PRODUCTS AND SUPPLIES
WE RECOMMEND AND USE
 AT
VICTORIAN GARDENS CATTERY

EXPANDED AND UPDATED: JANUARY 23, 2016

This list is a small compilation of the supplies and products we use at the Cattery and for which our kittens and cats are used to having. It is not all inclusive, but will give you an idea of what to purchase for your new kitten or what to use if a particular problem comes up. This list will not be available to the general public but you are provided a link to view it on the website.  Sometimes I have been the first stop for a parent prior to a Vet visit that might be unnecessary.  It might be just a simple thing that a certain product can cure. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

DRY CAT/KITTEN FOOD: 

I cannot stress enough that excellent nutrition plays such a critical role in the development of a kitten and keeping a cat healthy its entire life. Feeding a cat a poor diet of carbs, corn, grains and byproducts will end up with a cat that can be prone to overweight, diabetes, urinary crystals, throwing up and possible liver and kidney damage that is irreversible etc.  In the end, feeding a cat or kitten junk food will end up with higher Vet bills as the cat matures.  You will start to see problems arising when they turn 3 to 4 years old.  Part of the problem is that pet food manufacturers have to pay more for meat now.  So they use fillers in their products so they can make a profit.  With the price of meat going up dramatically within the last couple of years, these manufactures keep changing their formula to have a higher percentage of fillers.  Just look at the ingredient list on a bag of cat food to know what you are feeding your cat or kitten. The same food 10 years ago does not have the same formula it does now.  Please do your own research on this.  Cats and dogs are now getting sick on those same foods.  There is a reason for that.  You would not want to feed your own children with food that was unsafe or unfit and I know you would not want to feed your kitten or cat unsafe or unfit food.  The term “byproducts” means every part of the animal, including feces.  Please do your research like I have done and you will be the wiser for it.
We use only the top of the line food at our Cattery. We believe EVO Cat and Kitten is the top of the line in grain free cat and kitten foods. You can use them throughout kittenhood and adulthood.   We have done several analysis of all the top grain free, high protein, dry cat foods on the market place. Most have fruits and vegetables in them.  Cats were never meant to eat fruit and vegetables, nor were they ever meant to eat grains, including corn.  My analysis kept bringing me back to EVO Cat and Kitten over and over again. The food is fashioned for how a cat eats in the wild and what their systems were set up to digest.  EVO is 50% protein and 22% fat.  EVO has 12% carbs.  Carbs are not something that is normal in the diet of a cat in the wild.  Carbs in the form of corn does not make for good digestion.  In fact, corn can go toxic and cause liver failure and death.  I learned the hard way on this one when my Sweet Pea, a 10 year old Maltese,had liver failure caused by the food/corn in her dog food going bad and became toxic to her liver.  It damaged her liver beyond repair.  Our kittens are now weaned right on to the regular size of EVO by grinding it up and adding water to it to make wet food. 

I believe Young Again keeps a kitten growing and healthy and keeps adult cats in tip top condition. With EVO, you will see a cat and kitten with solid muscle tone and lean.   If there is ever a health issue like obesity or diabetes,  You can find EVO at independent pet stores and on line at Chewy and Petflow. 

WET CAT/KITTEN FOOD:

We recommend that you try EVO dry food that has been food processed to a rough powder and add water to it to make a great wet food.  This is how we start the weaning process at our Cattery. By making your own wet food using this method, you avoid all the harmful preservatives that are in canned wet food, like carrageenan and gums.

SUPPLEMENTS:
 
I think supplements are very important to add to a cat and kitten’s diet.  With all the over processing of cat food, nutrients could be inadequate or missing during the process.  Supplements are an added protection.  Previously, we had been recommending Kitten Bloom V-900 as a supplement.  However, males could not have it do to the high mineral content that can cause bladder blockages.  I had been searching around for some time trying to find a powder supplement that was pretty complete, tasted great to the cats and kittens and that contained a digestive enzyme.  Just recently, I was introduced to NUVET PLUS FELINE.  I am so glad I found it.  This product actually had more in it than I even expected.  I have devoted a page on my website to this product.  My cats and kittens at the Cattery are on it.  I toss it with their dry food, but you can actually make sure they get it each day by putting the right amount in their wet food, if feeding wet food.  My cats and kittens love the taste … chicken liver. What I love about the product is that it does contain digestive enzymes that are so important to help your cat and kitten absorb the nutrients in the food better.  It also has the added benefit for kittens as an immune booster.  This is so important since kittens naturally have a weaker immune system than an adult cat. This immune system is more taxed when leaving their mother and siblings and going to a new home.  The additional added benefits are that this formula contains natural antioxidants and numerous amino acids, as well as vitamins and minerals. It even should help with tear staining. This product can not be bought in stores but must be purchased on line.  You can purchase it directly through the link on the Cattery’s website. Please use order code: 96593 when placing your order so they know who referred you.  I would encourage every new kitten parent to purchase this prior to the date your kitten is picked up.  This product will help their immune system during that critical time after they leave the Cattery and are exposed to other environment hazards their system is not used to, including Vet visits.

