YEE have not named him yet.
His bro:
Gorgeous cats. How old?
And you must tell us when you have named them.
How long have you had them? And what is their story?
Well this is a bit terrifying. Iâve only owned them for a week and they are only 11 weeks, and am pretty worried about messing something up. In particular, they donât seem to be eating the dry food I have at all, and only like the wet food (and even then, one is eating way more than the other). Also. one is something of a play-biter, which Iâve been told to discourage â but not sure how exactly to do that? I am glad I got the brothers together though because they keep each other company and play all the time.
They are a ton of fun though and surprisingly affectionate. They both are shelter cats who were rescued but I donât know much more than that! In reading the rest of this thread I am kicking myself for not getting a pet sooner. I need a dog nowâŚ
Itâs not uncommon for young cats to prefer wet food. They should grow out of it eventually. Mine did anyway. It took a while. But after a couple of months, I started putting some kibble in a dish beside the wet food. He didnât take to it right away, but after a while he eventually gradually switched over to the dry food. Just give 'em what they want when theyâre that young.
Gotcha thank you so much! Thatâs reassuring, I was worried they were going to starve themselves by not eating enough dry food. I suppose they are just happy to be out of the shelter so anything is better than that. They are remarkably self-sufficient so Iâm sure they will be fine.
You ought to build a cardboard castle for them to fight in. In the other pet thread here, McMaster has a great one up and running. Iâd try to give you more advice, but your cats probably werenât born as perfect angels like mine was. She was so virtuous that if you offered her wet food, she would lick it once just to be polite and then decline.
Those boys do look regal though. Maybe find some really awesome kings to name them after.
Cute kittens!
Assuming youâre talking about play-biting you, the main trick is never use one of your body parts as a toy or distraction. Itâs hard, because it can be loads of fun. However, it will lead to bad habits and family/friends will be surprised by seemingly random nips. As kittens, they wonât usually mind too much. But when theyâre bigger with correspondingly larger teeth, it can lead to people not wanting to visit.
Toys on sticks, crinkle balls, laser pointers, etc. are fine. As itâs already a habit, you need to follow behavior extinguishing steps (play dead when it play bites).
If itâs play-biting your other kitten, thatâs gonna happen. However, to reduce it, play with your kittens A LOT (using appropriate toys or simply running around with them). If itâs not helping enough, using a very short burst (quick pull of the trigger) from canned air to make a hissing noise during inappropriate behavior tends to work to startle, but Iâd save it as a nuclear option or else theyâll grow used to it. Oh, and NEVER spray it at the kitten; itâs just a noisemaker.
re: one not eating as much, youâve already received good advice on food. Still, make sure you check back with the vet with both, just in case. GI issues can be brutal (and expensive) if not nipped in the bud.
Great thank you! Do you know anything about laser pointers frustrating cats because they canât ever âcatchâ it? I have heard conflicting things on that. But they love these crinkle balls I just picked up from Petco. Thank you again for the advice! Especially:
I had indeed been holding my hand up over their heads and kind of dangling itâŚ
Had a laser pointer for a while. My dog now gets pissed off every time I pick it up.
Somehow I missed this post. Thanks a lot, Iâm going to check out the cardboard castle. These guys already love Amazon boxes, and treat them like little houses/forts.
Yeah when these cats decline the wet food, they have a look of disgust. Definitely not that polite about it.
Ah, thatâs become a bit of an Internet thing; with any playâlaser pointer or otherwiseâyou want to have some kind of payoff at the end. Keep in mind, play which mimics their natural behavior (hunting/chasing, in this case) is right up their alley. This is also why you get play-bites and why kittens wrestle with each other, as it mimics their natural behaviors (remember always: cats are beautiful, adorable, snobbish psychopaths constantly training to gut someone in seconds flat). They know theyâre not doing the real thing, and the experience of chasing around is the main goal. That said, there are good and not-as-good ways of handling it.
Tips for using âthe red dotâ (as itâs called in my household):
- Donât use it all the time or for too long. Cats will get bored with any toy theyâre constantly exposed to (this is also important with all the other toys you have and will get: cycle through them and reintroduce old favorites).
- Get one with an audible click when you push the button. This can be a handy summoning tool when youâre wondering where theyâve wandered off or a good way to distract them from other behavior.
- Praise them while theyâre chasing it. Many new cat owners may not know this, but yes; cats learn some English (or whatever language one speaks) over time. The words they pick up/pay attention to are those which tend to have importance to them. And even when they donât, your tone becomes understood. So if you play, they chase, you praise and thenâŚ
- ⌠give a treat after theyâre done, theyâll look forward to the sessions that much more and also learn the strange sounds you make could have some meaning/value. If a treat isnât an option for whatever reason, have it vanish by another toy they can then pounce on.
