- Joined
- Feb 27, 2017
- Messages
- 16
- Purraise
- 2
okay so I've only ever adopted rescue adult cats over 1-2 years old in the past because kittens are exhausting haha. But after the loss of our beloved cat to cancer recently a rescue plopped an adorable 4 month old kitten scheduled for transport into our arms and we brought her home. This is our first kitten. Ever. She is incredibly high energy, wicked smart, confident, and a total lovebug. We are trying our very best to raise her well and ensure she grows into a balanced happy cat, but a lot of this is new to us. We play hard with her to tire her out a bit, then try to work with her such as messing her with ears, paws, teeth, etc routine cat care stuff. We've even started clicker training to give her added stimulation and challenge, which she really enjoys. She's even learning to love water (for possible future bath time) by slowly introducing it to her as a game and fun time. For most behaviors redirection seems to work as she has the attention span of a gnat.
There are a few behaviors we don't know how to tackle. I'd really appreciate any advice on how to best handle them.
1. She thinks her litter box is a toy sandbox and LOVES to play in it, even dirty. She lays in it, does the snow angel arms with her front paws, and the Tasmanian devil spin throwing litter everywhere. I've been told this is a kitten phase, but is there anything we can do to curb the behavior?
2. Her adult teeth are erupting so I get she is teething and a kitten so she chews on everything. But she loves to play bite/nip and grab onto us with her paws like she would a sibling. 90% of the time she shows good restraint and uses soft bites and claws. The times she does it too hard we give her a little hiss and she immediately stops. But is the soft nipping/clawing something we should be completely discouraging? And how would you go about doing that?
3. Nail trim training seems to freak her out. Not sure if she had a prior bad experience with it. I try to gently clip a few nails at a time when she's tired out, followed by a reward/break before trying again. It seems to work okay until we get to her back feet. Specifically her back left foot. She freaks out, cries, and starts biting/clawing. Any advice here? I need to be able to trim her nails preferably without a fight.
I'd really appreciate any advice! And if anyone has any tips on anything else we could be doing it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
There are a few behaviors we don't know how to tackle. I'd really appreciate any advice on how to best handle them.
1. She thinks her litter box is a toy sandbox and LOVES to play in it, even dirty. She lays in it, does the snow angel arms with her front paws, and the Tasmanian devil spin throwing litter everywhere. I've been told this is a kitten phase, but is there anything we can do to curb the behavior?
2. Her adult teeth are erupting so I get she is teething and a kitten so she chews on everything. But she loves to play bite/nip and grab onto us with her paws like she would a sibling. 90% of the time she shows good restraint and uses soft bites and claws. The times she does it too hard we give her a little hiss and she immediately stops. But is the soft nipping/clawing something we should be completely discouraging? And how would you go about doing that?
3. Nail trim training seems to freak her out. Not sure if she had a prior bad experience with it. I try to gently clip a few nails at a time when she's tired out, followed by a reward/break before trying again. It seems to work okay until we get to her back feet. Specifically her back left foot. She freaks out, cries, and starts biting/clawing. Any advice here? I need to be able to trim her nails preferably without a fight.
I'd really appreciate any advice! And if anyone has any tips on anything else we could be doing it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!