Help! Brought 4 - month old kitten back from being neutered and now his mom/sister keep hissing at him =

purrfect mom

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I've never seen anything like it. Mom is now hissing at her daughter as well. Male neutered kitten seems befuddled. What to do? Thanks!
 

tabbytom

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I've never seen anything like it. Mom is now hissing at her daughter as well. Male neutered kitten seems befuddled. What to do? Thanks!
This is normal as kitten has scents n smell from the vet's office which is unfamiliar scents to mom and sister cat. What you can do is take a soft towel and rub over the body of momma and sister cat and then gently transfer the scents using the same towel for momma and sister cat and go over kitten that came back from the vet's office.

Do the same for the kitten using another clean towel and go over the kitten after you have done the first step and go over momma and sister cat.

This way their scents are transferred over and they'll smell familiar scents as before. If first time doesn't work, repeat.
 

susanm9006

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If rubbing the towels doesn’t work you can try rubbing each with a tiny bit of real vanilla. Or you can just wait. Usually the hissing stops within a couple of days as the Cat or kitten loses their vet scent and starts smelling like home.
 

lavishsqualor

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Everyone is right. This happens frequently. I've gotten to the point that if one of my three cats has to go to the vet, then they all go, just to avoid this scenario. It could take a few days before things calm down, purrfect mom. Just be patient and try the things outlined in this thread.
 
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purrfect mom

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Thanks, all. The other problem I have is keeping the cone on. I got a soft cone from the vet and kitten has managed to get it off each time. He's bounding and leaping all over the place.
He has finally started to play with his sister and I think things got too rough because he retreated and started making weird crying noises, but then came out, and was briefly purring.
The mother is hissing at him -- so him not interacting with her won't be a problem, but he often rough-houses with his sister; just now she was pulling at the strings used to cinch up the cone (she loves straps, shoelaces, etc.) and I tucked them in to his cone. Just tried vanilla. We'll see! Tried the towel, but I think that now both kittens have the weird vet scent on them, and maybe that's why mom hissing at both.
The odd thing with the mother is that even before the vet trip she was hissing more and more @ her female kitten: at 1st we thought it was just bc the female kitten tried to nurse; then it seemed to be bc the female kitten was always eating her food. But the mother for some reason always lets both kittens eat her food, before she eats.
Any ideas?
 

susanm9006

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Has mom been spayed yet? If not she may be in heat or going into heat where the natural reaction is to push away current kittens to get ready for new ones.
 
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purrfect mom

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no, she hasn't been spayed yet. I have an apptmt but bc of covid backup not till mid aug. She is such a gorgeous cat I might wish her to have 1 more litter, but unsure how to do it without just letting her out back door. .I'm sure I could find homes for all,and whomever owns the male she mates with might want a few. Am trying to investigate birth control as an in-between measure but vets around here either don't know about it or don't think it's safe, although it would be just for a few months Has anyone used? The organiz. I found that suggests that if it is used this form be used:
Covd-19 cats dogs contraception tnr

By the way, I tried both towel and vanilla and @ least it seemed to work w other kitten, and since they've been roughousing scent prob auto transferrred.thx for sugg.

Any input helpful!
At what point do mothers usually wish to push kittens out to mate again?
 

susanm9006

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August is just a few days away. Please don’t let her out or have her get pregnant again but take the first available appointment for her spay. She will feel much better and will be spared another pregnancy.
 

tabbytom

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The other problem I have is keeping the cone on. I got a soft cone from the vet and kitten has managed to get it off each time. He's bounding and leaping all over the place.
It’s ok not to have the cone on. Just as long as you keep tab on him that he doesn’t lick too furiously on the surgical site. A little bleeding now is expected and the swell will go off in a few days as it is still filled with blood.
Just keep the surgical clean and dry after he uses the litter box and a little running and jumping is ok. Watch for any foul smell and pus and if there is, it means that there’s an infection and bring him to the vet ASAP.
My boy kicked off his cone the very moment he stepped into the house and was never on it.

It take around 8 weeks for the testosterones to be fully discharged from the system. After that you’ll just feel a soft deflated sac and fur will grow back pretty soon.
 
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purrfect mom

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thank you for all replies! mom still hissing @ both kittens -- I think bc she wants to mate and wants them out of the way? I will start another thread but am wondering if she does have another litter will the current kittens leave new kittens alone? Current kittens would be about 7 mos. old. Thx.
 

cataholic07

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Just because a cat is stunning isn't a reason to breed them. Her last litter was just tabbies, if she's a tortie you can expect tabbies, orange, black, possible torties maybe torbies but nothing uncommon. Please just get her fixed, there are far too many unwanted kittens being born out there who are more in desperate need of good homes to well stay alive. Rescues and shelters close for intakes because they are overwhelmed so people just dump kittens they cant find homes for and many do not survive. So yes you might find homes easily, but you take away homes from others. And many of those kittens are not well taken care of and suffer.

Mom would probably be even worse when her next litter is born and she wont allow the other two anywhere near the kittens for months. The current kittens will want to investigate and can play too rough with kittens. They couldnt be around them until 8 weeks old.
 

danteshuman

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I was going to suggest the vanilla but someone already did.

Cats recognize by scent first & have a communal scent. In their mindfriends and family smell like me!

It is the reason I try to take all 3 “kittens” to the vet at the same time. I also apply flea medicine or give foam baths to everyone at the same time to.
 
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