Hi all,
I posted to introduce myself and my tiny gal Sophie (approx 8 weeks now) a few days ago. Sophie was a darling from the moment we brought her home...affectionate, cuddly, playful in a bouncy, happy way (she reminded me a lot of my yellow lab playing as a puppy!). She didn't "talk" much unless my sister (whom she loves) or I walked into the room after being away from her for awhile, or I brought her something good to eat.
Now suddenly, for the past 2-3 days, she's been a holy terror! She has been alternately "needy" (very vocally requesting my undivided attention in her tiny little kitten voice) and then playful in a very "aggro-hunter" way, arching her back, putting her ears half-down, and chewing incessantly on anything she can get her teeth on (including fingers, toes, shoes, cardboard, edges of furniture, pretty much everything BUT her toys). Today she actually full-out stalked me for the first time, emerging from cover in full "Sidewinder" mode (approaching with her back arched, walking on the tips of her toes, in a sideways manner - if anyone knows the general reason for this "stance" I'd love to know it!) and eyeing me as if I were edible!
I would have assumed that this is simply a "growth phase" (although the finger-and-toe biting is something we're going to have to work on!), but the similarities in behavior to a teething human infant are striking...the alternate neediness and "cranky" behavior. The vet had indicated that her molars should be coming in right about now (I can't really check without nearly losing a finger and having a handful of hissing angry kitten)...does this normally cause this "spazzy" behavior? Or is this simply Sophie coming into her own as a little "huntress"?
Any advice on dealing with this new phase would be hugely appreciated...as I mentioned in my introduction post, I've never had a cat before, and was largely unprepared for this one, so I'm in the dark here! I still absolutely adore her, I just want to make sure she is (a) developing normally, and (b) that I have the 'behavior modification' tools in place to handle behavior like biting, since now would appear to be the time to deal with it.
She is going to the vet late tomorrow afternoon to get her shots and her FIV/FeLV test, and to check on her umbilical hernia (can't WAIT to get her spayed and get that fixed, it makes me incredibly nervous), but if there's reason for concern over her behavior, I'd rather not wait to find out!
Thanks all
I'll leave you with a snapshot of Sophie in "spaz mode" (I had made a funny noise to get her attention, and obviously she didn't much like it!)
I posted to introduce myself and my tiny gal Sophie (approx 8 weeks now) a few days ago. Sophie was a darling from the moment we brought her home...affectionate, cuddly, playful in a bouncy, happy way (she reminded me a lot of my yellow lab playing as a puppy!). She didn't "talk" much unless my sister (whom she loves) or I walked into the room after being away from her for awhile, or I brought her something good to eat.
Now suddenly, for the past 2-3 days, she's been a holy terror! She has been alternately "needy" (very vocally requesting my undivided attention in her tiny little kitten voice) and then playful in a very "aggro-hunter" way, arching her back, putting her ears half-down, and chewing incessantly on anything she can get her teeth on (including fingers, toes, shoes, cardboard, edges of furniture, pretty much everything BUT her toys). Today she actually full-out stalked me for the first time, emerging from cover in full "Sidewinder" mode (approaching with her back arched, walking on the tips of her toes, in a sideways manner - if anyone knows the general reason for this "stance" I'd love to know it!) and eyeing me as if I were edible!
I would have assumed that this is simply a "growth phase" (although the finger-and-toe biting is something we're going to have to work on!), but the similarities in behavior to a teething human infant are striking...the alternate neediness and "cranky" behavior. The vet had indicated that her molars should be coming in right about now (I can't really check without nearly losing a finger and having a handful of hissing angry kitten)...does this normally cause this "spazzy" behavior? Or is this simply Sophie coming into her own as a little "huntress"?
Any advice on dealing with this new phase would be hugely appreciated...as I mentioned in my introduction post, I've never had a cat before, and was largely unprepared for this one, so I'm in the dark here! I still absolutely adore her, I just want to make sure she is (a) developing normally, and (b) that I have the 'behavior modification' tools in place to handle behavior like biting, since now would appear to be the time to deal with it.
She is going to the vet late tomorrow afternoon to get her shots and her FIV/FeLV test, and to check on her umbilical hernia (can't WAIT to get her spayed and get that fixed, it makes me incredibly nervous), but if there's reason for concern over her behavior, I'd rather not wait to find out!
Thanks all
I'll leave you with a snapshot of Sophie in "spaz mode" (I had made a funny noise to get her attention, and obviously she didn't much like it!)