Help!!! Fed Up With My Kitten :(

[MD97756]

Hi! My name is Myranda. I'm a big cat lover. I've always had adult cats. I did run into a bad adoption once, but I kept her out of obligation/duty and she was very violent. Well, I wanted to raise a kitten this time.

I waited 2yrs after getting my senior cat Leo, who is roughly 6 or 7 now. Leo has been an amazing old man to have around. But I wanted a kitten that I could bond with and raise to senior age. So, I found Banshee Queen. She was dainty and looked a Lil scared in her photos.

I tracked her thru her foster home until she was of weight and fixed, ready to come home with us. This was in July.

Well, here we are. Mid October. I feel terrorized in my own home. She was 3 months old when I got her, so she is approx 6 or 7 months old now. I cry atleast once a week over her.

I knew kittens were high energy and alot of work. I studied how to redirect their focus/attention. Made sure I have multiple cat boxes and 2 different feeding locations so neither cat feels bullied over food.

Bought her a cat tree, she ignored it. I've bought the "stay away" sprays for furniture and everything I don't want her to scatch on. I've tried the water spritz for bad behavior. She runs away and goes right back to what she was doing. I've tried using toys/lasers to distract her from unwanted behaviors. Tried ssss her.

She shreds up everything in my house. She runs like a rabid animal through my house and slams herself into walls, doors, furniture. Climbs up high and launches herself onto electronics and knocks them over. She constantly launches from above onto my senior cat and makes him shriek in pain. And when she isn't doing this stuff, she howls non stop. It's maddening.

We try to love her and talk soothingly, and she allows it for a second and then is all nails n teeth. We have scratches all over our bodies. We can't close her into a kennel or room, she shreds up carpet and just howls if left alone for quiet time.

I am in over my head. And I'm ashamed to admit it. My cat Leo now seeks her out when she is sleeping, so I feel I'll be punishing him if I don't keep her. But I don't know what to do any more. I feel like a failure.

Please please please help us!!! And none of the "she is a kitten, deal with it" reactions. Or "just play with her". It's not that easy. She acts like a strait up feral / rabid animal. She has all her shots and deworming.

 

[Espalia]

Hi there, I'm sorry you're going through this. I know it can be very emotional when a kitten does not act how you expected/want it to.

Your post sounds very emotional, which is understandable because you have been dealing with a stressful situation for months. However, it will do you a lot of good to try to find a way to be calmer about the situation. When people get emotional, they stop thinking rationally and this is not good for you or your kitty.

My first piece of advice - you may want to consider adopting another kitten. Having two kittens is a good idea for many, many reasons and may correct a lot of the behaviors you describe here. The main this is, she clearly needs an outlet for her energy and another kitten will give her a willing playmate 24/7. If you go this route, make sure you adopt a very energetic kitten around her age who is used to being around other cats. You can try to find a shelter with a 'foster-adopt' program, that will let you test the waters with the new kitten for a few weeks before you fully adopt them.

A few points I want to make here:

She is not a feral cat - she was fostered and she is clearly okay with human contact. She is just a very energetic kitten.

It is never good to spray a cat for bad behavior, because it instills fear in them - fear of you. This can result in more aggressive behavior from your cat and does nothing to improve your relationship with them.

Finally, even though your older cat seems to be coming around to the kitten you need to be objective about whether it is a good idea to keep her. It sounds like you are at your wits end, and its likely your kitten does not feel great in her current situation. If you do not have the patience or emotional fortitude to rectify your relationship with this kitten, it may be best for you to re-home her and try to adopt an older car whose temperament is more apparent at the shelter. This is a very difficult decision, and takes a lot of courage but it may be best for the kitten.

I'm guessing, based on the tone of your post and the fact that you have tried negative reinforcement with your kitty that you don't have the best relationship with her. I highly encourage you to do everything you can to change this. The 'bad behavior' is just the outcome her having too much energy and no way to burn it off - try not to be angry with her, she doesn't know any better. You could try leash-training her and taking her on walks, other members of this forum have had lots of success with this method. Since you feel like you are already playing with her as much as your are willing, I really think it would be best for you to get her a playmate.

