5 year old loves kitten 'too much' need help please

Claudia my 5 year old just loves our new kitty. Actually, we got him at 12 weeks and he's about 16 weeks now. Claudia loves to play with Prince Charming and he loves to play with her. But Claudia has a habit of picking him up all the time. I have told her she must respect Prince and his wishes and when he meows at her when she picks him up, he is telling her to stop. But she won't listen. To his credit, Prince has never scratched or bitten her in protest. He is a very well behaved kitty. And he doesn't even run away from her when she is coming. That is unless she has been trying to pick him up and he has finally had enough.

Claudia gets very upset when he does this. I have explained to her that Prince knows that you are ignoring his wishes so that is why he is running away. I know he likes her because he licks her chin like he licks mine and will snuggle up to her when she is sleeping. That is soooo cute when he does that. At any rate, I am not sure what else I can do to handle this. Any suggestions? My 3 year old, Olivia. Loves the kitty too but is not obsessed with him like Claudia is.

Thank you,

Diane

Diane, I'm going to move this to the Behavior forum.

Diane:

I believe that you need to be firm with your daughter about giving the kitten some space, or give the kitty a quiet private place where he can be away from her.

My kids were about this age when I got Squirt. He was their first pet, and they couldn't leave him alone, either. What basically happened is that he did not develop a very good bond with them and avoided them like the plague for the longest time.

I would definitely be firm with your kids about being gentle with the kitten, maybe explain he is just a baby, and they need to be very careful. A friend of mine had the cutest little black furball kitten, and her 2 young sons were also very adamant about ' loving' the kitten. One day, her 3 yr old was walking around holding the kitten, very gently, but he stumbled and fell, the kitten seemed okay, but died that night. A rib had fractured and punctured a lung.

Diane Marie,

Perhaps you can try what I did. Until my daughter was old enough to be gentle ALL the time, we had a one hand rule. It wasn't as much fun as snuggling with the kitty, but believe me, the kitties appreciated it!!

Kitties were to be loved with ONE HAND ONLY. One hand can't pick up, drop, smoosh, crush or much of anything else but be gentle and pet the kitty. And the kitty can easily get away from one hand.

It worked for my daughter and she is now great with the cats (she's ten now).

DiMa...I LOVE your suggestion! I'm going to recommend it to our new adoptors with young children.

Katie

Originally Posted by TNR1

DiMa...I LOVE your suggestion! I'm going to recommend it to our new adoptors with young children.

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Glad to help It's the rule for ANY kid that comes into my house, even if they're old enough to be gentle, just because my babies are very particular with who they want to pick them up.

I was just about to respond to this when my neighborâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s 6 year old daughter knocked on my door. She came over with one of her friends to see my cats and my foster kittens. They know how to handle my adult cats but they are a bit rough with the kitten. I just implemented the one hand rule (for the kittens) and library voices (for me). They played nicely with the kittens. The kittens got some socializing from kids. They needed reminding but it worked.

Fern

Originally Posted by FeralWhisperer

They needed reminding but it worked.

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YAY!!

DiMa,
I like the one hand rule too. (Very creative) I think I'll try it with my sons on everything. Use one hand to touch your brother. Use one hand to splash in the tub...

I will implement this policy when my cat has her kittens. Thanks for sharing!

mrsd

Thank you for your suggestions. This is a great site to get info, Thank you so much

Originally Posted by mrsd

DiMa,
I like the one hand rule too. (Very creative) I think I'll try it with my sons on everything. Use one hand to touch your brother. Use one hand to splash in the tub...

I will implement this policy when my cat has her kittens. Thanks for sharing!

mrsd

Click to expand...

So funny! I wonder if this would work with my boys? I can just imagine the black eyes though if all of a sudden I said, ok, you can use one hand only to touch your brother!
Actually, my boys are very close, but they fight almost as much as they love....

Ok, so the one hand rule doesn't work for EVERYTHING One hand to kill your brother with is plenty...I should know I'm the middle child and have 2 brothers and believe me, I only ever needed one hand - nay - NO hands - to make my brothers crazy. And boy was it fun!

Duct tape is a wonder.

Just kidding, everyone. hides duct tape*