Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: FellasMommy on July 15, 2011, 16:44:26 PM
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Hi everyone,
I am new here but already need some advice :) I adopted my male kitten (Fella) last Friday, and the woman who had him told me that his mum had stopped feeding him and he was already weaned. He is weaned and eats kitten food fine, but he is only 6 weeks old! I think this was way too early for him to be away from his mum, but anyway, I think he may be teething as he constantly chews on my fingers and wrists, he bites hard sometimes but most of the time he just chews and he doesnt respond to me trying to stop him. I was wondering if there is anything he can have to help him...and my fingers lol
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:welcome: to Purrs. Yes 6 weeks is too young for a kitten to be taken from his mum. Here is a link to some info you may find useful and it does include the biting issue http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4793.0.html (http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4793.0.html)
It would be lovely to see some pics of the little man :)
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:thanks: I knew he was too young :( But I didn't want to not take him, I was worried about where he would end up as she obviously didn't care about his welfare, I am doing my best for him and I have him booked in at the vets when he is 9 weeks for his vaccinations and a full health check. He is an adorable little boy, I am very tolerant of his biting as I know he cant help hit, he doesn't hurt. His gums look quite red, but all in all he is very healthy. I will try to get some snaps up of him soon :) Thanks for your help!
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6 weeks aww how tiny - glad he has ended up with someone who cares
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One trick to stop the biting if he does get a bit carried away is to blow in his face or make a "hiss". If he was with his litter mates and things get rough or one of them bites too hard they would would hiss at each other to stop the game ;)
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Thanks for the tip :) Hissing doesn't work, but blowing on his face does. I have read that tieing a knot in a small towel and making it damp with cold water will help with teething, is that safe?
He is tiny bless him, but he is very happy and active, he does sleep approx 16 hours a day but when he is awake he is very playful and is a very good boy for using his litter tray and he is ok with his kitten food. I hate to think where he might have ended up :(
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Blowing in our Groucho's face helped a lot with his ishoos when he first arrived too :) and even now he will make his escape if I make blowing noises from many feet away.
A word to the wise ......if Fella is anything like Groucho, the biting will also involve chewing anything available so be extra vigilant about wires........ thin telephone and hi fi wires were Grouchos particular speshulty and cost a lot of dosh to fix :innocent:
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Thanks for the tip :) Hissing doesn't work, but blowing on his face does. I have read that tieing a knot in a small towel and making it damp with cold water will help with teething, is that safe?
He is tiny bless him, but he is very happy and active, he does sleep approx 16 hours a day but when he is awake he is very playful and is a very good boy for using his litter tray and he is ok with his kitten food. I hate to think where he might have ended up :(
I can't see that it would do him any harm and all cats like towels to snuggle up with so this is probably a good idea.
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Oh yes, he likes wires, so we have made sure they are out of reach and safely tucked away in cable tidies. I don't think people realise the importance of a kitten satying with its mum for the right period of time. He now has a flannel with a knot in it that we keep cool and everytime he goes to bite and chew our hands, we give him that, it really works and he slept with it last night :Luv2:
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A tip about chewing wires - there's a product available on Amazon that is designed to stop animals chewing stitches after surgery, it's called bitter apple (made by Grannicks) and tastes like that stuff they put on childrens fingernails to stop nail biting - just horrible :sick:- but perfectly safe.
Its a spray and I keep a bottle handy. I have a cat who tends to overgroom his tummy area, and I smear a small amount on his tummy fur when he get the urge and it stops him doing this, so I know it works.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bitter-Spray/dp/B001A2X4H8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310820755&sr=8-1
Wipe a little of this on your cables, and anything else he's chewing (your hands?) and Fella will soon get the idea that cables taste :sick: :)
Do you think he would benefit from a warm cuddle toy for those long evenings? Steer clear of the lavender fragranced ones - not good for cats - but this little guy is a firm favourite with the newbies in our house. :hug:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Petstages-Puppy-Cuddle-Soft-Microwave/dp/B001F42NKA/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1310820370&sr=8-16
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Thanks for the links! I will order some of the spray as it worries me so much when attempts the wires, even with the cable tidies on them. That cuddle pal looks brilliant, I am sure he will love it as we dont allow him in the bedroom over night, he sleeps on the landing in his cat bed with a fleece blanket. The first few nights he was here he fell asleep on my dressing gown and refused his bed (we think its because it smelt of me) so he has stolen my dressing gown lol With him being so young that microwave cuddle pal may be just what he needs as it could imitate the warmth of his siblings maybe?
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If your dressing gown is a towelling one than I'm not surprised his has adopted it. All the cats I have ever know all love a nice snuggly towel or dressing gown ... and if it's freshly laundered and straight out of the tumble dryer it's even better :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I'm sure he would love one of those little microwave pals to sleep with at night :Luv2:
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Archie was about the same age when we took him in as he was about to be dumped into the street! >:( He has always been a biter and it is his form of play! Actually when we came back from our holidays Sean said "Look at your hands they don't have a mark on them" I tend to play rough and tough with Archie so my hands are clawed to shreds!