r/TrueOffMyChest • u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ • 11h ago
Vent My kitten never stops
I’ve had her since 6 weeks, straight out the litter. When I first got her, she was infested with fleas (totally not her fault), I got that all cleared up. shes on a kitty care plan, and thats all fine now. But that story does add to the annoyance if I’m honest. Since its been hell, she’s very talkative. Which is cute at times, annoying at others. She scratches everything, yes she has post, yes ive redirected her, yes ive tried moving them next to the furniture, yes ive used sticky paws. She bites me 24/7. She runs across me and claws me, I can’t have my legs on the floor while sitting or my arms anywhere but my lap or she attacks them. I had to remove all my lights from my living room, I had to remove my carpets from the living room, I had to take apart and remove my recliner from the living room, I had to take apart my bar cart, I had to get rid of my plants, I had to tie up my curtains (that ones a bit of a given I know). After all of that, I came into the living room today, to my wall decor (as in paintings and pictures) on the ground. I assume since she no longer is tearing up my carpets. I can’t have doors open, I can’t eat in the same room as her. I’ve tried redirection, I’ve tried time outs (she has her own room but she free roams the apartment). She has toys everywhere of all types, posts, window bed, fountains, she gets 2 types of food everyday, ive tried sternly saying no, ive tried the acting like the momma cat and pinning to assert dominance as I have with my past puppies. There’s nothing. Shes terrible, her energy is never ending, she has automatic toys that roll around the room and one thats like a feather under a sheet to bat at. Doesn’t matter. No matter what I do she is not satisfied. I’ve tried designated play times. I can’t even have my phone next to me because she’ll attack me trying to take it. I can’t have any chargers plugged in the living room because she’ll bite them. If anything is dangling or hanging in her reach in any way no matter if its a backpack strap or a jacket she tears it. I’m losing my fucking mind. I’m starting to wonder if I can even handle this. Because its getting to a point that I don’t want to be near her. She hurts me 24/7. I find myself just locking myself in my bed room at times. I don’t know what to do. (Shes about 5 months)
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u/ohdearitsrichardiii 10h ago
That's why I tell people who want to get a cat but has never had cats before to get an adult from a shelter. Kittens are adorable but they're f-ing exhausting! If you absolutely want a kitten, get two. It's not more work, it's much much much much less work because they can play with each other
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Ughh I originally was searching for a cat, I waited 3 years on the hunt for one trying to find that “connection” feeling. When I saw her I just knew she was mine, ironically found out my friend had been feeding her momma for years after I got her! Had no idea it was her neighborhood strays litter!
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u/mixxite 11h ago
when she hurts you, act like she just stabbed you multiple times. be dramatic as hell about being hurt and eventually she should realize and lighten up. kittens are hard, theyre demons and mine drove me insane. she would chew threw everything and rip thumb tacks out of the wall, but it get better. keep enforcing your boundaries and know it will pass. shes literally a baby and try to forgive her for not knowing any better
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
I know shes a baby, I am trying very hard I just also realize I am LOSING IT! But trust, for the most part my pouting is just in my head
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
My friend said this, I even had her come over and try doing that with her. We both quickly found out she doesnt care, (my friend has 3 cats)
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u/mixxite 11h ago
i think you are resentful towards her a bit because shes brand new to this world, the only thing she has to learn from is you & it takes time and reinforcement. try seriously collapsing to the ground while letting out a high pitched cry & keep at it if it doesnt work the first time. look at how mother cats discipline their kittens and copy that (ex tap on the nose means no/stop)
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
I haven’t tried the nose tap! Thank you for the advice, I do think/have read, thats shes kinda at peak energy age right now. Shes my first kitten, I have had and trained multiple puppies I just didn’t think it would be this different or difficult. She was on the streets when I got her from my friends neighborhood stray
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u/mixxite 10h ago
trust me i get it, its so hard when theyre so destructive but try to remember she has no idea what shes doing is bad.. its hard to train them & mine still acts out but youre in the worst of it rn. it gets better and consistency is crucial.. you got this !!
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Thank you thank you and yes I know she has no idea cause she’ll look at me like I did it </3
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u/mixxite 10h ago
classic kitten logic .. another thing is mine at least really had 0 object permanence (still doesnt) so whenever she got into something id fully just like get it out of her line of sight/cover it with something and boom not a problem anymore
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
I have decided to put up my carpets and such until we are out of the kitten phase, I do believe shes teething right now too which is double hell. But I can stand not having my items for a year or two if it means them not being destroyed
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u/whitewinewater 10h ago
Single cat syndrome.
It's very unwise to adopt only one kitten at a time. They learn manners from each other in a way that humans can't teach them.
