VERY clingy kitten

dragona

Ok - had kitten about a fortnight now, adorable etc etc but he is driving me MAD.
He absolutely will not leave me alone for a SECOND.Always wanting to be on my lap, chest, shoulder, leaning on me all the bloody time! There is plenty for him to play with, three children give him lots of stroking and affection, but he seems to have picked on me for some reason. Can't sit anywhere for a minute and he comes bounding over.It is cute n all, but is there a REASON????

doctor evil

I wish my cat was more like that.......

Perhaps if you get a cuddly toy and stick something that vibrates/ticks in it so it sounds like a heartbeat.

dragona

doctor evil wrote:

I wish my cat was more like that.......

Perhaps if you get a cuddly toy and stick something that vibrates/ticks in it so it sounds like a heartbeat.

Er, easier said than done. Such as ??
He is like my shadow, following me everywhere, and always ON me.

doctor evil

How old is he?, when he arrived had he just been seperated from his mum.

dragona

No, well he is about 9 weeks now,so I suppose I got him at 7 weeks, and the cat shelter lady had got him a couple of days before that, from an old boy who had them in the shed, so I expect he was separated from mum at about 6 weeks.

KTRIC

doctor evil wrote:

How old is he?, when he arrived had he just been seperated from his mum.

If they are seperated from their mother too early they get like this. As far as I know 8 weeks is the earliest they should be rehomed. It might be a case of him adopting you as his mother.

Pigman II

As much as you may want to indulge it don't let it hang around you to much even if it wants to. I'm a firm believer that a cat should be kept in the backgarden honing it's predatory instincts and getting to meet the local wildlife. This is not because I don't want it annoying me pissing on my carpet , but because it stops them going 'weird'.

A guy I knows g/f got a kitten and she leaves the thing in her appartment 24/7. Now the thing seems to have developed 'personality' problems and also doesn't ever use it's back legs thru months of just sitting around. When it needs to go somewhere it just scooches around the place like some kind of cabbage. Very odd to look at.

hadook

My cats live indoors 24/7 and behave like normal cats. I don't let my cats out because I happen to like them & wish them to have long lives. I don't want them run over, poisoned, shot at, killed by dogs, to catch horrible cat diseases, to defacate in other peoples gardens - the list is endless.

One of mine did do something similar when he was a kitten but grew out of it - nowadays he just sits/ lies down nearby and waits for me to stop doing whatever it is I'm doing and pay him some attention. He was 6 weeks old when he left his mother. When he was younger I'd put him in his box with a hot water bottle and a teddy. If he came over to me I'd put him back into his box until I was no longer busy.

Have you considered getting another kitten/ cat? There's nothing like another feline to occupy a kitten

bounty_hunter

My cat acted in a similar way as a kitten. I found her abandoned when she was roughly 5/6 weeks old, which is too young for a kitten to be seperated from its mother, and she very quickly adopted the same sort of behavior as you've mentioned.
She used to literally climb me if I didn't pick her up, and spent entire days perched around my shoulders like a scarf if I would let her, despite the fact that there were countless other things to occupy her. She followed me about everywhere and sat and waited for me to come back when I left the house, and was generally attached to me in some way at every possibility.

I can only imagine she had, as somebody else mentioned, adopted me as her mother. She gradually became a lot less clingy as she got older and now exhibits what I would consider to be a "normal" level of affection, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Your kitten should grow out of it

dragona

bounty_hunter, that is IT exactly!
I have had three other cats before, and none of them ever were as needy...... He is like a parrot cat on my shoulder as I write....
Poor little darling probably just needs to feel loved
Which of course he is!

bounty_hunter

Aye, that's exactly what we used to say about this cat (/parrot hybrid)
She'll get over it.

Sigma Force

Mabey a cat of similar age would be a good idea for company, still only a baby the kitten needs someone to be their mum.
As the kitten gets older she will probably be less clingy but then again could be a cat that just loves to be around people especially you.

Leaving a cat to wander outside is too dangerous in this day and age, the risks of the cat getting killed on the road are so high with all the traffic around.

Pigman it sounds like that cat has serious problems, more neurological than anything, a lone cat in an apartment can get bored if they don't have enough toys and human company better still another cat for company.
That cat you mentioned needs a vets attention.

bounty_hunter

Guineapigrescue wrote:

That cat you mentioned needs a vets attention.

I don't think this is true tbh, there's no sense in worrying the OP unnecessarily. I have heard of several kittens who have behaved in this way (including my own), all of which have been in similar circumstances, ie. seperated from their mothers at too young an age, and none of them have had any problems as adult cats.
I think it's just a case of them "adopting" a substitute mother to make up for the feeling of what I can only imagine is separation anxiety.

angeldelight

bounty_hunter wrote:

I don't think this is true tbh, there's no sense in worrying the OP unnecessarily.

I think he was talking about the cat pigman mentioned who doesn't use its back legs!

bounty_hunter

Ah, my mistake.

LegacyUser

My Elma was like that at 7 weeks. She got really upset if I left her alone.
Ended up putting her back with the mother for a few more weeks. In fact - ended up taking the mother too! 7 weeks is too young.

If u feel frustrated - imagine how the little kitten feels!! :eek: