Hey everybody.
My 12 week-old kitten, Ella, is, most of the time, fabulous. She does typical kitten play behaviors, but we've been teaching her not to use our bodies as her toys. By and large, she's great; she'll only play with her humans with her claws in and give gentle bites. She's a friendly, social, "people-cat."
She has lots of toys, and she plays with them all in typical fashion.
Except for one. It's a "bouncy mouse," a brown mouse with feet on an elastic string. The first time she got a hold of it, it's like she became a different cat. She began growling and hissing while holding it in her mouth (she is neither a growler nor a hisser, in general; it was the first time I heard those noises from her), and she refused to let it go. If my girlfriend or myself attempted to take it from her, she attacked us - not playing. Claws out, trying to really hurt, and biting at full-strength.
I finally was able to get it away from her, but nothing - not food, other toys, catnip - could get her to let go of it willingly. It's like "bouncy mouse" possessed her
Has anyone seen anything like this before? What's the cause of it? We got her at about 7 weeks; her mother had abandoned her at around 4 or 5 weeks, and we got her from someone who'd been feeding her outdoors since her mom left. She has other unusual, orphan-like behaviors... is this one of them? She doesn't react that way to anything else!
I've disposed of the toy, but I'm not sure how to avoid this happening in the future. We're always picking up toys for her.
My 12 week-old kitten, Ella, is, most of the time, fabulous. She does typical kitten play behaviors, but we've been teaching her not to use our bodies as her toys. By and large, she's great; she'll only play with her humans with her claws in and give gentle bites. She's a friendly, social, "people-cat."
She has lots of toys, and she plays with them all in typical fashion.
Except for one. It's a "bouncy mouse," a brown mouse with feet on an elastic string. The first time she got a hold of it, it's like she became a different cat. She began growling and hissing while holding it in her mouth (she is neither a growler nor a hisser, in general; it was the first time I heard those noises from her), and she refused to let it go. If my girlfriend or myself attempted to take it from her, she attacked us - not playing. Claws out, trying to really hurt, and biting at full-strength.
I finally was able to get it away from her, but nothing - not food, other toys, catnip - could get her to let go of it willingly. It's like "bouncy mouse" possessed her
Has anyone seen anything like this before? What's the cause of it? We got her at about 7 weeks; her mother had abandoned her at around 4 or 5 weeks, and we got her from someone who'd been feeding her outdoors since her mom left. She has other unusual, orphan-like behaviors... is this one of them? She doesn't react that way to anything else!
I've disposed of the toy, but I'm not sure how to avoid this happening in the future. We're always picking up toys for her.