A kitten ran into my house today, kind of clueless. How much do I feed him?

Edit: Whoops.......the cat did NOT run into my house TODAY, it was 2 nights ago. Sorry for the confusion! lol

2 nights ago a stray kitten bolted into my house. I've had cats all my life but never have raised one by myself so I'm kind of clueless. I decided to care for this cat and very soon I'm taking him to a vet to see if he is microchipped.

Firstly, can someone look at these pictures and tell me how old you think he is? I don't think he is 6 months yet because he hasn't been spraying.....yet.




Also, since I don't know his age, I don't know how much to feed him. I have been free feeding him kitten chow, and then feeding him 3 pouches of food a day. Is this too much? Too little? Also, with the kitten chow (It's Purina's Kitten Nuturing type), he eats it, but he has yet to finish what I put in his little bowl. He just takes a couple bites at a time. Is this okay? He always eats all of his wet food.

I also have a couple behavioral questions but don't know if I should post in the different forum, or just ask here. So sorry if this doesn't belong here!

1) He will jump on counters. Even when there is nothing for him to have up there, he does it anyways. When I see it, I put him down and say "No!", but he doesn't care and does it anyways.

2) He will "play bite" and "play scratch" my hand. I pull back and say "No!" but when I go to pet him again, he does it anyways.

3) He keeps climbing up my LEATHER bed post. I take him down immediately but he does it again. I like him sleeping with me so I don't mind him in the room, but when I'm trying to sleep and in the morning he sees feet moving under the covers and attacks them. What do I do about that?

I got him a scratching thing, made of cardboard and you put it on the ground, I sprinkled cat nip on it but he could not care less about it. I haven't seen him scratching anything yet, just jumping on stuff (and climbing up my leather bed post to get to the top).

Looks 3-4 months old to me. 

Counters?  That's a constant discussion here.  Some people have put tin foil on them, loose, and it gives the cat poor footing.  I've had pretty good luck with putting masking tape, sticky side up, on the edge of the counter.  The cats usually don't like that and pretty soon leave them alone.

Cats under 6 months usually don't have any interest in catnip. 

Don't play with the kitten with your hands.  Use a toy of some sort, so he doesn't get in the habit of playing/scratching/biting your hands.

You can trim their claws, or apply Soft Paws (look it up).  There are instructions around here for trimming claws. 
 

mrblanche said:

Looks 3-4 months old to me. 

Counters?  That's a constant discussion here.  Some people have put tin foil on them, loose, and it gives the cat poor footing.  I've had pretty good luck with putting masking tape, sticky side up, on the edge of the counter.  The cats usually don't like that and pretty soon leave them alone.

Cats under 6 months usually don't have any interest in catnip. 

Don't play with the kitten with your hands.  Use a toy of some sort, so he doesn't get in the habit of playing/scratching/biting your hands.

You can trim their claws, or apply Soft Paws (look it up).  There are instructions around here for trimming claws. 
 

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Thank you for the reply! I will try the tin foil and tape method.

Also, can you tell me why he isn't scratching yet? I have a leather sofa (oh god), and I covered it with blankets to deter him and he hasn't been scratching on anything yet. Is he too young to scratch?

Also, I don't try to play with him with my hands, but when he's in a playful mood or hyper and I try to touch him he play bites and scratches me. Do you mean there's nothing I can do about that? Just......avoid touching him when he's in that mood? 

For kittens, feed them as much as they want! Free-feeding kibble and providing wet food 3 times a day is super. As he gets older he'll need less food, by the time he's a year old you'll want to limit his food intake so he doesn't get fat. Most adult cats will eat 5-6 ounces of most brands of wet food, if you feed both dry and wet you'll have to calculate how much of each to feed. But wet is best: www.catinfo.org

What brand of wet are you feeding him?

For the behavioral questions, you'd probably get more answers in the behavior forum. But some kitties aren't big on scratching, although you should still provide a nice scratching post. For the rough play (which is normal playing for kittens), you can get a toy like a Kong Kickaroo, or stuff a big tube sock. Just something he can bite and kick instead of you :tongue2:.

Willowy said:

For kittens, feed them as much as they want! Free-feeding kibble and providing wet food 3 times a day is super. As he gets older he'll need less food, by the time he's a year old you'll want to limit his food intake so he doesn't get fat. Most adult cats will eat 5-6 ounces of most brands of wet food, if you feed both dry and wet you'll have to calculate how much of each to feed. But wet is best: www.catinfo.org

What brand of wet are you feeding him?

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Thanks for the reply!

Oh my, if I fed him as often as he'd like, he would eat nonstop LOL.

I have been feeding him Whiskas (Poultry variety pouches) since the 2 days I've had him so far. I think that brand might me kind of cheapy so I will get a better one next time if that's not a good brand.

Keeping cats off kitchen counters with tin foil - just watch this. Hysterical. And effective.

Catapault said:

Keeping cats off kitchen counters with tin foil - just watch this. Hysterical. And effective.

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I literally LOL'd at that video! My cats just sat on the tin foil.

As far as scratching, maybe try a post too? All of mine like their post, but didn't like the cardboard thingy that was advertised on TV. Gave it to someone who's kitten wouldn't use a post, but she liked what I gave him. Cats...they are individual!

My cat rolled his eyes and laughed when I showed him this video. He not only jumps up on the tinfoil, he lays on it and then tries to eat it too.

Yeah, my kitties eat foil. That can't be good for their insides, so if you try it keep an eye on him.

