First time cat parent lessons

Mushu comes into our lives

Long story short, he followed me and my boyfriend to my mom’s apartment. He ran past us and then we called him and he let us pet him. Afterwards, he would follow us and we would give him food and let him into the apartment. We decided to adopt him when he got a really bad bite wound in the back (we think it was a bigger cat or a raccoon) and we took him to the vet. We gave him all the shots and antibiotics and in about a week he was all better.

The necessities

• Food
• Litter
• Bed – cats will sleep everywhere and anywhere
• Laser pointer
• Toys (Mushu loves feathery toys)
• Treats

So far it has been almost a year since Mushu’s adoption and we have gone thru a bunch of different types of cat food and cat litter. Below are a few things I have learned along the way.

Things to consider when buying cat food:

Mushu will beg for food like any dog, but if he doesn’t like what you give him he will just walk away.

Google is you best friend when it comes to find out which foods you can give your cat… spoiler alert: never give chocolate to your cat… also milk is bad for adult cats…

Make sure the food does not contain grains as the main ingredient, a cat’s diet consists mainly of protein, also another key ingredient to look for is the amino acid Taurine which is needed for a cat’s heart and liver health. Lately we have been sticking with Hills weight balance.

Mushu will complain and not bury his poop if the litter box is dirty.

For cat litter we have not found one that we like 100%, some cat litter produces more dust than others, another alternative is to use wood pellets with a two layer sifting box.

Another necessity when owning a cat is a lint roller, or a few… The shedding is real, and because of that I have to clean the house a bit more. Brushing Mushu often can help with the shedding.

Behavior

When we first got Mushu, he was not very vocal, he would rarely meow, after six months that changed, he started using his voice to communicate when he was hungry or wanted to go outside.

Cats will play rough sometimes and they will scratch you. Nail trimming is a must..try to do when Mushu is in a good mood or sleepy.

Cats will try to get on every bed and piece of furniture in your house. Our solution to this was buying a repeller cover that makes a crackling noise when touched.

Cats do not generally like to be bathed but depends on their personality… We bathed him once.. he was okay… could not dry him with a hair dryer…he got scared.

Initially he did not like belly rubs at all, now depending on his mood he will tolerate belly rubs.

Summary

Likes to be pet in the head and chest mostly

Lays on your feet to be petted

Wants to sit or sleep on your lap

Keeps mice away!

I showed him a paw trick 🙂

Adopt a cat if possible.

It will be pawsome!