HAIRBALL REMEDY:

We recommend using a hairball remedy every week during shedding season.  Our favorite brand is the Tomilyn Laxatone.  Please be aware to watch to make sure your cat or kitten is having stools on a regular basis.  You do not want him or her to get clogged up.  An inch of Laxatone, once a week, will keep those pipes clean.

WATER:

We use a Berkey Water Filtration System at the Cattery.  I love it because the filter actually removes pesticides. Please to filter tap water for your cats and kittens or buy bottled water.  It is just added protection for humans and their pets.

WATER FOUNTAINS:

We use fountains at our Cattery.  Our kittens grow up using the fountains to delivery their water to them.  Fountains put air into the water and keep it cool and from going stale.  If you would not want to drink stale water, neither would your kitten or cat.

We recommend the use of Stainless Steel fountains since they are easy to disinfect and clean.  They also keep a kitten and cat from getting chin acne. We are still using some Petmate Fountains that are older but are trying to go all Stainless in the future.  So far, we have three Stainless Steel fountains and really love them.  Chin acne can occur with a plastic fountain or food bowl. Right now we have the Drinkwell 360 which is a huge fountain. It is a lot of work to pull this apart to clean.  We also just got a Pioneer Rain Drop fountain.  It is a smaller fountain and very easy to clean. It is also pretty quiet.  My favorite is a Stainless Drinkwell Zen Fountain that is quite large and very easy to clean. It is my favorite and I highly recommend it.  How easy to clean is a big factor for me as well as the size. You will want to pull apart the pump once a week and disinfect it.  We usually put the parts in a solution of 10% bleach for 10 minutes and then run everything, but the pump, through the dishwasher.  For those parents who have cats that like to play in their water, I can send you the link for a clay water bowl that has a whole in the top just large enough for them to get their tongue and part of their face in.  It does work but you have to be very careful to watch the water level.

FOOD BOWLS:

Again we only recommend Stainless Steel for delivering water and food.  They are easy to disinfect thoroughly and can be cleaned in the dishwasher.  Ceramic is ok also.  Avoid plastic as it cannot be as thoroughly cleaned and can lead to chin acne. Most of the time Big Lots has inexpensive Stainless Steels bowls. They are easy to find at most pet stores, even Walmart.

DEWORMING:

It would be a good idea to deworm your cat once a year with a good all around dewormer.  Your Vet can do this also. Our dewormer of choice is: Safeguard for Goats.  Yes, it is for goats but has been used by dog and cat breeders for a long time.  It is exactly the same as Panacur.  I would recommend a five day course of Safeguard once a year or twice a year.  It kills everything but Coccidia.  If you see loose stools or stools that have turned lighter and possibly yellow, it may be time for deworming.  Safeguard for Goats is found at Tractor Supply or on line at various stores.  The dosing is 10 times the amount for a kitten/cat than for a goat so please contact me for the correct dosage for your kitten or cat and I will send you out the dosing by weight sheet that I have.

FLEA PREVENTION:

At the Cattery, we use and  recommend Advantage.  Frontline has  not work at our Cattery!  We have used Capstar on a rare occasion.  It is easy to bring in fleas on your shoes and clothes or if you have a dog. If you have a multicat household that includes dogs, I recommend getting the Advantage Over 50 lb dog.  I have the exact dosing instructions and you will save a lot by buying flea prevention this way.  You use only .4ml for a cat less than 9 pounds and .8ml for a cat over 9 pounds.  Flea Prevention can add up so this is a cost effective way of doing it.  Please contact me for complete directions.

LITTER BOXES AND LITTER:

Please see the article I have on the website about Toxic Litters.  You can read about which litter box system we use and which litter we use at the Cattery.  The only change has been to add a regular basic litter box to the bottom of the Tidy Cat Breeze Box and take out the Tidy Cat tray.  Then there is no need for puppy pads. This will allow more head room for more sawdust, which translates in to not having to empty the sawdust for a week or more.  It has saved a ton of time for me at the Cattery. You will need to disinfect the bottom box if you don’t use a puppy pad.  I would recommend at least one litter box per cat or kitten.  If you have a large home or a two story house, I would recommend at least two litter boxes for a kitten. It will make it easier on a kitten to have a litter box on every floor. If you have any questions about my Toxic Litter write up, please let me know.  Most families love the Tidy Cat Breeze Box with the Tractor Supply Horse Bedding Pine Pelleted litter.  I do not recommend the Tidy Cat Breeze pellets since they are hard, do not break down and stain very easy.  The Tractor Supply Pellets are inexpensive and break down to sawdust that can then be thrown away or used as mulch.

