New kitten at home - chaos

Wow... I haven't had a small kitten at home in years and years. Sohni was half grown when I got him last year and he was a pretty easy cat to raise. I just brought home my new Egyptian Mau kitten, Tsekani, who is 5 months old. I was expecting something similar to Sohni, but this little devil is an energizer kitty.

I tried to have him in my room with all the other animals locked out, but he alternated between attacking my feet under the blankets, rolling around and purring on my head, and stalking the room meowing. Finally at 2:30am I decided to move him into the spare bedroom, but I had to take a sleep helper to knock myself out as I could still hear him meowing across the house.

The first thing he did when I put him into my room was to climb up my clothes in the closet and jump onto the top shelf. I didn't even know that was possible. He is far more athletic than any cat I have ever had.

I didn't notice that my chihuahua, Midge, followed me into the room, and Tsekani ran over to her and was rubbing himself all over her, much to her surprise. After a while I let him wander the house to see how he reacted, and he ran over to sniff noses with my 2 German Shepherds who were locked in their wire crates. He has no fear. He tried to rub himself on Sohni, who never once hissed, but seems to think that Tsekani is a new toy I have brought home. Luckily, my current animals are very accepting of new animals in their space, but I am not allowing Tsekani to mingle with them when I am not home yet.

I don't know what I'll do tonight for Tsekani's sleeping arrangements, I guess I'll see how he does after work. He is currently locked in the spare room with his litter box, food and water. I can't believe how much he ate last night. When I locked him in the spare room I put down a small handful of kitten kibble, and half a mini-can of kitten soft food. It was all cleaned up this morning, and the litter had been used. He yowls when left in the room however, so I think it's OK for me to allow him to explore the house when I am home and can watch him.

Well you have adopted one of the most active, vocal breeds! Try to find a connection, talk to him, and be sure to give a lot of play time, atleast an hour before bed time every night! Beautiful breed!

My cat Blossom was only 3 weeks old when my son found her. Once she was getting around she became the most active kitten I ever remember having. At night I lock her in her room (which is the bathroom & hall) with access to my bedroom, she doesn't meow but will eventually settle down to sleep when the lights are out & its quiet. She sleeps most of the night either on our bed or her own. When I go out I lock her in her room. As she's got older she's not quite as active but can still get into lots of places you wouldn't believe.

aww gotta love that kitten stage Putting him in his own space at night is a great idea so you can get some sleep. I had to do that with Daphne the fist few weeks. Give him the food, water, litter box and someplace cosy to snuggle up, turn a fan on high in your room so you can't hear the meowing and get some much needed shut-eye.

Awww =) I miss that stage, when the are crazy about trying to sleep on your head at night! I'd give him another shot, I'm sure he will settle down soon and learn when "mommie" sleeps he should also.

Last night I let him sleep with me, but kept the bedroom door open so he could wander the house if he got restless. There was some wandering the house meowing, but I barely registered it, and this morning he was snuggled up to my side when I woke up. It is so funny how quickly that recognition comes back, even dead asleep I know that he is there and I manage to not roll on him. It's been a long time since I have slept with more than one cat.

Sohni and Tsekani play by chasing each other around the house, but Sohni is quite heavy for wrestling play, and I keep an eye on them when they are both on the bed.

Tsekani is very affectionate, and I am making sure that he gets a lot of petting and belly rubs, so that I can touch him all over without him getting defensive or clawing my hand. I'm surprised at how gentle he is at 5 months. He has his claws out when playing, but never scratches and has not come close to biting.

When I was in college, my boyfriend and I rescued a female cat from a parking lot. We were poor and kind of dumb, so didn't check to see if she was fixed. The result was a litter of kittens. My parents took two kittens, I took one and a family took the mom cat and the last kitten. The kitten I kept was the very first cat I raised by myself. His name was Bonkers, and he turned into a 22lb monster orange tabby. He was fixed, but was very much tom-like in character, deigning to be cuddly and surveying his domain with a sneer much of the time. But I loved him. Bonkers had the funniest habit, when he walked across the couch or bed, if he walked over a fuzzy blanket he'd stop, begin purring and knead with his paws. He wouldn't purr when I pet him and he sat on me a total of 10 times in his 12 years, but I could come across him in an empty room, purring on a fuzzy blanket.

Sohni and my new kitten are much more affectionate, but I noticed last night that Tsekani found a fuzzy blanket and was enthralled. He flopped over and stretched out, rolling over and over. I think I have another fuzzy blanket monster.

When I found Bonkers dead one morning, two years ago, I was a complete mess. My parents came to help me, and we wrapped him in his pink fuzzy blanket to take him to the vet. We were told that his heart gave out, and it didn't appear that he even woke up. Tsekani brought back memories of Bonkers, and I couldn't be happier.

Oh gosh a 5 month old Mau-- yep, you've got your hands full! I rescued a Mau mix a number of years ago and she was right around that age...she loved to destroy things! I would recommend keeping your Mau in a safe area when you're not home to watch her because they can get into all sorts of mischief. I'm using a dog cage for my current kitten rescue, but he is only 8 weeks old so for a large/older cat a room might work...

I wanted to post in response to the thought of Egyptian Mau being destructive. They are far from destructive. I am constantly around Mau kittens in a very dynamic, open environment. They are incredibly clean living and polite kittens from the youngest of age especially compared to some other breeds as a generality and within my own house. They are indeed highly athletic, acrobatic and playful but do not look for things to do damage to even in play. They are not the type that will with purposeful intent empty shelves or have other stereotypic negative activities. Instead they are highly intelligent, very social kittens which grow into slightly less active very caring adults. This post unfortunately is beginning to weight to the side of cyclone which is not true to the breed.

Bevin

I certainly don't agree with the suggestion of keeping a 5 month old kitten locked up, it is different for an 8 week old of any breed, but a well socialised 5 month old needs to be settling into the house, and the home should be made safe enough for the kitten to explore.

I wouldn't have thought Maus would be any worse than any other active breed, now my Cornish Rex cross he is what you'd call destructive- if it can be taken apart, it will be! But at 5 months he was allowed free roam of the house except the bird room, and it is the human's responsibility to make the home as safe as possible, not to lock the kitten up to save some effort on that front

I agree that it's not nice to lock up a 5 month old kitten. All of us should kitten-proof our house when we get a cat just as we would for a child.

Our neighbour told her children that Siamese cats would destroy a person's house which those children repeated to me when they asked what kind of cats Mika and Bijou were. I set them straight and told them their mom was wrong (my husband said I shouldn't have told them their mom was wrong but I was seeing red at that point ).

Having Siamese cats has opened my eyes to the misconceptions out there and how biased a lot of folks can be. Fortunately, everyone who meets our babies in person are amazed at their wonderful disposition and at least 2 people we know have gone out and gotten a Siamese cat from our breeder.

OK - now back on topic. Sounds like you have a normal, active kitten which probably needs lots of playtime. It also sounds as though your kitty is settling down and sleeping with you so that's great. Naturally we all want to see pictures in the Fur Pictures Forum.