Our rescue, Gaia! (long story, lots of photos)

[katiecaraline]

Oh my gosh! She is so adorable, I love her fat little tummy! To answer some of your questions (in my opinion):
As far as biting goes:
Kittens always bite to play- my kitty is the same way and use to only like to be pet when she was tired as well. If they are playing with you and start to bite stop playing with her. If it is light biting she is only playing it is when they start to get to rough that I stop playing and say (tist). We don't punish her with a water bottle or make her be by herself. We just let her know with that sound that she shouldn't be doing that. But young kitties don't know the difference. They will learn as they grow.

As for after spaying:
They are a little groggy the first day. But our kitty who was spayed at 8 weeks was fine the next day and already wanting to play. After about 2 days they are fully back to normal (except for their little shaved tummies!)
As for declawing: Yes kitties nails cause some issues with furniture and nail splitting. However my fiance and I trained our kitty not to scratch (it took a while but it worked!) And her claws are never had splitting issues. I can see why declawing may seem necessary but it really isn't. We shouldn't take away kitties natural born functions. Really the nails don't need to be clipped very often anyway.

Hope this helps, your kitty is so so ADORABLE!

 

[frogmanjared]

Well, we were at the vet a week ago for some boosters... and she's 1-2 weeks older than originally thought! She had already started her incisors(i think). I'm glad we took her in, she might not have made it if we didn't bring to to the vet at quick as we did when we got her. That would also explain why she's still growing like a weed! @ 4 months, just over 4 lbs!

Do all kittens have extra skin in their armpits? When she's flying through the air she looks like a bat sometimes! She also has a belly flap, hopefully it won't get too low as she gets older.

 

[cats haven]

I love the gray color of your kitties fur i have a rescue that i had for 5 years now he looks just like your kitten when he was a baby. love the pictures. keep up the good work.

 

[crazypoh]

She is gorgeous and it looks like you are doing a great job!

 

[rang_27]

She is beautiful! (I might be slightly biased as gray happens to be one of my two favorite cat colors). Good for you on taking her in & I am glad that you are educating yourself about declawing. If her scratching does become a problem one thing to think about are something called Soft Paws, or Soft Claws. They are plastic nail caps that glue on to the nail. My cats range in age from 6 - 4 & I just started using them, but wish I had started when they were younger.

 

[p&r]

Everyone else has pretty much said it all so I'll just say welcome to the board

 

[frogmanjared]

Here are a couple of new pictures. This is her napping next to her kitty grass...


This was taken after thanksgiving dinner... they both ate too much turkey!

 

[xocats]

What joyous photos of your beautiful girl.
Gaia is thriving under your loving care.
Her "full tummy" Thanksgiving photo is adorable.

Thanks for the update.

 

[mrblanche]

Ah, she does look like she's made of velvet, doesn't she?

 

[ondine]

She looks a lot like our Gracie - who is a Russian Blue/Korat mix. She does not shed and I love it. (The other five make up for that, though

). Anyway, your kitty will calm down some after spaying.

Don't worry if her "baggy" belly gets baggier. Gracie has one and it started developing before her spay. The vet at first thought she was too fat but she is our slimmest and most energetic cat. I think that it might be part of her Korat heritage.

They used to call it "spay sway" but now realize some cats developed loose skin on the belly as a defense in fighting.

She is a pretty girl and bless you for taking her in.

 

[luv2laugh]

OH my goodness, she is BEAUTIFUL!! Especially in that last picture her coat is just glowing.

For whatever reason, I feel the need to put my two sense in with the biting issue. Always make sure there is a positive replacement behavior. With our kitties when they bit as kittens (as all kitties do). We said "OUCH" in a very loud voice then gave them the straws to bite and as soon as they started biting the claws, they got GOOD KITTY, and petting. We repeated this EVERY single time they bit. When they scratched furniture they got moved to the scratcher with a "good kitty."

So, its not just that they knew what they were doing was wrong, but they knew what to do instead that was RIGHT.

I know everyone already said this, but we had so much fun with our kittens, I think there is a lot of nostalgia there. They also turned out as really sweet cats.

**Make sure the good kitty is with a positive inflection. If needed you could associate it with food too. If she does the positive behavior by herself say "good kitty" and give her a healthy treat.

 

[frogmanjared]

Originally Posted by Ondine

She looks a lot like our Gracie - who is a Russian Blue/Korat mix. She does not shed and I love it.

Yea, were pretty sure she's mostly Russian Blue, but not sure what she's mixed with. She was shedding a ton last month, maybe because she's still growing or because of the winter weather. As for calming down after the spay... ha! Well, maybe a little bit so far, but 3/4 of the time when she's awake she's sprinting around the house bouncing off as many things as she can before touching the ground! It's really annoying when I'm working out and she decides to use me as a launch pad!

Her biting is getting better, only attacks a few times a day now but mainly the playing form, only ferociously a few times a week. Thanks for the comments!