New Kitten

Me and my boyfriend recently brought home a new kitten, 8 weeks old.
We have had him for about a week now, and Everynight since we have brought him home (except one!) he has stayed up meowing half the night and will only sleep for about an hour at a time. He only
seems content in our bed after crying for hours at a time. I have recently realized that he has started meowing constantly when we are home even, and will not stop unless we start to give him constant attention. How do I get him to sleep at nights and stop the meowing constantly while we are home? HELP!

Has your kitten been for it's first checkup at the vets?

Yes, we took him on Monday and he got his first shot and his de-wormer

Then in that case i'd say he needs to be kept amused.

My youngest cat Sophie would be awake at 4.am, but what i did, and still do is to make sure an hour before i go to bed i keep her awake by keeping her active with "the cat dancer".

She usually plays chase with Rosie, so that wears both of them out

Another tip i picked up from people here is to give them some food before going to bed because you know what you want to do when you've just ate?....sleep

I usually try to keep him awake until we are ready for bed but he always seems like to take his 'cat nap' at about 9:00 until 9:30 and then when I go to bed around 10, he is ready to play! He has only slept 1 night without waking us up and that was because we had company and everyone was playing with him...I will just have to try harder to keep him up later! He also cries when we are not around, we both work 8-5 all week, and he cries when he leave...I really hope that he out grows this!

One other question...when do kittens usually get fixed? The vet said at 6 months when we get him declawed, but I thought it could be sooner than that? I am a 1st time cat owner so Im all new to this!

I wouldn't give him his cat nap then and just keep him amused for that hour.

On spaying, some get theirs done under 6 months, but here in the UK they won't spay them until their 6 months and weigh 2lb.

Declawing, do you really want to do that? The majority of the members here are against it and if you want to know more about it and alternative methods we have some excellent links here for you to look at, but i would honestly look at the alternatives first

Really, can I ask why about declawing? Like I said before, I am a first time cat owner! If you would send me those links, that would be great, I would reall appreciate it!!

Brilliant!. Hang on and i'll find someone to put them on here for you!

Wonderful-Thank you very much! I will have to read them and see what they
have to say. I was just going by what the vet had told me to do at his 6 month check up!

My girl did that too, in the end we had to get hard and shut her in the kitchen with her food, water, bed and litter so we could get some sleep along with a bunch of toys.
Did this until she was about 3 months old. Now she knows if she acts up at night, out she goes to the kitchen.
She has always had one constant "friend", a toddler sock stuffed with fluff and a jingly bell in it. Great for when you want them to go in the carrier, just throw "sockfriend" in first and off she goes.

Welcome to Meowmyhood

I just want a good nights sleep! I have a string tied on a chair that he just loves to play with that keeps him pretty occupied when I leave the room. Its just when he realizes that Im gone is when he starts up the crying!! He has started to scratch on the walls and my furniture too, how do I stop that? I dont want to yell at him, b/c that does NO good at all! I just tell him no and take him away, he is just into EVERYTHING!!

Hi Harley's Mom!

I'm glad you are interested in educating yourself about declawing. It's so frustrating when vets offer it like it's routine. It's not routine, and it's not necessary (in the vast majority of cases). My vet did the same thing, offered declawing with Trent's neutering with the same tonation as "Do you want fries with that?"

We wrote an article for Stray Pet Advocacy that attempts to be objective (it's very difficult to find non-biased information about declawing on the internet!): http://straypetadvocacy.org/html/dec...ernatives.html It explains what declawing is, which is the removal of the third joint in the paw, because the claw is embedded in that joint. It also discusses alternatives and presents official position statements on declawing from a multitude of sources.

Usually, it's not a problem to resolve any scratching issues a cat may have, especially if you start young. My girl, who is not declawed, never was a problem scratcher. She prefers to scratch on the cardboard scratchers that we can get at Wal Mart, Target or Petsmart for ~$5, and scratching on their cat tree. No training involved. It's also important to get Harley used to having his paws handled and nails trimmed while he's little. If there are problems in the teaching period, you can use nail caps like Soft Paws, which I have also seen carried at either Petsmart or Petco.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about declawing or alternatives to it.

Thanks Heidi!

There are lots of great suggestions on the web about how to dissuade cats from scratching, etc -- you are right, punishment does no good and will just make him afraid of you. Best thing is to provide scratching posts and remove/cover anything that you don't want damaged.

If you keep his nails trimmed (again, google to see how to do that safely) he won't do too much damage. (Thank you for learning about declawing! It's a cruel practice. I'm glad to say that our vet won't do it).

Your little one sounds lonely at night. We have 2 kitties and they keep each other company. Believe it or not, two are easier than one, they tire each other out and are not so lonely or bored which causes kittens to get into trouble. We don't let them sleep with us normally, (we love it but we need our sleep,) so they only start meowing in the morning when they think it's time that we play with them! I'd say if your sleep is the priority, give him lots of cuddles in the evening and morning (so he gets into the routine of "this is time to play, night-time is not"), tire him out before bed, make sure he's got food and water and a little pal or toy to cuddle, and let him sleep in another room.

Finally, some cats are very vocal. We have one that meows because he's happy to see us, to encourage us when we're feeding him, or for no reason at all.

We are recent cat owners too and we have fallen in love with them. They are fascinating, affectionate, wonderful little characters and we feel blessed by having them. Enjoy your little one.

I think your little one is frightened and missing his mom - he is really too young to be away from her. SO I would think of things to give him comfort - that is why he needs so much attention right now. Buy him some cuddly toys to snuggle up to and put a ticking clock wrapped in a towel in a warm bed for him. He will outgrow it and you can help him bond with you by making sure he is as happy as possible as a small kitten.

I really wish we could have 2 kittens but there are only 3 of them in the litter and if I went and got the other one I would feel so bad leaving the other one there with no owner!!
When I get up in the morning he is right there to greet me and I give him his cuddle/play time to let him know that is the time, instead of night time! He follows me around constantly when I am home, which is why I feel so bad leaving him alone at home constantly everyday, sometimes I wonder if another kitten would help the problem? I dont know if I could handle TWO of them!!
We live in an apartment where cats are the only animal allowed (no dogs!) I really wish that he would start sleeping in his kennel but we tried that and of course with no luck, he cried until I took him out! I really do appreciate all of the help and advice everyone here is giving me-it is truly SO much help!!