ARGHHH constant mewing!!

We have a 5 week old feral kitten - we haven't been able to trap her mother or siblings yet (and it hasn't helped that mum moved the kittens!). This little one is doing well. She hisses when we go to pat her, but she's fine getting cuddled and patted otherwise. No purrs yet, but they'll come soon.

She's eating well, and using the litter box fine, but she mews constantly!!!! If she's awake she's mewing - it's not a little kitten squeak, it's a full on "I'm lonely and don't like this situation" type mew.

She's scared of toys still, and has a heat pack that I warm for her to snuggle into, but I don't know what else I can do.

Yesterday I got up at 5am, and hubby got up at 6:30am to feed her and try and calm her down. This morning I got up at 3am to feed her, and try and stop the mewing.

We let her out of her cage to have a run around the spare room, and she didn't hide in a corner which is good, she just ran around the room mewing instead!

Any suggestions?

She's looking for mom, as you might have guessed. That's normal for an unweaned kitten; when she wants mom, she meows, and mom comes and feeds her.

This behavior starts very early. When mom cat moves her kittens, she goes back to the nest, meows, gets an answering meow, and picks up the kitten to move it. She does that until she gets no more meows.

The bad news is that until your kitten is completely settled in and has no memory of mom, she'll keep doing this.

And getting up to feed her at 3 a.m. is exactly the way to encourage the behavior.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

And getting up to feed her at 3 a.m. is exactly the way to encourage the behavior.

Click to expand...

I tried earplugs, closing her door and our door, and putting a pillow over my head (and I wear a CPAP mask which blows air into my nose which cuts out a fair bit of noise), and I could STILL hear her mewing. A full belly seemed to help...

We're going to put her in a carrier, and use her as "bait" to try and catch mum and some siblings tonight.

Can you "make" her a "mom"?

I've put rice in a sock, then warmed it slightly....and wrapped it in some fleecy fabric.

Good news! She started cuddling us last night - and purring! When she went back into her cage, I put in a soft blanket, turned it into more of a nest, and put one of the little soft toys in there, with the heat pack under it all.

She was quiet all night, and was cuddled up to the teddy when I went in to give her breakfast. Yay!

I was going to suggest just what you ended up doing. Aww sweet kitty.
Good luck with the others.

She was quiet again last night - yay!