Bottle fed kitten traits when older?

[jezahb]

My 3 year old kitty Khaleesi is a former bottle fed kitten, I got her at 6 weeks when she was weaning off of the bottle and onto KMR mixed with wet food so I only bottle fed her for a week or so. However, I noticed some strange traits she has that other kitties of mine don't, and was wondering if they are common to bottle fed kitties. She is very orientated to me, meaning if she is sleeping and I get up from my seat to get a cup of water she wakes up and 9/10 will follow me to the kitchen and back. Speaking of sleeping, she only sleeps in one of two locations (at least that I am aware of) either next to me on the matching recliner when I am home/awake watching TV or sleeping next to me in bed. Unlike my other kitties who were independent and slept in other rooms, Khaleesi will never sleep more than 10 feet from me at any time. She has even memorized the particular sound of my cars beep it makes when I lock it and when she hears it will run to the door to greet me as she knows that means I am home. She is also unbelievably trusting of me, a lot of the time I feel like she treats me as an extension of herself as she will frequently do things like ask me to pick her up and hold her up so she can get the fly that is just out or reach, or hold her up so she can sharpen her claws on the top part of the scratching post that she can't usually reach. 

Now the bad. She is VERY skittish, anything new or unusual I do or loud noises and she runs/hides for an hour. She also sometimes makes me feel guilty for leaving the house, if she sees me getting ready she will become excessively affectionate and clingy, even to the point of screaming like she is injured while running in front of me to stop me leaving. I have never seen a cat do that before! Very dramatic for sure. She makes me feel like I am 100% the center of her universe (and no she isn't an only cat, I have another older female who she gets along with) and while I love that most of the time...other times I feel guilty because I can't be there with her 24/7. She stares at me sometimes, and I know this may be me projecting human feelings onto a cat, and it seems like she wants something from me but I don't know what. She can stare for 20 minutes easily, a lot of the time she will get up behind my TV so while I am watching it she is staring right at my face LOL. 

I am just curious I guess to see if anyone else has experienced this with bottle fed kittens. Perhaps it isn't her bottle fed past that caused this personality, but she seems way more attached to me than any other cat I have known

 

[red top rescue]

Bottle babies frequently behave exactly like Khaleesi, especially if they have not been socialized with people other than their foster human mom.  To them, you ARE their Mom, you are their entire world, because as babies they were totally dependent on humans for absolutely everything, food, grooming, love and warmth.  They often have separation anxiety as adults once they have bonded to their "new" mom, and they seem to need ROUTINE more than other cats.  Often they were raised in a single room(usually with siblings)  or even a large crate, coming out to play and be fed and cleaned, but then going back in to sleep.  They are just like human babies in that they will fight sleep and get cranky, but when you put them down in their familiar sleep area, they will drop right off to sleep.

We try to pass them around between rescuers from time to time so they get used to other humans and situations as it makes them adjust better when they do go to new homes.  Your girl might benefit from having a set routine and having her own "safe room" between certain hours, i.e. she goes in there when you leave for work and comes out when you arrive home, and you do that at a fairly regular time.  You will have to experiment.  Maybe some other people who have adopted bottle babies will add more to this later and give insights as to how they handled their bottle babies' peculiar habits.  Many of these guys such on their owners ears or neck etc.  We actually give our bottle babies "pacifiers" using empty nipples because kittens have a strong sucking instinct and they nurse pretty much all day as babies but when you bottle feed the, they get all their food in a short time and don't get enough sucking to satisfy them."

Your bottle baby will always see you as "parent" and will not relate to another cat as parent because she never had that experience.  If it is possible to get in contact with her foster mom (she may still foster for the rescue your cat came from), you can find out more about what her situation was and see if you can copy it enough to make her feel a little more secure.

 

[NewYork1303]

My mother bottle fed a pair of kittens and they were insanely attached to her. One would ride around on her shoulder most of the time and would get upset if it wasn't allowed to shower with her. They treated her as if she were their mom always following her around and looking to her for direction. They were also partially taken care of by our dog at a young age so they acted much more like dogs and humans than like cats. Neither were skittish though, but there were always people coming in and out of our house when they were growing up.

