I Just Got a Kitten. What Do I Do?: How to Buy, Train, Understand, and Enjoy Your Kitten

by Mordecai Siegal

Overview

The cat is out of the bag....

CATS ARE DELIGHTFUL AND LOVABLE CREATURES

But they don't always start out that way. Every day, adorable kittens are charming their way into our homes. What happens once they get there? The family's favorite furry bundle of love can quickly become a real handful. But now help is on the way.

From renowned cat-care expert Mordecai Siegal comes the only book written specifically for the baffled "parent" of a new kitten, with all the warmth and wisdom to bring you and your feline safely and happily from the veterinarian's office to the home. Siegal takes readers through the many milestones and challenges of raising a healthy kitten, such as:

• Navigating the adoption process
• Selecting the kitten that's right for you
• Understanding different breeds
• Understanding kitten behavior
• Testing your kitten's personality
• Socializing and bonding
• Meeting your kitten's individual needs
• Kitten training
• Solving common problems, such as scratching furniture, litter box mishaps, plant eating, allergies, medical issues

This warmly written, beautifully illustrated guide is an essential source of wisdom and inspiration for any kitten owner or kitten owner to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780743245098
Publisher:	Touchstone
Publication date:	02/07/2006
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	825,943
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Mordecai Siegal has written more than thirty books about dogs, cats, and horses, and edited The Cornell Book of Cats, the most highly respected reference guide on feline medicine for pet owners. He has appeared on many TV shows, including Good Morning America. He has written hundreds of articles and columns for magazines, such as House Beautiful, Harper's Bazaar, Reader's Digest, and Good Housekeeping. He writes a monthly pet column on www.goodnewsforpets.com. He lives in New York City.

Read an Excerpt

I Just Got a Kitten. What Do I Do?

How to Buy, Train, Understand, and Enjoy Your Kitten

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By Mordecai Siegal

Fireside

Copyright © 2006 Mordecai Siegal
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0743245091

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Introduction

Leonardo da Vinci said, "The smallest feline is a masterpiece." Leonardo was right. Kittens are beautiful and fascinating creatures, and a loving addition to any family. A kitten's love can be as comforting as buttered potatoes and rice pudding and as soothing as meditation and a Spanish guitar. In times of stress, the petite feline can actually lower your blood pressure and make you laugh. It is amazing how such a small creature has the ability to create feelings of contentment as well as to fashion a warm and happy environment in your home. It's essential to give your kitten the right start, with a sure hand, in order to create this pretty picture of contentment.

The musical Cats may have closed on Broadway, but kittens are still performing in home theaters. They are child stars, stand-up comedians, and sit-down dinner guests. But in his quest for pleasure and adventure, a frisky kitten can also create stress if you don't understand him and learn how to handle his playful but mischievous ways. When a kitten leaps off your shelf, he may knock over your bottle of vitamins as he flies through the air to the kitchen table below, with paws landing in your cereal bowl creating a tidal wave of milk, flakes, and bananas. No pressure there, right? Kittens can and often do make crashing noises in the middle of the night, scratch up the furniture, knock things down, and chew valuable objects (or dangerous ones). Depending on the breed, they can also be a walking talk show, playing the parts of controlling host, chatty guest, and dutiful sidekick all rolled into one.

Your new kitten will jump, run, bump; he will pierce whatever appeals to him with his needlelike teeth; he will sleep most of the day and play through the night. He has a special set of needs and desires when it comes to eating and relieving himself. A kitten can get into everything as he explores his new home, from precious knickknacks to freshly laundered clothes, and just as you think you've had it, the baby cat will curl up on your chest and fall asleep, a portrait of innocence.

The cat owner in search of the perfect purr has many books to choose from. However, there is little available for the inexperienced person with a new kitten. Kitten information is usually offered as a small slice of a cat book. It is essential though for new cat owners to fully understand their kittens' nature and needs and respond accordingly, lest the days of catnip and roses be spoiled by a full-grown, misbehaving cat. It's not easy: kittens are irresistible and every one of them has the ability to make us prisoners of our own emotions. That does not mean you cannot take charge of the situation and make life better for yourself and the new addition to your home. You might turn to a veterinarian or an animal behaviorist, or you can simply thumb through I Just Got a Kitten. What Do I Do? to learn how to create happy days and nights for the new babe in your life.

Copyright © 2006 by Mordecai Siegal

Continues...

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Excerpted from I Just Got a Kitten. What Do I Do? by Mordecai Siegal Copyright © 2006 by Mordecai Siegal. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

The Kitten Is Here. What Do I Do? Help!

Introduction

ONE The Birth of a Kitten

TWO Here, Kitty, Kitty: Selecting a Kitten

THREE Breeds of Distinction: A Thumbnail Guide to Uncommon Cats

FOUR What to Buy for Your Kitten

FIVE Making Friends with Your New Kitten

SIX Basic Cat Behavior: Why They Do What They Do

SEVEN Grooming Your Kitten

EIGHT Feeding the Kitty

NINE Training Kittens

TEN The Short and Sweet Problem Solver

Suggested Reading

Index

Editorial Reviews

More cat care titles! The difference here is that while Cats focuses mainly on adult cats, Kitten is devoted to young cat care. British veterinarian Sands (Care and Behaviour of the German Shepherd Dog) provides information in a Q&A format arranged in ten sections, including breeds, feeding, health, and fact and fiction. His insights regarding cat behavior are the most interesting. For example, there are more left-pawed cats than left-handed humans; cats don't like food that's been kept in the fridge because they prefer food to be "kill warm." The wonderful color photographs and the British terminology, such as cat flap (door) and cardigan (sweater), contextualized and illustrated to avoid confusing American readers, make this a charming title. Siegal (Cat Fancier's Complete Cat Book; Cornell Book of Cat Care) focuses on the challenges of raising a healthy kitten, giving commonsense advice on preparing the home for a kitten and kitten grooming and proper feeding. Step-by-step instructions are given on training the kitten to use the litter box properly and to follow basic commands like coming when called. The information on various cat breeds is useful for those considering a pedigreed cat, but the book suffers from a lack of photographs. Amy D. Shojai's Kitten Care and Training contains much of the same information in an attractive layout with lots of photographs. Both titles are recommended for public libraries, but if your library already owns Shojai, you need not purchase Siegal.-Eva Lautemann, Georgia Perimeter Coll., Clarkston Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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