GROOMING:

We recommend the groomer’s comb that comes in our Kitten Care Kit to groom Persians.  It is a chrome comb so a stainless steel one would be better, put pricey.  Please DO NOT use the Furmator.  It will, actually ruin the hair and make matters worse.  Use the groomer combs wide teeth side to comb down to the skin.  This means feeling with one hand the skin while using the other hand to comb.  If you feel a mat, start at the end farthest away from the skin and work down to the mat combing it out. Use your two fingers to hold the hair next to the roots so you do not pull the hair or pull it out.  Remember it hurts when someone pulls your hair.  It is the same for a cat. If you cat has a cotton coat, make sure to groom several times a day.  For those cats without a cotton coat, grooming once a day should be adequate.  Just remember they will mat a lot more during shedding season (March through June).  You need to keep up with it or it will beat you.
 
BLOW DRYING:

A bath once a week during shedding season is recommended as well as throughout the year.  Bathing will help keep the mats at bay. You will need to thoroughly blow dry your pet to the roots on a cool setting dryer or you will make the matting worse. If you do not thoroughly dry your cat/kitten, you will have uncontrollable mats. We do use a Groomer’s Third Arm to hold the nozzle of the dryer so we have both hands free to hold the kitten or cat and use the groom comb while blow drying.  We use the Metro Air Force Quick Draw Dryer to blow dry.  It is fast and pushes out just the right amount of air at the perfect temperature to dry a kittens coat thoroughly in about 10 to 15 minutes.  It is noisy though. Some families have bought a longer hose so that they can put the dryer in another room to limit the noise.  Rest assured, all my kittens have heard the dryer up close and personal.  Adult cats will take longer to dry than a kitten.  If you use a human blow dryer, you will need to use the cool setting.  It could take an hour to thoroughly dry a kitten or cat with a regular human blow dryer.  Here is a link to the Metro Dryer and Arm.  You can find this one at most on line stores and may find it at a better price.  It is the least expensive Metro.

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/air-force-quick-draw

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/groomers-third-arm
 
SHAMPOO AND GROOMING AIDS:

We start bathing our kittens with a kitten shampoo we find at Jeffers Pet called Jeffers® Baby Powder Tearless Shampoo.  It is inexpensive and safe. We are now starting to see more oily coats as we have kittens that are cream and red.  So we are now using Groomer’s Goop before bath in order to get rid of the oil in the coat.  We put the Goop directly on the dry coat and let it sit on it for 5 minutes.  Do not let the kittens or cats lick during this time. Then we bath the cats/kittens who have the oily coat in regular original blue Dawn that has been diluted down.  We shampoo them up, rinse and shampoo again.  After rinsing them, we put them in a bucket of warm water that has about ½ cup vinegar in it.  This gets the soap out of the coat and any remaining oil.  Then we do a final thorough warm water rinse.  If your kitten or cat does not have an oily coat, using a shampoo that is especially formulated for your cat’s coat color is perfect.  We do use Chris Christensen Products at the Cattery … as an example, Black on Black for our Black cats.  If you have any questions about shampoos or bathing, please let me know. If you have a cat or kitten afraid of bath time, I would recommend prefilling both sinks with warm water.  One will already have the shampoo in it.  Then gentle place your kitten/cat in the water and let it adjust to it before putting shampoo on your cat or kitten to suds up.  You can also use a cup to get as much shampoo off before putting it in the rinse water.  You can empty the soap sink so you can do a final rinse there. 

SHAVING:

Our Cattery has grown in its numbers so we are now finding it easier to shave our breeders in the spring time with a lion’s cut.  They like the feel of you petting them after the shave.  You don’t have to worry about hairballs and grooming is so much easier. Just as a warning, shaving a Himi could cause their white body coat to turn very dark.  This is due to the temperature of the skin and is common to the Siamese.  It will grow back to a normal color but it will take a while.  Dr. Williams suggests that if you shave during the Fall, the coat will come back in lighter.  I so far have not found that to be the case.  Some families will shave the underside only since this is the areas more prone to matting ie: under the arms, around the bottom legs. We use an Arco Cordless Shaver to do the shaving and it makes it so easy to do. For a lion’s cut, that means leaving the mane and tail.  If you shave the tail, it will take years for the tail to come back full again.  Shaving the mane defeats the purpose and look of a lion’s cut in my opinion.
 
