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- Aug 20, 2018
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Hello! I recently adopted an 8 week old kitten. She’s now 9 weeks, going to be 10 soon. When I adopted her I wasn’t aware that 8 weeks old is a little too soon to be adopting a kitten, otherwise I would have waited or adopted 2 kittens at the same time. However, I’m going to adopt a second older kitten soon. My current kitten is a tortie shorthair, and I have a few questions:
1. I noticed she has begun to bite her tail. It’s never hard enough to hurt her, and she doesn’t do it frequently. She usually bites the very tip of it, and it’s either when she’s very energetic and wild or when she’s grooming herself. I’m slightly concerned because she can get kind of frantic when she does it. I read that there are many different causes for such behaviour. Is she bored? Anxious? I can’t really tell. She plays a lot and is given lots of attention and love. She usually runs around and plays until she’s tired. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
2. I had a detergent spill yesterday. She was sleeping and had come running to see what the noise was, but luckily someone had gotten hold of her before she could actually investigate the blue liquid all over the floor. Once the floor was clean but still damp, she managed to get out of her enclosure and her front paws made contact with the damp floor. Of course I panicked a bit and quickly filled a small container with lukewarm water (I tested it before even taking it near her to see if it was too warm, which it wasn’t) and lightly dipped her front and back paws into the water. She freaked out a bit and let me dry her paws before having enough and subsequently dried her paws herself. I noticed afterwards that she was very angry with me for what I had done. She let me pet her and hold her, but her body language screamed “get away from me.” I gave her the space she wanted and took to giving her treats and petting her to let her know I wasn’t trying to hurt her. She seemed fine otherwise, but once she started to get a little playful, she soon turned aggressive. She walked up to my face and lightly nipped me on my cheek. I knew she wasn’t intending to hurt me, but it was still a little shocking because she had never done that before. Afterwards, I was holding her which she didn’t seem to mind but very quickly she turned and clawed at my face, slightly getting my bottom lip in the process. Again, she wasn’t TRYING to hurt me. She could have easily if she wanted to, but she didn’t. Is she just upset with me? I realize that the events that happened were traumatic for her, as maybe she never experienced them before or maybe they reminded her of the shelter. Whatever the reason may be, she seems okay right now. She’s purring and sleeping on me and eating as if nothing happened. Any explanation for her behaviour would be appreciated. She hasn’t done anything like that since.
1. I noticed she has begun to bite her tail. It’s never hard enough to hurt her, and she doesn’t do it frequently. She usually bites the very tip of it, and it’s either when she’s very energetic and wild or when she’s grooming herself. I’m slightly concerned because she can get kind of frantic when she does it. I read that there are many different causes for such behaviour. Is she bored? Anxious? I can’t really tell. She plays a lot and is given lots of attention and love. She usually runs around and plays until she’s tired. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
2. I had a detergent spill yesterday. She was sleeping and had come running to see what the noise was, but luckily someone had gotten hold of her before she could actually investigate the blue liquid all over the floor. Once the floor was clean but still damp, she managed to get out of her enclosure and her front paws made contact with the damp floor. Of course I panicked a bit and quickly filled a small container with lukewarm water (I tested it before even taking it near her to see if it was too warm, which it wasn’t) and lightly dipped her front and back paws into the water. She freaked out a bit and let me dry her paws before having enough and subsequently dried her paws herself. I noticed afterwards that she was very angry with me for what I had done. She let me pet her and hold her, but her body language screamed “get away from me.” I gave her the space she wanted and took to giving her treats and petting her to let her know I wasn’t trying to hurt her. She seemed fine otherwise, but once she started to get a little playful, she soon turned aggressive. She walked up to my face and lightly nipped me on my cheek. I knew she wasn’t intending to hurt me, but it was still a little shocking because she had never done that before. Afterwards, I was holding her which she didn’t seem to mind but very quickly she turned and clawed at my face, slightly getting my bottom lip in the process. Again, she wasn’t TRYING to hurt me. She could have easily if she wanted to, but she didn’t. Is she just upset with me? I realize that the events that happened were traumatic for her, as maybe she never experienced them before or maybe they reminded her of the shelter. Whatever the reason may be, she seems okay right now. She’s purring and sleeping on me and eating as if nothing happened. Any explanation for her behaviour would be appreciated. She hasn’t done anything like that since.
and I think in time you will see that her body language will be normal again.
