Need Advice On 7 Month Kitten

[altairose]

Hello,

My boyfriend and I fell in love with a 7 month old kitten at the shelter and would love to adopt her. But we want to make sure she would fit our lifestyle before committing to adopting.
We do not have any pets right now and live in an apartment that allows cats. Both of us sometimes work long hours (I'm a physician who sometimes needs to be 'on call' in the hospital for 28 hours at a time, or work nights. His work is flexible but sometimes also works long hours).

Sleep is obviously very important for us with busy schedules, and we are willing to do sleep training for a cat if it meows into the night or early morning. We would have time to play 30+ minutes with the cat every day, and I don't think the cat would be left alone for more than 8 hours/day (for example, my usual work schedule is 6am - 6pm, and my boyfriend's schedule is 10am - 6-8pm).

Specifically, I'd like to know your experience with behavioral problems/needs of kittens at this age. I've heard of cat adolescence/terrible twos - what is your experience, when did it start and end for your cat, and what did you do about it?

 

[altairose]

I forgot to mention that the cat is a Russian blue mix. And I have had previous cat experience living with a roommate with an older (2 year old) cat and helping take care of her.

 

[ArtNJ]

Does your bedroom have a door? With highly irregular schedules, I'd want a door before adopting a cat. There are plenty of people on here that believe you can teach cats not to be a pain at 4 am but ... my strong advice would be to forget about it for now if you don't have a door.

Beyond that, what is this cat's background? How it acts in the shelter is not a great predictor of how it will act in your home, especially if its been there a while. Background, while not a perfect predictor either, tends to be important.

More generally, plenty of busy apartment dwellers that work long hours have cats, and it is not typically a great problem. It is worth thinking about whether you will have extra difficulty getting your cat to recognize what the sleeping hours are, if you are going to be going in and out at all hours because a beeper went off, but you can probably deal with this by ignoring the cat when going in and out at late hours.

 

[She's a witch]

Kittens have lots of energy, some people have problems accepting it, some people just love how full of life they are, but they do require lots of attention and play. Plus it's always a lottery of what kind of cat she will turn out to be when adult. If you want a calm kitty, I'd adopt an adult one if I were you, so that you avoid major surprises later on. But if you want this particular kitten, I would actually decide to adopt a pair. Two kittens are so easier to maintain when it comes to managing their energy, they play together and are bored less, especially when left alone. It's also easier to close the door at night if you know your cat has a company (personally I'd never leave one kitten behind a closed door for a night, but I could do this if he has a company).
When my kitten was a single kitten, she simply demanded play for many, many hours during a day, otherwise she was just miserably starring at us, watching our every move, following everywhere with hope in her eyes. She was super active and basically we needed to play with her all the time we were home. She never slept during a day as that was a waste of time for her (but thankfully she slept through the night with us). That's why we decided to get her another kitten and luckily it worked and gave us some break from playing with her. Some kittens like to play by themselves but it wasn't our cat's case I'm afraid, she needs interactive time.

It's really great that you want to make an informed decision! Good luck!

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. All cats, generally, need a bit of an adjustment time to get used to their "parents" daytime and sleep schedules. However, kittens tend to be more active than adult cats, so if you adopt the kitten do expect a few more months of high energy/activity until the kitten is at least a year old.

TCS has some articles with info for new or pending cat parents, that might be helpful. Here are the links:

15 Things You Should Know Before Adopting A Cat | TheCatSite
First-time Cat Owner's Guide | TheCatSite
Bringing Home A New Cat - The Complete Guide | TheCatSite
How Much Time Does It Take To Care For A Cat? | TheCatSite
A Kitten Or An Older Cat - Which Should You Adopt? | TheCatSite

How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home | TheCatSite

9 Tips That Will Help Your Kitten Adapt To A New Apartment | TheCatSite
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips | TheCatSite

 

[lutece]

All of the posters here have given excellent advice, I will just add a note since you said this kitten is a "Russian Blue mix." She is probably a blue (gray) shorthair, is that right? Unlike dogs, most cats don't have specific breed ancestry, and blue is a fairly common color in domestic shorthairs. So, don't make assumptions about this kitten's behavior or other characteristics based on something you read about Russian Blue cats, as she's probably not related to that breed. She will have her own unique personality, like other cats

 

[altairose]

Thanks for everyone's responses.

