F2 Discipline and eating habits! HELP

[Kushiody]

Hello, I'm new to this fourm so please excuse my inexperience with this site

I recently purchased my newest fur baby an F2 Savannah called Amarii; he is a bundle of joy and cuddles with lots and lots of fun never a dull moment with him tearing through the house at 300MPH.
He is now 15 weeks old and settled in straight away no problems at all, no sickness and adjusted to our ways right away!
I've read on different forums about disciplining savannahs and which way to go about it and it seems everybody has different opinions; I've tried most of them; e.g time outs in carrier, bopping on the nose and he has improved with his biting but some things he still continues to do such as pouncing on my face at 12am at night whilst I'm half asleep! Just wondering which ways you'd suggest to discipline him, don't want to be too firm; tried positive reinforcement but it seems he learns that by being naughty he gets what he wants... Me to wake up and play lol!

Also; how do you suggest ways to perhaps get him to try eating chicks, he's never had them before and he seems interested but I don't think he knows what to do with it!

Thanks for any tips! Here's a cheeky photo of my little guy for you guys

 

[Rob1984]

you have to play with him like crazy before bed and tire him out if that doesn't work you might have to lock him out of your room at night

 

[Rob1984]

i only have an f6 tho so maybe an f2 needs more work but i usually do this every night with mine every night chase the laser pointer for like half an hour then feed him then he is usually good till about 8am then he is waking me up for sure if im not up yet

 

[Rafiki]

Goodness what a cute little face! The brown patch right above his nose makes his nose look like it is shaped like a heart! Welcome to the forum!

The first thing you need to learn is that "no" to a Savannah means "try harder" and should be used very sparingly. This will become very obvious as he gets older. For really bad behavior like biting, you need to act like another cat and squeal or yelp loudly when he bites to let him know that this hurt and push him away and ignore him. This is how cats teach kittens boundaries while playing.

For other behaviors, the best thing to do is redirect his attention. Savannahs are ridiculously persistent but can be easily distracted with another toy. And, as Rob1984 stated, wear him out! Feather wand toys and Da Bird are great for this. You will find that he wears you out instead of the other way around so playing fetch is great!

As far as eating chicks....I will let others chime in on this one. My cats only eat raw but I was never able to get them to figure out that chicks or pinkies are food. I tied a string around the neck (dead obviously!) and ran around the kitchen like an idiot. They thought that it was great fun, gave chase, and played and played and played but never figured out that this was food.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I have no experience feeding chicks so can't help there.

Agreed with Rafiki that discipline should be used sparingly...and try to avoid any disciplinary action that takes place afterwards and not at the time of the behavior. You don't want the kitten to think you a randomly mean human! I'm not saying you have, just something to be aware of.

In terms of pouncing on your face in the middle of the night, what I have always done is scruff the kitten and say no firmly and drop off the side of the bed. If they come back then I scruff them, take to the door of the bedroom and place outside and shut the door. I might not sleep for their meowing and scratching at the door but I stay in there at least an hour if not the rest of the night (depending what time this occurs). After a couple nights of that, I find that they learn that this behavior does not get them the attention they want. Good luck! Some kittens are more persistent than others in behavior, so you may in turn need to be more persistent!

 

[admin]

I second what others have said. As for chicks, you can cut into them and give them, so the kitten tastes them. He may play with them at first, but should get the hang of it. If not, he may just not like them


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[Remi's Mommy]

As far as chicks go, making the kill, and then figuring out that it's food is the hard part. Cheetahs and serval have to teach the cubs to hunt and kill. They instinctively give chase, but once they get it it's only a really cool toy. So make the kill first, then let them watch you pluck some feathers and reveal some meat. This usually does the trick.


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[admin]

As far as chicks go, making the kill, and then figuring out that it's food is the hard part. Cheetahs and serval have to teach the cubs to hunt and kill. They instinctively give chase, but once they get it it's only a really cool toy. So make the kill first, then let them watch you pluck some feathers and reveal some meat. This usually does the trick.


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You don't have to go through all that... My 4 month old kitten has been devouring chicks for three weeks now... As an fyi... Servals have kittens not cubs...


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[John Popp]

On the chicks, as Paige stated, just slice them and they'll get it figured out. too might need to make a game out of it for awhile, but they will learn quickly.

Also, be careful with chicks, they aren't exactly the best food source and cats can take to them like a zombie wanting more brains.