How to Care for a Pixie Bob

Pixie bobs may look exotic, but they're as easy to care for as most other cats.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Talk to your vet about feeding if you have a kitten younger than 6 weeks old.
2. Feed kittens younger than 6 months canned kitten food three to four times a day.
3. Reduce feeding to two times a day at about 6 to 8 months of age.
4. Keep dry kitten food and fresh water available at all times.
5. Change to adult food at 1 year of age. Mix 1/4 adult food with 3/4 kitten food and gradually increase the percentage of adult food over 5 to 10 days.
6. Feed your cat the good stuff - avoid generic brands. Don't feed your cat food intended for other animals; cats have specific dietary requirements.
7. Provide both dry and wet cat food. Cats like variety, too.
8. Don't give your cat bones, and avoid uncooked food. Table scraps are OK in moderation.
9. Don't give your cat milk - it can cause diarrhea.
10. Have female cats spayed at 4 to 6 months of age; males neutered at 6 to 7 months. Female cats can go into heat and begin reproducing as early as 4 months, and get pregnant again while still nursing the first litter, so don't wait.
11. Keep an identification tag with your address and phone number on your cat.
12. Scoop waste from the litter box daily, and clean the box and refill it with clean litter weekly.

Tips & Warnings

• Pixie bobs do especially well indoors. Most cats appreciate a companion pet, as well as toys, scratching posts, window shelves and lots of attention from you.
• Pixie bobs are often called "doglike" because they can be trained to walk on a leash. Just watch out for areas with dogs.
• Hold your cat with one hand under his chest and the other hand under his back legs, keeping him close to you.
• Play with your cat or kitten with toys, not your hands, which can encourage biting and aggressiveness. If your cat bites, blow in his face before pulling your hand away.
• Reward your cat when he's good instead of using physical punishment when he's bad, which will only make him scared of you or cause him to act out when you're away. A loud noise or squirt of water can help stop bad behavior.
• Pixie bobs seem to prefer to claw wood rather than traditional scratching posts, furniture or carpet.
• Give your cat his own "garden" (from a pet store or vet) so he won't eat your plants, some of which may be poisonous. Or, to prevent plant eating, place cedar blocks or hot chili peppers on the soil, or hang the plants out of your cat's reach.
• The outdoors poses many possible dangers, including fights, disease, getting lost, hypothermia, traps and getting stolen.
• Small objects such as buttons, needles, shoelaces and tinsel can be hazardous if your cat eats them.
• Keep household cleaning chemicals and medicines in places safe from your cat's curiosity.
• Certain plants, such as poinsettias, can be fatal to your cat, as can the water in the base of your Christmas tree stand.
• Take uneaten food away from a kitten after 10 minutes - overeating can cause diarrhea or vomiting.
• Your cat can be strangled or suffocated by plastic bags with handles.
• Hide electrical wires - your kitty might try to chew them.
• Keep toilet lids down. Drinking the water can make kitty sick, and in the worst-case scenario he might drown.
• Make sure your window screens are secure. Cats don't always land on their feet, and they don't have depth perception.
• If your cat refuses to use a clean litter box, see your vet - it could indicate a health problem.
• Pixie bobs should never get a feline leukemia vaccine: It will kill the cat. The distemper vaccine is the only one recommended by many breeders and vets for the breed. If you want to have your cat vaccinated for upper respiratory disease, make sure it's the so-called "three-in-one killed" vaccine, and for rabies give only the "one year killed" vaccine.