Screaming kitten

[lmdisalle]

Hi all!
I have a 10 week old Siamese kitten who is in the process of being introduce to my other 4 year old Siamese (it is a long process because our 4 year old is quite spoiled, anxious, maybe territorial and an only child)

The issue is that I do not remember our 4 year old screaming and crying this much when we are not in the kitten's room with her. My husband works from home all day long in the room with her, so she is definitely getting enough attention during the day- but when we leave her alone, she screams.

It is not helping the introduction process with my 4 year old who has anxiety issues. Things have been going great, until the baby screams. My 4 year old gets all freaked out and will show redirected aggression towards us (smacks.. that's really it but it makes me upset). I know she will get used to it eventually. It has only been 2 weeks.

How do I soothe the baby screams? She cannot get used to us being home and attentive to her all of the time. Is it time for some tough love?

 

[ArtNJ]

Well, Siamese are know for being the most vocal breed, so perhaps that is the Siamese equivalent of constant chirping or meowing to get out? I dunno -- I had an apple head siamese but he wasn't especially vocal. Unfortunate your kitten is screaming for attention to be sure, but perhaps there is some hope that your cat won't always use a scream and will default to the still annoying more normal vocalisations as it ages. Certainly kittens don't always make the same noises as they age. If not, you are sure going to have train the cat extra carefully and be very cautious about perfect consistency with things like letting the kitten sleep in your bedroom, because inconsistency breeds whining, which would be extra annoying if screams are involved.

Since you currently have a screamer-for-attention, you do NOT want to give the slightest encouragement to the screams. You know Pavlov's Dog? If not, google it now, its important to understand the concept of reinforcement. The cat cannot think that screams work, or you will be in for a world of screams and start hearing them in your nightmares.

 

[stephanietx]

I would get Feliway or Comfort Zone diffusers and place them around your home. This will help them both de-stress. Get the baby a stuffed animal as a "companion." Play some soft classical music for them both. There are some cat music products available, but you'll need to Google them.

Also, Siamese are not known for being quiet, so some talking is normal. The little one might be missing its littermates and mom.

 

[susanm9006]

Poor baby. Some Siamese are screamers (I had one) and tough love or ignoring their cries just won’t work to quiet an unhappy kitten. I would not worry about spoiling her any more than I would worry about spoiling an infant by addressing their unhappiness.
Find out what she wants and needs. Maybe she just needs to be held or walked for a while and will fall asleep if you do. Maybe you need to do a room exchange for at least part of each day so the baby can be out and have some exploration time.
I also think that your older cat may be calmer if she doesn’t have to listen to what sounds like a cat being tortured. Has they met face to face yet?

 

[flybear]

some kittens " contact call" ... when they venture away from mom - they give a cry and mom answers. I have a 5 month old kitten who calls for me when he can't see me - and siamese are talkers! My siamese have murmurs, guttural tones, squeaks and meows - they are not loud by any means - just good communicators ( lol ) . Babies as a rule don't like to be alone and I think that your baby might continue to vocalize until the little one can be in the same rooms as the rest of the family. Cats know the difference of - there is nobody at home - and ... thee is someone in the next room ... the first they can live with ... the second ... is driving them nuts ;-). Never give in to a siamese or any other cat when they beg or scream ... but comfort a baby when they are quiet - even for just a few seconds. What is your older cat doing when you let the baby out? My cats cannot stand a crying baby and will open doors to get to it and " free" babies - even if they are not crazy about them- it must be instinctual . Most adult cats will not hurt a baby and it might be more stressful for your cat to not be able to see the distressed intruder? You can also try a play pen and move it to wherever your husband works for the babe ... no direct contact but at least close proximity?

 

[Lulu&Finn]

I would definitely take the advice of switching rooms during the day for the cats. We did that and Finn loved being out and free for a while. It made us feel less guilty when we had to put him back in the room.

