Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: henryfudge on November 27, 2006, 13:05:52 PM

Title: naughty kittens
Post by: henryfudge on November 27, 2006, 13:05:52 PM
Hi there,

I have 2 male kittens, Henry and Fudge, they are tabbies and i got them from the Celia Hammond rescue centre.  We love them very much but their behaviour is driving me crazy.  We had them neutered last week and I naively thought they would calm down, but no!

I got home on Friday to find they had knocked the lid off my fish tank and Rodney, my goldfish, was lying in the middle of the floor...dead! :(
I have to say i was really upset with them both.  Over the last 2 weeks they seem to be making it their mission to destroy everything they can.  They drag items of clothing from one place to another, they have savaged a bunch of paper flowers and they have attacked several rolls of tissue paper.  they have also clawed my bed linin to within an inch of it's life and the curtains in the bedroom as well.  I realsie that this is generally normal behaviour and they are being playful...I would value them more than my belongings but i could do with some advise on hoe to calm them down.

They haven't been outside yet and I would liek to start letting them out but there are several very large neighbourhood cats and also a family of foxes that live over the road.  We want to cat proof our garden so that they can have the run of it.  Do you think this would help and how do we do it??

Thanks very much.

Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: CurlyCatz on November 27, 2006, 13:18:07 PM
sometimes castrating does make them slightly less boistrous but they will prob have similar hormone levels now as they did last week LOL, its takes a wee while for the hormones to drop off.

they will get better but give them time, their just babies having fun.
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Ela on November 27, 2006, 13:33:58 PM
Quote
We want to cat proof our garden so that they can have the run of it.  Do you think this would help and how do we do it??

They are not being naughty just typical kittens.

Have you seen the cat proofing garden offer on the auction?
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: henryfudge on November 27, 2006, 13:48:35 PM
Hmm, I am not sure my goldfish saw it that way...poor thing.
I will look at the auction for the cat proofing.  It's been a long time since I had kittens and had forgotten how energetic they can be. Wouldn't change them for the world as they ahve become more affectionate as well...which more than makes up for it. ;D
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on November 27, 2006, 14:17:40 PM
Hi  :welcome:
Sorry to hear about your goldfish  :( but Henry and Fudge are just being normal kittens.  They're at the equivilent of the human toddler stage and into everything!  I have an 11 month old and had also forgotten how energetic kittens could be before I got him.  I've had to put child proof locks on my kitchen cupboards.  I think catproofing your garden is a great idea, and you might want to go around your house trying to think like a cat and see if you can catproof it to protect your valuables! It's hard to blame them for knocking the top off the fishtank - if it can come off most kittens will find a way to get it off!
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Gail Bengal Slave on November 27, 2006, 14:34:43 PM
No such thing as naughty kittens, they are all the same, cheeky and playful.

Catproofing would be great, like susanne said look in the auction, if not Find Roz's posts and drop her a pm, Roz is the creator of securacat.  I have this in my garden, it has been there for a year now and no escapes.

1 through the front door by Thai but NONE through the catproofing. Deffo get it done.
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Claire M on November 27, 2006, 15:17:21 PM
Hi, your post made me laugh, although I'm sure you were not laughing so much, poor Rodney, but your kittens sound absolutely adorable, and full of nonsense, my Casper used to get up to allsorts of mischief when he was tiny, he used to sit in the washing machine and was almost put on a 40 degree cycle once, not to mention the dozens of leaves he would bring in and shred all over the carpet, just sit back and enjoy them while they are kittens, but I would definately do the catproofing thing. :)
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Susieh on November 28, 2006, 10:51:15 AM
I have to say that I disagree with Roz saying there are no naughty kittens  ;D My Maddy and Paddy were angelic kittens, apart from one or two toilet roll incidents, and so it was a shock when Freddy came along and destroyed everything in sight (and plenty out of sight too).  He was more destructive than my first dog who had seperation anxiety and used to chew the furniture!!  Fred shredded curtains, knocked over every ornament/vase/greetings card and basically anything portable in the whole house.  He has always had that naughty glint in his eye which is more than cheekiness!  :evillaugh:

He did calm down a little after neutering, but the major factor with him was being allowed outside.  He just had too much energy if he was indoors 27/7, no matter how much I played with him.  Now he is still a bit destructive sometimes, raids the bin (no idea how he gets the lid open) regularly even though he always has food down, bullies my other 2 cats and knocks stuff over all the time.  He is mellowing definitely though with age (now nearly 1.5 years old) though still by far the most active of my cats (the other 2 are just over 2 years old). He is ginger - I think that is a factor!!
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Ela on November 28, 2006, 18:28:36 PM
Quote
I have to say that I disagree with Roz saying there are no naughty kittens 

Kittens doing what yours did are just kittens being kittens, thats is what they do it is not naughtiness
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: brena on November 28, 2006, 18:45:53 PM
i have two kittens right now too and i had five at once a few years ago. i always keep kittens in thier own room when i am sleeping or out this tends to keep kitten mischief to a mimumum. i let them out when i am home that way i can see what they are getting into. it's more than just a matter of what they might distroy but you also have to worry about things they might get into that could hurt them. you didn't mention how old they are so i don't know if they are still young enough to accept being in thier own room. good luck with them.
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Fiona2 on November 30, 2006, 19:58:26 PM
Sorry to hear about Rodney :scared:. You could try diversion tactics. If you have the space you could try making a play area out of heavy duty cardboard boxes and cardboard tubes, cut various holes in the sides and tops and fix them together (masking tape comes in handy) to create different hidy holes for them to chase each other around in, great fun for them and also great fun for you to watch them popping out of different holes.  :evillaugh:
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: sheryl on December 01, 2006, 21:38:51 PM
RIP Rodney - They sound like they are real bundles of fun - enjoy them and do what I do - just laugh.
Title: Re: naughty kittens
Post by: Claire Hirsch on December 01, 2006, 23:44:26 PM
Someone's probably already suggested this but contact Roz on this forum for a wonderful garden (sadly not house and goldfish) cat-proofing system. (See the Christmas auction section for a thread offering this).