Untamable Kitten With Zoomies, Aggression & Bathroom Issues

[AMBRIER]

Hi all,

Today I'm going to talk about me and my partner's little angel (or beast). Her name is Daisy (or 'Princess Daisy Tiger Claw' for longer). Her full name is rather apt really (and was chosen before we picked her up). She is 9 weeks old and just had her first vaccinations. She was already litter-box trained when we got her so that was a weight off our mind. We live in a small apartment, with a room which has her litter box, cat carrier and blanket, water dish etc.

She's one of the cutest buggers you'll ever see with beautiful fur and a sweet face to match, but an attitude like nothing else. I want to talk about three points of her behaviour today and see what you guys think. (Bear with me, I want to paint a picture and not miss out any details)

1) Her aggression:

Don't get me wrong, she's loving...for about 15 seconds, then you pet her one time too many and it sends her into hyper and aggressive mode. She'll start biting our hands, climbing up our legs, scratching us as she does...jumping onto our shoulders when we're sat down....she even jumps onto my back from the couch when I'm on the floor (really hurts and I have to shake her off). She attacks our feet when we walk and assaults anything that moves or makes noise, including (mainly it seems) electrical wires i.e. laptop cords, headphone wires, xbox controller cable, tv cables. We covered as many up as we could but some we just can't hide. Her claws are in everything. We know kittens are discovering what they have at this age, but none of our deterrents seem to work.

When she attacks our hands or feet, we push her forward as to confuse her (as it's supposed to apparently, instead of retreating). If she gets too aggressive I put her in time out, but after a while she makes too much noise with crying and scratching that I have to let her out into the rest of the apartment again. If she jumps on me or attacks me, or cables near me, I pick her up and blow in her face (which she seems to hate), and she backs off for about 10 seconds, then resumes. When she starts to claw furniture we pull her off and put her somewhere else, but she soon returns. It seems no matter what we do for her aggression, she doesn't learn to back off and behave. She thinks it's play, and I can't seem to get across that I don't want to, and that playtime is over when she does lash out.

2) Her 'zoomies'

Zoomies, a term my partner and I love. (As we understand; a state of sudden bursts of energy which result in her having fun running laps around the apartment like she's being chased or running for her life.) I guess this is also linked to her aggression in some ways. It's hilarious for a few minutes, and then she decides to run onto us, attacking our hair etc. We can't let her in the bedroom for more than a minute because she immediately starts attacking our feet that are under the covers, jumping and running all over us and general bouncing about on the bed. She'll sprint back and forth for a good while.

We bought her a three-ended tunnel which she loves, but the aggression she shows when playing with and in it are surprising, she'll run in and out of it all evening, attacking it, dragging it across the apartment. She has plenty of toys and spends a good amount of the day playing with them.

She seems fine when me and my partner are not around. We'll come home to find her asleep, but as soon as she's with us, it's like someone injects rocket fuel up her rear-end. She clearly loves being with us, but she gets so over the top that it's increasingly ending up with her going into time out (in her small room with her essentials). And she always seems to do this at night. I've taken her toys away to discourage her working herself up (doesn't work, as she finds shoes to assault...boxes...furniture...me). We even bought her 'Licks' that were supposed to make her chilled out, but they had no effect on her whatsoever.

We just want to let her in the bedroom so she can snuggle with us, but apparently being on the bed means its playtime, and results in her being shut out for the night and crying at the door for us. I don't know what to do to tell her that bedtime means 'calm down!' (We are in Canada and getting a couple of storms lately...might also have some effect?)

3) Bathroom Issues:

She is litter-box trained, but she seems to only pee. She hasn't pooped for about 3 or 4 days and we're beginning to get concerned. Coincidentally she went to the vets on day 3 of her not pooping, and vet couldn't find anything wrong with her; no bloating or inflammation. She shows no signs of discomfort at all.

She eats raw meat for cats (with none of the weird vegetables in that not even humans can digest properly). It's just meat with blueberries, cranberries etc for pro-biotics. She has some occasional goats milk with it, a couple of drops of herring oil and the tiniest sprinkle of some nutrient formula in powder form, all of which is mixed up and she can't eat it quick enough. She's doubled her size in a week from what we can tell. This leads us to think she is going through a growth spurt. She doesn't seem to have pooped properly since we weened her off of her kitten kibble, which she won't even touch now. (We didn't want her on kibble, only healthy meat). Whether or not this is because the raw meat is all absorbed by her system and nothing is excess or something like that I don't know. Like I said, she pees fine, but she hasn't pooped for days, yet she seems fine. I'm not sure how much she drinks, but her water bowl is easily accessible for her, and I know moisture intake can effect stools etc.