 

[lmdisalle]

I would get Feliway or Comfort Zone diffusers and place them around your home. This will help them both de-stress. Get the baby a stuffed animal as a "companion." Play some soft classical music for them both. There are some cat music products available, but you'll need to Google them.

Also, Siamese are not known for being quiet, so some talking is normal. The little one might be missing its littermates and mom.

We have a few diffusers are they work WONDERS for my Olive pee anxiety issues. They both have been responding well to music. It is just the guilt of not responding to her cries that is killing us

 

[lmdisalle]

I would definitely take the advice of switching rooms during the day for the cats. We did that and Finn loved being out and free for a while. It made us feel less guilty when we had to put him back in the room.

Yes we have been doing this also Baby Fig has a huge nursery set up in my husbands office, and he is there all day with her. I just need to not feel guilty not responding to her cries

 

[lmdisalle]

some kittens " contact call" ... when they venture away from mom - they give a cry and mom answers. I have a 5 month old kitten who calls for me when he can't see me - and siamese are talkers! My siamese have murmurs, guttural tones, squeaks and meows - they are not loud by any means - just good communicators ( lol ) . Babies as a rule don't like to be alone and I think that your baby might continue to vocalize until the little one can be in the same rooms as the rest of the family. Cats know the difference of - there is nobody at home - and ... thee is someone in the next room ... the first they can live with ... the second ... is driving them nuts ;-). Never give in to a siamese or any other cat when they beg or scream ... but comfort a baby when they are quiet - even for just a few seconds. What is your older cat doing when you let the baby out? My cats cannot stand a crying baby and will open doors to get to it and " free" babies - even if they are not crazy about them- it must be instinctual . Most adult cats will not hurt a baby and it might be more stressful for your cat to not be able to see the distressed intruder? You can also try a play pen and move it to wherever your husband works for the babe ... no direct contact but at least close proximity?

Our 4 year old Siamese says more "coo's" than screams- this baby Siamese is definitely different!
Baby Fig's nursery is set up in my husband's office (he is still working from home for the rest of the year) so she gets attention all day long- We are working on not going in to comfort her when she cries.. but we just feel so guilty!

The crying is causing our 4 year old to get sassy with us (because this is a new sound- only 2 weeks have gone by since we got baby).
We just started little peeks with a baby gate so 4 year old can see the baby. She did a few hisses, but will mostly just stare.
It also doesn't help that we have a kind of baby gate that baby Fig can climb to escape. It is on my agenda today to buy a new one with only horizontal bars that she can't climb. Baby Fig sees 4 year old Olive, loves running around the home, and tries her best to escape.
She is by no means lacking attention lol- we just need to train her to not scream for us

 

[lmdisalle]

Poor baby. Some Siamese are screamers (I had one) and tough love or ignoring their cries just won’t work to quiet an unhappy kitten. I would not worry about spoiling her any more than I would worry about spoiling an infant by addressing their unhappiness.
Find out what she wants and needs. Maybe she just needs to be held or walked for a while and will fall asleep if you do. Maybe you need to do a room exchange for at least part of each day so the baby can be out and have some exploration time.
I also think that your older cat may be calmer if she doesn’t have to listen to what sounds like a cat being tortured. Has they met face to face yet?

We did 2 weeks of just scent and noises through a close nursery door. We are doing things super slow because of my 4 year old's anxiety. We just got a point where Olive ( 4 year old) is back to normal and showing confidence again- so yesterday we did our first face to face peeks though baby gate & lowered blanket.
We will continue this stage for another few weeks.
Olive hissed and moaned a few times as expected, but mostly just stared.

We have been leaving baby Fig's scent in the living room each evening (Olive is in the bedroom in bed by then) so baby Fig has gotten plenty of running around time. Plus she is with my husband all day while he works from home (His office is the nursery). She has a very large set up in there- lots to climb on, and lots of toys.

It is just the guilt we are feeling by not running to her when she cries She usually stops under 5 mins