1) I like high energy, but I'm less tolerant of kitty aggression. I know the signs of play aggression vs real fear/anxiety/etc. and I've read the articles on this site about it. Do you find that 6 mo - 2 year old cats have more play aggression/teenage testing the waters? The aggression is more my concern... When do they begin to calm down?

2) My bedroom does not have a door but there's another study room in the house with a door. I'm an early riser, and don't mind getting up at 4 or 5 so I think my boyfriend may mind if that's when kitty is more active.

I basically have no set schedule.. sometimes work days, sometimes work nights, and sometimes gone for 24+ hours. Actually, I felt this was a good thing because it means at least 1 of us would be home more often.

3) Yup, the cat is gray. It's short or medium haired. But I think it's a Russian blue mix because it has a Russian blue-like angular face with the smile, yellow-green eyes, and my boyfriend, who is mildly allergic to cats, has no allergies to her. I'm sure she'll have her own unique personality. :-)

 

[Talien]

Lots of good advice already. I'd suggest adopting an adult Cat because you know what you'll be getting, and you'll probably want a calm Cat that doesn't mind being left alone for long periods of time since you both work long hours. Like has already been mentioned it's almost impossible to tell what kind of personality a Kitten is going to have when they grow up because almost all Kittens are energetic and playful.

But if you're dead set on this Kitten then I would highly suggest adopting another one as well because young Cats, especially Kittens, usually do not do well when left alone. You could very well come home to a destroyed house with things knocked over and scattered around, and maybe even messes outside the litterbox if the Kitten gets too stressed.

 

[ArtNJ]

Cats sleep quite a bit, and tend to sync with their owners some, hopefully minimizing the 4 am run-arounds. So I think your going to want to put the cat on a schedule, even though you really don't have one yourself, and you may find that you need to put him in the study room when your boyfriend is trying to sleep. That should probably be his home base. If you are not putting an unlimited amount of food down and allowing free grazing, a schedule is also important for feedings, as cats without schedules become super annoying beggars. Free grazing has its own problems, often leading to obesity, so (I think) most of use scheduled feedings.

We can't or at least shouldn't talk to you much about 6 month olds to 2 y.o. cats in general, because that just isn't the way they really work. There is a wide range of activity levels and personalities. It is much more important to know what THIS cat is like, and since this is a 7 month old being adopted from a shelter, to know something about the background. What did they tell you?

 

[lutece]

3) Yup, the cat is gray. It's short or medium haired. But I think it's a Russian blue mix because it has a Russian blue-like angular face with the smile, yellow-green eyes, and my boyfriend, who is mildly allergic to cats, has no allergies to her. I'm sure she'll have her own unique personality. :-)

Oh... the "hypoallergenic" thing. First of all, any hype that you may have read about Russian Blues being hypoallergenic is mostly just that, hype... Second, Russian Blues are rare, and the likelihood that a shelter kitty has any Russian Blue ancestry is vanishingly small. Hopefully your boyfriend will continue to tolerate this kitty as she gets older and has more dander, but don't make assumptions that she is hypoallergenic based on what she looks like. If your boyfriend is allergic, be prepared for some allergy symptoms and have strategies in place to work around that.

 

[altairose]

Yeah, we are most interested in this kitten because my boyfriend is allergic to most cats. We played with her for >1 hour, and brought her blanket home so my boyfriend could sleep on it, and he had no reaction. We tried some other cats too, but my boyfriend started having a runny nose within an hour.

The shelter told us that she was found on the street. So, unfortunately, not a lot of information. She's social, playful, sweet.

One problem with the study room as the base, is that both my boyfriend and I have road bikes in there. And we use indoor trainers so we can bike indoors. It can get loud in there, and I don't want to scare the cat. I also don't want the cat to chew or play with the bikes...

