How do I stop kitten from rough play and needing to suckle?

snowkat

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Hi everyone, I found a kitten last week by a busy road side. As far as I know, the cats around the area have all been spayed or neutered. I've been looking around for a mother cat or if there are other kittens but I haven't seen any. The kitten came up to me as I was walking by, I took her home and kept her in the bathroom away from the other 3 cats I have for a few days and now she's running around the house.

She's been to the vet and he said she was about 6 weeks old (now 7 weeks and 700g). She's currently on 0.35ml of Doxycycline for 2 weeks for a runny nose which has almost cleared up and the other cats are on lysine just in case. She has been dewormed and she has a healthy appetite, currently on raw and some wet food, sharing the litter box with the others too. The kitten is very playful and she runs around the house trying to play with everyone, however, not all of them are too fond of her. They'll hiss or swat at her but nothing too rough. Sometimes they'll even chase her around the house. Sometimes she'll jump up onto the couch and start attacking, biting and kicking. I try to distract her with toys I keep nearby but she never seems to get tired. Is there a way to stop her from playing rough or will she learn from the interactions with the other cats?

Besides the rough play, she always wants to suckle. When I show her any affection she immediately wants to suckle and it gets quite uncomfortable because she'll start climbing and putting her face everywhere. Is there any way to teach her to stop doing that? Every time I put her down on the floor, she'll jump back up onto the sofa and try to suckle. As many times as I try to move her away or put her on the floor she keeps coming back. I'll hiss at her or lightly tap her nose but she's not fazed. Should I buy KMR and give her some milk in a bottle for the time being or do I just let her be?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!



 

StefanZ

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The first photo is wonderful.  The three resident adult cats being around her, a little reserved, but still essentially friendly curious, watching this lovely, van-patterned kitten.

Do I see right, the lefty down is a bicouloured ragdoll alike??   And righty up is a pointed?

I agree with you, she will surely learn with time to take it more easy with her plays.  Teached by the other cats, and also by you.  You are doing it correctly.  Be sure you dont overdo it, though.

The suckling as such isnt dangerous, but it is apparently bothersome for you.

Try with giving her a  plushy  toy animal, to cuddle with.  With any luck, it will be enough.   Fleece is too something many cats like, it seems to remind of moms fur.  So if you can get such toy animal in fleece, it is perfect.  Or if you can sew it an fleece overall.

Yes, you can surely try with a bottle with some decent kmr.  Or goat milk if you can get it.  Cant hurt, may help.

Good luck!
 

biancavd

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What an adorable little kitten you have! And how wonderful that you rescued her from the streets and gave her the medication and attention she needed and still needs.

Kittens can be extremely busy and not know boundaries yet. This kitten definitely has this issue. You say your other cats hiss and growl at her, and even chase her a bit. This is a good thing. She will indeed learn to play less rought with your and other cats from your aduld cats. This kitten probably never had sibblings or a mother to learn it from, so it's still rough and doesn';t really know it's not allowed. She's just playing, and as long as your cats don't harm her, she'll be fine and learn it eventually. This is how they are socialized properly, and as she's just 6-7 weeks old, she can still learn it.

I wouldn't give her any milk. She's old enough to do without. She's probably missing her mom and the comfort of suckling, as she has been seperated from her mom way too soon. Giving her lots of love and attention, distractions and other cats to play with should eventually sooth her a little and she'll stop suckling at some point. If she comes to you for the suckling, you can try playing with her or distracting her with toys or cuddles, so she will see that there are other ways to sooth her and that she doesn't need her mommy anymore.

Lots of luck to you and your kitty! And also the other 3 cats who are now having to deal with a kitten who plays a little too rough with them haha. And don't worry, I think it'll be fine. Focus a lot on the socializing (with help from your cats) and I'm sure she'll grow up to be a wonderful sweet cat.
 
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snowkat

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Hi @StefanZ and @Biancavd Thank you both for replying!

I was a little worried about leaving her to play with the cats when I'm not home but now I'll just let them be together. There have been some improvements with my second cat and the baby, he's playing with her a lot, taking turns to play wrestle and chase each other around the house. She's learned to climb the cat tree and now sleeps on the higher platforms with him.

I'll pop by the craft store later to see if I can find anything made from fleece, she might be happy with a little friend to cuddle with since the other cats don't sleep near her.

I'm getting her used to being handled, carried and bathed. She squirms around and she tries to bite because she thinks every time is play time, hopefully she'll learn not to use her claws because those are tiny and sharp! I'll need to have those trimmed but they're so small I'm a little worried about cutting too deep.

Here's a picture of the kitten after a meal, it's always nice to see fat tummies on kittens! Her side profile reminds me of a bull terrier, sometimes I wonder how she'll look when she gets bigger.

This is Snow, he's a Ragamuffin, he's listed as being cream and white. He has stripes on his legs, so I think that makes him a ticked cream and white? I'm not too sure about colors in cats, some articles I've read are quite confusing.

The bicolored cat is supposed to be a ragamuffin, her name's Mini. She's probably a ragamuffin cross because of her coloring though. The one behind her is Kitkat, he's a rescued baby from a terrible breeder who was crossing oriental type cats with folded ears and selling their babies as orientals X scottish folds.
 
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