Ask Me Help Desk - My kitten

Okay so here's the deal. I've never had a kitten before, any cat I've ever had has been a rescue so I've never been around a kitten for more than an hour at a time, but I've just recently got one and I've been wondering about some things he does.

Last night I got out my lap top and had to spend a good hour holding him away from chewing on the cords. He was meowing a lot, and at first I figured he just wanted to play and soon he'd get a picture that he can't play with those wires, but he was just so persistent. So then I remembered something someone told me about how if his kitten got too playful while he was trying to sleep, he'd put her in her carrier for the night and she learned not to bother him while he was trying to sleep. So I decided to try that and he just started freaking out. He was crying so loud and jumping around and just generally going so crazy I thought he'd hurt himself so I had to open the door and as soon as I did he went straight for the cables again.

I realize that young kittens like to play, but I can't seem to keep him away from chewing on cables. He's only about 5 or 6 weeks old, so I'm hoping he'll grow out of it?

He also has a tendency to randomly just jump really high into the air and start running around my apartment, and he cries all the time, like, all the time. He cries when he can't see me, he cries when he's using the litter box, he cries while he's eating! Like, he'll be in the middle of swallowing and he'll be crying, is that just normal, exercising his lungs crying or is something wrong?

I know I probably sound just really paranoid and you're thinking there's nothing to worry about but like I said, I've never had a kitten before and maybe I just don't realize how playful they can get.

I also have trouble sleeping because he won't leave me alone, the other night he actually scratched my eye ball, does anyone have any good advice for correcting this behaviour?

#1 in my opion he was to young to be taken from the mom. She knows best how to teach him to behave. Right now if he was with mom he would be learning valuable lessons.
As fro the cords I have heard that cats are naturally drawn to the electricity, so be careful that you unplug the cords in the house until it is older.
Try feeding the kitten in the crate, so that she see it as a positive thing, tie a toy inside the cage or a shot string to give him something to go in and play with.
Also you could get another kitten, I think they do better in pairs.*edit*Kittens: Recommendations for New Guardians ~ Pawprints and Purrs, Inc. go down to the part about remote punishment/how to discpline a kitten, you may find that helpful.

I agree with bushg. And yes... kittens really ARE that playful and high energy. I have not yet met anyone (including me!) who has adopted a young kitten and not thought at some point "Did I make a huge mistake doing this?" Particularly after several weeks of little sleep.

He is extremely young to be away from mama. Would it be possible for you to give him back for a about a month, so that he can learn proper socialization from his litter mates? It might work out better if you can.

Yeah, I did realize he was far too young to be away from his mom, but no it's not possible to bring him back to her for a month. Like I said, any cat I have is a rescue...

However, my room mate has a cat that's older than he is and they've just recently started getting along, so will he learn from her? She's a best behaved cat I've ever met in my life, so laid back and fantastic, and they play together and sleep together and eat together, so I'm assuming that everything will be okay? Hopefully?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigrist

Okay so here's the deal. I've never had a kitten before, any cat I've ever had has been a rescue so I've never been around a kitten for more than an hour at a time, but I've just recently got one and I've been wondering about some things he does.

Last night I got out my lap top and had to spend a good hour holding him away from chewing on the cords. He was meowing a lot, and at first I figured he just wanted to play and soon he'd get a picture that he can't play with those wires, but he was just so persistent. So then I remembered something someone told me about how if his kitten got too playful while he was trying to sleep, he'd put her in her carrier for the night and she learned not to bother him while he was trying to sleep. So I decided to try that and he just started freaking out. He was crying so loud and jumping around and just generally going so crazy I thought he'd hurt himself so I had to open the door and as soon as I did he went straight for the cables again.

I realize that young kittens like to play, but I can't seem to keep him away from chewing on cables. He's only about 5 or 6 weeks old, so I'm hoping he'll grow out of it?

He also has a tendency to randomly just jump really high into the air and start running around my apartment, and he cries all the time, like, all the time. He cries when he can't see me, he cries when he's using the litter box, he cries while he's eating! Like, he'll be in the middle of swallowing and he'll be crying, is that just normal, exercising his lungs crying or is something wrong?

I know I probably sound just really paranoid and you're thinking there's nothing to worry about but like I said, I've never had a kitten before and maybe I just don't realize how playful they can get.

I also have trouble sleeping because he won't leave me alone, the other night he actually scratched my eye ball, does anyone have any good advice for correcting this behaviour?

Hi there, I had once a kitten like that, he never stopped crying, so I finished up carriying him in my bra. I had to do that until he was 3 month old. Now I have I new Kitten and he won't eat I can't tempt him with anything. Might have to take him to the vet 2 moro.

Good Luck Sue

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigrist

However, my room mate has a cat that's older than he is and they've just recently started getting along, so will he learn from her? She's a best behaved cat I've ever met in my life, so laid back and fantastic, and they play together and sleep together and eat together, so I'm assuming that everything will be okay? Hopefully?

As long as the roomie's cat is not being too rough, and everyone is up-to-date on vaccinations and healthy, they should be fine. Be aware that cats can play very roughly, so you may want to find some good cat body language books before too much longer. I would have sworn that my older cat was trying to kill the baby in some of their play-fights! After a while, though, you will learn the signs of when you need to break them up and when it's just play. Also, the older cat may occasionally discipline the younger one, and you don't want to interrupt in that unless it is going too far.