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Adopted Two Kittens..

post #1 of 9
4/26/11 at 7:03pm
Thread Starter 
I adopted a tabby on Sunday that is a 8 week old female. Today we adopted another kitten but is an orange tabby that is a 4 1/2 week old male.

The male doesn't care much about the female and will just go on his merry way but if he looks at the female, she hisses. There's no growling or swatting, just hissing.

Is this normal for kittens? Will she get used to him? Are there any ways to make them Best Friends Forever?
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post #2 of 9
4/28/11 at 9:04pm
My goodness, that poor baby is WAY too young to be away from his mother! What happened? Is he an orphan?

Anyway, when kittens are old enough (older than 8 weeks), they'll work it out for themselves and will usually become best buddies before too long. But for right now, the male is just an infant and needs special care, I wouldn't have him around the older kitten yet.
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post #3 of 9
4/28/11 at 9:19pm
They'll get used to each other in time and probably be BFF's but my goodness is your baby young.
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post #4 of 9
4/29/11 at 5:21pm
Is the mommy cat still around? I'd return her to the litter if the mother is still receptive and available, as that is super tiny. They should have advised you to wait until 12 weeks to separate them, unless there are special circumstances of course.

Kittens that young should get used to one another and become friends though. Cats that don't know each other tend to be cautious.
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post #5 of 9
4/30/11 at 11:59am
Thread Starter 
Someone on Craigslist was giving away 4 week old kittens, so we drove over an hour to go pick one up. He's completely weaned off milk and will eat hard food, but we feed them canned mostly.

Ivan (4wk old) gets along with Eva (8 wk) really well now. They sleep together, play together, eat together, etc. We've had them for about a week and a half and they are both doing amazing. Eva likes to avoid the litter box when she's in the living room and will poop on the carpet, but Ivan will walk all the way to the bathroom to use the box. He's never had an accident.
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post #6 of 9
4/30/11 at 12:40pm
I wonder if he's really 4 weeks old. At that age, their little teeth are just coming in and hard food is really difficult for them to eat. And most kittens do not begin weaning until 6 weeks, usually later. He might actually be older; a lot of times people "forget" how old their cat's kittens are, or lie about it to make the kittens seem more desirable. Too bad his mother's owners were so irresponsible, though. Poor little guy, being taken from his mama so early . I'm sure he'll be happy with you, though.

Litter training can be a problem for some kitties. Don't let the pooping on the carpet continue, once kittens are "trained" to go somewhere, it's really hard to get them to go somewhere else! I prefer to confine kittens to a small room (usually the bathroom) when unsupervised, to solidify their litterbox training and also to keep them safe when nobody is watching. I have also used a rabbit cage and a dog crate for the same purpose. Usually they have a pretty good idea of litterbox usage by 12 weeks, after that I don't confine them anymore. Kind of the same concept as potty-training a puppy using a crate!
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post #7 of 9
4/30/11 at 1:02pm
Thread Starter 
I thought that they might've been lying too, but he is SO little.

She'll use the litterbox when I put her in the bathroom over night or when I'm at work, but when I bring her out to play, she'll defecate on the carpet near one wall of the room. So, I know she knows how to use a litterbox, but she won't go there when she's in the living room.

And I know that she isn't afraid of the bathroom because she'll go there when she is afraid or when the front door opens.
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post #8 of 9
4/30/11 at 1:50pm
You also have to keep in mind that young kittens are like toddlers, they don't always make it in time and have not yet fully developed the ability to 'know' when they need to go before its too late.

For kittens under 4 months I prefer to keep several litter boxes scattered about the house until everyone is 100%

Also, the rule of thumb for litter boxes is one per cat, plus one extra.
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post #9 of 9
4/30/11 at 10:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arlyn View Post
You also have to keep in mind that young kittens are like toddlers, they don't always make it in time and have not yet fully developed the ability to 'know' when they need to go before its too late.
But when I have the litter box out in the living room, she'll pop a squat on the carpet right NEXT to the litter box. She'll sniff the litter box and then poop on the carpet.
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