hi i just got a cat

[dude]

hey i just got a cat. its 4 months old and its really cute and stuff. its the first pet ive ever had so sorry if i seem like a "noobie". i was wondering how or if i can train it to be one of those cats that you can just chill with like sit on your lap or beside you.

the cat is great and all but its like semi-pshychotic (however u spell that). it always tries to bite and scratch me and ppl in my family. like we'll be chilling in the living room and it would jump on the couch from behind and try to bite u or scratch u. i can pet it sometimes but it doesnt usually last long cuz she gets annoyed or something.

ive been trying to discipline it, like whenever it would bite or scratch or do something wrong i would grab it on the back of the neck (the area where the mother would grab it) and force it down to the ground gently and say NO kinda loud but not yelling. or sometimes i would just shove it away when it tries to scratch or bite. i also tried using the spray method where u just spray some water at it and it will go away. i think its starting to learn a bit but shes still pretty crazy. and im confused cuz some people say i should just leave her as she is and not try to discipline her or anything, but how do i do that? if shes biting and scratching me its kinda hard to just leave her cuz even though shes young she still can cut me up. and when i spray it she will go away. but i want to be able to interact with the cat at the same time u know like pet it and just hang out with it cuz it doesnt really come to me all that much unless it wants to bite or scratch me or unless it wants to eat. like just a couple minutes ago it came to me while i was on the computer and just sat beside me cuz it was hungry, its sleeping now. and usually it just runs around and does its own thing. or hangs out on the window sill (thats like her favourite spot right beside the window).

i want the cat to get used to the house u know so i let it out. sometimes i have to lock it in my room cuz it gets a lil too crazy and my family cant really relax in the house without worrying about what the cat is going to do. i know that they are slow learners and it will take a while but i really want my cat to like me and chill beside me and on my lap without worrying about it having my foot for lunch. because regardless of its crazyness, i'm learning to care about her more. i would appreciate it if u could give me some suggestions to help me out. also sometimes she just stares at me and i stare back and we have like a little staring contest. does this mean anything? shes a crazy cat but shes growing on me even though i only had her for a couple days, i just wish i could play with her and interact with her without her biting or scratching me almost everytime i get near her. any suggestions would be great, i really want her to like me. thanks.

 

[rosiemac]

First of all at 4 months old she's a kitten still, not a cat. Think of babies that need attention because a kitten is no different

ive been trying to discipline it, like whenever it would bite or scratch or do something wrong i would grab it on the back of the neck and force it down to the ground gently and say NO kinda loud but not yelling
Staring at a cat is the wrong thing to do, it intimidates them, and cat's can't be disciplined either. Forcing her down to the ground will only make her scared of you. Put yourself in the kittens position?

Keep your hands away from her because she sees them as a toy. Get lots of toys for her such as ping pong balls that she can bat about, and the fishing rod type that she can grab, and if family or friends come around get them to play with her for a while as well. Do this and you'll have a happy kitten and a happy house

 

[dude]

ok but how do i get to play with her if she tries to bite and scratch me everytime i get near her? just with toys? like say when i throw a ball for her to go to play with does she know im trying to play with her? does she realize this and would this encourage her to like me? and how will i pet her and become close to her if i cant touch her?

 

[rosiemac]

When she goes to bite or scratch it's because she's bored and wants to play, so always have several toys by your side and the fishing pole when she starts and just throw the toy past her to distract her, or dangle the toy on the pole.

Kittens like children are full of energy, so by playing with them it tires them out.

I use a laserlight with mine so they chase the red dot(BUT NEVER SHINE IT IN THEIR EYES!)and as soon as i get it out the drawer and click it they know what it is and come running to get ready to chase it.

By playing with her and showing her some affection she will like you, but you must stop holding her down or yelling because she'll end up scared of you

 

[dude]

ok thanks for the advice. i just played with her with this fishing pole kinda dangling thing for like 2 hours straight and she really went off and she still wants to play more but i gotta go to sleep lol. i think shes starting to like me cuz when i went to the bathroom she waited outside for me and when i come to the room she comes to me. even though when she comes she scratches and bites but i guess its some kinda progress. if i continue to play with her like this will she eventually like me enough to just chill beside me? or on my lap? cuz thats one of the main things im aiming for. i want her to like me enough to just relax on my lap or beside me like she relaxes by the window sill or on the bed so i can just pet her without getting my fingers eaten. something ive been doing is sneaking in little pets here and there, like when shes occupied biting or scratching the dangling toy thing i try and pet her. even if she only lets me do it for a couple seconds before she tries to bite me, i guess its better than nothing. cuz im thinking if i keep doing these little pets shell get more accustomed to them or something? should i keep doing this? thanks.

