possibly adopting a bottle raised kitten...

so tell me everything you know! Like I posted on my other thread about this (in the cat lounge) I may be jumping the gun here and I am really not sure at all, but I may be adopting a kitten who was bottle raised in the next few days. I do not know the age or sex of the kitten.
I was just wondering, are there any issues that I need to be aware of? Are there things I would have to work on with the kitten? Or would he/she learn from Raven?
Raven has excellent litter habits, she makes sure to burry her waste completely, she actually gets mad when I go to scoop because I am unburrying it, she will jump in and furriously try to burry what I am digging up.
Are there other things I should know? I will post more when I know for sure and I am sure that then I will ask the right questions.

Originally Posted by mom2raven

...she actually gets mad when I go to scoop because I am unburrying it, she will jump in and furriously try to burry what I am digging up.

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That's funny!!!

Originally Posted by mschauer

That's funny!!!

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Oh I know, I totally need to be creative when I am scooping the box because it upsets her. If she is napping she will get up and run when she hears the sound of me scooping.

I am owned by 3 bottle fed orphans (Scarlett, Muddy and Koko). Mine are the most fastideous of all my cats with the litter box, but then again, I taught them how to use it. Ask the foster mom what he/she did to litter box train the kitten. Since you have to wipe their behinds to stimulate them to go, you do this over a litter box and it really imprints on them.

What can you say about bottle feds? They are not always "normal" cats, but then again, what is normal for cats? All 3 tend to be a bit more demanding of me than the rest of the cats, but I'm the one that bottle fed them. 2 kittens that I bottle fed were adopted to a friend and hers are not as demanding as mine.

Scarlett is very, very snuggly. Muddy turns his highly snuggly mode on and off through the day. Koko sometimes annoys the other cats in the house because we failed to teach her cat manners and she is a very active cat, too active for most in the house.

I haven't noticed mine learning a lot from the other cats. Early imprinting really guides their behavior. It's not that they learn nothing, just are more independent in the way they think.

You'll find quirks but every last one of them will be endearing to you. I think they are the best!!

Thank you mom of many.

I do have a tiny bit of experience. When I was probably about 16 one of our barn cats (who was given to us by a vet who said she spayed her herself) gave birth to 6 kittens. About a month later she died and we took them in. During the week that my mom was still bottlefeeding them I was away on a missions trip so I missed out on that. We found them all homes and 2 of them stayed in the family (my grandma adopted them, 2 beautiful calico girls). One of them seems to have grooming issues but they were very sweet otherwise.

I am sure that if they want to find him/her a home that I will take him/her.

I have 3 bottle babies. Jake and Worm are the oldest and Jake has issues out the butt and Worm is so independant it's unreal. Bug is only a few months old but he's a love bug out of the 3.

They are more demanding then my "normal" kitties and have quirks that the "norms" don't have.

Originally Posted by ChrissyR

They are more demanding then my "normal" kitties and have quirks that the "norms" don't have.

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I can handle quirks. I have a few myself.

Like I said in the CL thread....be careful & aware that some bottle feds are never taught manners. I've known quite a few who bite & scratch very badly....have no idea what their boundaries are.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Like I said in the CL thread....be careful & aware that some bottle feds are never taught manners. I've known quite a few who bite & scratch very badly....have no idea what their boundaries are.

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I agree - how, as a human, do you teach a cat, cat manners? I think that is why they tend to have some quirks that most cats don't have. My Koko has trouble with boundaries but for biting, only nibbles on toes. Over time you can redirect some of their bad behaviors out of them.

But on the plus side: the 3 of mine come running nearly every time I call their names. They have no fear of humans and can sit in the middle of a crowded room of strangers without flinching. Of course I think this is more pronounced the earlier you start to bottle feed them.

I just keep remembering Jade....ahhh.....I don't know how many TCS'ers will remember Jade....the cutest kitten in the world.....but man.....she would bite to draw blood! And she had claws of steel....

I wonder how she's doing sometimes.....

Awww Jade was so cute though

Bottle babies tend to be very clingy - My Portia won't leave my side most of the time, but we were lucky enough that she is fairly good in the manners department and was toilet trained without any training!

I think the baby is 6 weeks old. I know that would be too young to leave a mama, but what about a bottle baby, is that too early to go to a new home?

I have alot of bottlebaby fosters. My three OSH mixes are bottle babies and they are the sweetest,gentlest babies ever. They snuggle with me all the itme and always want to be with me.

