Attention seeking kitten

mxphs

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Hi everyone

Just posting about humphrey again. I'm having issues with getting him to play by himself. I was getting really worried about his meowing, but i upped his food intake which seemed to help but it turns out he's at it again.
What i've noticed is that he'll stop when i'm playing with him or giving him attention. As soon as i divert myself away, he goes to this one spot on the rug and starts meowing. It's like he's scared to play alone? I'm starting to get worried and i think i might take him to the vet. But does anyone elses cat have the same type of issue? He's still young, 6 months old. I wish he could distract and play by himself but he just doesn't seem interested in doing so. He needs me to be involved.
 
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Mamanyt1953

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He loves you. I'd be far more worried if he was content to be alone most of the time. You are the center of his universe, the single most fascinating thing in his life. Enjoy that. Many cats love to interact with their humans. I have a cat who is very much a loner, She spends some time with me, and is always ready to go to bed with me, but for a few hours at a time, I sometimes wonder if I even have a cat, and I adore every hair on her body. I'd love to have her more involved with me, but she is who she is. Be glad you have a kitten who wants to be "bestest buds."
 
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mxphs

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haha that's so lovely

he can be a handful though, i someitmes wonder how much of this behavoiur is fuelled by my overly affectionate ways to him. Maybe if i wasn't so lovey he wouldn't of been so needy? But he's such a lovely cat, i just wish he didn't meow for attentio all the time.
I think a trip to the vet might put my heart at ease even though i really don't thin there's a medical issue involved
 

Alldara

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Magnus was like that at 6 months too. We had so much trouble keeping him occupied. We did get some electronic toys which helped. We had to very much experiment with what he liked; we ended up with some recycled fur toys from Etsy. He became a bit more independent once older and we found some success about the yelling by teaching him to press AAC buttons (look up Bunny the dog or Stella from Hunger for Words).

I don't remember if a second cat was not an option for you (from your other posts). So if it is, I am sorry to say that we finally gave in to the relentless advice to get a second young cat. They do outgrow much of the behaviour at a certain age, but Magnus was a bit relentless. Calcifer also had a sit and cry stage but it was much shorter as he had two cats to buffer it.

Next is the teenage stage where they ignore you until they REALLY really need something. That's fun too.
 

koo1kat

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Hi,
I have the same issue with my now 5-month-old kitten. She's the only pet, and currently, I'm torn between asking my landlord to permit me to get another cat and just waiting it out until she grows older. I work from home so I'm with her almost all day long and play with her at least 3, or 4 times a day, but she still needs me to entertain her whenever she's not sleeping or eating. She has a lot of toys that she can play with by herself but rarely uses them. The only thing she occasionally does(and have fun) is playing soccer with a little mouse toy. (other successful soccer toys have been a paper shopping back handle and a ring of a cut toilet paper roll)
If I ignore her, she roams about the house, whining the whole time, or sits at this one spot and meows. To make it worse, she doesn't actively participate when I try to play with her. she kinda just sits and watches or stalks it and pounces a little but rarely runs after it. (and then she gets the zoomies at 2 a.m. lol) I don't think it's a medical issue though. she's always extremely vocal and stops meowing the instant she gets what she wants.
People say it helps to have a routine, so I'm trying to do that and play with her only at specific times and ignore her attention-seeking meowing.(not easy!!!)
good luck!
 

Furballsmom

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What about automatic toys, tracks with balls, etc they can play with on their own?

Shelters often don't have a lot of time and they rely on these types of toys to keep kittens and youngsters engaged.
 
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mxphs

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What about automatic toys, tracks with balls, etc they can play with on their own?
Im
Gonna buy some auto toys to see if this helps but a large part of the playing is that I have to be involved. He’s not the best at playing alone. May be because he’s only ever known playing with his siblings/me or just coz he’s a sooky boy
 

BoaztheAdventureCat

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haha that's so lovely

he can be a handful though, i someitmes wonder how much of this behavoiur is fuelled by my overly affectionate ways to him. Maybe if i wasn't so lovey he wouldn't of been so needy? But he's such a lovely cat, i just wish he didn't meow for attentio all the time.
I think a trip to the vet might put my heart at ease even though i really don't thin there's a medical issue involved
He's being raised as the only cat in the house, I assume? I want to encourage you to consider adopting a second kitten close to his age. I had a ton of problems with my cat when he was the only kitten, and needy attention-seeking behavior was one of those problems.

Cats that are raised as the only cat around loose their social skills with other cats and often with people, to a degree.

When my cat was the only kitten around, he was a serious ankle-biter and play-attacker of the humans in the house. This would have made it VERY dangerous for him to be around a baby or toddler. Even if you don't have a baby or toddler in the house now, you need to think about the future since cats live a long time.

My cat's attention-seeking behavior and his rough play dissipated IMMEDIATELY when he had kittens his own age to play with again! There are some skills that a cat needs to learn that can only be learned by being around other cats!
 
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mxphs

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He's being raised as the only cat in the house, I assume? I want to encourage you to consider adopting a second kitten close to his age. I had a ton of problems with my cat when he was the only kitten, and needy attention-seeking behavior was one of those problems.

Cats that are raised as the only cat around loose their social skills with other cats and often with people, to a degree.

When my cat was the only kitten around, he was a serious ankle-biter and play-attacker of the humans in the house. This would have made it VERY dangerous for him to be around a baby or toddler. Even if you don't have a baby or toddler in the house now, you need to think about the future since cats live a long time.

My cat's attention-seeking behavior and his rough play dissipated IMMEDIATELY when he had kittens his own age to play with again! There are some skills that a cat needs to learn that can only be learned by being around other cats!

This would be ideal but its not realistic for me, im afraid
 
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