four month old kitten with bad behaviour

[alissajoy]

So, I REALLY wanted to get my kitten neutered at around four months so I did not have to deal with all the things that came along with him sexually maturing. I have an appointment for this Wednesday to do so. However, his bad behavior is getting progressively worse for the past couple days. I understand he also might be teething which would cause him to also act this way. He bites and pounces if you walk by or if your feet are hanging over the bed or couch. He jumps on the table and now he has resorted to jumping behind the television. In fact I had to take a break from typing this because he tripped our monster surge protector behind the television which caused the power on that circuit breaker to shut off because it's intended to protect the things plugged into it. Which I am really glad I have it especially right now. I'm just wondering if he will calm down a bit after being neutered and if there is anything I can do for his happiness and my sanity for the time being? Right now I calmly but sternly tell him no, I turn my back to him when he is not playing nice and if those options don't work for me he is sent to the bathroom on a five minute time out. I tried squirting him in the butt with water when he is being really bad but it isn't phasing him at all. I've resorted to staying up for hours into the night for the past couple nights playing with him to keep him distracted so he doesn't hurt himself and obviously I don't want to wake up and think I slept through a major earthquake. Even during the day he hasn't really slept, but we also have a creek we live next to which is a breeding ground for feral cats so I'm sure that doesn't help me either. Any feedback is much appreciated.

 

[rosiemac]

Oh the joys of a naughty kitten

My Jack was and still is 5 years later the  most mischievous one out of my three cats. He chewed through 2 laptop power packs as a kitten, and broke quite a few things, but like a small child he didn't know any different.

Make sure you have plenty toys around for him to chase after, the "Da Bird" is one of Jack's favourites, and at night give him some wet food so he has a full stomach then he should sleep.

He'll calm down eventually, but try and enjoy him being mischievous because they grow up so quickly

 

[farleyv]

He is not being bad...he is being a 4 month old kitten.  I doubt sexual maturity has anything to do with him being playful. He isnt sexually mature yet.  That is what 4 month old kittens do....try your patience.

IMO, that is the joy of kittens.  You never know what they will get into.  Therefore, you need to "kitten proof" your home, because if it can be tipped over, chewed or destroyed....it will be...lol

Tire him out with play.  Please don't punish him for his love of play.  There are many toys to keep him busy, you just have to take some time and find them.  My kittens loved boxes with little doors cut out to run in and out of.  They sell a cat tunnel made of crinkly material that they just loved.  But you need to play with him and get all this out of him in a more controlled way.  He has so much energy, he does not know what to do with it.  That is where you come in.  Try a cat tower so he can climb.  Climbing tires them out.  He is like a 2 year old child.  Children aren't the best behaved at that age.  You cannot take a child that age and punish them for being kids.  The same goes for your little kitten.

A few years from now, when your kitty is sedate, and somewhat lazy, I hope ;you look back at these times and remember the laughs you had with him being silly.  And not how he was punished for normal behavior.

Enjoy him...they are not with us forever.

 

[alexh17]

Agreeing with farleyv....

We got our new kitten recently, he's just over 3 months so of a similar age to yours. Believe me, its what they do!!

After my last kitten wasn't in great health from birth, there were times when she didn't ever play, act mischieviosuly or interact with us much at all. Unfortuantely she got very ill and eventually passed away at 5 months and now we have our new kitten, Bolt, we can really see the difference!

Kittens are meant to be naughty, play, chew, scratch and tear things apart. Frustrating, yes, but as long as you have enough toys and novelties to keep them enteratined, they shoudln't have much need to chew through your own stuff (but i can guaruntee this won't ever happen!) Ours is constantly kept busy with all his toy mice, scratch posts and even small teddy bears.

You really should enjoy this time, you'd really notice the difference if he wasn't the playful sort. They are fun at this age!

And try not to molly coddle him too much, ie staying up late to play with him, he will become dependent on this and it may mess up his sleeping routine- enough play during day/evening should be enough and then he shoudl learn that night times are sleeptimes, for you especially!

 

[alissajoy]

Thanks for all the advice. Believe me he is played with constantly because of his high energy. The reason I believe he's starting to have early sexual maturity is due to the fact that he is already trying to get out of the house, he has sprayed twice and he runs around howling and he's been sticking out his penis. He has been to the vet and he has no signs of a UTI or anything else that could be physically wrong with him. The vet said some cats can start to have that early onset of sexual maturity. He's VERY aggressive and I don't use my hands as play toys but he does just walk right up and attack especially feet his attacks are very very hard even though I try to keep his nails trimmed he's good at drawing blood with them and his teeth combined. I try to distract but to no avail I'm the favorite thing he wants to play with. He has a cat jungle gym and TONS of toys. Like I said there are female feral cats that come into the creek next to my house. His gonads have completely descended and he's already a big kitten but not overweight at the moment he's almost eight pounds!! I'm up with him at night to play with him because he's curious and the last few days it seems he doesn't rest as much as he used to especially after playing for an hour he's nonstop! Plus, it's only been the last few nights I've been up with him. I love and enjoy him and hope that as soon as he gets neutered tomorrow we can start a great relationship of him actually being able to sleep in bed with us!

 

[Willowy]

My, he's an early bloomer. Maybe he's older than you were told? Hopefully the neutering will calm him down, but if he already has hormones circulating it can take a while to get them all out of his system. So don'tt expect miracles right away.

If he keeps you up at night, I read about a way to reset his internal clock. Basically, choose a day you can be home all day, no work or errands, etc. Then, don't let him sleep all day, no naps, just playing and whatever you have to do to keep him awake. Don't let him go to sleep until your bedtime. That resets their timetables, hopefully. Usually once is enough but in tough cases you might need to do it again for 2 days in a row.

 

[gibbly]

yeah that has nothing to do with him maturing, that's part of being a four month old kitten, which will continue well into his first year, nuetered or not u_u thus is why I don't like having male cats, they stay in the kitten crazys much longer than females