The Health of Your Minskin Kitten

At Cat Skills Cattery, we use a Board certified veterinary Cardiologist to HCM scan all of our breeding cats at one year of age and every 2 years thereafter.

All of our breeding cats undergo genetics testing from North Caroline State Veterinary in addition to Wisdom Panel DNA testing including 45+ genetic health tests. They are also tested annually to ensure they are negative for HIV and feline leukemia.

Our kittens have negative fecal exams and come with a health guarantee.

General Kitty Care Guidelines

  1. Make sure to schedule your transportation ASAP!

  2. Keep your new kitten in quarantine for at least two weeks, away from all other animals. 

  3. Be patient with your new kitten as he/she acclimates to a new environment.

  4. Never cage your kitten.

  5. Be sure to provide a pleasant, clean and appropriately heated indoor environment, proper nutrition, companionship and space for exercise

  6. Keep your kitten indoors at all times.

  7. Do not declaw your kitten. For more information on declawing, visit pawproject.org.

  8. Do not collar or harness your kitten.

  9. Ensure the kitten receives top-notch medical care from a competent, licensed veterinarian, including age-appropriate exams and vaccinations and immediate emergency care upon any sign of illness.

  10. Never vaccinate your kitten for FELV or FIV.

  11. Notify us of any developing medical conditions that may arise. If your kitten is found, at any time in its life, to have FIP, you must treat him/her immediately or surrender it to us (per our signed agreement). FIP can kill within days, and the treatment is only available via a breeder network; if your kitten falls ill with FIP symptoms, contact us immediately for instructions.

  12. If you ever need to give up your Kitten, contact us. Under no circumstances should you sell, lease or give away the kitten to any pet store, animal shelter or research facility; and, under no circumstances should you sell, lease, give away or re-home your kitten without receiving written consent from us first. (We maintain the right of first option of taking back the kitten at no charge, if you can no longer (or no longer want to) care for him/her).

What Minskin Cats Should Eat

“Raw meat is the natural food of the cat, and is really the ‘gold standard’ of diets for any obligatory carnivore.”
— Elizabeth Hodgkins, DVM

Feeding your cats a diet modeled on what they would eat in the wild offers many benefits, including:

  1. Improved digestion

  2. Greatly reduced stool odor and volume

  3. Healthy coat, less shedding, fewer hairballs

  4. Increased energy

  5. Weight loss, if overweight

  6. Better dental health

  7. Better urinary health

Why Cats Should Eat Raw Foods

Cats are obligate carnivores; they must eat meat. Their digestive systems are adapted specifically for a meat-based diet. A cat's digestive tract is short and acidic, and processes species-appropriate raw food highly efficiently in about 12 hours. This gives very little time for bacteria to proliferate, so cats are naturally resistant to food poisoning.

Cats have no requirement for carbohydrates and limited ability to digest them. A raw cat food diet is more digestible than a diet of plant-based foods. Since cats evolved eating a diet with almost no carbohydrates, they have only one enzyme system capable of handling them. This is quite different from humans and dogs, each of which has multiple enzyme systems that digest carbohydrates.

When cats are fed a proper diet, their bodies use most of their food, with much less waste, and:

  • Less stool volume (stool production can be cut in half!)

  • Less frequent bowel movements (even reduced to as few as one to two per day!)

  • Dry, often crumbling, minimally odorous stool

What Minskin Cats Should Not Eat

Following are some of the most common household — and yard — items that are potentially fatally dangerous to cats and kittens.

Medications

  • Antidepressants

  • Cancer medicines

  • Cold medicines

  • Diet pills

  • Pain relievers (acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen)

  • Vitamins and other supplements 

Foods

  • Alcohol

  • Caffeine (coffee, soda, tea)

  • Chives

  • Chocolate

  • Garlic

  • Grapes

  • Onions

  • Raisins

  • Xylitol (found in sugarless gums, candies, toothpastes)

  • Yeast dough

Plants

  • Aloe

  • Azalea

  • Chrysanthemum

  • Hyacinth

  • Lily

  • Marijuana

  • Tobacco

  • Mistletoe

  • Poinsettia

  • Rhododendron

  • Tulip

Chemicals

  • Antifreeze

  • Oil

  • Fuel

  • Paint

  • Bleach

  • Detergents

  • Fabric softener

  • Cleaning products

  • Cosmetics and personal care products

  • De-icing salts (which pets may walk through, then lick from their pads)

  • Dog flea and tick medication (pills, collars, spot-on flea treatments, sprays, shampoos)

  • Fertilizers

  • Herbicides

  • Insect and rodent bait

Other House and Yard Dangers

  • Batteries

  • Dryer sheets

  • Hair ties/rubberbands 

  • Chicken bones 

  • Dental floss

  • Plastic bags

  • Yarn and string

  • Holiday decorations (cats love to climb Christmas trees!)

  • Kitchen and bathroom garbage

  • Compost

  • Cigarettes, ‘joints,’ and the contents of ash trays

  • Charcoal

  • Incense

  • Stinging insects

  • Snakes