- Joined
- Aug 24, 2014
- Messages
- 60
- Purraise
- 6
When we were vacationing in Hawaii two months ago found a starving kitten on the beach. The beach was surrounded by jungle so we had the sense she was either feral or had been dumped and barely surviving. Despite her poor condition she was very friendly and calm. After parking her at the local shelter for a week, when no one claimed her we flew her home with us. Despite weighing barely 2 lbs she was actually 4 months old per our vet. Isolated her from our other three cats initially, during which time she was a typical loving, friendly, playful kitten. Introduced her to the other cats slowly over about 6 weeks. It went extremely well except that after a month she dominates and is aggressive towards the other older, much larger, easy-going cats. The lab too. They don't fight back, just seem mystified.
She's gaining weight nicely. But now at 6 months she's a terror. Terribly aggressive to my husband and I- infact there is no time anymore that she will tolerate love without biting and scratching. Once and awhile she will sleep on me if I'm sitting, but if I try to stroke her she immediately wakes up and bites. It's probably been 3 weeks since I've even heard her purr. She plays chase with two of the other cats but she attacks them, while they just want to play.
Now I realize that she probably had little mothering/sibling time- she didn't learn acceptable behavior. She had an extremely difficult start surviving in a jungle/beach. I've read so much about aggressive kittens and how to manage biting(saying loud no, clap hands, walk away, offer toys, several daily play sessions daily etc). Nothing is working and I can never even pet this cat. Ever. Thought we had this sweet, playful, lovey kitten. Is this something she might outgrow, or is it likely that her behavior is ingrained from her rough start and not likely to improve? I've had cats/kittens all my life and used to the biting/scratching aggressive stuff at this age, but never to the extreme as with this kitten. This doesn't seem within the normal range of kitten behavior that we can never touch her, does it?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Nancy
She's gaining weight nicely. But now at 6 months she's a terror. Terribly aggressive to my husband and I- infact there is no time anymore that she will tolerate love without biting and scratching. Once and awhile she will sleep on me if I'm sitting, but if I try to stroke her she immediately wakes up and bites. It's probably been 3 weeks since I've even heard her purr. She plays chase with two of the other cats but she attacks them, while they just want to play.
Now I realize that she probably had little mothering/sibling time- she didn't learn acceptable behavior. She had an extremely difficult start surviving in a jungle/beach. I've read so much about aggressive kittens and how to manage biting(saying loud no, clap hands, walk away, offer toys, several daily play sessions daily etc). Nothing is working and I can never even pet this cat. Ever. Thought we had this sweet, playful, lovey kitten. Is this something she might outgrow, or is it likely that her behavior is ingrained from her rough start and not likely to improve? I've had cats/kittens all my life and used to the biting/scratching aggressive stuff at this age, but never to the extreme as with this kitten. This doesn't seem within the normal range of kitten behavior that we can never touch her, does it?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Nancy