Anyway, I want to know what you guys might suggest. I love the little girl to bits. She has become my fur-child, but I don't want to spend her kitten days getting frustrated and annoyed at her, putting her in time-out and worrying about what she's going to attack next. I just want to love her and have her love us in return. She seems fine when I'm in her room with her. She'll sit on me and purr away, but as soon as I leave she cries and makes noise. When I let her out into a wider space with things to play with it sends her wild.

Hopefully someone knows a trick or two about mischievous little kittens

Thanks for your time and look forward to hearing from y'all!

Enjoy some pictures of our little nugget!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. And oh my - she is a barrel of super energy, and yet she looks like an angel in those pics!!

I don't have a lot to offer on how to 'tame her down', it just seems so far that she doesn't get the idea of "ok, now it is time to stop'". I am sure other members on this site will see your post soon and give you some super ideas/tips.

But, in the meantime, look around for poop outside the litter box somewhere. If she is eating and drinking normally, and is (clearly) not demonstrating signs of a health issue, the poop has got to be coming out - somewhere. If she is truly not pooping anywhere else, she is going to start signs of something wrong - like not eating and vomiting, etc.

 

[KarenKat]

Hi! Do you play with her using an interactive toy like Da Bird? I’ve actually never had a kitten, but it sounds like she sleeps all day, and then wants to play with you when you come home. A good 30 min play session with her to tire her out might calm her a down a bit. Although I heard kittens can be a handful sometimes.

 

[ArtNJ]

Many kittens can only be pet when sleepy. For now, play with the kitten with toys, enjoy her crazy antics, discourage the climbing on your/biting/attacking you and be patient. Most kittens don't even get adopted out at 9 weeks -- the modern recommendation is more like 12 weeks, or at least 10-12 weeks.

This doesn't mean she won't eventually be a cuddle kitty. You just have to be patient. For now, take what you can get. As mentioned, when sleepy is almost always available. You may also find that there is a eventually a special spot where petting will be allowed, or where the kitten will come to you. You can try to encourage that with treats and a call noise. However, at this point, don't be surprised if it is just too soon.

 

[jcat]

Points s 1 & 2 are perfectly normal behavior for a 9-week-old with lots of excess energy and no other kitten to play with. Interactive play will wear her out to a certain extent.

As to point 3, it's quite possible that she's pooping somewhere else - under a bed or chair, or in a closet, for instance. A lot of cats/kittens require two boxes, i.e., one for urination and one for defecation, so you really need to add a second box and see whether that helps. She most probably had a couple of boxes to choose from while she was still with her mother and litter mates.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS.
Daisy is paws-itively adorable, and does look like an angel.

Most of what you've described sounds like she is just being a kitten. 9 weeks is still pretty young. These days it's recommended kittens stay with their mom and siblings until at least 12 weeks. That's so they have time to learn cat etiquette, things like that they can hurt another cat, or their human, with their claws and teeth. Since she's with you now, it'll be your job to teach her kitty manners. Here's a link from the Human Society that might have some tips for you: Teach your kitten how to play nice

And about the not pooping, here's a TCS thread from May, that is similar to your situation, as the kitten was also eating raw. The kitten did eventually poop, btw, after adding pure pumpkin to his food.
Is My Kitten Constipated?

 

[AMBRIER]

Thanks for the replies everyone. She certainly looks like an angel, and she can be, but when the camera isn't on her she's a little devil.

So her behaviour is pretty normal then, and we've just got to be patient. I will say, after putting most of her toys away last night and then restricting them to her smaller room today and not putting them in the larger area of the apartment, she has been really better behaved, and sat on me a few times. I think she just had too many reasons to go bananas all at once.

We got her at 7 weeks and 5 days technically. We went to see her on a wednesday with the intention of taking her home on the saturday, but her owner told us we could just take her to save us a trip, as her mother didn't really want anything to do with her and she was being chased by dogs a lot, so we took her (a long ride home without a carrying case)

Her raw food does have bone in it from what I can tell, so maybe that's a contributing factor. Perhaps she needs a bit more moisture or oil in. We give her herring oil in her food, so maybe the concentration needs to be higher? She's not pooped around the litterbox. It's in a corner, covered and the floor around it is empty. The waiting game continues on that one. We have a smaller litterbox that she used when we first got her, and she last pooped in that I think. We changed it to a covered one because she got over-zealous with her covering with the litter and flicked piles of the stuff into our heater which is floor level. Perhaps I'll try putting both out and see what happens.

I'll keep y'all posted. She's a crazy nugget for sure!

Thanks for the replies and links!

 

[AMBRIER]

Update: The poop has landed! Repeat: The poop has landed! All systems go by the looks of it!

