Our rescue, Gaia! (long story, lots of photos)

[frogmanjared]

A month ago yesterday, I got a call from my wife saying that someone at work is giving away a kitten. She explained she found 2 newbornish kittens under their tool shed in town and have been bottle-fed since found (8 weeks old at the time, her brother died, within a few days, but she lived). The lady had 3 cats already, and they despised the kitten, so she never got to play and had to be kept in a bedroom while they were at work so the adult cats wouldn't terrorize her.

Anyways, we decided to take her in... here are a few photos of her first few days at our place. She had crusty eyes, not horrible but unsightly, underweight (worms), ear mites, and her coat seemed unhealthy. (she was weaned to adult cat food at her previous home)



Here's a photo for size comparison, 8 weeks... 1.1 lbs


3 months... growing fast! ~3 lbs


She loves to play video games with us...
DS


Wii fit



Gaia naps in peculiar positions...




A few shots of recent weeks...



Overall, I'm glad we decided to take her. She's very curious about water, gets a little wet each time we shower! She didn't seem to dislike her first bath much, hopefully she stays that way when she's older. She's healthy now, been 2 the vet twice, rid of worms, ear mites&bacteria.

She is full of energy, more so than I can say with most kittens I've been around. The last time I was part of raising a kitten though, I was 4, so I don't really remember what it was like. She's very nippy, not hard, but don't want it to become a nuisance when she's full grown. Within the last few days she'll come onto my chair and sleep on my lap when I'm on the computer, and in the morning she'll sleep next to us on our bed, until she wants to play more.

So, here's the question section! Can anyone point me in the direction of a great post about correcting biting problems? She only allows petting when she's tired, or eating, otherwise she wants to play with your hand after 10 sec of petting. She likes to be carried around on one arm, looking at fish tanks, out the windows at cars, animals and allows petting then also.

How long should play sessions be? Whenever she's awake, she wants to play with someone, she'll play by herself for 5-10 min, then start attacking us to play with her, we redirect her to her tackle buddy for a while. If she gets out of control, we put her in the bathroom for 5 min to settle. We've tried to socialize her with our neighbors cats, but they are afraid of her and wont play, would bringing them over here help? She LOVES to lick! She wakes us up by crawling under the covers and licking our toes!

We plan on spaying her @ 5 months, maybe declaw her also. I really don't want to declaw, but most of her nails split after they're cut and don't want to cause problems as a result. Will nail splitting keep happening, and what problems can it cause? Do females calm down after being spayed, I know males do, but not sure about females?

The last... what breed mix is she, we think she's mostly russian blue. Will traits from other breeds start showing when she's matured? Thanks for your help and any comments welcome!

[CoolCat]

Hola y bienvenido a TCS, ...Catulina y Milky te saludan!!!........
(Translate: Hi and Welcome to TCS, Catulina and Milky say hello to you!!!...)

Please feel as you home here, we can learn so much and deep about out kittys in this marvelous site, I just only please ask you read the rules and other stuffs that can help you to feel as you Real home!.. here you have the link my friend.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82565
Thank you for share those photos!...

Please ask whatever you need to know, there are plenty of good members and of course our tireness Mod´s to help us here!....

See you on the forums!, Glad that you join us!

[Yosemite]

She's a little beauty. At around 4 months they start teething so tend to get a bit "bitey". Get some of those fat plastic straws and toss a few around for her to chew on. When they get too chewed up, toss them out and add a few new ones.

When she gets nippy, say NO really loudly and hiss at her. Stop dead in your tracks because if you continue to move the hand/foot she thinks you are still playing. Never play with your hands - use a wand type toy.

As for declawing - this is a very anti-declawing site. Declawing is very inhumane and I always ask anyone thinking about declawing if they are willing for me to cut each and every one of their fingers off at the first knuckle. If they wouldn't mind me doing that to them then I suppose they could do it to their baby kitten when I'm finished with them.

If you cut her claws from the side rather than from top to bottom, you will find you'll get less splitting. Also, cats naturally shed pieces of claws and you may be seeing that and thinking it is splitting. Please, please do not declaw. Declawing can cause other behaviour issues, such as more biting and not using the litterbox as they associate the litterbox with the pain of the declawing.

Lastly, welcome of course, thank you for giving this lovely kitty a wonderful home, and I hope you'll stay around and learn lots of wonderful things about the beautiful cats in our lives.

[white cat lover]

Originally Posted by frogmanjared

We plan on spaying her @ 5 months, maybe declaw her also. I really don't want to declaw, but most of her nails split after they're cut and don't want to cause problems as a result. Will nail splitting keep happening, and what problems can it cause? Do females calm down after being spayed, I know males do, but not sure about females?

Please do her a favor & don't declaw her. Here is a thread on declawing

You need to read this thread & go ahead & search my username & the word "Bea" to read the holy that cat lived through. The lasting effects of declawing were debilitating on her.....and ruined her life.

TCS's official stance on declawing

3. This website considers declawing a drastic way to curb cat behavior. A painful ordeal for your kitty we would suggest that declawing never be considered for any behavioral issue. Health issues are entirely different. It is up to you as a responsible pet owner to explore all the different options available instead of declawing. Your cat is dependant on you to make wise choices for her, and not put her into any more stress or discomfort. Please be a responsible pet owner and research this subject thoroughly. Understand that if you are pro-declaw in your posts, you will encounter opposition. Please learn more about alternatives for declawing here in our forums as well as on our website itself. Declaw - More than Just a Manicure. Hopefully those of you with claw-related problems will find solutions by spending time in our Behavior Forum.

