Need help with a few kitten problems

lilsis

Hi just got a wee kitten about 7/8 weeks old. Anyway I've been having a few problems with him. Like he's always biting and scratching my fingers, I have pretty much got him to stop that by saying ouch quite loudly which seems to be working, was really my own fault that he was doing it as I was probably playing too rough with him and not realising that that can cause a lot of harm, and leave them very aggressive later anyway I know now. So that one is pretty much sorted except that he keeps jumping for my hands and trying to pounce on them.

Then next problem is he can be very out of control, like he will be running around the place and pouncing at my face which I jump at every time (probably shouldn't but I'm always scared he's going to scratch my face) and he'll just be super hyper, a lot of the time he'll spit at me (thought he was very young to know how to do that) and if I'm standing up he'll start climbing up my legs, but I just bring him to his scratching post then. The worse is he'll jump up on me and start biting and scratching the crap out of my clothes, now I don't really mind except that I assume he's attacking me when he's doing this, anyway when he does this I try to scruff his neck like the way his mother would have done and press him to the ground for about 5 second to show him that he's being bold, but he knows I'm going to do this so lies on his back so I can't and then he just goes back to the same thing again. I've tried a time out box aswell, where I put him in a box when he's being bold and cover it with a sheet so he can't see out and leave him there for a few minutes, it seemed to quiet him down for a wee while when he came back out but he can now get out of it so to keep him in it I'd have to hold the lid on and I'm a bit worried about smothering him, might try the time out room instead, where I'd leave him for 10 minutes but if anybody has any other suggestions that would be great. he's just seriously hyper and I really don't like him spitting at me.

Final problem and perhaps a very strange one is that he keep trying to feed of me. When we first got him, he hadn't be weened at all very well, so I'd notice him trying to bury him head into my stomach and he'd be making a sucking noise, so I started bringing him to his food then and feeding him out of my hand. After a while then he'd only do the feeding thing when he was sleepy and didn't realise what was going on so then I was just able to drop him to the floor and over he'd go to him food. Now it seems like he's gone completely backwards. Basically after a week of getting used to his food he's now trying to constantly feed of me. Like I'll be sitting on the couch in my dressing gown and he'll jump up and start sucking/chewing it, it doesn't matter how many times I put him on the ground, or over beside his food or even start feeding him from my hand he still does it, I don't think he's even hungry hence why he doesn't just eat the food, and he's not a stupid cat like he clearly knows he's not getting any milk. Anyway after a while he just falls asleep then when he's trying to feed, so I'm wondering if maybe it's a comfort thing, but then why did id just start suddenly, does anybody have any ideas about this? I give him water to drink, and he quite likes it, he drinks quite a lot of it, I give him the Whiskas dry food for kittens which he was eating a lot of but doesn't seem to be now, then when we got to bed at night I give him a little of the Whiskas cat milk as a treat, but maybe this is causing the problem as at the start I was giving it to him instead of water but then he'd fill up on it and not eat so now it's just a treat and maybe now he knows he'll be getting it so he avoids his dry food and is feeding of me as a hurry up and give it to me already? Maybe he's not getting enough nutrients from his dry food and hence the attempted feeding? I've no idea, but if anybody has any they'd be very welcome. I don't particulalrly like being covered in cat slobber.

Anyway it probably seems like I'm painting Gizmo out to be a nightmare, but obviously he's not like this all day long. He's super cute and I love him to bits, I just want to rectify these problems. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks and sorry for the exceptionally long message.

SEPT 23 1989

Is it a Retro Kitten?

thenightrider

Just because Gizmo is a bit retro dont think posting troube with cats is what the retro threads are for

lilsis

The post got moved here for some reason and I can't delete it, sorry

taffeta

I would not worry about Gizmo's sucking or hyperactivity - I have a cat that used to go on with that suckling carry-on for years. He's now elderly, in his 20's, but from when he was a young kitten until he was about 15/16ish he'd suckle off a bit of an old blanket or dressing gown. We always just assumed it was a comfort thing and left him to it. It was never a problem as he stuck to the same old blanket or garment and never destroyed anyone's clothes. He was hyperactive as well, but grew out of that too needless to say after a few years.

Can't help you with the spitting and agressiveness problem, sorry. Hope you get it sorted somehow.

WindSock

Retro > A & PI

ferretone

Ok, firstly, don't worry there's anything wrong with Gizmo (cute name by the way!): it's all perfectly normal kitten behaviour. As for the bitey/scratchy/hissy stuff, you're quite right, it's not acceptable and mustn't be encouraged. However, I wouldn't do the scruffing at this stage. I've done it a little with very young orphans, tho even then only very, very gently to discourage, and not holding for several seconds as you describe.

But past the 8 weeks or so, any form of physical punishment is only likely to lead to an aggressive reaction in the long-run. Ignoring the undesirable stuff really is the only way to go with this. You can go with the time-outs you describe for as long as they work, but quite soon he is bound to figure his way past the sheet, and probably will just see it as another great game, and therefore a reward. At that stage, either you or he will have to be immediately removed from the room once the undesirable behaviour starts. Preferably you, which means for the time being, don't have him starting play with you in a room you can't leave, such as your office/study while working, or your kitchen while cooking (probably best anyway, as kittens are not renowned as accurate typists or reliable kitchen assistants!)

Our kitten is allowed to come in the bedroom at night as long as she just wants to cuddle up and purr at us, but is shut out immediately if she starts the naughty, pouncy, bitey, scratchy stuff. She usually doesn't tho, as long as we keep our tempting paws under the blankets, lol! In fact she loves to crawl underneath the blankets for an hour or so, and cuddle up with our Dobermann who sleeps in the bed, and never starts the naughty things then.

As for the suckling, as Taffeta says, that is nothing to worry about. However, I would say that the Whiskas food you are feeding him is inadequate for his needs, which may well be a contributing factor to this. For starters, it's not a great idea to feed cats only dry food, as they don't tend to drink enough for such a diet. That's a large reason why so many cats get urinary tract problems, from infections to stones, often leading to actual blockages. It's far better to feed a mix of dry and tinned and/or pouches. Also, with Whiskas, you are paying a lot for the advertising they do on the TV, where your money could be far better spent on food which contains more cat-appropriate ingredients, and spends less on PR.

Read the ingredients list on your catfood. Named ingredients, such as "deboned chicken", only then possibly followed by "chicken meal", and perhaps later things such as "dehydrated organic kelp", are good indications that the food is of a high quality, and appropriate for your cat's nutritional needs. Any catfood that has a non-meat ingredient listed first is an absolute nono, as cats are obligate carnivores, and listings such as "meat and meat derivatives", a pretty sure-fire indicator that it is a rubbish food. Believe me, a decent quality catfood is a much better investment now than lots of expensive vets' bills, and pain or suffering for your cat later.

Ditto for making sure you feed some wet as well as dry. You could be avoiding not only vets' bills and having to buy veterinary food for life (been there, by the way, and still feeding the vet diet to 1 cat, tho it was a previous owner who had inadvertently turned her off all wet foods.), but also when urinary tract problems surface, the cat will temporarily use every soft surface in your house as a toilet! And the Whiskas milk is fine to give as a treat at the moment, but not really appropriate to give long-term. Adult cats should drink water, and otherwise moisture should come from good-quality, wet catfood.

Anyway, hope these pointers will help you out with your adorable wee monster. And enjoy him! Kitten and cat, raise them well and you have a friend that is hard to beat