First Time Cat Owner Advice

[DreamerRose]

That's great! Glad things are going so well.

She will be chewing wires for long time. There's a product called Chew-safe that you can use to cover the cables. Just Google it and see how it works. Mingo went through numerous AC adapters and USB cables until I got the Chew-safe.

 

[joelh]

Okay so things have taken a turn.

Firstly, she was up most of last night. I expected her to be tired and sleepy today but she was the opposite, she's probably only slept a couple hours all day. Full of beans for no real reason. So I got a laser pointer as suggested for her and a dangly toy. Loads to play with to tire her out and we were both home most of the day and really worked on giving her loads of attention and play time to try tire her out.

Now for the last hour she has gone absolutely crazy and it's a bit scary to tell the truth. Sprinting in circles around the room, climbing up and down the couch, pouncing on us trying to claw us. Absolutely vicious, weve been trying to calm her down all day and she's not taking to it. She's wagging her tail all over, and from what I know that's not a good sign at all. I looked at her and she arched her back and hissed at me, for no reason. I thought I imagined it and she ran in a circle, arched her back and hissed again.
Then more sprinting around aimlessly, and more aggression. Totally out of character.

The only thing that we did different with her today was just have her chase the laser pointer, ironically thinking it'd tire her out.

I've had to leave her in a separate room on her own now, hopefully she'll calm down, I really don't know what else to do. I can only assume she's over tired and confused, but why, I do not know.

I'm very confused.

 

[joelh]

We leave her on her own and she pines.

So I let her out, rubbed her, she ran back into the sitting room. Hissed at me, tried to bite me then stood on her back legs and tried to scrawl us.

We can't be next to her right now.
So I'm gonna get her bed together with a warm bottle and set her alone for the night. I never thought I'd be backing off from a kitten, this is bizarre.

 

[tiptopper]

Cats like to stalk and catch their "prey" and some cats get frustrated by the laser because they can never really "catch" it.  How about a ball to roll around on the floor?

 

[joelh]

I have to stress here, nothing happened.

She napped briefly for half an hour or so in my lap as usual. Woke up as usual and I fed her her normal meal at the normal time.
Then she was a bit hyper so played with her, got her to chase the laser pointer (as I did earlier in the day and she calmed down after). Then calmed things down again as usual. Then she just out of nowhere got more and more aggressive till eventually she was hissing at us like nothing I've ever seen from a cat before, or a dog. And I've known some mad dogs.
This was just frightening and so sudden. No loud noises, nothing hit her, she didn't go anywhere unusual. She woke up from a nap and just went crazy.

 

[DreamerRose]

Cats do get the zoomies, but it sounds like she got over stimulated. She's still a baby and needs to rest and sleep just like human babies. Play with her for 15 to 30 minutes, then go do something else so she can calm down and maybe take a nap.

 

[joelh]

We have a good few balls for her, she has loads of toys already actually after just a week of being here but now she's a different cat and i don't understand why the laser pointer had no affect on her earlier but now she's turned into a demon!

I was thinking over stimulation too but we really only played with her to distract her, we were never egging her on like. I hope it is just the laser pointer, some delayed reaction from her. I better put on some bite proof clothes tomorrow and retire the laser pointer early and see if she tries to kill me again!
I hope for her own sake that she does calm down.

 

[tiptopper]

Have you tried giving her catnip? Some cats get "high" and zone out. May be worth a try.  

 

[joelh]

I have a big bag of catnip but I read that you're not supposed to give them any till they're a lot older.

I'm just very confused. I knew she was extra energetic and adventurous and very clingy. Much more than anything I read up on. And I read a lot, article after article, so much so my news app on my phone is bringing up almost entirely just cat articles now instead of news!

I'm completely shocked by her tonight. It's crazy to think that she is the same cat who wouldn't let me sleep last night because she was so intent on sleeping on my face. Her behaviour is so erratic it's like someone snuck her some bath salts when I wasn't looking!

 

[tiptopper]

They either like it or they don't. If you decide to try it a morning when you plan on being home to see her reaction would be best. Think of her as a toddler. They run around and then collapse. They have lots of energy to burn at this age.

 

[joelh]

Thanks for the advice there but I'll still wait till she's a little older before trying it out!

I always did think of her as a baby or a toddler but you'd never expect a toddler to circle you and attack you like a vicious psychopath!
She was more like a wild animal than a domesticated pet. She showed me a side of her today that I haven't seen in any pet I've ever had before.

 

[joelh]

A new day and still the same erratic behaviour.
She's eating and going to the toilet normally, nothing has changed in the house, we are acting no different, staying at home to try and calm her down and she's still not sleeping, running in circles, approaching us, getting on our laps to scratch or try bite us. She picked my girlfriend today to get angry with, again for no reason, hissed at her twice and went defensive as if to attack her.
It certainly isn't playing and I've been going it over and over in my mind and nothing has changed. It's like she needs a sedative. The feral cats around here who I looked after weren't this flighty or aggressive.
She isn't scared because she's still approaching us as normal and still whinges whenever one of us leaves to go to the bathroom for two minutes.
It's like something snapped in her last night and her personality has totally changed.

 

[doomsdave]

Joel:

Congrats on the kitten!

I concur with everything that the experts have said, and note that kittens are fragile when they're small. If you're gone for long periods during the day, consider getting her a "day pen" with toys in it, till her coordination and strength are enough to serve her in case she gets into trouble.

And, I've learned the hard way, kittens do. They swallow things they shouldn't. They sometimes get stuck in things, suffocate and die. They bite electrical cords, dead and live. They climb up on things and get stuck. They fall into washers, driers, sinks, etc., and can't get out. They sometimes climb up on things, and fall; sometimes their light weight saves them from injury, sometimes not.

