HELP for a New Member

Hello! I am excited to join, because I LOVE cats and finally have my own (after moving out our my parents house 1 1/2 years ago)!

My fiance and I adopted a 6-month old beautiful kitten, Clyde, last week. He was a stray until he was 4 months old. We thought that may be a problem, but he seems to really like us. He has been "fixed" and has all of his shots. He enjoys playing, petting and EVEN brushing. Our problem is, we haven't slept since we got him. Every night he is awake until 4:30 AM meowing, pouncing on our feet (he is not yet declawed), and crawling on our heads to get to the window. He is not hungry, and we play with him for at least an hour before bed. If we close the bedroom door, he meows constantly and claws at the carpet. We live in a one bedroom apartment, so there is not other room to put him in. I have had cats all my life living with my parents and never had a problem like this before. I would love some suggestions (and some sleep). Thanks!

Congratulations on your new family member! It is so wonderful to add a kitty to your new family!

In response to your query, the first thing I would suggest is to not declaw Clyde. The operation dismembers parts of the cats body and can cause serious emotional and behavioral problems in the cat. Our cat is not declawed, and we have trained him to use his claws properly with a small amount of effort!

Our cat was also abandoned by his previous owners, and sometimes he would keep us up at night. We just make sure that he has a window to look out of at night, a comfortable bed of his own, and plenty of toys for him to play with while we sleep. Your kitty is new to having people, so he needs to learn people patterns.

Good luck with Clyde!

Welcome Pnut!

Sounds like you have a perfectly normal little kitty! Kittens that age have huge amounts of energy and they love to play, espacially if it involves your feet

One thing you can do is get another kitten. I know it might sound strange right now, but 2 cats are so much easier than one. They keep each other company and are more relaxed when they're with you. You can also just wait it out...

Also, please don't declaw, like Meghan said, it is cruel and unnecessary. Check out this thread about declawing:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...3?threadid=137

And this article about how to trim his claws:http://www.thecatsite.com/grooming/claw.html

By the way, I'm moving this thread to the behavior forum so that more people can see it.

Welcome pnut!!! This is one problem I have not had (so far) with Merlin....when it is time for my husband and I to go to sleep, we close him in the bedroom with us, so he is not out wreaking havoc on the rest of the house...lol. And as soon as the lights are turned out, he just climbs into the bed with us, and settles right down. (although he is hell on wheels up till that point... ) I hope you can figure out away to get him to sleep at nights so you can get some rest!!! Let me know!

PLEASE do not declaw your cat - go to my website:
http://www.listnow.com/helpingpaws
go to newspaper columns and read my columns about declawing. Also you can get the book "Cat be Good" - I review it in another newspaper column. Good luck and please keep me posted. I have a new declawing column coming out the first Saturday of March too.

UPDATE on my Clyde

Hi. I wanted you all to know that I convinced my fiance not to declaw our kitten (he was the one who wanted to do it because he was worried about his stereo speakers). My arguments never worked before, but I showed him the websites you all pointed me to and he changed his mind quickly.

Also, a friend suggested for us to leave a talk radio station on all night in the other room so that he would hang out there and not in our bedroom. Well, we tried it last night and I think that it worked! We also used the "squirting water" trick to keep him off the bed, which I used to think was mean, but my feet weren't attacked all night!!

I am amazed at how well Clyde (who was a stray for his first 4 months and in someones basement for the next 2) has bonded with us so quickly (5 days). While we still cannot pick him up, and he is definately not a lap cat, he loves to be pet and brushed and he no longer hides all day or gets scared when we do the laundry.

Well, I am off to the one-hour film developing place so that I can show off my kitten to all of my friends.

I'm glad he won't be declawed and I'm glad you found a solution. If he's like this in 5 days, I wouldn't be surprised if he did turn out to be a lap cat

Don't forget to scan the photos and make him a cat page!

I am so happy for you! I can't wait to hear about Clyde's progress!

Not to worry, I have 3 cats who as kittens HATED to be held. Now they are the ones sleeping all over me and crying to be picked up. They really do settle down and show a true personality at about a year old.
As for the Declawing..I am so happy. It is such an avoidable thing. Cats are very willing to learn as long as they are given a chance. As for your fiance...please let him know that there is fabric you can buy at Radio Shack to replace snagged speaker fabric. It did take me ahwile to teach a few kittens where the posts were, so I had to replace mine..

I am so happy you have decided not to declaw! And it sounds as if you are on your way to a happy kitty family!
Rene