I just got a six month old kitten who's meaner than spit. She growls if anyone comes near her and bites if you try to touch her. She was scared when I brought her home and I was allowed to hold and pet her. As soon as she got used to the household, she started attacking anything that came by. Does anyone know what to do with a cat like this? Help!
Linda Valentine
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Being a soft touch, I have had a few cats like yours. My advice is to give her lots of space. Let her be alone when she wants. She will have to come out of hiding at meal times. Give her a few quick pats/scratches before she gets her dinner. You have to have LOTS of patience with these kinds of animals. She may just be wild or she may have been mistreated and is always scared. It can take up to 4-6 months to get her to calm down and be your friend. Don't let any kids or neighbors chase her, that will just make her more terrified. You may end up with the best pet you have ever had. Animals who have had a bad life seem to appreciate the cushy life even more. Lastly, realize that no matter how patient and loving you are that some animals refuse to be tamed. I have one of those right now. He comes inside to eat but will not stay for more than 5 minutes. The rest of the time he is the wild cat who lives in our yard. Good luck!
Make sure the vet checks her out to make sure there isn't a physical problem, and then give her time.
If she was scared when she came to your house, she probably still is even though you think she has gotten used to the household. You may want to keep her in a bedroom with toys, litterbox, food and water for awhile.
When we got one of our cats she was so scared that when she was down in the basement, she jumped up above the washer and dryer and crawled between the basement ceiling and floorboards above. When we got her out the next day, I put her in the main bedroom where she stayed for almost 4 months. I started leaving the bedroom door open (only while we were home - we also have another cat and their first introduction did not go well) and eventually she ventured out.
Good luck!
Give her time and play with her! Just like young children animals forget things through play!
We acquired a kitten during the school holidays and all it ever did was have a hissy-fit at anything! The poor dog just sat and shivered.....But now the kitten has turned from a Tazmainan Devil into a cute kitty!!!
Dog and cat are now like mum and baby and even sleep together!
Ps Hope you like the photo!!!
First, get a thorough health check by your vet. If everything checks out, try putting her in a pen that is kept in a room where there is family activity. If possible, move the pen wherever the family will be for long periods of time. Everyone in the home must give here attention without overwhelming her. Depending on the cat, this may take some time. Just don't give up. Talk to her and reassure her. Try gently playing with her through her pen. If she becomes upset, stop and try again later. She needs to get used to people. Keep her penned up until she is safe to handle. My sister fostered a large number of stray kittens and this is the method she was told to use by the rescue organization. Most of the kittens were strays and had no interaction with humans. They had to be conditioned to family living. All but one of the kittens were adopted as family pets. She did this for years. Before I knew about this method, I took in a stray kitten, and felt sorry for her and gave her run of the house. She gradually became accustomed to family members, but she would always hide when other people came into our house. She had a lot of insecurties, such as being afraid of any type of cat toys, low key sounds, anything out of place, etc. I would allow her to hide whenever she wanted. That became a problem. She always seemed terrified. She never did adjust well but we accepted her hang ups. I wish I would have known how to "cure" her. I am sure she would have been a much happier and secure cat if I would have conditioned to the family like my sister had done. Good luck and be persistent, she needs love and understanding.
I've had cats kind of like that...
Follow the advice from the others here, as it's pretty sound. I especially agree with giving it room, but touching it when possible.
Another thing I've done was to take old tee-shirts and placed them where the cat slept at night. I made sure I wore the shirt for a while first so that it would smell like me.
There is a recent addition to my cat family, I believe it's from one of my neighbors...this is an older cat that's seemingly petrified of humans. It does not sleep here, and has only recently come close enough for me to touch it.
The only time it lets me get that close is at feeding time, so maybe make sure the little kitty knows it's your hand that's feeding it. Maybe pet it while it eats...
I went out about a week ago and got a 3 month old kitten for a companion for my 6 year old cat. My older cat hates the kitten and when the kitten is eating and I pet her she growls and rubs up against me. I wonder if this is normal.
My little kitten is over 11 weeks of age. When I bought her home from a litter of other kittens she immediately took to us. She is otherwise very friendly my only gripe I have with her is that most of the time during play she loves to bite and scratch us and jump up on us claws and all. I try to stop her from doing it, we use air freshner to distract her from us (which she hates) and I tell her No but not having a cat before I really don't know what else to do with her other than perhaps lock her away for a few hours to have some peace and quiet by ourselves. Help what can we do?
I broke up with my fiance and my mom bought me a DSH cat. I named him AJ after my ex (his initials). From the very first car ride home, he was whining and complaining. I figured that this was to be expected because some cats don't like car rides. However, AJ has made this whining thing a way of life. He gets on my nerves everyday whining and complaining, stares at me all the time. He has to be in view of me. If I go into another room, he is not far behind. He follows me around and then when I sit still, he props up somewhere so that he can stare at me. I throw things at him to get him to stop looking at me. He walks in and out of my legs shedding hair all over me.
Everytime I put him in his room to go to bed, he cries and whines. He gets quiet after about 10 minutes but then if he hears me walking around, he starts up again. I make sure his food is there, his water is fresh and that he has a clean litter. What am I doing wrong?
Also, he is disobedient. He constantly walks all over my counters, he jumps around my guests, he bites me(for fun), he walks all over EVERYTHING.
Don't get me wrong I know he is a CAT and will get into things, but he is totally a pain. I don't want to hear him whining after a long day at work. Please help me. I have the whiny, needy, disobedient CAT.
What do I do?
If you want take my advice, I have 4 cats and 1 kitten they are all well behaved except from the kitten he is 8 weeks old and I have just brought him home. He does tend to bite a lot but I think thats only because he is teething my other cats don't get along with him but I think they are just getting used to him being here.
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I have a dog; she is about 3 yrs old. She looks to be part German Shepherd and black Lab. My mom adopted a kitten and the kitten is about 6 months old. He kept attacking my mom whom is 73, so she asked me if I could take him and try to calm him down.
Well I'm not doing a very good job, he is a hell raiser He keeps attacking my dog and he attacks us; he is just nuts. I thought my mom was exaggerating, but he is bad. I'm afraid that my dog is going to hurt him, but she just runs from him. He attacks her full force like a bat on something. He attaches to her and I feel so sorry for her, but she loves the cat or seems to. When she's eating the kitten gets right under her and starts eating along with her and when we try to discipline the cat telling him no and pointing our finger at him, she gets upset. I love the little guy, but he is really bad. My mom got him from the humane society and he is fixed. Any suggestions would be great!
By Lori Jo
Is there any reason why you can't feed the two animals in separate rooms with door closed? Talk to your Veterinarian about the Cat's perilous conduct. Good luck.
To start with I would learn to clip the kittens nails or get the nail caps that slip onto the nails. It sounds like you have a really active cat. Time of course will take care of a lot of that. I would look for things that will keep him busy and active. Cat trees are great and scratching posts. Toys are great especially the wand toys that they chase and tire themselves out.
Watch out for strings... they tend to eat them. Kitties tend to quiet down a bit at around 8 months. Dogs are amazingly patient with silly kittens...they do seem to get it. Good luck to you.
Just keep the kittens claws clipped and leave them to it! I had a German Shepherd and got a wild little fur ball of a kitten. They were best friends! My baby dog passed away at 12 years of age and my wild kitten is still my best friend at 19 years old! He's calmed down a lot! LOL!
