Hissing kitten question......

[Becki]

My Nyah was a very shy girl and it took much in the way of patience and time to get her to allow me to touch her. Did you read "The Demon Under the Bed" byDeb (witchywoman)? That helped me immensely with Nyah. It took a good month before I could touch her, and many months before I could pick her up. She just decided one day to crawl in my lap, and is now a cuddler, but on her terms. And when she wants to be cuddled it means now, it doesn't matter that I am working or doing something else. She is still quirky and jumpy, but I can pet her, love on her and she is constantly with me. I just let her do things at her pace, and I do believe the minute I stopped worrying about when I could pet her was when she decided "okay, I will be your savannah cat now!"

She won't let others pet her, though. Me, my husband and occasionally my kids. That's it. No one else made her list. She will stay in the same room if we have guests, but no touching! Also, freeze dried chicken was key in this. Both of my cats lose their minds when they see the Scooby snack jar come out! I get the kind by Halo.

 

[Patti]

Hi , yes I've been bringing his food when I go in , I've not been leaving it- just dry food and water ( his favourite chicken & salmon go with me!)

He pretty much only comes out of his room and prowls about at night when we are all sleeping. No it wasn't his quarantine room that he poo'd in , turns out he's been peeing too :-(. No he doesn't know where the other cats litter box is and I've not caught him in the act so I don't know if he's nervous or not. My cats have one litter box each but they both use the same one( their choice!).

My more laid back cat just stays away from maverick but my Abyssinian is very curious and she tries to play but he just growls at her . Although this morning they got close enough to sniff noses before he got all grumpy.

Yes the breeder described him as feisty and he doesn't like touch at the moment. Unfortunately he doesn't behave any differently around the breeder and never really liked her touching him either lol

So then you ARE leaving food (kibble) in the room for him? If that is the case then you are defeating the goal of becoming his primary provider for food.

If you have not witnessed it, are you sure he is the one who is inappropriately peeing and pooing in the house? It is not unheard of for a resident to become resentful of the new kid on the block and express their displeasure in such a way. If you think it is Maverick then I would keep him confined in his quarantine room when he is unsupervised.

The feliway is a calming therapy, it has nothing to do with getting him to use the litterbox other than to make him less anxious so less likely to act out. However, if he was like this at the breeders, then it sounds like you are dealing with his basic personality and that might be harder to overcome. Nevertheless, I do believe with patience and persistence it can be done - just like with my potato chip girl who now crawls onto my lap to get scritches.

 

[flyswatter]

So then you ARE leaving food (kibble) in the room for him? If that is the case then you are defeating the goal of becoming his primary provider for food.

If you have not witnessed it, are you sure he is the one who is inappropriately peeing and pooing in the house? It is not unheard of for a resident to become resentful of the new kid on the block and express their displeasure in such a way. If you think it is Maverick then I would keep him confined in his quarantine room when he is unsupervised.

The feliway is a calming therapy, it has nothing to do with getting him to use the litterbox other than to make him less anxious so less likely to act out. However, if he was like this at the breeders, then it sounds like you are dealing with his basic personality and that might be harder to overcome. Nevertheless, I do believe with patience and persistence it can be done - just like with my potato chip girl who now crawls onto my lap to get scritches.

Thanks for that patti. Yes I will stop leaving kibble out. It's def him pooing &peeing in other rooms as my other cats are kept in the kitchen at night. I will keep him in his quarantine room when I'm out or at night now . How long should I do that for??

 

[Charley]

I don't know what others do but I sprayed Feliway on wherever I want them to go. I have used it on the cat bed, the human bed, the base boards of their rooms, outside their door. Wherever I want them to be cozy. I wouldn't recommend using it on scratch posts because you want them to scratch there so I use a bit of cat nip spray. Part of scratching is scent marking so I use Feliway on the couches so they cuddle there. You can also get a diffuser for his room, they are pricey but I've heard good things about them. It just mimics pheremones so they feel more comfortable which is why it's good for scratch prevention on cupboards and furniture. It helped my boys immensely become friends.

Petco sells organic calming treats, basically chamomile in a chicken flavor and my kitties seem to like them and it does calm them down quite a bit. I use them before vet visits and any other stressful situation like vacuuming lol. They also make rescue remedy for cats which I've heard good things about but haven't used. We used a similar liquid with Jengo and that helped a lot.

It sounds like he's marking with pee and poop. The Feliway might help with that. How does he get on with the other cats or have they met yet? We kept Biz in quarantine for a month.

If he comes out and eats with you in the room I would take the food with you when you leave. More incentive for him to come out and socialize. I only left food at night for Biz, otherwise he had fresh water, toys and litter. Also try to get a routine of play then eat, he will stay out longer and it's more time for you two together.

I can't free feed because Biz literally buries the food so when they walk away I put the food away and they have to come ask for it. It's a bit more of a pain as Jengo is a grazer but he's learning to eat an actual meal. If he doesn't Biz gets it or destroys it, lol. When they ask for food unless it's morning I play with them a bit then feed them. In our house a hungry cat is a friendly cat, lol! Now that I've stopped free feeding I can get them to do whatever I need with food as the motivator.

 

[Patti]

You need to continue to do that until you are convinced he is no longer going to eliminate in inappropriate places. You might also want to try adding Cat Attract to your litter to see if it helps keep him consistently use the litterbox.

I don't think you mentioned how old he is?

 

[flyswatter]

You need to continue to do that until you are convinced he is no longer going to eliminate in inappropriate places. You might also want to try adding Cat Attract to your litter to see if it helps keep him consistently use the litterbox.

I don't think you mentioned how old he is?

yes, i will do that - thank you

he is 12.5 weeks

 

[Patti]

So you got him when he was still quite young, that might explain a lot. I wonder if he was even completely weaned from mom? Poor kitty is a little shell shocked after being ripped away from momma and siblings at such a young age...

 

[flyswatter]

So you got him when he was still quite young, that might explain a lot. I wonder if he was even completely weaned from mom? Poor kitty is a little shell shocked after being ripped away from momma and siblings at such a young age...

yea i guess so - actually i think he must be 13.5 weeks as he was 11 weeks when we got him

 

[Patti]

11 weeks isn't so bad, I was thinking he was under 10 weeks when you got him.