 

[rosiemac]

Originally Posted by dude

if i continue to play with her like this will she eventually like me enough to just chill beside me? or on my lap? cuz thats one of the main things im aiming for.

It's hard to say because cats are known for doing what they want, not what the owner wants. All 3 of mine are lap cats, but the tip is not to force them onto your lap, just let them come to you.

Give her treats as well. Put a couple on the floor, then a couple beside you and see what happens, but as i said don't force her as this will only make her stay away.

 

[stephanietx]

Also, remember if she's just a young kitten, it will take a very long time for her to turn into snuggle bugs. They're pretty much crazy until they mature into adulthood, around 12-18 mos.

 

[dude]

hi thanks for the advice guys. i think shes warming up to me more cuz she actually willingly came to me yesterday and slept on my lap for a while which was awesome, i savoured that moment as much as i could lol. she even licked me too for like 2 seconds lol. i trimmed her claws cuz she was just getting too hectic, shes calmed down considerably after, but she still bites like crazy, im starting to understand that she only does it certain times when she wants to play and stuff. i guess as many ppl said i just have to endure it until she becomes more comfortable around me and the house. thanks again for the advice.

 

[elayman]

Originally Posted by dude

hi thanks for the advice guys. i think shes warming up to me more cuz she actually willingly came to me yesterday and slept on my lap for a while which was awesome, i savoured that moment as much as i could lol. she even licked me too for like 2 seconds lol. i trimmed her claws cuz she was just getting too hectic, shes calmed down considerably after, but she still bites like crazy, im starting to understand that she only does it certain times when she wants to play and stuff. i guess as many ppl said i just have to endure it until she becomes more comfortable around me and the house. thanks again for the advice.

Play aggression tends to develop when kitty has no other young cats to interact with or has been taken from mama too early. You're doing the right things by trying to redirect and interrupt it while rewarding appropriate behavior (calm)....but is there any way you could also get a playmate for her about the same age ?

 

[otto]

Congratulations on your new baby!

Just want to add: Please take your new kitten to the vet now, if you haven't already. She will need to get a flea treatment, she will need to be de-wormed and she will need to be spayed.

Do not use the flea treatments or worm treatments you find in stores. They can make her very sick or kill her. Take her to the vet for that.

Cats live longer healthier safer lives inside, but if you do decide to let her out do not do it until she has been spayed, (and recovered from the spay) She is probably old enough to have that done now, your vet will know.

Kittens bond by playing so the more you play with her the more you will bond with her. Lap cats come later, when they grow up and don't have that boundless energy. Just now she is a baby, and kittens go and go and go.

As was said no more "punishment". Redirection is what you want to do. Punishing her will teach her to fear you and a fearful cat is often a mean cat.

Never ever use your hand or feet or any body part as a toy. Always have a toy in hand.

Can't wait to hear more about your new kitten. I have an 8 week old baby kitten at my house just now, it's wonderful.

What's her name?

 

[dude]

thanks for the replies guys. yeah i literally played with her like for hours on end, i swear its like shes a pshycho cat on steroids or something lol. she just doesnt get tired, shes finaly sleeping now after several hours of aggressive play. she let me pet her as she was falling asleep, and even then she still bites. like when i tried putting her on my lap to sleep she would just bite.

ive noticed shes only affectionate when us 2 are locked in my room (cuz she gets 2 crazy sometimes and i cant have her going around biting my family). and when i say affectionate i use that very lightly. usually she just goes 2 chill on the window sill cuz thats like her favourite spot. ive been redirecting her like u guys said like throwing bouncy balls around and stuf for her 2 chase around and wearing baseball glove so she can bite around and stuff. its fun and all but she still bites, i have a bunch of little scars on each arm and foot 2 prove it. and its kinda hard cuz its not like i have a spray bottle or toy handy on me 24/7 u know, sometimes the scolding or little punishment just comes out of me cuz im left without a choice, and hell sometimes that doesnt even work.

and no theres no way 4 me 2 get another cat 4 her 2 play with cuz shes already too crazy and my parents r already doubting keeping her. shes gonna be indoors all the time. ive been letting her roam around the house as much as possible cuz i want her 2 get used 2 everyone and everything. i really hope u guys are right about her calming down as she grows. i dont know what breed she is, i just call her psycho cat lol. shes like a mix of dark grey and white, cute as hell shes a really good looking cat llike the ones u see in commercials. i really want her 2 like me, her name is Meeka. thanks.

