Head bonking

whosaboo

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This might sound like a silly question..... But when our 14-week old kitten runs and plays she tends to bonk her head HARD on everything! Bottoms of our coffee table, chair legs, etc. She doesn't seem to have any spatial awareness and I'm wondering.. Is this normal? Should I be worried? Is there such a thing as a kitty concussion?
 

lovemyzeus

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Hmm, I remember Zeus running into things and being goofy but not to the extent that I thought he had a problem.   

I would mention it to the vet on her next visit if you feel it is happening excessively, otherwise it just maybe be part of being a kitten.​ 
 

talkingpeanut

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Kittens can get concussions.  Can you tell if her eyes are dilating properly?
 

miannorvy

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Call the vet as mentioned above. I cant remember what cat magazine I read it in recently but they said cat head bonking was a serious physical problem unlike their normal head touching us lightly and affectionatly as usual.
 

cinqchats

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Cats pressing their heads on things is a sign of a serious neurological problem. I'm not sure about running into things. Maybe she can't see very well or has poor depth perception. Maybe she's very clutzy? Mr Squiggles took a car to the face when he was a stray so he had poor depth perception. He compensates well for it now that he's older, but he still prefers to climb things rather than jump.
 

amandad

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At 14 weeks, it could just be that depth perception hasn't developed yet or is still developing. It could be that she is just too busy playing to realize stuff is in her way.

When we first brought Link home, he was 2.5 months (10 weeks) and he would play HARD. His thing was climbing up into our lamp sades and perching/laying on top of the lamp. He did this until he did the same on a lamp we had sitting on our floor and toppled it over, and got stuck between the wall, the lamp, and an end table. I thought he had dislocated his shoulder (by the way he was positioned) but when I got him out of it, he was walking fine and his shoulder felt fine. When I "examined" it, he didn't meow. I also monitored him for about 5 hours to make sure he didn't have a kitty concussion. 

Another thing happened to him again when we were down in our basement. We used to have couches down there (they were sitting on cinder blocks/foundation blocks because that is how my cousin put them - don't as why, he's an idiot) and Link was running back and forth (I think he was playing with a crinkle ball) and he ran face first into a block. He had a mark on the bridge of his nose for a while after that. Again we had to monitor him for a bit after that. 

He also fell from our basement steps to the basement floor once trying to get at some lose hanging wires (our basement is unfinished) that were too far from reach. 

Other than those few mishaps, he's been fine. However, these three things happened within the first month to month and a half that we had him.
 
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whosaboo

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Thanks all for the responses. She is definitely not doing it on purpose- just maybe really clutzy, like one person said. I think the undeveloped depth perception sounds pretty accurate. I will make sure to keep watch on her pupils if she has any major bonks... She goes back for her booster shot in a few weeks so I will mention it to the vet and see what he thinks.
 
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