Dammit, I Am *NOT* a Cat Person!

[fireheart]

Cat trees aren't too hard to make. My dad made one out of a couple of scratching posts we had lying around the house, two old drawers and some offcuts of wood we had lying around the house. They love it!

[Sliceanddice]

Kittens up to like 3 months aren't too bad. no worst than puppys.

after 2-3 months they start trying to climb every thing.

After 4 months they start trying to open doors.
If you have the kind with handles not knobs they will succeed.

5-12 months Wild Curious Kitty!!!!!

i look for to the post 2 months from now of you telling us that John (because i for some reason call all male kittys with names either john or snifflefrits) opened your bed room door, pounced on you and stole your flip flops.

[Pedersen]

So many posts to reply to for this. I'm sorry, I wasn't deliberately ignoring everybody. Just tired, cranky, dealing with getting to/from the vet. Oh, and getting a pic that I thought people would enjoy. Getting it lined up was a bit tricky, so I look annoyed, but it was definitely more on the "Do I have this right yet?". Anyway, linky: http://photos.icelus.tzo.com/v/MiscS...90454.jpg.html

So, first up: According to the vet, he's between 4 and 5 weeks old. Definitely not more than 5. And the pronoun "he" is appropriate.

He has fleas (so we're de-flea'ing the whole zoo this weekend, he gets dawn dish detergent, the dogs get actual anti-flea/tick stuff named 'Vectra'). She wasn't able to collect a stool sample, so we don't know if he has worms. She did a preventative thing, and gave him a deworming concoction to ensure he will be fine.

He hasn't let loose with a stool sample yet, and it's been almost 24 hours, so I'm getting kinda nervous there. The vet said she could feel his need to go, but didn't feel any blockage, so he should be able to go, on his own, soon.

During one of the waiting periods, they gave him some canned food. He ate it like he was starving, so canned food is what he will get.

I'll be going door to door with him tonight, and see if he belongs to anybody in the neighborhood. If that doesn't find an owner, I'll post some flyers, and hold out for a bit. All things considered, by now, I'll be surprised if he turns out to have a home (well, other than mine). I won't start saying this is his home until late next week, though. Very much trying to avoid the attachment in case he does have an owner out there that's looking for him.

I also checked with the vet: As long as I've got a secure place for him (and I do, we have an old dog crate that he's using right now), he can be left alone while I go to work. He's strong, he's healthy. He's not poopin, but that will hopefully be soon.

Aside from all that, I wound up hitting the multi-quote button a lot, and it looks like rather a few posts had questions that I've answered above. So, if you said something, and I didn't reply, it was because I already did so. I promise, right now, the only thing I'd ignore is advice on how to get rid of him.

And the opening of the mouth thing-check its body language. I've found that our youngest ratbag will open his mouth on occasion, but he's just playing.

This is the one thing that worries me. I'm not good at reading cat body language. He might be being serious, he might be just smelling, I don't know. I'm going to watch very carefully, though, as I try to figure it out.

If you're thinking about declawing the cat, please do research and make an informed decision.

Declawing is, in my opinion, a horrid practice, and I would not support it in any circumstance other than medical necessity or imminent danger to others if not done.

Then put him in the other room alone, go to bed, and ignore his cries the same way you'd (try to) ignore the cries of a young puppy left alone in a perfectly safe cage.

My major concern was that cats are somewhat known as escape artists. Our house is definitely not kitten proof. That means having someplace that I know is safe for him in the event of an escape is difficult. Working on it, though. In the end, last night, I sent the whole crate to the other end of the house, on the opposite floor, with three closed doors between me and him, and turned on my fan. I was finally unable to hear him, and get some sleep.

For some strange reason, I think I'll be getting to sleep earlier tonight.

He looks about six weeks old to me, a bit too young to take away from his mother, but that appears to have been done already.

I'm not at all sure "taken" is the right word there. I'm mostly convinced that he either wandered off on his own or was pushed out by his mother. Still too early, but, at least, not dangerously early.

As for getting the munchkin to quiet down and go to sleep so you can as well, I have heard that a mechanical alarm clock stuffed under a pillow resembles the mom's heartbeat enough for kittens to sleep with it, instead of you.

Having the SO pick up one of those on her way home tonight. That's an amazing idea, thank you!

Pedersen, I wouldn't worry about the fact that kitty keeps opening his mouth at you. The chances are excellent that this is simply what I call the "silent meow". My cats do it, too. I'm not sure why they do it, but they do.

Considering his age, and his actions while at the vet today, I think he was seeing my approaching fingers as teats, and opening up to get dinner. He was definitely nibbling on fingertips at the vet, but not trying to eat them, more like trying to get them to work the way his mom showed them they should.

Yes, he can be left alone in another room, in a cage, as long as he has food and water and some kind of litterbox.

He's got all of that. In fact, since it's an older dog crate, it's big enough to contain all of those, and give him space to wander inside.

How are your dogs responding to him? Do you have one that will "mother" him? That might help him to feel at home.

