#kitten behavior

[simon-jimothys-world]

(To the tune of Takin’ Care of Business)

🎶Makin’ all the biscuits…🎶

Happy Caturday, enjoy! 😻

[fshoulders]

We are letting the kitties roam the house tonight for the first time. (Our house’s layout is weird, so we had a big playpen thing for a kitten room.) I probably should have started soliciting prayers to Bast or other deities before this all started, but now I’m sitting on the side of the bed in my (cat-free for asthma! And for needles and thread etc.) little room listening to them thunder around the house.

Stay safe, little ones! I mean, also please don’t destroy things. But please, precious kitties, stay SAFE!

Figure A: what I wish they were doing

Figure B: what I’m sure they are doing. Best case really, since that doesn’t involve pulling anything down on themselves or eating anything they shouldn’t!

[f1tf]

excited kitten! (x)

[fbwzoo]

i have a kitten and he really really likes plying with my hand but now i'm covered in scratches :( do you have any advice? should i get him more toys to try to discourage him from my hands??

Yes, definitely more toys! It's really important not to use your hands to play with your cat, as it can get dangerous and painful pretty quickly. And it's a hard habit to break.

From now on, no playing with your hands at all. Make sure you have a variety of toys instead! Wand toys are very useful for stalking, pouncing, chasing, jumping up furniture after, etc.

Instead of allowing wrestling with your hand, get some kicker toys or sticks and keep them handy when you're interacting. If your kitten does grab your hand to play, gently detach them and give them the toy to maul instead.

If you have terrible redirecting them to the toy, step out of the room for a few moments to let them calm down, then return and initiate play with a toy.

Also, don't forget to start getting your kitten used to nail trims now! It will make things much easier as they get bigger, as well as saving you some skin while they adjust to the new rules. It'll take some time for them to stop trying to maul you instead of toys, but just be patient and consistent. Good much! :)

[whitewitchofthewoods]

Does anyone else's cat suckle on them like this?? She's about 12 weeks old, and she didn't get taken from her mom too soon, so I'm thinking it's just a comfort thing? Either way, it's adorable. ❤️🐈

[happyhealthycats]

Can you talk about why bottle babies are known for being evil/mean/angry and how to prevent that? I currently have one and want to make sure she becomes someone's perfect pet :)

Typically the behavioral issues that stem from bottle babies boils down to not having a queen’s influence and possibly not having litter mates, depending on the situation.

Queens will teach kittens how to hunt, that leads them to having more successful stalk-chase-pounce-kill hunting sequences once they’re older. While keeping these bottle babies alive and thriving for foster parents can be incredibly difficult, there’s subtle nuances of that natural interaction that we can’t perfectly replace.

In addition, a kitten in a litter will learn how to play in a healthy, non-destructive way. They’ll learn not to use their claws too much. They’ll learn that their litter mates don’t like being bitten. This translates directly to how they interact with people later in their lives.

The first step is trying to get the cat with another cat or kitten similar in age. However, with the threat of spreading diseases, or not having another animal or litter available, there are always stipulations. In an ideal world, we’d be able to put these poor kittens with another litter and the queen would just take over. But in a perfect world, diseases like panleukopenia don’t exist. The safety of the litter outweigh the behavior of one.

Making sure the cat, once they become mobile and begin play, has plenty of toy options is pretty ideal. Preferably softer toys to start out with, both for safety and to give them that feeling of sinking their claws and teeth into something.

But it’s imperative from day one, that fingers, feet, what have you, are never to be bitten. If a kitten bites the queen while she’s nursing, the queen will get up and leave. So it’s important to mirror that queen’s behavior.

Another important thing is socialization. If you’re not planning on keeping the kitten, you want the kitten to come in contact with as many different people as possible, so long as they adhere to strict rules about no playing with fingers/toes, and keeping themselves clean for the kitten’s safety (and possibly their own cats, if the kitten has something that hasn’t cropped up yet).Handling from as young as 2 weeks will help the kittens meet and socialize with new people. Even someone new handling them for 15 minutes per day helps.

Essentially it boils down to kittens not learning proper cat social cues. They don’t see how they should respond when they’re scared. They don’t experience how to tell someone they’re playing too rough. They don’t know how to track, hunt, and kill prey. So creating these experiences can help them a lot. Using wand toys to mimic wounded prey, just like the queen would bring back to the litter to start teaching them to hunt. Getting up, ignoring the kitten, or disengaging when they bite or claw you too hard. Drawing their attention to toys when they’re super playful instead of you. Making sure they meet many different people from a young age. These are some of the things that will help the kitten grow more well rounded, and into a better pet for their forever family.

[simon-jimothys-world]

(To the tune of Takin’ Care of Business)

🎶Makin’ all the biscuits…🎶

🎶…I was…maaaaaakin’ all the biscuits!🎶

Happy Caturday, y’all! 😻

[happyhealthycats]

I have two kittens and one of them keeps pressing their nose into my face while we're cuddling. The other one doesn't do this though. Is that normal?

So long as it’s not insistently pushing their forehead into you with any pressure behind it, it’s fine (forehead pressing is typically a sign of some neurological issues, or other problems that need to be seen to by a vet immediately). Chances are they find comfort in the way you smell and that’s how they comfort themselves. Not saying the other doesn’t find comfort in the smell, just saying that’s how the one prefers to express that comfort.