need new kitten advice

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Oomy
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need new kitten advice

Post by Oomy »

Hi all, new to the forum and new cat owner, looking for some advice
😊
We adopted a 9 week old kitten 2 weeks ago. She was living wild and was found with her siblings and mother in a trap and sadly her mother past away.

She was very timid and shy at first but she has now come out of her shell and just wants to play! The problem is she has her claws out all the time and plays very aggressively and won't let anyone pet her without biting or scratching. Does anyone have any tips?

Also, she is currently on 2 pouches of Felix as good as it looks for kittens and and a small 20 grams Purina one dry food. On the back of the box it states that we should be feeding her between 2.5 to 3 pouches per day but our vet says we are overfeeding her and should be giving her 1 to 1.5 pouches. She currently weights 1300 grams and now 11 weeks old. She's very active and loves climbing! Should we be feeding her less and just once in morning and at night?
Shou
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fjm
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Re: need new kitten advice

Post by fjm »

Firstly food. I always reckon young kittens self regulate, eating more when they are in a growth spurt and less in between times, so unless she is very definitely overweight or your vet has specific reasons for concern I would feed her according to appetite, and four times a day. Even adult cats prefer to eat many small meals a day, rather than one or two large ones.

Play fighting is normal, but painful. If she attacks bare flesh freeze - pulling away will trigger her to hold tighter and will hurt more. Use toys that keep your hands at a distance - fishing rod toys, long fabric snakes and similar that you can waggle and drag along and she can grab, ping pong balls to chase, etc. At present she is playing as she would with litter mates and needs to learn the lesson they would teach - play too rough and the game stops. If she hurts you remove yourself - little by little she will learn that stroking and playing are pleasurable and that biting and clawing make them stop, but it will take time and repetition.
anthonydrowow
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Re: need new kitten advice

Post by anthonydrowow »

We monitored the cat's behavior and weight accordingly. Kittens are different, with different personalities and activity levels. If the cat is active, her calorie intake is high. In addition, she is growing and that takes energy as well. So if there is no problem with the weight, then feed as before
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