 

[susanm9006]

Congrats on the poop. If a nine week old kitten wasn’t untamable and didn’t have boundless energy I would worry. And as far as I am concerned no such thing as aggression in such a young kitten. Inappropriate playing yes, aggression no. All kittens bite and scratch until they learn not to. Crying out “ouch” or hissing at her, or if she won’t stop, picking her up for a second and holding her is all that is needed. I would not take away toys or try to discourage her crazy times, but if she pesters while you are sleeping she may need to be kept in a different room for a while. Eventually she will learn that they only way she gets bedroom time is to let you sleep but you have many weeks before she is old enough to understand that.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Yay, on the poop! Daisy is beautiful!

You mentioned going bananas and poop... and our favorite cat site here has a smiley for that!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Yay about the poop!!!! Just out of curiosity, which box did she use? Also, if it turns out that she is either a two-box kitty (one for pee, one for poo) or she prefers the uncovered box, you can always buy a sizeable mat/rug to place under the box to help catch some of the litter she apparently is going to like to fling outside. Of course, you would have to move it a little bit away from the floor heater.

 

[Kflowers]

Picking her up and blowing inher face to tell her she's naughty will actually tell her AVOID BEING PICKED UP AT ALL COSTS!! Being picked up means human is going to blow in my face ICK ICK ICK!! Run don't get near the human's face. I don't think that's what you want.

We rescued a 5 week old who quickly went to the manic kitten chase fight! attack! Hey, I'm playing with you. Why aren't you playing with me? Don't you understand? I got it, I'll bite harder and you'll understand.

Water didn't work - why would it, she was used to being bathed after her bottle meals and she never cared about water.

coins in a can - yeah, right, next to the TV she's the loudest thing in the house.

Hissing at her like a mom cat? She got it in one. She had hold of my foot and as biting and kicking. One hiss - loud and she flipped over, her back to me and started fighting with her own foot. She chomped down on her own foot and screamed. Having no siblings, she never realized how much her bites hurt.

She learned to not attack my feet unless I'm wearing the higher than ankle fuzzy house shoe boots. She pretends bites - holding her mouth open and knocking my arm like a little steam hammer no punctures.

You might want to practice hissing a bit before you try it on her. It's not as easy as you might think. Whether you spit or not is up to you.

 

[rubysmama]

So her behaviour is pretty normal then, and we've just got to be patient.

Yup. Totally normal. So try to enjoy her silly, kitten-ish antics. And take lots of pictures, as this time next year you'll wonder how your tiny kitten grew into that big cat.

Update: The poop has landed! Repeat: The poop has landed! All systems go by the looks of it!

 

[inkysmom]

That's all totally normal fun kitten behavior. It lasts the first year or longer depending on the cat. Best thing is to get two kittens to tire each other out and have a constant playmate and teach each other how hard to bite or not. They chew and destroy evrrytheve, including electric cords and can get hurt easily so only leave her alone in a kitten proofed room with no exposed cords.

They need to run and jump and play. Don't restrict her space or her toys. Play with her or get another kitten to do so. She's not going to sleep quietly all day like an adult cat, that's completely unrealistic. Nine weeks they don't know social skills or bite inhibition or anything. They need their mom and siblings much longer to teach them manners.
Kittens need kitten kibble for their special nutritional growth needs and developing teeth. She can't eat an adult diet until she's a year old. She also needs the extra calories. Get her Iams or science diet kitten food if you don't want kitten chow but she may not be able to tolerate a raw diet until her digestive system is grown up. She's burning lots of calories just growing and running she needs her special baby food.

None of what you describe is aggression, it's completely normal kitten behavior . Cute and hilarious and funny and adorable and yes painful and causes sleep deprivation. Just like taking in a puppy or having a human baby. It's temporary and a precious short time. If you can't deal with it get a quiet low energy older cat, there's dozens that need homes.

If you're lucky enough to have her in her mid to late teens and you're nursing her through cancer and trying to keep weight on her and syringing nine or ten doses of medications in her a day and constantly going to the vet hospital and have lost as many old cats as I have, you'll long for the happy carefree kitten days again. I'm doing that for the adorable kitten I took in from the shelter fourteen years ago.
He still gives me love bites that hurt and purrs and drools whenever I pet him. Since the day I got him.

 

[AMBRIER]

Thanks for all your replies guys. Really appreciate it.

Daisy has been pretty well behaved today. We put her tunnel in her room (it was the toy that made her the most hyper) and she's been pretty chilled today. She has skitty moments, but she doesn't bounce off of herself and cause chaos everywhere she goes. We thought about your environment enrichment and are going to give that a go. It's actually already working. We put down some wrapping tissue sheets and she goes nuts in it, tiring herself out keeping her from attacking us. She's even sleeping next to my partner on the bed as I write this, so she's been a delight. That and the fact she finally pooped makes it a good day for little Daisy.

She pooped in the same litter box as the one she pees in. Was a decent size stool too. Perhaps it's purely down to the fact that she didn't need to poop as much on raw meat.

