New Kitten Questions

abufish

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Long post and poor English, I'm really sorry...

Just adopted two kittens (10 wks) from my friend who rescued a pregnant mom. Basically my husband and I visited them bi-weekly since they were 10 days old, so they might already know us.

They adapted quickly when we brought them home yesterday and slept with us for the night. They are both affectionate (groom us, sleep on our lap or besides us), respond to toys very well.

What we worried about is one of them cries a lot and act differently from before. Before she used to be a "in-different cat", never slept with siblings and rarely play with them, I never heard she meows, not like been hold but won't struggle away... a very quiet cat. Today she started to play with her brother, sleep with him, which is good, but she cries A LOT! She cries when one of us went away to another room/kitchen/bathroom (door closed or opened), when she was sleeping but her brother sort of wakes her up, when she wants bedroom but no body wants to go there... It feels like she start crying especially when she is sleepy and want human's presence. But once when they both slept on the sofa besides my husband, she waked up and looked at my husband's face and whining, my husband pick her up and petted, she still whines (looked at his face) and seems want to leave so put her on the sofa besides him, then she found another position and slept on her brother again.

We get so confused with her, why does she cry? Does she feel safe only when human presents? We tried to leave the apartment for a while when they both "just wake up", but didn't hear she cries, is it possible that she only whines when she know that there's definitely someone in the house but not follow her? Why does she suddenly become a controlling role? Are all these whining thing temporarily?

We checked their litter, looks ok, she eats ok and drinks ok, very playful when she satisfies... we are going to take them to the vet next week, but before that...

We are very worried about her crying also because we live in an apartment that does not allow cats (we have a residence manager). I know someone might say that why have them in the first place, but 1. We LOVE cats and 2. My friend said kittens are going to be send to humane society (there're 3 other kittens that not adopted yet). My husband says if she whines that much when we leave for work, we are going to send her back to her mom and see if she could be adopted. But she is so sweet and attached to us we definitely want to keep her if possible!!


We are both graduate students so we have flexible schedule, but we will be both away at least two hours every weekday.

Please help us to keep her!

What does she need? and How to make her cry less when we human are away? Is her change temporary? Everything will gets better after a while?

Thank you very much for your reply! and again sorry for this long post.
 

meowsersmom

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Have you only had the kittens for one day? I think she's meowing just because she's scared, in new surroundings, living with new people. It's really good she has her brother with her, that should help her adapt faster. I've read that cats communicate with people through meowing, but use body language to communicate with other cats (this is definitely true of my cats, they never meow at each other, only at me). So when she's home alone with her brother, she probably won't meow much so you won't have to worry about her bothering your neighbors. Don't worry too much, I think she'll definitely settle down over time.
 

larke

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She may just be taking a little longer to adjust than her brother, which can happen, and she also may be 'training' you a little - every time she cries, she gets your attention, so if You were her, would you stop crying? I know it sounds so pathetic to us when they do that, just like a human baby, but I'm not sure if it's really the same for cats. Are they getting enough food? If so, just try to relax a bit and give her a little more time to feel at home in your place, but don't necessarily give her such 'nice' attention every time she cries (as long as you know she is o.k.).
 
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abufish

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Thank you all for your replies!

Today things getting much better
Last night they started sleep on their own in the living room without loud crying.

She is crying much less than yesterday. And we tried something as you guys suggest, we still give them much attention, but not right after she cries. Normally when we hide in other room reading etc, she would cry, we just ignored her (know that nothing is wrong), and after she calms down a while, one of us went out, still ignore her initially, mind own business (drinking, find a magazine etc), then sit down on the couch and waiting for them and play or pet them. I could say this worked, she cries less and less, and not so loud even if both of us are not with her. Is what we did correct? (i.e. ignore her when she cry for attention) consider kitten at this age and stressed need lots of attention, we still play and pet them a lot, but not right after she cry or when we come back to them.

I think she is more familiar with her brother as well (they from the same litter but might not bond as mate).

We left in the afternoon to shopping for them for about 2 hours, left a sound-active recording in the living room, it seems like they didn't cry loud after we left (recording machine only picks up louder cry though).

Please leave comment about what we tried... Thanks


(still naming them... will post photo after pics ready
)
 
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abufish

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By the way, when should we get them neutered/spayed? I read a book suggesting that cats get spayed after their first heat, cuz they would remain correct sexuality feeling (as I understand)... I don't know because mines are brother and sister from the same litter, if I let them pass the heat, they might already have babies... we will definitely avoid that!
 

meowsersmom

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If there's less crying then it sounds like you guys are doing great. I would definitely get them both spayed/neutered before their first heat, they can end up having kittens together. I got my cats neutered around 3-4 months old.
 

jen

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It is actually better to do it BEFORE the first heat because it cuts back on the risk of cancers when the cats are older. Especially since they are brother and sister it really needs to be done sooner. You can have it done right now but some vets insist on waiting until 6 months. Unfortunately a cat can get pregnant before then so you need to find a vet that will do it sooner or explain your situation if you vet refuses. Otherwise you will have to keep them seperated started around 5 months.
 

hope123

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It sounds like your doing everything great, and if she is crying less thats must mean your doing good.




And i remenber you saying you are still looking for names, i had a little kitten once who cryed ALOT we ended up nameing her Orphan Annie, but we just called her Annie.
 

jane_vernon

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I would try to get the male desexed as soon as possible to prevent any unwanted prenancies before they even have a chance of happening.

Desexing a male is much less invasive that spaying a female so he will recover quickly and then you can get the female done when she is closer to 6 months old (As long as she can't get outside)
 
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