Need advice on Kitten's behaviour

Hey everyone! I joined the site because I need advice on my kitten. She is an oriental shorthair, she's seven months old (going on eight soon), she has not been spayed yet. I haven't owned a cat since I was a kid because my mom was allergic and once I moved I bounced from place to place but I got my baby Stella because I'm finally in a place where I can support her financially and I'm renting a pet friendly place! I did a lot of research on her breed before buying but since I haven't had my own cat in a long time and she's a special breed I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do. Here's what shes doing that I need advice on:

-She yowls and screams. She's done this since we've got her. I think its increased more now since she hasn't been spayed, but still her meow doesn't sound like anything I've heard before and its so close to sounding like she's in pain or scared. I found Instagram's of other cats that are her breed but their meows sound nothing alike?

-She will cry (very loudly) at the door every time we leave. 

-Feline calming sprays have 0 effect. Actually, they seem to bother her? If I put her in her carrier to calm down with some spray she digs up the towel and freaks out at it. 

-She has dietary problems. We have to pay more money to keep her on special food which still makes her throw up sometimes. 

-She seems to have breathing problems? We catch her sneezing and coughing. 

-Her ears are itchy. She scratches them like crazy. Sometimes there's visible dirt in there but I clean them weekly. 

-She bites and attacks us. It's not that she hates us as she still snuggles and loves but sometimes she's so aggressive we have to put her in her carrier. 

-She has "crazy" spells. She runs full speed around the house yowling and knocking stuff down. We can't calm her down at all. 

-Dark (reddish brown) eye discharge. 

-She's scratched tufts of her fur off before, leaving a small area with no hair. We had to make her a little shirt out of sock that she wore until it was healed. 

-She eats hair? Like a lot - and she makes a point of going after it specifically. She once ate a thread too and we had to monitor her poop and cut it off for her.

I love her and I want to make sure I'm taking care of her to the best of my abilities. I want to book her to get spayed right away, but I want to make sure none of these things are alarming so that I cant talk to her vet and get her any help she needs.  

Well some of this sounds like the kitten might have rabies? Did you let her outside? She is having very abnormal behavior and the foaming at the mouth doesnt occur until later stages I would take her to the vet.

There's no way she has rabies. She's never been outside save for the trip to and from the vehicle on vet visits. She is strictly indoors otherwise. 

Oh well thats a relief! Does she bite/scratch you often? I had a kitten that would meow all the time but when I held her she settled down. Is your the same? Also does she have a companion cat or other animal when you aren't there because mine always had one this might be whats wrong is she is lonely and gets anxiety so she freaks out. Discharge from a kittens eyes can be fairly normal as long as the eye itself looks good and not infected looking.

She needs a veterinary consultation as soon as is convenient to rule out any possible physiological problems which might be associated with her behaviour.  If your veterinarian tells you that, "this is all perfectly normal," seek a second opinion.

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athenathecat said:

 
Oh well thats a relief! Does she bite/scratch you often? I had a kitten that would meow all the time but when I held her she settled down. Is your the same? Also does she have a companion cat or other animal when you aren't there because mine always had one this might be whats wrong is she is lonely and gets anxiety so she freaks out. Discharge from a kittens eyes can be fairly normal as long as the eye itself looks good and not infected looking.

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She bites often, but they're not always hard. Sometimes I think it's for some attention. She can be calmed sometimes while being held but other times she will kick and attack and we have to carrier her because she's being really really bad. She doesn't have a companion cat which is what I might consider - do other cats often help?

1CatOverTheLine said:

 
She needs a veterinary consultation as soon as is convenient to rule out any possible physiological problems which might be associated with her behaviour.  If your veterinarian tells you that, "this is all perfectly normal," seek a second opinion.

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That sounds fair - I will book her a little check in and just explain my worries to him. Wanted to come here first because I don't know what's normal behaviour to expect sometimes. 

Sounds like she has some anxiety issues. Could be caused by a number of things in her environment or her body that could be stressing her out. Cats are weird and small things can really bother them. I wonder if she is in heat too or just has crazy hormones? My female cat would make the most terrible noises when she was in heat until we finally got her spayed. I would recommend doing that ASAP. It isn't going to hurt anything. Maybe get her a good checkup with the vet before surgery, but before doing anything drastic with medication or a bunch of expensive tests I would see if getting her fixed solves a lot of your issues. She could also have small things wrong like ear mites that the doc can fix so she's not itchy. Even something like that could be stressing her out. 

a companion cat has really helped my cats because that why they are never alone and they dont get as much anxiety.

I agree with the others that heat may be a contributing factor to everything. Especially the yowling sounds like a heat behavior. I would start with a spay and full medical check for some of the others. I agree that if the first vet says there is nothing to get a second opinion because it sounds like there is something medical going on with the ears at least.

Some of the behaviors you mention also sound like a bored kitten acting out. When she is really demanding is when you should be playing with her not crating her. Crating her and denying her interaction will just stress her out more and lead to more outbursts. The biting and attacking is likely play aggression which is her trying to convince someone to play not actual attacks. If you aren't bleeding and she isn't growling it isn't a serious attack. When it comes to some cats they need constant interaction and Orientals are similar to Siamese in that they really need interaction to thrive. I have a typical Siamese temperament cat and if I ignore him he just gets louder. When he was the age of your girl I played with him for 30 minutes before work and another hour or two after work and he still wanted more. If you can't dedicate time to play you may want to consider a second cat to give your girl a play buddy for that energy.