 

[captiva]

Welcome to you and Meeka! You have gotten some great advice. What someone else said it true. It sounds like she's still quite active. She won't settle down until she's a little older.

 

[stephanietx]

You might try confining her to a smaller area of the house for a week, then giving her access to a bit more for a week, and so on until she's got full run of the house. Once she becomes more familiar with you, she'll be more affectionate. Until then, just talk to her calmly and nicely. How long have you had Meeka?

I totally understand about being stuck in "ON"...all the time! I have a little 15 week old boy and just in the last hour he's managed to make several loops around the house, jump on one of my other cats, tip over a container of water, fall off the coffee table, crash into some empty milk jugs on the floor, jump off the chair and land in a mess of papers, play with his turbo scratcher, play with some other feather dangly jingle bell toy ad nauseum, chase some other toys around, fling himself at the wall trying to jump on the counter, and generally just be goofy. I don't hear him right now, but he's quite so I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by dude

thanks for the replies guys. yeah i literally played with her like for hours on end, i swear its like shes a pshycho cat on steroids or something lol. she just doesnt get tired, shes finaly sleeping now after several hours of aggressive play.

Meeka is not psycho she is a perfectly normal kitten.

This is what kittens do, so with all respect, you really do need to change your mindset about this.

Kittens are very active little souls. They run and climb and knock things down, they act "crazy" and spook at nothing and break things, if you don't put the breakable things away. It's just a normal part of kittenhood.

Watch her carefully to make sure she is not chewing on any wires, as she will be teething soon, give her toys she can chew on safely. If you have blinds or curtain pulls tie them up somehow so she doesn't hang herself on them.

Be sure there are no loose threads or dental floss or anything like that around as she will eat them, which could cause serious damage inside her body. The same goes for small things like tacks, beads, etc.

Let us know how Meeka's vet visit goes.

 

[elayman]

Originally Posted by dude

and no theres no way 4 me 2 get another cat 4 her 2 play with cuz shes already too crazy and my parents r already doubting keeping her. shes gonna be indoors all the time. ive been letting her roam around the house as much as possible cuz i want her 2 get used 2 everyone and everything. i really hope u guys are right about her calming down as she grows. i dont know what breed she is, i just call her psycho cat lol. shes like a mix of dark grey and white, cute as hell shes a really good looking cat llike the ones u see in commercials. i really want her 2 like me, her name is Meeka. thanks.

All I'm suggesting is that since cats are very social creatures, you could get Meeka another kitten to play with to tire herself out. From experience, it's also so much fun to watch kittens playing together. Sit back and watch them bite at each other instead.

But be prepared for the consequences if you go to school or whatever and are gone a lot during the day !

That's when a solo kitten is likely to get bored, get into trouble and may be too much to handle when you come home. Besides keeping her food and water bowls full, ways to save your stuff from being torn up are by making sure there are tons of toys (balls, poles, feathers), cat trees, scratchy trees, etc. And if you can't bring home another kitty, spending as much time with her in a low-key, nurturing atmosphere as you can, before and after your other work....

Good luck !

 

[auntie crazy]

Dude! Welcome to TCS and congratulations on your new kitten!

I understand where you're coming from when you call your kitty "psycho kitty" - they do seem kinda crazy with all the non-stop go!, go!!, GO!!! they've got going on, eh?

There's been a lot of good advice posted and you really seem to be listening - that's so awesome! Sounds like you're doing a good job so far.

I'll just reiterate a few points I especially agree with:

Never, ever "discipline" your cat - it'll threaten your relationship with her. Always redirect her to a toy if you don't like what's she doing or just walk away.

Keep up the different play games with Meeka (what a cute name!). If you can, get her a companion kitten - it'll really make a difference (for one thing, kittens learn manners by playing with and correcting each other when one or the other crosses the line; these manners can be transferred over to play with people), but if you can't, it's not the end of the world; just keep interacting with her.

Let her sleep on your lap as often as you can. Whenever she's worn out from an all-day play session and starts to fall asleep somewhere, try to ever-so-gently scoop her up and settle her carefully in your lap. Then gently stroke her fur while she falls asleep. She'll associate you with both fun times and warm pleasant snoozes.