Because I haven't been getting frustrated with her zooming and destruction today I feel like I really bonded with her when she comes over to see what I'm doing which feels wonderful. I've no problem with her being a bit nuts, but its the climbing up me and jumping on me, attacking my head that gets on my nerves a little, but she hasn't done that at all today. We were able to have fun with her with the tissue paper, rebuilding a pile for her to run around in and make a mess.

She is basically the kitten version of my partner's old kitty who she lost last year after a sudden illness (which she wasn't able to do much about as she wasn't able to see her kitty often), so I think in a way she sees it as a second chance to make her life right. It was pretty heartbreaking for her as she had grown up with that cat. We were going to get an adult cat eventually as they have a harder time finding a home, but when we saw this little girl's face we just melted. It's like having her old kitty back with us in mini form, and this time we're able to do things right and give her the best life she could ever have.

You can see a comparison here, her old kitty Lily (Princess Tiger Lily), and our new baby Daisy (Princess Daisy Tiger-Claw). ...(My partner's choice of names )

 

[rubysmama]

Wow. There really is a huge resemblance between Princess Tiger Lily and Princess Daisy Tiger Claw. It will be really interesting to compare pics once Daisy is a grownup. I love their names, btw.

If your partner feels up to it, TCS has a Crossing the Bridge forum where she/you could post a tribute to Lily. RIP sweet girl.

 

[Kflowers]

We found that it cut down on the frustration and the panicked fear to put away all the breakable bric-a-brac, mirrors, and to remove the glass from framed pictures. Framed pictures, mirrors, metal vases, solid bookends and the like are heavy enough to send a kitten one falls on to the vet.

Minimalism is where it's at.

 

[saweeet]

Hi, checking if there's any update on the kitten a few years later ? We just adopted a kitten who was separated early from mother and didn't have much social interaction from other kittens. The behaviour is a replica to to what you described. Did the behaviour ever subside and if yes, how long did it take ? Thank you!

 

[iPappy]

That's all totally normal fun kitten behavior. It lasts the first year or longer depending on the cat. Best thing is to get two kittens to tire each other out and have a constant playmate and teach each other how hard to bite or not. They chew and destroy evrrytheve, including electric cords and can get hurt easily so only leave her alone in a kitten proofed room with no exposed cords.

They need to run and jump and play. Don't restrict her space or her toys. Play with her or get another kitten to do so. She's not going to sleep quietly all day like an adult cat, that's completely unrealistic. Nine weeks they don't know social skills or bite inhibition or anything. They need their mom and siblings much longer to teach them manners.
Kittens need kitten kibble for their special nutritional growth needs and developing teeth. She can't eat an adult diet until she's a year old. She also needs the extra calories. Get her Iams or science diet kitten food if you don't want kitten chow but she may not be able to tolerate a raw diet until her digestive system is grown up. She's burning lots of calories just growing and running she needs her special baby food.

None of what you describe is aggression, it's completely normal kitten behavior . Cute and hilarious and funny and adorable and yes painful and causes sleep deprivation. Just like taking in a puppy or having a human baby. It's temporary and a precious short time. If you can't deal with it get a quiet low energy older cat, there's dozens that need homes.

If you're lucky enough to have her in her mid to late teens and you're nursing her through cancer and trying to keep weight on her and syringing nine or ten doses of medications in her a day and constantly going to the vet hospital and have lost as many old cats as I have, you'll long for the happy carefree kitten days again. I'm doing that for the adorable kitten I took in from the shelter fourteen years ago.
He still gives me love bites that hurt and purrs and drools whenever I pet him. Since the day I got him.

I would kill to have my Tortie back as a kitten, or any of my pets in their baby stages for that matter. The playing, running, pouncing, biting, and just being generally annoying is a kitten thing. They grow out of it. I wouldn't make a big deal over it, they're like an over stimulated toddler who will eventually fall asleep. And eventually after that, they grow into a functioning adult because being annoying and running around and throwing things and yelling is a toddler thing. They don't do it forever. Enjoy it. I love a sassy little kitten who runs around and tears into stuff and I don't suppress it. If she REALLY drives you crazy and she won't settle down she's probably over stimulated, giving her a big meal and a quiet place with a bed and a litter box will probably knock her out in a few minutes. When my Tortie got too crazy for me I'd give her all the food she could eat and a comfortable bed and within seconds of eating it she was like a little zombie. Enjoy you're kitten. She's absolutely fine the way she is!

 

[Kflowers]

Ours settled down. After the first time I hissed when she bit me, that was the last time she bit. She would pretend bite, hitting her closed teeth against me, but that was all. She just didn't realism it hurt. Nothing I can do about the claws, but that also settled down with time. If you can get a second kitten the same age and let them play rough together. That's how they learn not to hurt by accident. Bric-a-brac and cats really don't mix.