Omg that's hilarious. I'm going to try this, but I fear my cat won't care, just sniff it or try and bite it LOL. We'll see!

Aw, what a darling, and thanks for giving him a home! :heart2:

For the counters... we tried all kinds of things. Someone had success with completely clearing the counters of everything. There was nothing up there to see or do, and after a couple of days, kitty lost interest. They left them empty for a couple of weeks, and that was that. We tried that. Didn't work for us. So we did the opposite. We took everything out of the cupboards, and completely covered the counters so there was nowhere to jump up. Of course, it didn't make making dinner easy, but it was worth the month of being a complete PIA, because that kept them off the counters.

Other people have purchased cat trees and put them in the kitchen. Having their own place to jump up where it's OK to go, so they can be "up" and keep an eye on everything is another way to go. :nod:

As to scratchers - he may like vertical, or horizontal, or those that are on a slant. Sometimes it's a texture thing - some kitties prefer cardboard, others prefer sisal... so you may have to try some variety. One thing for sure? Put them near where he sleeps. Kitties LOVE to stretch and scratch when they wake up.

For your leather bed post... again, you may need to consider buying a cat tree. You may have to put it right next to the post for a little while, but cats are very 3D, and giving them appropriate places to climb will really help with "inappropriate" climbing. And praising the heck out of them when they're using their stuff also helps a lot.

For the biting your hands and feet... when he attacks your feet when you move in the morning, I hate to say it, but the only way to deter it is immediately stop moving. Say "no" firmly, but... to a kitty, that movement underneath something is just too irresistable. Nothing will get our kitties more interested in play than pulling a toy on string under a throw rug or flattened paper bag. :lol3:

When he goes to play with any of your limbs. lean down and blow a short, sharp puff of air directly in his face, say "no" and redirect him - to a toy. He may be teething, so it's a REALLY good idea to go buy a box of bendy straws and scatter them all over the house. These are the perfect chew toy for teething kitties. And then there will always be some on hand. Redirect him to one. If he redirects, praise the heck out of him. Cats are just like kids - they need to learn "no," but it's almost more important to praise them for what they do right, so they know what you want. If he doesn't redirect, walk away and ignore him. Cats develop "bad" behavior because we react to it. If what they get is no reaction, and get ignored, there's no reason for them to continue the behavior.

LDG said:

Aw, what a darling, and thanks for giving him a home!

For the counters... we tried all kinds of things. Someone had success with completely clearing the counters of everything. There was nothing up there to see or do, and after a couple of days, kitty lost interest. They left them empty for a couple of weeks, and that was that. We tried that. Didn't work for us. So we did the opposite. We took everything out of the cupboards, and completely covered the counters so there was nowhere to jump up. Of course, it didn't make making dinner easy, but it was worth the month of being a complete PIA, because that kept them off the counters.

Other people have purchased cat trees and put them in the kitchen. Having their own place to jump up where it's OK to go, so they can be "up" and keep an eye on everything is another way to go.

As to scratchers - he may like vertical, or horizontal, or those that are on a slant. Sometimes it's a texture thing - some kitties prefer cardboard, others prefer sisal... so you may have to try some variety. One thing for sure? Put them near where he sleeps. Kitties LOVE to stretch and scratch when they wake up.

For your leather bed post... again, you may need to consider buying a cat tree. You may have to put it right next to the post for a little while, but cats are very 3D, and giving them appropriate places to climb will really help with "inappropriate" climbing. And praising the heck out of them when they're using their stuff also helps a lot.

For the biting your hands and feet... when he attacks your feet when you move in the morning, I hate to say it, but the only way to deter it is immediately stop moving. Say "no" firmly, but... to a kitty, that movement underneath something is just too irresistable. Nothing will get our kitties more interested in play than pulling a toy on string under a throw rug or flattened paper bag.

When he goes to play with any of your limbs. lean down and blow a short, sharp puff of air directly in his face, say "no" and redirect him - to a toy. He may be teething, so it's a REALLY good idea to go buy a box of bendy straws and scatter them all over the house. These are the perfect chew toy for teething kitties. And then there will always be some on hand. Redirect him to one. If he redirects, praise the heck out of him. Cats are just like kids - they need to learn "no," but it's almost more important to praise them for what they do right, so they know what you want.

If he doesn't redirect, walk away and ignore him. Cats develop "bad" behavior because we react to it. If what they get is no reaction, and get ignored, there's no reason for them to continue the behavior.

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This was very helpful, thank you so much! All great suggestions.

As for the bendy straws, you mean regular drinking straws? I have a bag of those! But couldn't the kitten chew it to pieces and swallow them?

Yep, regular drinking straws! They're a tough enough plastic he probably won't chew through them immediately. But do keep an eye on them, and throw the ones that are getting pretty chewed up out so he doesn't accidentally ingest some of the plastic. We rescued for many years, and never had a kitten that could go through a straw in a dangerous way before we could toss it.

LDG said:

Yep, regular drinking straws! They're a tough enough plastic he probably won't chew through them immediately. But do keep an eye on them, and throw the ones that are getting pretty chewed up out so he doesn't accidentally ingest some of the plastic. We rescued for many years, and never had a kitten that could go through a straw in a dangerous way before we could toss it.

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Neat! I'll give him some.

Btw about an hour ago I went to Walmart and got him a little cat hideaway thing with a little [font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]sisal scratching post on it. He likes it way more than the cardboard and is actually using it![/font]