need of advice for a 2 month kitten

[dontgetsoapy]

hello, I have around a 2 month kitten named loona that I adopted at a shelter. it is my first animal but I have babysat animals and also fostered kittens before. I've been having a lot of problems with her and I would really appreciate anyone's advice.

first of all she is a very very very playful energetic punky kitten. when I mean is she barely sleeps and runs around all day without getting tired. wherever she goes, she wreaks havoc. don't get me wrong, I really do love her and cats but I am completely exhausted because no matter how much I play with her she always wants more play time. when I try to go on my pc she will climb up using my pants as a way to get on the desk and pounce on my very very expensive monitor. there are a lot of other problems she causes but I don't really need to go into detail since there are many. please understand that I know she is just playing and is very young and knows no better. I also don't punish her because that is cruel and I am not an animal abuser but I will set her down and tell her no. this leads to however me not being able to do anything while she is in the room. even if I have my laptop out she climbs all over it because she likes the warmth. whenever she is in my room, I cannot do anything except maybe read so if I have to do work it is always outside my room. is there any advice on how to train her not to claw her way up my pants or many other things she does. or even a way for her to be more calm at times? wherever I am, she always wants to wreak havoc.

I also have trouble sleeping at night because she wakes me up from 4-6am in the morning crawling under the covers/pouncing on the blankets. no matter how hard I've tried telling her no she still does the same thing. I really value sleep and read somewhere that if your kitten wakes you up this early every morning they will continue to for the rest of their lives. and once she wakes up I cannot sleep again because she will continue to pester me unless she is out of the room. I play with her for at least 40min before bed to make sure she is tired and then I feed her wet food to make her more tired. I've already arranged another sleeping area for her but she meows and cries a lot and I feel really bad. I wouldn't mind her sleeping with me but I have work and I need my sleep sometimes. any advice? should I get fences and section off a corner of my room and put her bed there to try to get her to sleep there? I have a cat bed for her as well. any advice would be great. thank you!!

 

[di and bob]

She is just too young and has enough energy for ten adult cats, which is completely normal for a kitten that age. You either have to put her in a separate room at night (lots of crying) get a toy that she will play with on her own, or get her a playmate, which is highly recommended if you are able. Two are as cheap as one to raise really, and they always have a friend and playmate. Otherwise, this will all change as she gets older, but for now, as with any new parent, you are going to be exhausted until she gets older, all the luck!

 

[ArtNJ]

Kittens can be challenging as hell, we all understand that. It gets better with age, but you definitely do need to do some training, as some of the problem behaviors wont go away on their own.

Training: when you tell her no, the "no" needs to be loud enough to be just slightly startling. When the behavior is something like going on the kitchen counter or computer keyboard, the putting her down again and again is also a perfectly valid strategy. That can take a long while to work, and is far from a guarranty, but if you have the patience to take her off the desk/counter/computer 100x and put her down, it definitely has a decent chance.

Glad you don't punish, that doesn't work anyway. A loud "no!", hiss, clap or similar is as much as you need to do.

 

[Furballsmom]

I don't know if this will work but in the other sleeping area, put a soft worn but not washed article of your clothing, and try a purr toy or a heartbeat toy there as well.

 

[Caspers Human]

I also don't punish her because that is cruel and I am not an animal abuser but I will set her down and tell her no.

With cats, kids or anything, the word "punish" is a rather fluid concept.

If you are talking about older children, "punishment" might mean paddling but, IMO, that should be reserved only for things where somebody could be seriously harmed like touching guns without adult supervision. Running into the street. Playing with matches. The "really bad" stuff. I mention this only because I consider it the extreme end of a continuum.

For cats, the whole theory of punishment another ball of wax. The worst punishment I would consider, for a cat, is to holler at them. Again, that would be reserved for "bad stuff" like trying to jump onto the stove.

Generally speaking, telling a cat, "No" and coaxing it out of the area or distracting it with a toy is the best method. After the cat obeys, it's always "Good Kitty!" and offer a treat if you think so. Beyond that, picking the cat up and taking it to another room or patting it on the bum to push it out of harm's way are really the only other things I consider as appropriate ways to discipline a cat.

Paddling or spanking a cat is right out! It doesn't work and only serves to make the cat afraid of you. Besides, the cat will just keep doing the "bad" behavior but only when you aren't looking.

With all that, being said, I don't think the way you have said that you discipline your cat is cruel or abusive, at all!

The only things I can suggest are persistence and patience. Like others say, a young kitten is often full of piss and vinegar. It will take her a while to calm down and learn your "House Rules" but, once she does, I'm sure she will settle in and learn to behave. For now, you're likely to have some occasional misbehavior.

Set your rules and stick to them. Be consistent.
Let's say that your House Rules say that cats aren't allowed to jump on the counters. There should never be a time when counter surfing is okay while being off limits another time. It's either "yes" or "no." If you waver, the cat will never learn.

Our cat, Casper, has only a few House Rules:
1) Use the litter box.
2) No scratching furniture.
3) Stay off the kitchen counters or stove but almost anywhere else is okay.

Casper is really good at behaving. He very rarely breaks a rule.

The only time he ever went outside his litter box is when he was sick. Even then, he gave me a look like he was saying, "I'm sorry!"

We got him several scratching posts and he's got plenty of toys and old blankets that we consider to be "his" so he can tear them up to his heart's content. Once he decided that he likes his scratching places, he hasn't ever torn up the furniture, carpet or drapes.

Casper just doesn't jump on counters and has only tried to get up on the stove a couple of times. We discovered that the only reason he did that was because we put his kitty treats in the cupboard above the fridge. He tried to use the stove and refrigerator to bridge his way up to the cupboard. Since we moved his treats to another place, that behavior has almost completely stopped. On the rare occasions when we have caught him "calculating a trajectory" to jump on the stove, we said, "Casper...Uh-uh, uh!" and he stopped. ("Good kitty! Here's a treat!")

Probably the worst thing that Casper does is trying to get down in the basement. The basement is off limits because that's where we keep all the dangerous stuff like tools and household chemicals. We don't ever let him go down there, even when supervised, because we don't want him to get the idea that it's part of his territory. Even so, it's "forbidden fruit." If we leave the basement door open, Casper will try to sneak down there.

The first few times, after we adopted Casper, I went down to the basement to work on something and I forgot to close the door all the way. I would look up to see a little, white nose poking down the stairs. I'd just holler, "Hey! Git!" and he would disappear. On one occasion, I spied him slinking down the stairs, upon which, I scooped him up, took him back upstairs and closed the door.
(Isn't it funny the way cats "slink" when they know they aren't supposed to be some place? )

Casper seemed like he was saying, "Aw, you're no fun!"

That's the worst punishment that we have ever given Casper that I can remember.

Casper is THE most well behaved cat that I have EVER met!

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. And congrats on the adoption of your new kitten.

Some of the things you've described are simply due to her being a energy filled kitten. But some could be due to her being adopted so young. Generally it's better to keep a kitten with its mom and siblings till at least 12 weeks, so it has time to learn cat manners. That wouldn't help with everything you're dealing with, but it would have given her more time to grow up before being separated from them.

I wonder if she'd like a Snuggle Kitty?

As for her getting into everything, here's a TCS article that might be helpful:
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips | TheCatSite