Skye & Silver - British Shorthair

Can’t ever imagine a person like me agreeing to get a cat, let alone getting two kittens to be part of our family. Someone had to give in following the relentless requests (pressure) from both my sons and wife. But I have to declare, once I started looking at the pictures of kittens, I just fell in love with the British Shorthair breed. They were just adorable to say the least. Reading and learning more about them made me feel confident that they would suit our family well. 

We managed to find a person locally who had recently had two Grey/Blue BSH female kittens and we went to see them for the first time on the 10th of July. My younger son was super excited (the most I have ever seen him, his entire life) and I was pleased to see that my older son and wife really enjoyed the experience following our first interaction with both the kittens. We all just wanted to take the kittens with us, but for the best of reasons (2nd lot of immunisations and our planned holiday) we had to wait another two weeks before collecting them. 

This luckily gave me enough time to do some in-depth research on what accessories to get for the kittens. I also wanted to learn about cat litters and feeding in general. I was lucky enough to get help and support by contacting my brother and sister in law in Canada who have now had kittens for nearly 2 years. Following all the research/suggestions/advice we were able to make some decisions and purchases. First came the Cat Tree (Eono Cat Tree 86cm Sisal Scratching Post Kitten Furniture Plush Condo Playhouse with Dangling Toys Cats Activity Centre Grey), automatic feeder (PETLIBRO Automatic Cat Feeder), water fountain dispenser (PETLIBRO Cat Water Fountain Stainless Steel),  cat bed & cat scratcher pole(s). Then came the most important purchase - Cat litter tray/box and cat food. For the litter tray - after intense research and recommendations we finally went for Catit Jumbo Hooded Cat Pan (£18.00 on Amazon). For the cat food, we went for the ones recommended by our Breeder, with the added benefit of it being dry food - Hill's Science Plan Dry Kitten Food Chicken Flavour & Tuna Flavour. Litter was quite confusing as there are so many in the market but just to play safe we chose the - Cat's Best Original Clumping Cat Litter. I have to say, its one of the best decisions we have made. We bought Doc & Phoebe Sleep and Go - Cat carrier for the big day and also to take to the vets. We also purchased few smaller accessories which we haven’t managed to use yet - Grooming kit, nail clippers, treats which work in protecting the teeth/gums and cat nip. 

Most of our purchases were made from www.amazon.co.uk and few from www.petsathome.com as well as www.fetch.co.uk. One recommendation would be to search for prices on fetch.co.uk as I found most things cheaper here in comparison to both amazon and petsathome. 

Then came the big day when we received a message from our breeder to come and collect the kittens! I have to say we were all super excited, but my younger son was Uber excited! It felt like he hadn’t slept since the 10th of July!!!

Bringing them to our home from the breeders home was nerve racking for me as I was just anxious on how they would fit our home and if we would be able to look after them well enough. Another concern I personally had was regarding them missing their mother and how long would it take for them to settle at ours. 

I have to say we were all very pleasantly surprised that within 24 hours they found there way around our kitchen/diner where we have housed most of their stuff at the moment to allow them to get acclimatised to our home and family. The initial 12-18 hours were quite worrying to say the least but now I can safely say that’s just something one needs to expect to happen. Just be patient……!