NAIL TRIMMING:

The kittens are use to having their nails trimmed on a regular basis and most will sit pretty still for the process.  You will get baby nail clippers in the Kitten Care Kit.  It is exactly the type we use on our kittens.  I would recommend trimming their nails every week or two.  I lay them on their backs on my legs and start with the front and work to the back toes.  Sometimes they don’t like their back toes done.  I am not sure if this is a matter of being ticklish or what.  If they move too much, you can wrap them tightly in a towel and pull one leg out at a time and do trim them.. Please make sure not to go in the quick (the pink part of the nail).  It hurts them as much as it hurts us when we go in the quick of the nail.  So please be very cautious of this even if you have to go further out to trim.  Once you cut in the quick, you may have problems from then on out in getting your baby to have its nails trimmed.  Hopefully in the near future, I will get a video produced to show you step by step how I do it at the Cattery.

CAT CLIMBING STATIONS:

I would recommend a nice climbing station for your kitten/cat.  Most cats and kittens will use the climbing station to sleep on, scratch on and play on.  They are indispensable.  Here is the link to the one we are using in the Toddler Room.  We do recommend this Ebay Seller.  The quality is good and all the parts arrived.  We have bought twice from this Ebayer and it was a good experience.  I cannot say the same for other Sellers because the quality was inferior.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/73-CAT-TREE-CONDO-FURNITURE-SCRATCHPOST-PET-HOUSE-5001-/131148962472?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=430341566506&hash=item1e89165aa8

We just bought the Armarkcat Climbing Station that looks almost identical to the one on Ebay.  But it really is much more sturdy and of higher quality.  Just watch for them on sale at Petco or Petsmart or even Amazon.
 
TOYS:

There are so many toys we use at our Cattery. We find that if you try to gather toys, litter, food, playstations etc.  that your kitten used at the Cattery, it will make the transition easier on the kitten when he/she goes to her new home. The videos may be the best way to spy out some of the  toys they use here at the Cattery. Some of the below items come in your Kitten Care Kit.  Here is a list of the toys our kittens and cats use and love. You can purchase these items just about anywhere but we have listed a picture with a link for them.  You may find most of these items at one store, thus you can save on shipping:

Springs:
http://www.entirelypets.com/spotsprings10pk.html?mr:trackingCode=7EDB30E3-B634-E011-B2F2-001517B188A2&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla&gclid=CNLPjeDJzb4CFdRj7AodJQoAvg

Boinks:
http://www.calvetsupply.com/product/Kitty_Boinks_Primary_Colors/Cat_Toys?gclid=CJ3P75HKzb4CFTQQ7AodcWMAyQ

Trackball:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261+1897+11640&pcatid=11640

Tunnel:
This is the exact one we use here.  It is of great quality.  Ours has been through bleach and the washing machine numerous times and is still as good as new.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=26551

Playstations:
Please see our Toy Page on our website for a picture of this.
 
Popup Cubes:
These are easily found at Walmart for $3.88.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/SportPet-Cat-Play-Cube-Cat-Furniture/10532707

Laser Mouse:
We love this toy but please make sure when you are using this to never shine the light in the kitten or cats eyes.  You can permanently damage their eyes.  So please beware to guard the use of it around children.
http://www.petco.com/product/117909/Petco-Single-Point-Blue-Dots-Laser-Cat-Toy.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMGooglePLA-_-Cat-_-Petco-_-1477790&mr:trackingCode=57BF45CD-B44D-E111-B9EF-001B21A69EB0&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=50332582693&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=54138156013&gclid=CJSBmbHMzb4CFeUF7Aod9hkAjA
 
Scratching Pad:
We use several kinds at the Cattery. This includes the Emery Cat for which the refills are getting hard to get.  Our furniture climbing posts all have the scratching pads on the posts.  We also use the cardboard scratchers and the regular scratchers on the post. There is a type for every budget.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261+1897+1900+23727&pcatid=23727
http://www.walmart.com/ip/As-Seen-on-TV-Emery-Cat-Board-Cats/13439349
http://www.walmart.com/ip/SmartyKat-SuperScratcher-Plus-Cat-Scratcher-Cats/3363306

Balls:
Balls with bells, foam balls, plastic balls … any kind will do.

Feather Wand:
Our babies are use to us playing hard with them with the feather wand. You can buy these just about anywhere.  One is included in your Kitten Care Kit.

Boxes:
They love cardboard boxes to hide in, sleep in … small ones and large ones it doesn’t matter.

Tubs:
Plastic tubs found just about anywhere.  They love to sleep in them. We find these at the Dollar Tree for a dollar.

Catch Me If You Can:
Please see our “Catch Me If You Can” video on Youtube to see this in use on our kittens. This toy is now called by another name.  Invest in some rechargeable batteries because batteries do not last long in it.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Catch-Me-If-You-Can-Cat-Toy/14520427#ProductDetail