How to teach a 4 month old kitten good behavior

GoatsRcool

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Hello, last December my family adopted a male kitten, he’s currently 4 months old and he’s really well behaved minus a few issues we're hoping to resolve. He goes to the litter box extremely well, never had an accident at all. We just had him neutered too. However we work from home and he randomly meows really loud around the house. We thought he’s bored but he has lots of toys that he plays with. We do have a 9 year old cat that he is..a bit obsessed with. She’s mainly an outside cat but she comes in each day and she has her room that we close her in to so she is not pestered by the kitten. We’ve tried introducing them together multiple times but have stopped due to the cold winter since she usually wants to go out and we do not want to make her uncomfortable. The thing is when we did introduce them. The kitten just runs straight at her, completely ignoring her growling and hissing. (No she has not been with an other cat before) He’s mainly curious about her and would meow and cry at her door which is an issue because we work at home.
We’re not sure on the best way to get him to stop crying as much. We’ve tried a spray bottle when he cries for the other cat but he continuously keeps coming back and isn’t really fazed but the water. So any advice on teaching him would be great. Thank you.
 

susanm9006

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Please don’t discipline your kitten for his very normal behavior. The best way to change his behavior and reduce his obsession is to allow him to meet your older cat. She may hiss at him and even bop him a few times but maybe they can become friends. The alternative is to get your kitten a playmate of his own age.
 

ArtNJ

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Think about this way. You have a four year old son. Its 6:30 am on Christmas, and he is going crazy bouncing up and down on your bed. What is the best way to deal with his excitement? Its really the same issue, the 4 month old is just so incredibly excited there is another cat around. That won't go away until you let the kitten get it out of the system. The other cat isn't too keen, just like you aren't too keen at 6:30 am, but sometimes there really is no perfect solution -- you just have to get up at 6:30 am, and the older cat just has to learn to deal with the kitten until it calms down.

In the scheme of these things, it sounds like its going pretty well. Sometimes the older cats take the attentions of a won't-take-no-for-an-answer kitten much harder than this.
 

kghia

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Having 2 cats that I used a spray bottle on because I was a new cat guardian, it used to be "recommended" in places I read up on cat guardianship and I didn't know any better, let me tell you: unless it's to break up a catfight, spray bottles are no good for anything other than making the cat fear and dislike you. If you want your cat to love and trust you, ditch the spray bottle immediately.

I have a 7.5 month kitten right now who does the same thing to my 8.5 year old cats. If she's closed off from them behind a door, she will freak out and meow nonstop. If I have the baby gate that I use to separate two areas of the house closed, she will freak out in front of the gate. You can try training this out of her by letting your kitten get the meowing out of his system and only giving him what he wants when he's quiet. When my kitten freaks out next to the baby gate (which is right next to my work area in the dining room, so yes, I understand how annoying it is to be working from home next to a loud meowing kitten), I will ignore her until she is quiet. When she's quiet, I open the gate and walk away. We're training her to be quiet before she's fed this way too - she YELLS at us when she wants food. The first few weeks, she will yell while simultaneously circle around us like a shark. We've managed to train her to sit before giving her the food, but now we're working on getting her to also be quiet. It takes a LOT of patience, but I did this with my older cats, and it's so nice to have a little bit of peace and quiet during feeding time...
 

Ellis75

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I completely agree with the other replies and would also just add, kittens are very social animals. They love to be with and play with other kittens and cats. Many rescues won't even adopt out a kitten unless it's with another kitten or to a home that has a kitten-friendly cat. Interacting with other cats is both how they burn a lot of energy and how they learn manners. I think the only way to make him stop crying is to either do a slow introduction to your older cat or maybe consider adding another kitten the same age as him.

In terms of your girl growling and hissing at the kitten, that's not necessarily a bad thing. She's communicating her boundaries and telling the kitten that he's being too much. It might take time, but he'll eventually learn from her how he should and shouldn't approach her. He would also likely calm down once he gets to meet her more often and they get used to each other.
 

LTS3

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danteshuman

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Hello so a few things:

1 a kitten behave?!? 🤣🤣🤣

2 please don’t discipline him for drying out to you!

3 sounds like you have a talker. Try talking back to him & calling him to you when he meows.

4 get him a little brother he can be with 24/7. Try getting him one the same age/size as him.

5 take a morning, noon & afternoon cat break. Give him 10 minutes of quick loving and lots of active play. Get him running up and down furniture. Do it the same time everyday so he gets on a schedule.

6 weather permitting let him look/sniff outside through screen. Give/build him a nice window bed to perch on. Make it big enough for 2 cats. Then hang bird feeders & put a bird bath so he can see them from the Vinson. Try to attract squirrels with squirrel food, unsalted peanuts, unsalted sunflowers. Lots of cats love the squirrels more than the birds. I recently had to buy special chilli oil column bird food so the squirrels would leave it alone.

7 can we please see cute pictures of your adorable trouble maker?
 
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