 

[MD97756]

OK well thank you. I can't get another cat, already have 2. Stop using the squirted water. Check. Play with her non stop. And let her terrorize the house because it's what kittens do. I'll try to secure things better so she doesn't knock them down.

But saying the "bad relationship" I have with her is because of negative reinforcement makes me sound like I abuse her. I've spent hours online trying to figure out how to help her. The water spritz is something I've read multiple places as well as something that was suggested by a friend that works at a vet clinic. I didn't realize that its considered negative reinforcement. So I'll make sure to stop that.

Thanks for your tips.

 

[suzan30]

I am a newbie here, but I just wanted to say that after living with two senior cats who I adopted at age 7 and 12 (both passed away at age 16), I was shocked when I adopted a young cat of about 10 months. He tore up roll after roll of toilet paper and paper towels, knocked beloved pieces of pottery off shelves, and mangled several house plants. I couldn't believe his energy level. Things calmed down a lot after I adopted another cat (and then eventually a third) who are his age. Now they chase each other about non-stop, and no one bothers the toilet paper.

 

[lacy2000]

You can use soft paws to stop the clawing and scratching. They are tiny plastic caps for their claws that can be put on by a vet or yourself. Also, if he isn’t using scratch pads, try dumping a ton of catnip on it. For some reasons it makes cats want to scratch the scratch pads.

Have you tried taking him on walks? I’ve never tried it but I heard that can really help with high energy cats. Just as long as he has all of his vaccinations and you have a low traffic area to take him.

Another idea is fostering! The idea scares a lot of people, but if you look into it, you find find it a nice option. You take in a cat or kitten for a few weeks and the shelter pays for everything including food, litter, etc. My cat is two now but is still high energy and the kittens certainly tire him out!

 

[Summercats]

Do you have scratching posts in various areas? I put one in the living room that my cat uses a lot, one near the bed etc. Cats need to scratch. Put toys/catnip on the scratcher to get her using it. Also running totally normal for a kitten and she needs to play. If your home is crowded she may run into or knock things over. I agree a playmate is good but only if you have the space.

 

[Espalia]

OK well thank you. I can't get another cat, already have 2. Stop using the squirted water. Check. Play with her non stop. And let her terrorize the house because it's what kittens do. I'll try to secure things better so she doesn't knock them down.

But saying the "bad relationship" I have with her is because of negative reinforcement makes me sound like I abuse her. I've spent hours online trying to figure out how to help her. The water spritz is something I've read multiple places as well as something that was suggested by a friend that works at a vet clinic. I didn't realize that its considered negative reinforcement. So I'll make sure to stop that.

Thanks for your tips.

I didn't mean to suggest that you abuse your cat! It sounds like you are doing your best to take really good care of her. What I meant by 'bad relationship' was that - I was given the impression from the tone of your post that you have negative feelings towards this cat - because as you say she has been terrorizing you for months. And likewise, your cat may have some negative feelings towards you (spraying cats is something many people make the mistake of doing, it doesn't mean that they are abusing their cats). So instead of focusing all your attention on the environment, it might be helpful for you to also focus on have a healthier relationship with the kitten.
This means taking care of yourself emotionally, introducing healthy discipline for the kitten, and figuring out what this kitty needs so that she gives you some peace. If you are stressed out, it will also stress out your cats.

It sounds like you introduced your cats well and they have plenty of resources (food, water, vertical space, etc...) but your kitten has other needs - namely to play a ton. That's just what kittens do, and some have much more energy than others. If you are unwilling to get another kitten (adding another kitten is not as significant a change as it might sound as long as you can handle it financially) or to foster then you really will need to find a way to manage her energy. The best thing would probably be to leash train and take her on walks. Other options could be finding a friend/neighbor who also has a hyperactive kitten and letting them have play dates.