Splitting claws in normal - I have 8 cats in the house, only 1 is declawed, with scratching posts & regular nail trimmings I have no problem.

[frogmanjared]

Thanks for voicing your concerns about the de-clawing. If split nails wont harm her, than we're not going to do it, there's no problems with her scratching where she's not supposed to. Are cat nail trimmers a necessity? For me, it's very hard to see the quick with those bulky pair of trimmers, or is a nice, sharp regular nail trimmer just as effective? She's a very fast learner, only had a litter miss her first night here.

I've read that the teething phase ends around 8 months, will this help her to stop biting constantly? We got her a "kong wubba hubba" and she loves to chomp down on it, can't find any large straws anywhere. And what about spaying, does it make female cats less energetic?

[Yosemite]

Originally Posted by frogmanjared

Thanks for voicing your concerns about the de-clawing. If split nails wont harm her, than we're not going to do it, there's no problems with her scratching where she's not supposed to. Are cat nail trimmers a necessity? For me, it's very hard to see the quick with those bulky pair of trimmers, or is a nice, sharp regular nail trimmer just as effective? She's a very fast learner, only had a litter miss her first night here.

I've read that the teething phase ends around 8 months, will this help her to stop biting constantly? We got her a "kong wubba hubba" and she loves to chomp down on it, can't find any large straws anywhere. And what about spaying, does it make female cats less energetic?

I use regular human nail clippers and clip from the side. I find it's easier for me to see with the small human clippers. I've tried the special cat trimmers and don't find them easy to manage - it will depend on you and what is comfortable for you. So to answer your question, no, specific cat trimmers are not necessary. The teething phase will start around 4 months. It is important to curb her biting now by doing as I suggested above, not playing with her with your bare hands (use a wand toy).

Spaying is really necessary. Unspayed cats can get a uterine disease called pyometa which can be costly to treat and can cause death. It's much healthier for your cat to have her spayed. Also some female cats, if not spayed will start spraying. Once they start spraying they may not ever stop even if they are neutered. Age and maturity makes cats less energetic, spaying seems to calm them down somewhat. Unless you are a registered breeder there is no reason to not neuter your pet. If she just got outside once, she can get pregnant. If she mated with a cat that was not healthy she can pick up diseases from him. Please be a responsible owner and have her spayed.

[frogmanjared]

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I use regular human nail clippers and clip from the side. I find it's easier for me to see with the small human clippers. I've tried the special cat trimmers and don't find them easy to manage - it will depend on you and what is comfortable for you. So to answer your question, no, specific cat trimmers are not necessary. The teething phase will start around 4 months. It is important to curb her biting now by doing as I suggested above, not playing with her with your bare hands (use a wand toy).

Spaying is really necessary. Unspayed cats can get a uterine disease called pyometa which can be costly to treat and can cause death. It's much healthier for your cat to have her spayed. Also some female cats, if not spayed will start spraying. Once they start spraying they may not ever stop even if they are neutered. Age and maturity makes cats less energetic, spaying seems to calm them down somewhat. Unless you are a registered breeder there is no reason to not neuter your pet. If she just got outside once, she can get pregnant. If she mated with a cat that was not healthy she can pick up diseases from him. Please be a responsible owner and have her spayed.

We are doing all the things to curb biting behavior... not totally working yet, hopefully soon (heard that bottle raised kittens are harder to train not to bite).

I'm getting her spayed, I just want to know if she will be less energetic after the procedure.

Sorry if I sound like I mean something that isn't totally clear. I'm just used to being on fish, plant, reptile, and amphibian forums, and the lingo is quite different on those! Not that it's bad here, I just have to explain differently I guess. Again, sorry for any confusion!

[frogmanjared]

As far as hair length goes, I don't think I've ever seen a medium hair cat. Gaia has some hairs that are significantly longer than most others, unless it's the double coat coming from her russian blue side of things. You can see them in the pic where she's sleeping on my lap, there's quite a few long, silver tipped hairs and she's getting them all over now. Is she going to be a medium hair cat?

[Lynsey]

Your kitten is very pretty. I could see a difference in her coat from the "baby" picture to the most recent.

The suggestion about the bendy drinking straws is a great one. I bought a pack of them for my kittens and it seems to work.

[GoldyCat]

I used regular (human) nail clippers on my kittens, but found as they got older and the claws got bigger the clippers were crushing instead of cutting. Maybe they just weren't sharp enough. Anyway, the next thing I tried were the scissor type clippers. They worked a little better but were too bulky for easy handling. I think I may have gotten the ones intended for small dogs instead of cats. I finally found a very small pair of scissors like this and they work great.

[bad_kitty2001]

Awe! She's a cutie. I love her playing the ds and the wii. Adorable!

[bcbc mom]

Bless you for taking her in! She's adorable! HOW does she bite? Does she bite kinda hard, or is is lightly? If its lightly, she may just be hungry. If it's really agressive(u need to be able to differentiate,b/c some cats are different) If it's an agressive bite- I'd tell her "NO-NO" while shaking my finger(like 3x slowly) & touching her teeth--again- GENTLY--ALWAYS be gentle w/her. As for de-clawing--NOOOOOOO! This is SO VERY PAINFUL FOR THEM! Imagine your index finger getting cut off right under the nail @ that 1st joint-THATS what de-clawing is to a cat. There are some vets who refuse to perform this procedure-it's THAT cruel! I HOPED I was of some help to you.This is ONE of the reasons I LOVE this site-they TRULY CARE!
God Bless
bcbc