Entice, don't force. I have six cats, three trapped as 8 week old ferals, two trapped as 12 week old ferals, and a two-year previously abused boy. An extra amount of work was necessary to build relationships with the last three, and every time I tried to force something with one of them, we took a step back. Patience and persistence pay off in trust and affection; force only erodes those feelings.

Keep up what you're doing and I think you're destined for a warm and wonderful relationship with little Meeka!

 

[dude]

hi. thanks again for all the advice guys, i appreciate the support. u guys are really nice. i dunno usually ppl on the internet and forums are "u know whats". i think its because they know there behind a computer screen and nothing will happen to them. oh and i dont actually think shes a psycho lol i was just joking around. i never really had a pet before, all im saying is that shes a hell of a first lol.

stephanie ur post was halarious, Meeka is the same except with more biting. she always goes into the kitchen and scares my mom lol. its surprising how fast she is like holy crap, especially when shes jumping from couch to couch and chasing around balls and stuff.

shes pretty brave too. i remember the other day she was on the couch, and theres a table like a couple of feet away, and i noticed her looking at it and i could tell she was thinking of jumping on it. she didnt, but today she just went for it and i knew she would make it from the start, she was just a little cautious at first.

i had to lock her up in my room for a while cuz shes been keeping me up and im pretty exhausted, plus i didnt get any sleep so i had to sleep. i slept in the same room cuz i thought it would be a good idea (and as i mentioned before she warms up to me more when us 2 r together in the room). and it was, she actually came and kinda cuddled up to me and we both slept for a while. i was petting her gently for a while then just let her sleep, cuz i needed to sleep too lol. i was thinking of trying to get her to sleep on my lap at that time but she already came beside me so i didnt want to push it u know.

i look forward to posting on this forum more, u guys got a great community here. ill try and post some pictures of Meeka soon. ive had her for like 4 days so far or something. my sister was the one who initially brought her and apparently she had her in her room for like a week b4 anyone knew she was here. i think she was trying to get her used to little areas one at a time like u guys said. and one day i just came home and suddenly i have a cat lol, and ever since ive been letting her around the house. i guess i just go so excited i let her out and everything. so shes been here for like maybe 10 or 11 days. but i only found out about her like 4 days ago and been letting her out since then.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by otto

Kittens are very active little souls. They run and climb and knock things down, they act "crazy" and spook at nothing and break things, if you don't put the breakable things away. It's just a normal part of kittenhood.

I want to reiterate my comments here. I have an 8 week old kitten just now. I thought I had kitten proofed my house, but she found the ONE thing I didn't put away, and now it is broken. Shattered glass everywhere, and a cherished item gone forever.

Of course I was upset and my first instinct was to yell. I didn't yell though, because it wasn't her fault. She was just doing what kittens do.

It was MY fault for not putting it out of reach.

So I am sad my precious china duck is broken, and I am worried I didn't get all the slivers of glass up and a cat will cut his or her feet (though I've wiped and vacuumed and wiped some more) but it wasn't her fault, it was mine.

That is just an example of why you want to put behind closed doors anything breakable until Meeka grows up.

 

[stephanietx]

To help with the sleep issue, play with Meeka really hard just before bedtime, then feed her a really good sized portion of wet (canned) kitten food. Get her settled in your room (with a litter box, some toys that don't make noise, and a bowl of dry food), turn out the lights and go to bed. She'll soon learn the routine and you'll be able to sleep better. Kitties crave routine and she'll soon learn yours.

You're doing a great job with her! They are very quick and I swear they sometimes just "materialize" out of thin air when you least expect it! Thankfully, my guy likes to rub my legs and coo and squeak, so I can hear him and feel him, but he still just shows up from out of nowhere.

They're just crazy kids, go,go,go, then plop and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

[dude]

kk thanks. fortunately ive kinda Meeka-proofed my house putting all the breakable stuff safe so shes not doing a lot of breaking. i got another question. when she wants to play she comes to me and just sits near me or stares at me for a while, and if i pick her up or something she bites, which ive learned that means she wants to play as u guys said. i play with her A LOT but its not like i can play with her whenever she wants (which is like all the time lol), so sometimes i just dont give her attention, and when i do that she just sleeps, or picks a spot and just kinda chills there cuz shes bored i guess. will this cause her to hate me ever? cuz the reason she comes to me in the first place is cuz i play with her so much so i guess she kinda expects it.