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I'm looking for some advice.
One week ago we brought home a sweet 4 month old kitten, who we named Xylo. He is our only cat. After visiting with lots of cats at the shelter over two weeks, we were instantly taken with Xylo. He was very social, very affectionate, but also an accomplished player (great at the 'hunt' of a fake mouse, etc.). By social/affectionate, I mean that when we both sat on the floor, he would just walk from one of us to the other, purring, looking for pets, and just 'being with'. He was happy and calm at being held.
After we brought him home, this behavior continued until 2 days later. He was excited when we'd arrive and would come running to us. He sat on/with us on the couch or floor and purred. He was happy to get petted and/or held. But after two days something changed, and he became much less social/affectionate. Well, almost unaffectionate. He doesn't want to be petted, and if you do, he interprets it as play and wants to bite/kick. He mostly ignores our arrivals. Different than any cat I've seen, he won't attempt to smell me if I put my hand near his face. He doesnt' want to be with us on the couch and prefers to sleep under it. He purrs rarely.
However, his interest in play is unabated. It's basically all he wants from us.
We're concerned about the change in behavior, and, quite frankly, very much missing the friendlier behavior. We are committed to Xylo, but I have to say that had we met the Xylo we're living with now we never would have brought him home. We're wondering what the change is, whether his old behavior might come back, and what we could do to help it return?
Some info: we took him to the vet for his first visit and he's doing great. Fed well, shots up to date, etc. Did get a rabies shot (this was around day 5). We're feeding him well (Wellness, mostly canned), and four times/day. We are home a lot right now. Xylo is rarely alone in the house for more than 4 hours. We have kept him in one part of the house so far (a very large family room, about 25x20', attached to another room with his box---he's adjusted well to box/food, etc.). About his past: we were told that he was a 'stray' that apparently was dropped off at a 'cat lady's' house. We believe she tried to keep him but eventually felt like she had too much (she already had 6 cats). We expect she cared for him for a while. If she did that means Xylo lived with lots of cats until we got him. Xylo had only been in the shelter for 2-3 days when we got him, but in that time he was neutered.
We also noticed that someone fed him from plates. When we got him he was intensely focused on getting to our food and was difficult to dissuade. But after a couple days of firm "no's" and physical obstruction he calmed down on that front (still interested but not nearly as pushy).
We wonder: is he just so unhappy about not getting human food that he's unhappy with us? Is he unhappy about not having other cats around? Something else? What could we do to help the friendly Xylo return? Or maybe the personality we saw in the first few days was leftover from the shelter? We know he's had a crazy week or so too.
On the other cats thing, we just can't have more than one or we would get him a buddy. We both have allergies, and while we're willing to manage them with meds for one cat, two is just not physiologically possible for us.
If your read this far, thanks for reading. We're just worried and not sure what to do and appreciate advice.
One week ago we brought home a sweet 4 month old kitten, who we named Xylo. He is our only cat. After visiting with lots of cats at the shelter over two weeks, we were instantly taken with Xylo. He was very social, very affectionate, but also an accomplished player (great at the 'hunt' of a fake mouse, etc.). By social/affectionate, I mean that when we both sat on the floor, he would just walk from one of us to the other, purring, looking for pets, and just 'being with'. He was happy and calm at being held.
After we brought him home, this behavior continued until 2 days later. He was excited when we'd arrive and would come running to us. He sat on/with us on the couch or floor and purred. He was happy to get petted and/or held. But after two days something changed, and he became much less social/affectionate. Well, almost unaffectionate. He doesn't want to be petted, and if you do, he interprets it as play and wants to bite/kick. He mostly ignores our arrivals. Different than any cat I've seen, he won't attempt to smell me if I put my hand near his face. He doesnt' want to be with us on the couch and prefers to sleep under it. He purrs rarely.
However, his interest in play is unabated. It's basically all he wants from us.
We're concerned about the change in behavior, and, quite frankly, very much missing the friendlier behavior. We are committed to Xylo, but I have to say that had we met the Xylo we're living with now we never would have brought him home. We're wondering what the change is, whether his old behavior might come back, and what we could do to help it return?
Some info: we took him to the vet for his first visit and he's doing great. Fed well, shots up to date, etc. Did get a rabies shot (this was around day 5). We're feeding him well (Wellness, mostly canned), and four times/day. We are home a lot right now. Xylo is rarely alone in the house for more than 4 hours. We have kept him in one part of the house so far (a very large family room, about 25x20', attached to another room with his box---he's adjusted well to box/food, etc.). About his past: we were told that he was a 'stray' that apparently was dropped off at a 'cat lady's' house. We believe she tried to keep him but eventually felt like she had too much (she already had 6 cats). We expect she cared for him for a while. If she did that means Xylo lived with lots of cats until we got him. Xylo had only been in the shelter for 2-3 days when we got him, but in that time he was neutered.
We also noticed that someone fed him from plates. When we got him he was intensely focused on getting to our food and was difficult to dissuade. But after a couple days of firm "no's" and physical obstruction he calmed down on that front (still interested but not nearly as pushy).
We wonder: is he just so unhappy about not getting human food that he's unhappy with us? Is he unhappy about not having other cats around? Something else? What could we do to help the friendly Xylo return? Or maybe the personality we saw in the first few days was leftover from the shelter? We know he's had a crazy week or so too.
On the other cats thing, we just can't have more than one or we would get him a buddy. We both have allergies, and while we're willing to manage them with meds for one cat, two is just not physiologically possible for us.
If your read this far, thanks for reading. We're just worried and not sure what to do and appreciate advice.