- Donât have it suddenly turn off in front of them. Have it wrap around a corner or up over a bend they canât see so they can keep their imaginations active and look forward to the next time the red dot comes to visit.
- Keep the movements âlife-likeâ as much as possible. Pretend itâs a little creature wandering about, poking its nose out to see if they notice it, and then when they do their butt wiggles and pounce, have it run away just ahead of them (this takes practice on your part).
Important note re: treats - not good for newborns or super young kittens, but at your kittensâ age theyâre perfectly fine. Again, donât make it a constant thing, or else theyâll learn to rely upon the treats as a primary food rather than their balanced meals. Oh, and you may also need to try out a few to see which they prefer. For your own sanity, find something they both like (and again be prepared they may someday turn their collective noses up until you give them something else, because theyâre cats).
A piece of advice for your cats while they are still kittens:
Rub their paws, and trim their claws. Doing this while they are little is much easier, and then when they get older, they donât mind as much.
Assuming they are indoors cats, having trimmed claws is a nice thing for preventing accidental hooks.
I got my old cat King when he was already an adult, and he wasnât gonna accept that kind of thing, but Max and Claudia tolerate it pretty well. Claudia more than Max, and i usually can only trim a few toes at a time, but it gets the job done.
I always give them treats afterwards, and they only had thing is that now when i trim Max, Claudia comes in and interrupts because she wants the treats.
Much appreciated! I was worried about this, but what you say about the treats makes sense. It sounds like treats should be what, every other day approximately? Iâll give it a whirl. So far they only have two other toys and Iâm looking to get more (one is really not a toy, but a scratch post with a bird; the other is a three-tiered ball platform thingy).
Thanks for this as well. So rub the paws just normally so they get desensitized? One of my friends came over to trim the catsâ claws and they fought like hell â one more than the other. (I didnât even realize you have to push the claws to extend them). Treats are a good idea to make that more tolerable. This is very good to hear:
Yes, generally do stuff that you want to do while they are young, then they will get used to it. Donât new things when a cat is older is more likely to just freak them out. Although cats are weird, so who knows.
I just know that trimming my cats claws when they were little made them more tolerant of it.
Be super careful though. I always err on the side of caution, and leave them a little long rather than risk cutting the quick and hurting them. I did that once to Claudia, and i think i felt worse about it than she did.
This is hilarious.
Yeah I am living in fear of one mistake traumatizing these guys for a long time. I mean, right now they are play fighting really aggressively, so I assume they are okay with getting dinged up a bit. But I sometimes mess up cutting my own nails! And never forgive myself.
Sounds about right. :)
Judy is getting better with the crate, she has been accident free in the crate for about 4 days. So, we bought her a Kong brand chew resistant, water resistant bed. She eats meals in the crate, and all of her toys are stored there (at least the ones ok to leave her alone with) and she will run over, select a toy and then dive onto her bed to play.
She is still being a bit difficult with the cats. The cats are getting braver every day, but Judy just canât handle the cats. She whines, she gets fixated, she was barking last night (and she rarely barks). We have been doing training with her, rewarding her for ignoring the cats, getting the cats treats/catnip near the baby gate we have set up. But, when we are watching TV on the other side of the room, she will wander over there and get worked up without us there.
So now, we do âtime-outâ in the crate. If she barks at the cats, it is time-out until she calms down (10 minutes or so). I know she doesnât want to harm the cats, she just really wants to get over to them to sniff/play, but they donât want to do that just yet.
Anyway, if you ever get a dog or puppy, crate training is 100% the way to go. She really digs her crate now, and will go there voluntarily for naps/cool down time. Sheâll still whine in the crate for about 30 seconds when we leave her (4-5 hours at a time tops, I drive home for lunch during work to let her out)
But, she is learning well, and she is super sweet, very laid back and calm for a puppy. She can get worked up into a frenzy though, but mostly she is cool as a cucumber, especially around other dogs, she will sit and stare, but no barking, etc.
She is supposedly a 50/50 anatolian/pyrenees cross, but I seriously doubt that. There has to be some boxer/hound mixed in
Obligatory pics.
Also, she is a big girl, but I doubt she will get even close to 100 lbs, she has big paws and lanky legs, but I feel like she will be more in the 60-80lb range when fully grown.
She likes to get loooong.
Is she displaying any herding/shepherd behavior? Herding the cats? Perimeter walks? Checking on everyone just to make sure wolves havenât gotten them every 15-20 minutes or so?
Haha, from those photos she really uses her bedâŚto lie close to. Or maybe the couch looks betterâŚ
I think that might be what is happening at the baby gate set up, is she will sit and watch the cats. She will often head off by herself and sit on the stairs. But I wonder if that is because she has to potty. She definitely does a lot of check-ins with us when we are home, she will wander around and come back, sit with us quietly on the couch for a minute, and then go off to play with toys/wander.