My kitten is scared to death

[dalya]

Hey guys! 

So Dolce is 9 weeks old now. I adopted him a week ago. I was introducing him to my sister's "stupid" bird. so I carried him and sat next to the bird's cage. and let me tell you this, the bird wasn't scared at all. but I noticed Dolce was breathing so fast. I knew he was kind of scared. suddenly the bird did this fast attacking move and a very loud cry! Dolce of course jumped out of my hands and ran away. he keeps hiding ever since. when I carry him he just hides his face and doesn't look at me or anyone. It's been 7 hours now and he is still not ok. he's also showing some aggressive behavior to other at home. like, if my brother wants to play with him, he would try to bite him or scratch him. And his eyes.... WIDE OPEN all the time! literally wide open! I have no idea what to do to make him relax! I keep holding him and playing with him but he's not active at all! he's not responding! plus, he peed on the carpet today which is very unusual! he knows where his litterbox is! and he always goes to the litterbox on his own! this time he didn't!

 

[red top rescue]

It has recently been proven that some memories and behaviors are passed on genetically, and birds are known predators of kittens.  The bird's screech and attack has obviously triggered his genetic memories which are not good.  It will take him some time to calm down and would be best if you could put the bird in another room with a closed door (or keep the kitten in a separate room with a closed door) so the bird noises are muffled and far away and he can begin to relax.  He will learn to trust you again if you never take him anywhere near the bird, but right now he probably feels like you would if some huge person had carried you over to a velociraptor's cage and put you close to it and it screamed at you with dinosaur breath -- you would have thought you were being fed to it, right?  Would you trust a human again right away?  NOT LIKELY.  Give him a quiet safe space, bring him something he really likes to eat (roast chicken or tuna would be good) as a treat, speak softly, DON'T pick him up for awhile, just pet him, and apologize profusely to him for your mistake, and tell him you will never feed him to the big bad bird creature.  He will get it and in a few days it will be like it never happened.  But truly, DO keep him far away from the bird in the future.  Until he is big enough to eat it.

 

[pinkdagger]

Give him some time to calm down and approach you again on his own terms. If he's scared, the last thing he needs is to be pressured to interact or do things that may be equally scary or intimidating. Make sure the cat and bird will remain in separate rooms unless there is 100% supervision with no distractions. People always assume that cats will always trump in a test of wills against birds, but some birds are very aggressive and hold their own very well. Bird bites are very painful and can do a lot of damage, and their calls are very loud, shrill, and unpredictable. Please don't force them to interact or be near each other if both seem unhappy about it - cat bites and scratches can be full of bacteria, causing infection in humans and being fatal to birds. It's not worth the undue stress on you, Dolce, or the bird.

When Dolce starts to feel better and you still want him to see/meet the bird, reintroduce him to the room the bird is in slowly. Not right up to the bird, just being in the room where the bird is, giving him constant reassurance. Here's an article that can help with multi-species households:

http://www.rationalparrot.com/zoosafety.html

 

[dalya]

Oh yea! I do realize it was a big big big mistake! I'll put the bird elsewhere, it is easier to move him than move the cat since he's attached to his place. I hope this peeing doesn't continue!

 

[dalya]

I'll read the article now. thank you very much!