If the kitten hasnt been around other cats you might have to deal with training her to behave. None of my babies are biters but they had the older kittens to teach them now to bite and be annoying. So they have kitty manners.

I haven't read the thread yet but here are things I've noticed about my bottle-raised kitten. I think that every kitten has their own personality so I don't even think you can say that any of this is from being bottle fed. Maybe, I don't know.

1. She bites a lot. She was found at 4 weeks with her sister but not a mom. I don't think the biting really has to do with being bottle raised though. She had the socialization with her sister even though they didn't have a mommy. When I pet her most of the time she thinks I am playing and will bite at my fingers. It's ok now that she's tiny but I am trying to train her to not do this.

2. She likes to be around people and kind of follows you like a puppy. At the same time, she is very independent and doesn't like to be held. She is always curious as to what I am doing. I don't know if this is just her being a kitten though.

3. The litter box...she thinks that when I'm scooping it, it's a game. She tries to jump back in the box (maybe she is mad that I am uncovering her work? lol)

So that's my Chloe! I've had her home for 1.5 weeks now, she is about 14 weeks now I think.

I have a bottle raised cat, he's more like a dog than a cat. He isn't as independent and he loves company from anyone. He prefers playing with our dog to our other cat. I think he actually thinks he's a human. He's the most affectionate cat I've ever had. They do get more upset when you leave them by themselves but not to a great extent. If I got another cat I'd probably try to get another bottle raised one. They're great pets. (Mine is anyway)

Originally Posted by mom2raven

I think the baby is 6 weeks old. I know that would be too young to leave a mama, but what about a bottle baby, is that too early to go to a new home?

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With my last litter of orphans, my friend adopted 2 of them from me. She wanted to develop some of the "mommy" bond with them so she actually took them in when they were 5 weeks old and not yet weaned. So I taught her how to bottle feed them and let her take them home. She's a great cat mom so I wasn't worried.

Adopting them at 8 weeks is to avoid separating them from their mother early. If they have no mother, then I see no harm in adopting them at 6 weeks.

I raised my Lucy Belle since she's 4 days old and she's a healthy and happy 6 weeks old now. I have not had any other experience with other kittens raised by the queen but to me, my kitty is just perfect!

Originally Posted by Sakura

I haven't read the thread yet but here are things I've noticed about my bottle-raised kitten. I think that every kitten has their own personality so I don't even think you can say that any of this is from being bottle fed. Maybe, I don't know.

1. She bites a lot. She was found at 4 weeks with her sister but not a mom. I don't think the biting really has to do with being bottle raised though. She had the socialization with her sister even though they didn't have a mommy. When I pet her most of the time she thinks I am playing and will bite at my fingers. It's ok now that she's tiny but I am trying to train her to not do this.

2. She likes to be around people and kind of follows you like a puppy. At the same time, she is very independent and doesn't like to be held. She is always curious as to what I am doing. I don't know if this is just her being a kitten though.

3. The litter box...she thinks that when I'm scooping it, it's a game. She tries to jump back in the box (maybe she is mad that I am uncovering her work? lol)

So that's my Chloe! I've had her home for 1.5 weeks now, she is about 14 weeks now I think.

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I agree with the biting part. She always jump for my hand whenever I am sitting near her and will bite when I move. I've found that distracting her with toys is the best way to curb this habit. I used to shout *NO* whenever she bites but that doesn't seems to work anymore and since she associate *NO* as an invitation to *PLAY!*.

She is very affectionate and loves to be petted and is very playful, even with strangers. But she copes well when being left alone as well. I've been leaving her at home since she's about 4 and a half weeks old and initially I worried that she'll get bored and sleep a lot, wouldn't eat and such. But nope, she just go around playing with herself, emptying her food dish and very well behaved.

I guess when raising a bottle fed kitten, one have to pay more attention to the her and shower her with lots of love and kisses. Lucy Belle is my pride and joy and I can't imagine a day without her.

I know this is a kind of late response, but I can give a little advice if it is still needed. We got Tubee at 2 weeks, and he doesn't show barely any differences from the rest of our cats. He can bite, but learned the limitations from the other two cats. Since you have another cat, the kitten will probably learn pretty quickly the limitations. The only major difference he has is that he will come over to me once a day and flop over on his back in my arms and lay there purring for 10-15 minutes, other than that time he is kind of independent. So it kind of depends on the kitten. Also most kittens, learning from a mother or not, usually take quickly to using the litterbox. If the other cat has good litter box habits that will help too. If you need anymore info, pm me anytime and I will try to help you out. Hope that helps!

Manda