Two dogs, Rachel and Denali. Racehl seems mostly indifferent. Denali, on the other hand, is unbearably curious, and can barely stop licking him. The cat, on the other side, seems quite accepting of the dogs. The only time it's been an issue so far has been late at night, and Denali wouldn't get her nose out of his face.

Oh yeah, as Whiskey has mentioned in another thread....$125 cat tree < box naturally.

Oh, forget that. If there's a cat tree happening, I'm building it. They're not complex, and I need projects like that.

Young as the cutie is, he may not have been weaned to solid food yet, and some of the meowing may well be 'I'm hungry!'

I think that was some of it. After the food at the vet's office, he seems to have settled down for now. I'll definitely be making sure to keep the food level enough to keep him happy overnight

Did he poof up when he spit :3 oh god its so cute when they poof

No poofing that I saw. Sorry about that.

[zombiequeen]

This is your future

DUDE, my cat did that all the time! And, when I fixed his ear, he'd tackle me and lick my hands because he was happy.

Also, kitteh
>^..^<

[Fire_on_High]

You are now.

[Whiskey]

This is your future

[Mikkel]

Young as the cutie is, he may not have been weaned to solid food yet, and some of the meowing may well be 'I'm hungry!'

IIRC kittens begin eating when they are four weeks old. I don't think he can be that young. If he is, he is certainly a very big boy. Should he be that young, he will also need his stomach licked to aid his digestion. Don't worry, you can use a wet paper towel .
IS he a tom? It can be difficult to see at that age.

[Whiskey]

It is now 4:45am. for the past two and a half hours, I have tried to sleep. Since I don't feel like I can leave him alone safely in any other room, he is sleeping in mine. Well, actually, he is meowing in mine, while I curse the powers that brought him in to my life.

I told you. He'll get over it in a week or two once he starts rampaging your house at night. You'll learn to sleep through it.

Oh yeah, as Whiskey has mentioned in another thread....$125 cat tree < box naturally.

yeah im still bitter about this

Dont worry about him spitting at the dogs. He's just trying to establish his place in the house. Did he poof up when he spit :3 oh god its so cute when they poof

[It's me]

Lots of good info here........

http://www.catchow.com/SearchResults...icId=2&catId=2

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Okay, okay Pedersen-- I'll give you an off-chance that you're an animal person, rather than a cat person (but cats are animals too, thus... ). I second the "food" thing, it didn't occur to me at the time. If this continues for more than a few days, you might want to go to the local pet store/feed supply and ask about kittens, their milk, and dietary requirements. Or pawn him off on someone, but I always feel so bad for the animals at the shelter. Yeah, it's better than starving and getting hurt on the streets, but... at least he'd get adopted quick, being young/cute/a cat.
Theoretically.

[zombiequeen]

I remember when my mum found Sebastien and Gretchen, our two kittens. Their mum was seriously evil, like she went straight for the jugular evil. The kittens were alright, because as soon as they were old enough to be away from their mother, she was gone. Gretchen was so much like her mum that she went away too.
One thing about found cats, they can be super territorial. When Sebastien was an adult, if anyone made me raise my voice, he would attack them. Otherwise he was the sweetest cat ever.
His favorite toy was our big chocolate lab. He would snuggle with him, play with his ears and tail, try to ride on his back, everything. Jake eventually just raised Sebastien as his "puppy" and would let him do whatever. So be sure to warn your dogs.

[Kittish]

Young as the cutie is, he may not have been weaned to solid food yet, and some of the meowing may well be 'I'm hungry!'

To teach him to eat solid food, take whatever soft kitten food you've got and add a bit more water (if you don't have kitten milk yet, if you do add that) so it's kind of slushy. Mash up any solid pieces. Take a bit on the end of your finger and offer it to the kitten. If he licks it off, repeat while sort of leading him to the food dish. If he doesn't, touch a bit of the food to his lips and see if he licks them. Shouldn't take too long for him to get the idea, especially if he is hungry. Gotta keep in mind that babies eat more frequently than adults, so offer him food several times a day.

[telecom_goddess]

he's cute.....and he looks just like my boy cat, a tuxedo

I love kittens...I miss having them around.

[Dreamstalker]

*squeeee* Soo ADORABLE I just wanna reach through the screen and snuggle him.

Seconded on no string, ribbon, tinsel or anything of that sort, at least not if you're not at the other end (or a wide/thick string that he can nom but not swallow). Also be careful about houseplants, a lot can be poisonous to kittehs.

Toys that McGriff adored:

--Boxes
--Rings/caps from milk (someone once gave him the "spiky" ring off a soda bottle and it actually scratched his paws a bit)
--Hair clips
--Peas
--A craft-quality (real) otter tail on a string. I don't know what it was about the texture or latent smell or what, but that was the one toy he would NEVER get bored with.
--Yarn. Not in the usual cat way; he would plop himself right in the middle of whatever project mom was working on and try to "help". He had zero interest in yarn just lying around; there had to be a project going.

[fireheart]

Now, cats do love to stalk things, so if you want to tow a piece of twisted up paper around for him to chase use the waist-cord off of an old pair of pajamas or something like that.

That's what I've done with the cats. I just drag around that or I'll drag around something that won't fall to pieces easily.