T Minus 21 Days

[Kinna]

A minimum time for a food transition would be 5 days, and with a kitten I would double that. It also could be a lot tougher than you imagine to make a switch happen at all, and might take 4-6 weeks and 2-3 varieties of food before they start gravitating towards one. So most importantly plan on having some failures because someone else is going to have an opinion that's out of your control.

I'll take my time with the transition. I can rotate between Acana and Orijen and their different flavours if she's picky. Are savannahs pickier with transitions than "normal" cats or is it random?
Until when are they considered "kittens"? She will be 5 months old when I pick her up from the breeder.

 

[Rob1984]

I'll take my time with the transition. I can rotate between Acana and Orijen and their different flavours if she's picky. Are savannahs pickier with transitions than "normal" cats or is it random?
Until when are they considered "kittens"? She will be 5 months old when I pick her up from the breeder.

i would say random my cat has never been picky even when i had to switch and they are kittens for one year i believe

 

[John Popp]

I agree with Rob, just like humans some are picky eaters and some are not. We have two f1 brothers, same parents different litters. One will eat anything we put in front of him and the other is the most incredibly picky eating cat I have ever witnessed. Changes in food for the older brother can take 6 weeks or more and he is incredibly talented at sorting ground food that's been mixed together.

Every evening Dino leaves behind a teaspoonful of food and upon close examination it's a morsel of what we've been trying to increase as part of his diet.

 

[Kinna]

i would say random my cat has never been picky even when i had to switch and they are kittens for one year i believe

Alright, thanks!

I agree with Rob, just like humans some are picky eaters and some are not. We have two f1 brothers, same parents different litters. One will eat anything we put in front of him and the other is the most incredibly picky eating cat I have ever witnessed. Changes in food for the older brother can take 6 weeks or more and he is incredibly talented at sorting ground food that's been mixed together.

Every evening Dino leaves behind a teaspoonful of food and upon close examination it's a morsel of what we've been trying to increase as part of his diet.

Oh wow, that must be quite frustrating! I find it interesting how even siblings can be so different. I really hope Sagira ends up being on the not-so-picky side because I'm seriously concerned about diet after what happened to Samy and what I learned.

 

[Patti]

So isn't it now more like T minus 12 days???

 

[Kinna]

So isn't it now more like T minus 12 days???

It's T minus 11 days including today since I'm picking her up on the 20th! I'm a strange mix of excited and scared.

I'm having issues picking a litter. I'm worried about silica in clay, bugs in sWheatScoop and WBCL, the efficiency of Nature's Miracle pine, and the size of the Feline Pine pellets. I feel like trying the Nature's Miracle pine because the grain is like the clay, which she's used to, but without the dangers of it. Thoughts anyone?

 

[WitchyWoman]

Thoughts anyone?

It's probably already been mentioned but you should use the same litter as the breeder for the first few weeks and as long as a month then gradually add in the new litter while decreasing the old. I've been using World's Best for years without a bug issue. I switched to it from sWheat because the sWheat started to have too much dust due to a new manufacturing process. Don't know if that issue still persists.

 

[Kinna]

It's probably already been mentioned but you should use the same litter as the breeder for the first few weeks and as long as a month then gradually add in the new litter while decreasing the old. I've been using World's Best for years without a bug issue. I switched to it from sWheat because the sWheat started to have too much dust due to a new manufacturing process. Don't know if that issue still persists.

Yes, I just figured that mixing similar sized grains would be better than two with very different sizes and textures?

 

[WitchyWoman]

Yes, I just figured that mixing similar sized grains would be better than two with very different sizes and textures?

Depends on the cat's preferences. I must confess that I didn't follow my own advice with any of my 4 SVs. I kept each on the breeder's litter for 2 weeks then added an inch layer of World's Best on top for a few days and if the kitten didn't object by pooping or peeing outside the box, I changed it to WB the next time the box needed fresh litter. I've been fortunate that my 4 were very adaptable when they were kittens. Your girl will let you know if she's unhappy with the box and/or the litter.

 

[Kinna]

Depends on the cat's preferences. I must confess that I didn't follow my own advice with any of my 4 SVs. I kept each on the breeder's litter for 2 weeks then added an inch layer of World's Best on top for a few days and if the kitten didn't object by pooping or peeing outside the box, I changed it to WB the next time the box needed fresh litter. I've been fortunate that my 4 were very adaptable when they were kittens. Your girl will let you know if she's unhappy with the box and/or the litter.

Alright, I guess I'll experiment with mixes and hope she doesn't care what's in her litter box. xD
Is WBCL little grains like clay or thin shavings? I just notice that Nature's Miracle is actually fine shavings, so I would prefer Feline Pine, but I can't get it from Amazon.ca and Amazon.com is out of the question because of the ridiculous import and shipping fees.