 

[jezahb]

Good to know it is normal! I assumed so, as her clingy nature just seemed to add up with her seeing humans as "mothers". I think she is indeed skittish because I live alone, and while I had occasional visitors while she was growing up it wasn't regular enough for her to adjust I assume. Now she is skittish around new people but if they sit down, put their hand between the recliners (that is her go-to hiding spot if she gets insecure, behind the chairs) and don't move it so she can sniff it, then pet her while she is back there she will come out and be social. She still will run when they stand up (partially also because I am very short and most of my friends aren't so I think they must look freakishly gigantic to her) but at least she can handle them when they are sitting down. 

As far as a "safe room", while I haven't tried that I DO notice she has a "safe spot" when I am gone. My chair. If I leave, or even take a shower, I will come back to find her either in the seat currently or notice the chair is warm (meaning she just got up). It must smell like me, and so she sleeps there when I am gone. I also notice she will leave toys on my side of the bed while I am gone as well, I come home to several toy mice, twist ties and anything else she views as a "prize" on my bed where she knows I will see them the second I get home when I go to change...so sweet. I sadly don't have contact with the foster mom anymore, which stinks since I do have so many questions. Like wondering why she gets so excited and affectionate whenever she hears a pot being stirred on the stove, I assume maybe they used a pot to warm up formula because something about that sound triggers a good memory for her. 

So funny when you mentioned routine, as Khaleesi is 100% about routine. Anything new I do she gets upset, even just moving furniture will throw her into an anxiety attack and she doesn't seem to know how to cope. Heaven forbid the time I wore a hat, or heels...she was in blind terror. Poor baby, she is such a outgoing confident cat AS LONG as you maintain the status quo...watching videos of her you wouldn't even believe she has any skittish nature as she regularly falls asleep with her tummy exposed and is overall super confident. Yet that confidence will vanish in a millisecond if you break routine in any way, the one time I had to give her a bath as she spilled my shampoo on herself I thought she honestly was going to kill herself. She was breathing so fast and in such complete terror that I seriously worried she was going to have a heart attack. I wish that part I could help her with, somehow help her learn how to cope better with change. I often wonder if leaving the TV on or a radio would help her be less lonely when I am not around? I leave a light on since the one time I was gone all day and came home to a completely dark apartment Khaleesi was extremely frightened for some reason, she was hiding and didn't come out for a while. 

 

[red top rescue]

I think leaving some kind of sound on, particularly something with talking, like the DIY channel (my friend uses that for her cats) may be calming to her.  Go ahead and try it.  I don't think it would hurt if it doesnt scare her normally.  It may also get her used to hearing human voices other than yours which might help her be calmer when you do have other people over.  I too live alone and rarely have people over, and some of my cats are horrified when anyone else comes in the house, and other cats could care less (Those are the older ones who lived with me in Atlanta when I had lots of people nearby who came over).  There's really nothing I can do about that except to make sure I find them a quiet adult home when the get adopted out. 

It does sound like you are the perfect Purrson for her!  You are perceptive of her needs and you obviously care a lot and will work towards making her life as stress free as possible.  If you ever go away on vacation, you should be sure to introduce her to her cat sitter in advance, have the sitter come over, meet her, talk to her, etc.  Pay her for that visit just as you would any other visit because her time is valuable.  Having the right sitter is important also (boarding would be way too stressful for her!) and you need someone who is not just rushing through and cleaning the box and putting down food but someone who will sit on the couch, watch tv with her as you do, pet her, perhaps play with her with toys, brush her or whatever else she likes.  I have one cat I have sat for over the years (she used to have two but the other passed over the bridge a few years ago.)  This cat does NOT like strangers, but even though I only sit for him a few times a year now, he is always delighted to see me, and we have our routine, and I always spend a full hour with him at minimum.  She would rather pay me than just have a neighbor stop by to feed him.