Is it possible to introduce a second kitten later, or is it best done at the same time?

 

[kissthisangel]

It is much more important to know what THIS cat is like, and since this is a 7 month old being adopted from a shelter, to know something about the background. What did they tell you?

was literally just typing the same comment. I feel the shelter should give you a run down on her current personality and from there you can see if that might fit. If they do tell you something that means you have to make adjustments, like she is heavily reliant on attention and needs someone there 24/7 that just isn't going to be realistic for you. consider any life adjustments carefully as you pick your new pet ultimately this is for the mutual benefit of all three of you.

I hope it goes well, and I can tell that you want to do your research and make sure the match is right so that's great.

 

[jen]

Can basically guarantee she is not a Russian Blue mix just fyi. That just isn't how cat "genetics" work. Most are no specific "breed" and just domestic short or long haired, from generation after generation of domestic cat breeding with domestic cat, resulting in a billion combinations of basic looks and behaviors, plus their behavior is also very dependent on the environment they were raised in.

Shelters will often falsely came them as a breed typically because they just don't know otherwise, and sometimes they just want to get word out that they look like a certain breed. Fact is they are not even mixes. The purebred cat population is just so very small.

Unless of course you are in Russia perhaps, you aren't going to find purebred Russian Blues out running around mating with the general cat population. Specific breed mixes are probably even rarer then purebreds lol.

 

[duncanmac]

Thanks for everyone's responses.
<<snip>>
2) My bedroom does not have a door but there's another study room in the house with a door. I'm an early riser, and don't mind getting up at 4 or 5 so I think my boyfriend may mind if that's when kitty is more active.
<<snip>>

So wonderfully optimistic of you -- but, if you set your alarm clock for 4:00 a.m., your cat will set its alarm clock for 3:55 a.m.

I know what its like when a kitten steals your heart and he is just THE ONE, so I'm not going to suggest an older cat, but perhaps 2 kittens instead? They will keep each other occupied during the day so that you will have a little peace and quiet when you are home. It won't get rid of the crazy-kitten antics, but will keep them from being too bored.

 

[She's a witch]

1) I like high energy, but I'm less tolerant of kitty aggression. I know the signs of play aggression vs real fear/anxiety/etc. and I've read the articles on this site about it. Do you find that 6 mo - 2 year old cats have more play aggression/teenage testing the waters? The aggression is more my concern... When do they begin to calm down?

Kitty "aggression", if I understand correctly what you mean, is not necessarily connected to the age as much as to the upbringing. If a cat was with their mother and siblings long enough, she would rarely attack hands/legs and/or she would react to the fact that you don't like it. If that was not the case, you can still work on correcting cat's behavior (or get another kitten who would do this for you ). If you watch cats playing, it looks "aggressively" in humans' term, but this is normal behavior for a cat (especially young). Another reason for me to advocate for a pair of kittens (actually in some places, and most shelters in Europe that I know, kittens cannot be adopted alone, they always comes in pairs), if they have a company to play rough, they don't do this with their humans.

 

[altairose]

That's interesting - thanks for the information on the Russian blue mixing issue. I don't care if she is or isn't one, I just care that my boyfriend does not have an allergic reaction! :-) There are other cats (in friend's houses) that he also does not have a reaction too as well that are not Russian blues.

 

[lutece]

Kittens and young cats aren't yet shedding very much, and this can make them less allergenic than adults... I once placed a pair of kittens in a home where the family did not bother to tell me that anyone had allergies, and then I had to help re-home the cats later when the cats grew to adulthood and started to shed more, causing problems for one of the family members. So, just be prepared that allergic reactions to a cat can change over time.

 

[Talien]

Is it possible to introduce a second kitten later, or is it best done at the same time?

It's possible yes, but it's best done early while both are still Kittens. If one turns out to be territorial or not very accepting of other animals it would be very difficult to introduce a second Cat, but if they were together since they were young it's not likely to turn into a problem.