You could try installing a bird feeder in a window, hanging toys from doorways, or putting catnip on her tree as lacy2000 suggests above. If there are treats she is particularly crazy about, you could try clicker training her - which is also a good way to manage her energy. This takes a lot of work and patience.

 

[Pjg8r]

Have you tried the “pop up” tunnels? One of my kittens doesn’t really run up things he likes to run fast on the ground. The tunnels crinkle when he runs, they can easily be folded up when you have company, and my wild child loves his. I move the tunnels to other parts of the house and he will start all over again like it’s a new toy. Here’s a picture of it after he wore himself out!

 

[Katie M]

Have you tried catnip? Not all cats react to it the same way, but some are mellowed out by it.

In my experience, time has proven to be a major factor. Charlie was a lot like your kitten, attacks and all. I was heartbroken and looking for a shelter. Then he showed me that he really does love me. He still goes after me, but the number of attacks has diminished. Charlie's growing up. Please take this into consideration.

 

[prairiepanda]

It seems you already know this, but it's important to keep in mind that cats never respond well to negative reinforcement. Redirection away from bad behaviors and positive reinforcement of good behaviors are the only ways to truly teach a cat good manners. Negative reinforcements like hissing, yelling, clapping, squirting with water tend to make a cat resentful and may appear to make the cat "obey" rules while you are present, but often result in even more bad behavior when you're not around.

For scratching furniture, make sure you have a LOT of scratchers for her. With young kittens and cats I put scratchers next to every one of their favorite scratching spots. If that means a post at every corner of the couch and a mat in every doorway, so be it. I would rather invest in the scratchers than have carpets and furniture destroyed. As others have mentioned, rubbing catnip on the scratchers helps to encourage the kitten to scratch them. It can be troublesome, but it's important to redirect the kitten to a scratcher every time you catch them scratching something inappropriate, and to do so as nicely as possible. You can even gently grab the kittens paws and drag them along the scratcher to show her what it's for. To protect furniture, just put masking tape over her favorite scratching areas. That way she can't scratch it anymore, and it won't feel nice on her paws so she will prefer the scratchers. The tape can be removed once she's developed a consistent habit of using the scratchers (and, once she's older, you probably won't need to have so many scratchers around either).

As for aggressive play with humans, when she gets too rough you can gently hold her down at the shoulders or squeeze her ear hard to mimic how an adult cat would tell her she's being too rough (they will often just lean all their weight onto the kitten to hold it down and/or bite the kitten's ear). If she continues playing too rough, walk away to show that you're not going to play with her if she's doing that. But don't discourage play altogether; it's good to approach her for play time each day to show her that you do want to be her friend, but just enforce boundaries while playing.

Lastly, it's obviously impossible to play with her as much as she would like. There is a limit to the time and energy you can commit to her, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're human and have other responsibilities. When living with kittens, I find it helps immensely to have cat toys literally everywhere. Just scatter them all over the house. It's a big mess, but it's temporary and gives the kitten plenty of positive outlets for her energy wherever she happens to be when she "explodes". Self-play toys such as those balls in tracks, hanging toys, and pop-up tunnels are especially great for this. To save money, things like reusable shopping bags, cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls, and empty cardboard egg cartons tend to be very popular toys for kittens. My kitten is also a huge fan of an old bedsheet on the laminate floor; he loves how it slides when he pounces on it. So yeah, make your house a mess of cat toys and your kitten will have a much easier time expending her energy when you aren't able to play with her. You'll be able to keep a tidier house when she's older, but for now the mess will be worth it to save you a lot of headaches.

As others have suggested, fostering another kitten would help immensely as well, if you're able. I understand that you can't actually adopt a third cat, but just fostering long enough for your kitten to calm down might be doable. Keep in mind that fosters are eligible for free food and veterinary care, if cost is a major issue for you.

It's definitely a shock living with a kitten after being used to mature cats, but fear not! This stage will pass