Kitten is too clingy but too energetic!

[rosiepie]

I have a 12 week old kitten, had her since she was 8 weeks old. I work nights so sleep during the day, and I have been keeping her confined to one room when I'm sleeping (my husband works days and does the same thing at night).
However, she cries when alone and is a manic ball of energy when she's with us, won't go far from where we are at all and follows us around the house. She's not a cuddly kitten however, and usually tries to play with our hands/feet/faces. I had the idea of letting her have the run of the house when we're asleep and have placed her toys around the house, but all she does is curl up under a table outside the bedroom door and wait for me! She just won't play by herself which means she seems to have almost too much energy even for a yound kitten as all she does is attack things and run around. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually witnessed her asleep!
We've also had to place bowls of food in several locations as she'd rather not eat than be away from us so we need food wherever we are in the house.
Any ideas on what I should do?

 

[rosiepie]

She constantly bites and scratches during play, we can't seem to train her to stop.

 

[Primula]

Please keep in mind that she will grow out of her kitten behavior. She is just a baby who has no siblings to play with. (I think many of us here would give anything to have a kitten in the house again.) The ideal thing would be to get a companion for her, but that can cause a bunch of problems too.

Don't let her play with hands and feet. Bad habits to get into. When she goes for the hands immediately throw a small soft toy for her to substitute. Biting, especially, is something to be seriously discouraged. All kittens do this, but will stop if hands & feet are not used as playthings.

Good that you are keeping her out of bedroom when you sleep. Our cats do not sleep with us. If she cries to come into the bedroom you will have to ignore the crying. If you once let her in you will never again be able to keep her outside. Remember, she only cries for your attention & will stop when she realizes it has no effect.

She is old enough to be spayed, which will calm her down some. A cat can get pregnant at 12 weeks and going into heat every month will drive you nuts.

She may also have been taken from her mother too soon. Eight weeks is not too early, but it depends on the cat. Just keep in mind she will outgrow all this behavior as I said at the top of this post.

 

[rosiepie]

We've tried throwing a toy to distract her, a lot of the time the movement of throwing the toy is more attractive than the toy itself so she still tries for the hands!

The main problem is her clinginess. I've never had a kitten who didn't play with their toys by themselves and use up at least a bit of energy when alone. The not wanting to eat unless we're with her concerns me as well.

 

[Brian007]

I've let all of my cats sleep with me.  I usually get *sighs* and disapproving looks when I stay up too late, as cats like to have a routine.  When it's bed time my cat turns in with me and is usually asleep within minutes.  He then gets up with me when I do (though I have to get him his breakfast at the crack of dawn but he comes back to bed afterwards for a lie-in).  He's almost 1 year old and I've had him since he was 8 weeks old also.

It sounds as though your cat is confused as to whose routine she should adhere to, yours or your husbands.  And by being denied your company by being shut away makes you irresistible when she gets to be with you.  It sounds as though she's lonely and over-tired, as I doubt she's shutting down fully when she's alone in her room, as she'll be on edge & hyped up, wondering when you'll appear the whole time.

I really hate to disagree with Primula on this, as she gives excellent advice, but I'd consider just letting her choose where to spend her time and with whom.  She's not likely to disturb either of your sleep to the point of insomnia.  She'd probably just curl up at your feet.  And she'll probably become less clingy once she realises that you're not going anywhere where she's not allowed.  

Try her with a food maze or food puzzle ball.  She might be highly intelligent and needing more stimulating toys. 

And if you're going to leave her on her own for long periods, I definitely recommend getting her a friend.  You could get an adult friend.  

This needs sorting out asap, as this kind of behaviour once learnt and imbedded is ever so difficult to reverse.  However, she will calm down naturally with age.

And get her spayed.... 

I hope this helps.  

