Quick Question

holmesy

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Hi People,

Been reading these forums recently to get some advice / information before we got our 2 lil kittens. Its been very useful with lots of good posts, so thankyou for that.

I have my own lil question i need to ask. As i said we have 2 lil kittens, around 10weeks old now. We have had them around 1 / 2 weeks. They were quite friendly towards us to begin with, but just recently, when you go to stroke them etc its just like there ot interested and walk off. Its like there becoming timid. not sure why? Nothing has changed in there enviroment.

also how do you train the kittens that your hands are not toys and that they cannot pounce on them and attck them when you goto stroke them. They also seem to have a habbit of biting, well not biting they put my finger in there mouths, but do not clench down.............

Sorry so many questions, but i want to do right by them!

Thanks in advance
 

larke

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Hi, would love to see pix of those babies! They're going to go through all kinds of stages while growing up, just like human kids, and one day (or week or month) they'll love you, and the next not at all, but don't imagine anything will last very long! In fact, until they're at least a year or more, you probably won't have a good idea who they're becoming for any length of time, but don't take much of it personally as 'each other', playing and their surroundings are what they're responding to, and while they may appreciate the heck out of you, probably don't see you too much as a distinct personality yet, just a great source of dinner! If you keep your hands anywhere in their immediate area, they'll go for them as all they see are nice wiggly toys and won't distinguish between them and others for quite a while. Maybe just restrain yourself from trying to pet them a lot right now, and do what you can to avoid the wigglies as much as possible. Extend toys to them rather than just your hands. They'll generally be quite a handful (no pun!) until at least a year, though the females tend to settle down a bit faster than males.
 
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holmesy

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Thanks for the quick reply........ Its says that i am not allowed to add attachments, so i am unsure how to get some pics on here?

I have been telling them NO! quite sternley when they do something wrong, is it ok to do this? I am beginning to think they are no liking me for this reason. I do not do it very loud, just a quick NO! and i move them if they are on me etc

There is a lot of mixed opiinions from different sites!

Thanks
 

siggav

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I've found that hissing works much better than a NO! on cats. It can work almost too well though. If I hiss at my cat she tends to shrink down immediately and be all belly to the floor. So I only use it for "extreme" cases.

As for not wanting to be pet, young cats are often much more interested in play and running around than lying around being all cuddly. Although if you catch them in a sleepy mood you should have an easier time getting some snuggles in.

I would play with them lots, wand toys are great, to bond with them since that's what they prefer and it can be a lot of fun as well.

Also if they do continue to bite your hands etc. you can yelp out as if in pain and then stop playing. That's how kittens teach each other not to bite too hard. Timeouts work quite well as well sometimes. I.e if they're getting out of control stop playing and leave the room (or move them to another room although that can be tricky). Stopping the fun can be quite an effective deterrent.

Cats usually don't respond well to negative reinforcement, it's easier to try to work around things.
 

camille eonich

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Originally Posted by Siggav

As for not wanting to be pet, young cats are often much more interested in play and running around than lying around being all cuddly. Although if you catch them in a sleepy mood you should have an easier time getting some snuggles in.

I would play with them lots, wand toys are great, to bond with them since that's what they prefer and it can be a lot of fun as well.

Also if they do continue to bite your hands etc. you can yelp out as if in pain and then stop playing. That's how kittens teach each other not to bite too hard. Timeouts work quite well as well sometimes. I.e if they're getting out of control stop playing and leave the room (or move them to another room although that can be tricky). Stopping the fun can be quite an effective deterrent.
Excellent advice
 
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