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!
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!