New Rescued Kitten - Did a total 180- HELP

Hi everyone

I recently found a kitten at a gas station one night... It was thunder and lightening and it took me 2 hours in the pouring rain to get this cat out of the bushes. When I finally got him, i wrapped him in a towel and he was just fine, I pet him and he was very friendly. I thought he was feral but he seems to be very clean and so people-friendly. He had not eaten in a while 4 weeks old and you could feel all of his bones! so sad... so i decided to keep him. next morning i took him to the vet. everything was ok. i keep him separate from my other 2 cats at all times. he is on antibiotics for a sneeze, and is taking medicine for de-worming. He has always been very sweet to me since I rescued him. I try to play with him and I give him a little food 2 times per day but he always has water and a little dry food. I take very good care of him and he has a nice warm comfy place to sleep.

Well my problem is... lately when i go up and watch tv with him or sit down in the TV room... he jumps at my feet and bites me, and now EVERY TIME without fail, when i pick him up, he bites me and scratches me and meows. even if i try to pet him he freaks out and jumps back and then lunges at me like he wants to attack with his tail all puffy. i have never hurt him or smacked him when he does this. i just cant figure out how to make him stop this crap??? i also tried to introduce my other cats (one at a time) to him and he was fine, but they hissed and freaked out. so that was the end of that.

im nervous about this situation. how do i make him a cuddly cat-- actually i would be able to live with him just not being so mean to me when i pick him up! ANYONE! please help!? thanks so much!

jennifer

You might get some help by trying these links:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20837

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22301

About the other cats: it is quite common grown cats are afraid of underage kittens...

About those attacks on you: Im sure he is playing. Play among friendly cats are often quite warriorlike and even hard, sometimes you arent sure if it isnt for real. And if you would be his sibling you would teach him not to hurt you = be more careful with hard biting... One way is by saying Ouch/similiar aloud - so he know it does hurt. Another way may be you stop the play if he bites too hard.

This is one of the reasons why not to take away kittens too young from mom and siblings; they are learnt many such things, they teach each other... But here you are and must do your best

Pity your other cats are afraid and dont want to be pals with him. They could be excellent fostering uncles. Try to rub their smells on him perhaps. Some succeed with rubbing on both Vanilla, so both smells neutral.
You may also try with Feliway.

Small cats need to eat quite much and often, two times a day sounds little. I presume it is kitten food of qood quality? But he has also freely dry food you say?


You are doing a great job! Good luck!

hey thanks for all your help... about feeding him- i have to give him medicine 2 times per day, so what i do is... go in there, give him fresh water and fill up his dry food bowl (kitten food), and then he gets sometimes boiled chicken, sometimes wet cat food. i have these little cat bowls and i give him a decent amount. i OVERfed my other two when they were babies!!!!!!!!! lol i just didn't want them to be hungry! -- so i have to be catious not to feed him TOO much. but i definitely give him enough. in the beginning i couldnt give him too much because i didnt want him to overstuff himself... he literally hadn't eaten in a week!

so anyways... about the little fighting act he is doing... he isn't vicious.. like his bites hurt but they arent enough to break the skin or throw him across the room for it! hopefully i can still play with him but he will just cut it out. lol... i think that he doesnt like being picked up anymore. he does this little "spoiled brat moan" like... uhhhh let me down! and then he squirms and bites my hand. he is a good boy other wise. so i will deal with it. even if he hated me i would still be attached to him!

and about the other 2 cats... they are about 1 year and 5 months old now. they think they are bigshots... but they are VERY VERY VERY spoiled. i have no children, and my fiance is in afghanistan, so everything i do, they follow me, and get all of the attention. when i come out of the bonus room upstairs (which is a huge room that is very nice for that little kitten!!) my other 2 cats are sitting directly in front of the laundry room door, waiting for me. they are very jealous girls! i am just afraid if i leave them alone they will hurt the little one.

thank you for your advice!!

This is the new one. His name is Mikito (prince in japanese)



http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?im...ture077vc2.jpg

http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?im...ture103ep2.jpg

and these are my other 2... lola (white) lucy (orange)

http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?image=48bx9.jpg

http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?image=28lt9.jpg

You should not be limiting food for a small kitten who was undeweight. Even if your other kitties ended up getting fat, at this point the kitten needs to have food left for him to munch on when you are gone.

Get a stuffed toy, and let him wrestle with that, rather than with you. Use string toys for him to chase.

Like Stefanz suggested, a dab of real vanilla on the kittens and cats chins will help them all smell the same, and will help them accept him. My cats always hiss and dislike the new kittens at first...so long as they aren't hurting the little ones, I let them have supervised visits. Then once they have been good together, I let them mingle. The adult cats will be able to teach the kitten not to play too rough.

i don't limit his food. he always has dry kitten food and fresh water, even when i am not there. i feed him wet food or boiled chicken 2 times a day when i am able to go up there with him and give him his medicine from the vet. he doesn't even finish the dry food i leave him in between the times i give him the wet food.

thanks for the tips about the vanilla! i will try it. when you say real vanilla, you mean- the cooking vanilla right? the kind for cookies and cakes - it looks brown right? just making sure! lol

What gorgeous babies - lola and lucy are stunning!! Yes, cooking vanilla is the recommendation.
I had the same problem with our kitten Andrea; she was rescued under similar circumstances. My grandson (10 years old) solved it with giving her a stuffed toy ( a small flamingo that she really attacks ) and telling her to attack it, telling her, "Do your anger management, Andrea!". In a couple of days, she totally discontinued attacking us. Once in a while, she "gets fierce" about something, and if you show her the toy flamingo, she will just attack it, and then be fine. She was so bad for awhile that she would growl at the vet and try to bite her - in fact, I had to wrap her in a towel for her vet exams.
This is the thread on Andrea's rescue:http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72482

Originally Posted by daisy00826

Hi everyone

I recently found a kitten at a gas station one night... It was thunder and lightening and it took me 2 hours in the pouring rain to get this cat out of the bushes. When I finally got him, i wrapped him in a towel and he was just fine, I pet him and he was very friendly. I thought he was feral but he seems to be very clean and so people-friendly. He had not eaten in a while 4 weeks old and you could feel all of his bones!

so sad... so i decided to keep him. next morning i took him to the vet. everything was ok. i keep him separate from my other 2 cats at all times. he is on antibiotics for a sneeze, and is taking medicine for de-worming. He has always been very sweet to me since I rescued him. I try to play with him and I give him a little food 2 times per day but he always has water and a little dry food. I take very good care of him and he has a nice warm comfy place to sleep.

Well my problem is... lately when i go up and watch tv with him or sit down in the TV room... he jumps at my feet and bites me, and now EVERY TIME without fail, when i pick him up, he bites me and scratches me and meows. even if i try to pet him he freaks out and jumps back and then lunges at me like he wants to attack with his tail all puffy. i have never hurt him or smacked him when he does this. i just cant figure out how to make him stop this crap??? i also tried to introduce my other cats (one at a time) to him and he was fine, but they hissed and freaked out. so that was the end of that.

im nervous about this situation. how do i make him a cuddly cat-- actually i would be able to live with him just not being so mean to me when i pick him up! ANYONE! please help!? thanks so much!

jennifer

Click to expand...

my 5 week old kitten does that too.
always in the mood to wrestle.
he'll grow out of it.
keep telling him no and when he does show good behavior talk sweetly and pet him gentley.U get used to the scratches all over your hands and wrists. I wear my socks pulled up to my calves at home. give your little guy time.

thanks for all the advice everyone!