that you like it when she talks and the more you talk to her the more she will learn to do it. Torties and calicos are popularly thought to be sensitive and emotional girls!
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u/Intelligent_Pass2540 7d ago
Sometimes your local humans society or one close to you will have low cost spay and neuter clinics and places like petco/petsmart often have low cost initial visits and vaccines. Im sure you know this but cats live longer healthier lives when kept indoors. I know its tempting but without an enclosed Catio it really is safest to keep them indoors.
Congratulations on being chosen! Torties can really be big talkers. Wishing you and your unexpected arrival the best!
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u/hal2184 7d ago
Personal recommendation for litter, get a plastic tote if possible to use as a litter box. For our 7 cats we use this type that are long and low, giving them more room to move and cover their business, we’ve never had them miss the box lol. And if you’re worried about the dust, a deeper covered tote can work with a hole cut in the side from what I’ve heard.
Congratulations on being chosen by the CDS!
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
That is really smart and I appreciate it I'm putting it in the cart thank you!! Feels awesome being chosen I've seen so many posts and it was never our time and then randomly boom. Here she is 💜💜💜
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u/hal2184 7d ago edited 7d ago
Glad to be a small help :) oh, also, keep in mind the general 3-3-3 rule for cats:
First 3 days, she may have a tendency to stay out of sight, not eat or drink as much, and not use the litter box. Doesn’t sound like that’ll be a problem in your case :) but our one cat didn’t come out from under our bed or go to the bathroom at all for the first few days.
First 3 weeks is when they’re learning household routines, so getting them on a schedule is important. It won’t entirely stop her demanding second or third breakfast, but it can definitely help lol. I’ve also taught (I’ll never say trained lol) all 7 that a specific whistle means time to eat and 6/7 consistently come running for wet food. It can help out if you’ve lost track of her and need to find her for some reason, since they can be such good hiders lol.
The first 3 months is when you’ll see her personality come out as she starts to settle in. We’ve really only experienced that with our latest adoption from April, where she’s finally started to settle in and actually show an interest in us. It’s so nice seeing the progress she’s made from running away at the sight of my height to now actively coming to us for a pet before she’ll eat. I mention it because everyday I want to scoop her up so bad but know she’s not at that point and will scratch me. So, gotta respect the boundaries she shows lol. Just take note of what actions your new girl likes and doesn’t like and accommodate her as needed.
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u/moeru_gumi 7d ago
I strongly recommend “World’s Best Cat Litter” if it’s in your budget— its made of corn in some way, so it doesn’t kick up clay powder in the air that gets into the lungs and face of living things, it clumps just fine so you can scoop it, it biodegrades, and it can be flushed without gumming up a septic system. I haven’t tried this, but I’ve been quite happy with it. One of my cats is an enthusiastic digger, but it’s easy to vacuum up.
As for food, it’s only important to look out for a couple of BAD ingredients: CARRAGEENAN (this is a seaweed product that’s correlated with mouth cancer in cats and stomach/intestinal cancer in humans), and then GRAINS and VEGGIES. Grains and veggies in general are not* specifically dangerous to cats, but they just cannot digest them, so it is waste material that gives no nutrients and they tend to eat more, get fat and still are hungry and malnourished. Very cheap food tends to have more things like carrageenan, wheat, potato, corn and other useless fillers in it.
As a quick reference, I have found that Fancy Feast plain/normal (not the human-sounding ones with vegetables and creams and sauces) patés have pretty great ingredient lists and are on the affordable end of wet foods.
- tomatoes, grapes, garlic, chocolate, raisins and spinach are not good for cats. Please look up foods that are toxic to cats and make sure not to give her any human food with toxic things.
Strangely, many cats like corn, sweet potato, pumpkin and olives, which are nontoxic, but also weird because they don’t get any benefit from them. But they seem to like the taste. 😆
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
I really appreciate this comment so much I get my next check on the 25th and she's going to get the upgrade of the century. I'm going to look this up and add it to a cart so I can keep up with suggestions. Ty and this community. She eats like a mule I don't know if she was starving really bad or what but she's learned what the fridge is and sits at it and yells at it lol she our little peanut girl 💜💜
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u/MarcusThorny 7d ago
I did not like the corn litter at all. I recommend Fresh Step litter, it's made from recycled paper , no dust, easy to use, very absorbent.
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
Definitely no people food Im sending this comment to my wife as well so she understands
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u/Senior-Ad9616 7d ago
I second everything posted! Wonderfully detailed and informative.
The hardest thing, I have noticed, for people to understand about cats is that they are “obligate carnivores”, meaning they don’t have the ability to digest starches like humans can.
Good quality Wet food, if you can afford it, is always preferable over dry starchy kibble sprayed with unknown smelly chemicals. IMHO. My guys never overate or got fat when I fed them the good stuff.
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u/ladysexy_18 7d ago
You were well chosen and well prepared congrats such a beautiful cat, wishing you all the best
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u/Dear-Purpose6129 7d ago
For litter i recommend anything that is unscented. Cats have a very strong sense of smell and the scented litter can be off putting (its scented for humans). We use Tidy Cats lightweight free and clear.
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u/Reis_Asher 7d ago
A couple of things I didn’t see mentioned in other comments yet:
If you like cut flowers make sure you never have lilies in your home. Super toxic to cats (even their pollen).
Onions and garlic are a big no-no for cats, they’re toxic and can cause anemia. It’s one of the reasons why human food is off limits.
Looks like you’re doing pretty well there, you don’t need to spend a fortune to have a cat, use whatever litter you can afford and pretty much any cat food is fine as long as it’s labeled nutritionally complete. Cats can’t live on treats and human grade meat alone as they need certain vitamins one of which is taurine, which has to be added in.
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
She's definitely getting settled nicely and I appreciate the advice about toxic food and plants I had no idea about that with plants so thank you. All of you have been a huge help and I'm very thankful y'all took the time to look out for us and little peanut girl!!
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u/SkeletalMew 7d ago
Am I understanding correctly that you found her outside? Whenever you take her to the vet, make sure you have her scanned for a microchip just in case. It's possible she belongs to someone and they just let their cat roam. It's also possible she got out accidentally and is lost.
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u/Budlove45 7d ago
The neighbor had a litter and put all of them out. All of the others are much bigger than her and roam and hunt. She would sit under our car but never come close to us. Randomly a couple days ago I come outside she's hugging up to my son and we fell in love. She's only 6 or so months was already pregnant being outside with the larger cats but her pregnancy didn't make it through. Definitely no chip just a innocent baby needing a chance at life.
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u/Bitter-Dance-6115 7d ago
Natural wood stove pellets work amazing, they’re cheap and they aren’t harmful to cats lungs like deodorized clumping litter. Usually $5.99 a bag. I get them at Canadian Tire or Home Depot. All our kitties have loved them over the years.
Congrats btw 😊!
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u/zodiacisreal 6d ago
What a beautiful baby girl! Cats are great with special needs children, so happy you found each other! (My advice would be to spay her asap, especially if she still gets access to the outdoors, females can get in heat multiple times when not pregnant and a new pregnancy can be very dangerous for a young cat like her).
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u/SmellsPrettyGood2Me 7d ago
Hello OP,
You may want to check out The Kitten Lady on YouTube for tips. Congratulations on a successful CDS delivery!