Kitten behaviour

[Mollysmummy]

Hi all, we have a fairly shy 1 1/2 year old cat who we felt was lonely as it was her first time living as an only cat when she came to us. We got a kitten 2 weeks ago who is now 10 weeks old.

Apart from hisses when he gets too close and one or two swipes, she seems to be tolerating him and allowing him to come closer as time goes by.

Our issue is he's a typical kitten; into everything. We keep him in a huge dog cage overnight so we know he's safe and can't get out the cat flap. other than this we try to keep him in the living room. Over the past 4 days or so we've let him into the other downstairs rooms.

As soon as he gets out he's straight at our other cats food, which obviously isn't suitable for him, and I'm just concerned that our older cat will feel pushed out as we've had to shut the door to upstairs effectively halving her territory as he can get upstairs but not down them.

I suppose I'm asking for any advice on whether you think a 10 week old kitten would be able to use the cat flap? Also are we being overly worried about him getting into trouble and trying to watch him?

[Mollysmummy]

Also does anyone have any tips on helping our little guy gain weight? We know treats aren't the healthiest addition asctheyre full of fat. He's on whiskas kitten food, kitten dry biscuits and every day has a bit of kitten milk. He has a very healthy appetite but when he went for his first vaccinations the vet said we needed to feed him up...he was 10 weeks and weighed 880g

[Crewella]

Congrats on you new kitten! How often are you feeding him?

[Mollysmummy]

We try to make sure he has wet and dry down at all times; as soon as he finishes a bowl we refill. I also give him kitten milk as well as water. I was told at a pet food shop today that dry is better for kittens as wet is 80% water so they get more nutrients etc per bite from dry, is this right?

He seems to prefer wet food, then moves to his biscuits after he's had enough wet. He loves the milk though which I guess must be good for building him up.

He's 11 weeks today; we got him at 8 weeks and he's definitely grown length wise since we got him, but he is still quite bony. He doesn't sleep much during the day as he's too busy playing so I guess he could be using up more energy.

[Crewella]

Dry food is certainly more calorific, but cats have evolved to get most of their water needs from their food, so I'm personally very wary of feeding dry food only.

I'm no expert on kittens, but I'm wondering if it might be worth leaving the dry food down all the time but giving the wet food at set 'mealtimes' 3-4 times a day. If he's not a very food orientated cat he might lose interest if it's there all the time and value it more if there's an excitement about fresh food going down. That used to work for me with elderly cats, I found they did eat more overall that way, so it might be worth a try?

Hopefully someone with more kitten experience will be along soon!

[luvmycat]

my Cats dry food is in the bowl full always and she tells me when she wants her wet food.. its normally at regular mealtimes breakfast lunch supper

[Mollysmummy]

Our 1 1/2 year old cat is going out less this week as its turned cold and wet, daytime isn't an issue but in the evenings we're trying to bring them together for periods of time so they get used to each other and because I feel awful shutting the older one out.

Kevin shows normal behaviours and does try to pounce on Molly sometimes; sometes they meet unexpectedly and just sniff each others faces and walk off; other times Molly purposely chases and lashes out at him hissing. My instinct is to protect tiny Kevin but I know they need to work out their pecking order.....as we have no kitten experience what is the point at which we should separate them? It means taking Kevin into another room with us and leaving Molly which I feel terrible about.

[bobbys girl]

and just sniff each others faces and walk off;

That's a good sign, that is a friendly greeting. Our Bob and Tommy always greet each other like that.

[Mollysmummy]

We've just had confrontations, pouncing, swiping and hissing tonight! Luckily it's bedtime and we can separate them for the night. I know it's completely normal to have confrontations, but it's more stressful than I'd imagined! I'm mostly worried about our older cat, especially as Kevin grows and explores more of the house that she will feel she has no space of her own any more.

[greenkitty]

When I adopted Pip as a kitten we would give her 4 meals a day which were a mix of wet and dry, if she finished everything we would give a little more, someone told me (not sure if it's true) that kittens don't overeat... As you say he's using a lot of energy tearing around so will probably be on the lean side, I gradually cut her down down to 2 meals a day from about 5 months old and when she was 8 months old I switched her to adult food, 2 meals a day. I found Pip started to put on weight after she'd been spayed.

I can't free feed as I have another cat with IBD so meal times are always supervised.