 

[sprin]

How do you play with her? I have a young cat who doesn't really play by himself at all, so I have to get a lot of his energy out by playing with him with fishing rod style toys. I also use fishing rod style toys to distract him when he's in the mood to go for my ankles.I have to really get him jumping, stalking, and chasing after the toy from room to room to get his energy down. I've also read about people getting toys that are big enough for that kittens to kick and wrestle like they would with another kitten, then presenting the toys in front of the kitten when she ankle attacks instead of throwing them. Is your routine where she has time interacting and playing with you between the time your husband lets her out of the sleeping room and you go to sleep? Maybe when you get home before you go to sleep you could do a play session, if you don't already?

Maybe all the time by herself is making her feel clingy, kittens need a lot of attention. I would imagine she sleeps while you and your husband are sleeping, so when you're ready to spend time with her she's pretty wound up. You've only had her for 3 weeks, so everything is very new for her. She isn't fully acclimated to her new environment and being away from her mom. Since she doesn't understand or interact with the toys you have for her, you could try food puzzles or tunnels to see if she likes that. Possibly also try automated cat toys, since she likes for her toys to be moving. If you don't already have a cat tree that might be fun for her, especially near a window where she can look out. If she isn't destructive or loud when you're sleeping, there probably isn't a reason to keep her from wandering around the house and just shutting your bedroom. Also, I know it's a personal thing so take this with a grain of salt. But I think sleeping with cats is a great way to passively bond with them in a way they feel is safe. Like, my cat barely let me pet him when I first got him, he was very sensative to being handled. But I think sleeping with him made him more comfortable with me and made it easier for him learn to like being pet and trust me picking him up.

I do agree that this is probably behavior that she'll grow out of as she becomes more stable and secure.

 

[LTS3]

My Aby was clingy and energetic as a kitten. No amount of toys and playtime helped. The only thing that helped was getting a second similar age cat. Some cats need a friend to chase around and play with and just have companionship. I understand that getting a second cat is not an option for some..

 

[Primula]

We've tried throwing a toy to distract her, a lot of the time the movement of throwing the toy is more attractive than the toy itself so she still tries for the hands!

The main problem is her clinginess. I've never had a kitten who didn't play with their toys by themselves and use up at least a bit of energy when alone. The not wanting to eat unless we're with her concerns me as well.

She loves you & wants to be with you. There have been hundreds of posts here from people who wished their cat was more clingy.

It sounds as though your cat is confused as to whose routine she should adhere to, yours or your husbands.  And by being denied your company by being shut away makes you irresistible when she gets to be with you.  It sounds as though she's lonely and over-tired, as I doubt she's shutting down fully when she's alone in her room, as she'll be on edge & hyped up, wondering when you'll appear the whole time.

Good point.

 

[Kieka]

I agree with everyone else. 

I would like to add that if you don't have a cat tree that a cat tree can be a great toy for a hyper kitten. Make sure it has a stable base though because a hyper kitten may become a hyper adult. My boy is a very hyper cat (now 3 years old and no sign of slowing) and was a very hyper kitten. He has an entire toy basket and bucket of wand toys that we got to keep his toy rotation fresh and run his energy out with. I got a cat tree with extra wide support pillars to make sure he doesn't tip it over in his racing up, down and around it. It also isn't uncommon to find him rooting around in the toy basket or toys strewn across the house when he is in a mood.

If another kitten is an option for your home that would likely help a lot. I didn't realize how much time I was spending playing with Link to keep up with his energy level until we got Rocket a year later. I suddenly had lots of free time and he was a lot calmer without me having to tire him out first. Not that I sat there focused on him all the time. We had morning and evening focused play time but we usually kept wand toys tucked into chairs so we could grab and play with them. Plus a ball track toy near the couch to get spinning and he would play with that for a good 30 minutes straight. He still wants our attention and we play with him when he is hyper but if Rocket is around he will usually try to get her playing first. Plus them racing all over the place gets more energy out then I could alone in half the time. 

Also to reinforce the importance of a routine. Getting them into a routine can be a challenge but once you have one it is a blessing. Link knows when dinner time is, then it is play time with Rocket, then bed time. Bed time he settles right down and passes out until the morning (4am, but that is when I go to the gym so it works). Before the routine was established it was a nightmare with him still wanting to play in the middle of the night.