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A cat or kitten makes a very worthwhile pet, providing that it is properly cared for. But before you take on the responsibility of owning a cat or kitten, please think carefully about what it will involve.

The cost

It costs an average of £15 per month per cat for food and litter.
Routine veterinary care, for example, boosters and vaccinations, for a normal healthy cat costs as least £25 per year.
Pet insurance costs about £100 per year.
A litter tray and other essentials cost about £30.
Catteries charge upwards of £6 per day to look after your cat when you go away.
How it will affect your lifestyle

Making time for play, grooming and companionship.
Being prepared to accept that it may catch birds and other prey.
Ensuring adequate arrangements for when you are away from home.
Making sure your cat or kitten will not become a nuisance to neighbours.
In particular, consider very carefully about getting a kitten. A pretty, lively kitten is a very attractive proposition. However, please bear in mind that he or she will become a cat after just six months and will live perhaps for the next 14 years. A kitten should be yours for life!

The daily life of a cat

Sleep
Cats are great preservers of energy and spend about two thirds of their life asleep. Provide a basket or cardboard box, raised from the floor to exclude draughts and line it with a small blanket. Give a kitten a chance to sleep for a good deal of the day. Remember, he is a young animal, not a toy and children should be taught to respect him as such and allow him to sleep.

Toilet training
Cats are naturally clean animals but a new kitten needs to be shown what is required. Provide a litter tray, filled with commercial cat litter (the wood-based litter is flushable). Keep it in the same place, easily accessible to the kitten, and make sure it is cleaned regularly. Take the kitten to the tray after meals and on waking up from sleep. If there is access to a garden, introduce him to it gradually and he will soon learn to make his own toilet arrangements.

Handling
Contrary to popular belief, it is quite wrong to pick up a cat or kitten by the scruff of his neck; this can damage the muscles. Hold the cat or kitten with one hand under the chest and with the rest of his weight supported by your other hand. Kittens particularly must be handled gently as their bones are fragile.

Grooming
Regular grooming of your cat is advised, especially for long-haired cats. Brushing and combing will remove loose hair, dirt and dust and the occasional flea that he may pick up. Grooming also helps to prevent fur-balls which can be harmful and form in the cat's stomach when he constantly licks loose fur. Daily grooming also ensures time devoted exclusively to your cat, which is important with today's frantic pace of life. Your cat can be forgotten amidst the many other demands on your time.

Exercise & fresh air
All cats need exercise so to keep your cat fit and to protect your furniture, a scratching post is a good investment; alternatively, you might bring in a log or make a scratching board to help your cat to keep his claws sharpened. This will help him to flex his muscles and to shed old claw sheaths. Scratching posts also enable the cat to mark his territory as a scent is deposited (undetectable by humans) through his claws - this makes him feel at home and usually stops the need for him to do this on the furniture.

Toys, such as table tennis balls, cat-mint mice or a cotton reel, will help keep your cat active.

Fresh air and sunshine are necessary to us all so if your cat or kitten is confined to a flat without an enclosed balcony, fit a wire frame into one window to admit air and sunshine without the risk of his falling from a height.

White cats, however, are very susceptible to the harmful rays of the sun and should be kept out of it as much as possible especially during the hours when it is most damaging.

It is unsafe to allow cats out on narrow ledges or open roofs several floors above the street. Many animals are injured and killed every year through lunging at a bird or butterfly and missing their footing. It is not true that a cat will always land on its feet.

Your cat at night
Cats should never be shut out at night. Apart from the callousness of picking him up from a warm, comfortable snooze on the hearth rug and putting him out in the cold, there are the risks of road accidents and stealing. Most road accidents to cats take place during the hours of darkness. Cat stealing, unfortunately, does go on and mostly at night. Keep your cat safely in at night and provide him with a litter tray.

Piczo