When mother's around, she'll usually rescue them. (Sometimes dramatically.)

Keep us apprized of your kitten's progress! Before too long, she'll be a graceful, athletic cat, able to leap tall cat trees in a single bound! And, give a lifetime of purrs and head-butts.

 

[solomonar]

Cats are temperamental, predatory creatures.

Cats hunt at dusk and dawn.

Cats have claws for a reason :-).

==

Now, some serious advises that are difficult to find:

a) Clean the cat's dish after each meal or as often as possible

b) Use a stainless steel plate in place of pet shop bowls- some cat (mine included) do suffer from "whiskas stress"

c) Get very very well informed before deciding to neuter (if needed) - this forum has very interesting threads about this point

d) Do not use detergent around litter or feeding place- use plain water and vinegar

 

[joelh]

Thanks!
Her play pen is basically free roam of the large hall and bathroom. There's no electronics and not much to knock over or hurt herself with. So I place toys and the like around the place for her though nothing seems to beat a shoe for her to find joy from!
She's already starting to climb up the curtains in the living room so it's safest if she stays out of there when she's unsupervised.

Her favourite time to get super energetic and start 'hunting' to my dismay is about 1am, it's probably her most lively time of the day.

She still pretty much just eats kitten kibble and not much else, she still has plenty of energy and uses her litter box multiple times a day so I think she's eating fine, she's also grown notably in just the last week. I have a metal water dish for her in the bathroom alongside her litter tray and I use a plastic double bowl in the kitchen for food and water. I'm keeping it nice n clean.

What is 'whiskas stress'?

Well she is a house cat out of necessity, living in an apartment. So she never will go outside, if she did decide to run, where I am I don't think I'd ever see her again! But neutering is something I won't take too lightly and will do what's best for her own well being.



She was aggitated and aggressive for a long time, very strange behaviour. Yesterday she calmed a little throughout the day and finally started napping regularly again. She was still a bit strange during the evening but not as bad.
This morning she was very noisey and a bit aggitated still during breakfast.
She did get angry and randomly attack again which this time I met with holding her and she calmed down a bit after. She got more relaxed throughout the day and started sleeping on me again and is kinda back to normal after 2 days of not being herself for no apparent reason. As I write this she is snoring on my shoulder after climbing up here.

After the other night I took a lesson to play with her for shorter durations of time, be a little firmer when she's being bold and not let her get away with so much. Certainly not using the laser pointer on her anymore, she finally stopped looking for it tonight.

I'm happy she's a little calmer again anyway.

 

[joelh]

Furthering on from her recent aggression I've been looking up cat body language to try and understand her a bit more.

Even just before bed, after she was sprawled on my lap dozing on the couch I walked out into the hall, and she followed me to the door and as I walked past she arched her back and bent her tail straight down. An act of aggression/fear.
This is the same when she might get up from sleeping, sprint around the room, climb everything like she's on speed and then she'll enter this pose and that's where she has been hissing at me.

There's absolutely nothing to be causing this fear from her, she just enters this mood when she feels like it and can quickly jump back into calm again.

Is it normal for a kitten to have this sort of behaviour? I hate having her look terrified at random points throughout the day and I can't get my head around why she's acting like this. I know mood swings are normal for young cats but the sudden extreme fear/aggression seems very drastic.

 

[DreamerRose]

Yes, it's perfectly normal. She's playing and pretending to be fierce. Kittens do this a lot. When my Mingo was younger, he would race around, then arch his back, hackels raised, his tail a bottle brush. He's a black cat and once he leaped in the air like that with his feet all together, just like a Halloween cat cartoon. He will still wait for me at the top of the stairs, and when I rise up, he will arch his back, all hair standing on end. He's playing. Sometimes he dances back and forth sideways, back arched. Welcome to the mysterious world of cats!

 

[DreamerRose]

Check out some of the ninja kitten videos on YouTube:

 

[cocobutterfly]

Lots of good advice here. I've fostered and rescued many kittens and your kitten's behavior is totally normal. Just let her be. Don't try to discipline her - cats are not dogs. Don't pet her unless she comes around looking for it, and only pet her for a little bit and stop before overstimulation. If she claws you or bites you, hand her her toy mouse or something similar for her to claw and bite on. So have lots of toys on hand.

If her claws are digging into you, trim them with a cat nail trimmer. It's very easy, and it's a good thing to get her used to it while she's a baby. But DO look at instructions on how to trim because you only want to trim the very tip of the nail where it's pointy and sharp. Cutting close to the quick of the nails are extremely painful to cats just like cutting into the bed of our nails. 

She will calm down as she gets older, but at 8 weeks old, she's still a baby. 

 

[joelh]

I'm getting a bit more used to her behaviour now.
I can tell when it's coming most of the time before she goes a bit psycho now. I meet her angry stance with playing with her, rolling her over on her back and she normally relaxes and goes in for a few headbutts and a nap shortly after.
Earlier today she was absolutely determined to play with the wires at the back of the TV cabinet, she squeezed herself in there and I swear she only does it because she knows she's not supposed to! She'll ignore all her toys I try to lure her out with and tries to make a bed out of my internet router.
After pulling her out of there about ten times in a row earlier I put her in her little chill out space which is two crates turned on each other that she can see out of but not get out of. It works every time. Maybe it's not the best for a cat to be restricted to a couple of crates like that but she seems to prefer it than being taken out of the room and left on her own and it's better for her to be bored for ten minutes in a crate than choking herself in bundles of wires! (Note that the wires are as neat as possible so there's not much more I can do to prevent her going at them)

That's the nearest to discipline as I get with her. It works for now and when I let her out after ten minutes she'll either play with a toy or go for a nap so she doesn't seem to get upset by it.