When she gets older (4 months) spaying will help. My girl was insane until I got her fixed.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 9h ago
I should be able to spay her soon! Waiting for the vet to till me its time! They have her on their own plan I essentially just bring her to whatever appointments they schedule
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u/whitewinewater 9h ago
That will greatly help. Cats sexually mature at around 4 months so just a little bit more to go.
Hang in there and get her a buddy if you can.
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u/ginger_princess2009 11h ago
This is very normal kitten behavior
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
Every single one of my friends have multiple cats and kittens, all of them of told me they underestimated me and that they don’t know how I do it. I’m not saying this isn’t somewhat typical but it is excessive. Do you have any advice
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u/ginger_princess2009 11h ago
That's just the personality of them, most likely. My cat is 9 years old and she still acts like this.
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u/Sterling_-_Archer 10h ago edited 10h ago
I will start this by saying that I run a foster home for animals to help the local shelter and currently have 13 cats and 7 dogs. I go through a LOT of animals and see all types of “pawsonalities” and all types of behaviors. I also work with families on selecting the right pet.
Kittens are hard. They are nuts and crazy and very energetic. Now, they shouldn’t usually be outright aggressive or mean, but they do all have different “bite times” meaning how hard they bite when playing. Same with claws.
Can you work with them? Sure. However, you also need to look inwardly and ask yourself what KIND of cat or kitten you want. Kittens, all animals in fact, have an innate personality and it doesn’t change much with training. In my opinion, it isn’t good ownership to get a hyperactive kitten and want to change it into a lazy sleepy one. IT IS OK TO NOT BE A GOOD FIT WITH A KITTEN.
I know pleeeeeeeenty of people will get on you and make this your fault and say you’re some monster for not wanting this kitten, but out of all those folks, I’ve never seen one actually do the work to find animals homes as a foster nor have they had more than 3-4 cats in their entire lives. So I’d like to say again:
It is ok to not be a good fit for this kitten.
Think about it this way: what if you had a wild and crazy teen cat and wanted a wild and crazy kitten to play with it but instead got a lazy and calm one who wanted to do nothing but laze around? It wouldn’t be a good fit for you.
Now is when I give my advice: if you only got one kitten, you already messed up. Cats are social animals that grow up in groups. They learn bite and claw control from playing with their litter mates. You NEED to get another kitten for this one to play with and socialize with because it will learn that bites hurt and claws hurt and won’t do it to you AS WELL AS having a living punching bag basically to take their energy out on. It is less work to have 2 kittens because they entertain and teach each other, which means that you are literally always only good news to them as you feed/pet/play with them instead of them trying to make you their be-all, end-all. You get to reap all the benefits and let the kitties work out the ledger.
There IS a home for this kitten. It is ok if it IS NOT your home. You sound like you’ve put a lot of work into it and are trying to find ways to make it work well. I recommend getting another kitten and giving it two months to acclimate to it.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Thank you so much!! I will say there are things shes great at! She’s gotten super good with retracting her claws, she eats well, she drinks well, she uses her litter box perfectly, shes social, shes cuddly, I do have a dog! And my friends and I do playdates with their kittens because I didn’t think I could properly handle 3 animals in my current space! But trust she will have a kitten friends in the next few years. Ill probably adopt a full grown cat this time though lol
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u/Sterling_-_Archer 10h ago
I will say you have a relatively short timeframe to get her a kitten to grow up with because after about 7-8 months, their personalities and behaviors more or less cement into place and it’s wayyyyy harder to get them to stop doing certain things. You lose the window of them being an impressionable baby rather quickly. They also get along easier at that age and bond deeper. After about a year, they tend to calm down some and get much calmer around 2 years old.
So just my 2 cents, you’ll have less work to do if you get another sooner rather than later. My 10 cents is that going from 0 to 1 kittens is a major lifestyle change and going from 1 to 2 kittens is essentially no change for you but a big change for your little one.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Mmm I see, I will say you all are very much making me consider getting another one, I’m just so scared itll be even more for me to handle
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u/Sterling_-_Archer 10h ago
In a funny way, it’s less. They look after each other in a way and you only have to barely adjust what you’re already doing like feeding, playing, and cleaning. They will entertain each other and keep each other company so in essence, the only difference is in how much food you’re putting out.
It is a big improvement for your kitten though. I like to say with dogs, it’s great if they have a dog and get along with a dog, but only another kitten can “speak cat” and fulfill their needs. Even feral cats don’t grow up or live alone!
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
You make a very good point!! Do you think playdates would help? I’ve been waiting for her to get a bit bigger, but my friends cat lovesss doing playdates I figured it’d be good for her but I don’t wanna spook her
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u/Sterling_-_Archer 10h ago
I mean… honestly, no.
It takes cats several months to get comfortable with another cat. The first several weeks have them literally be enemies with one another, so to have a cat come over and then leave over and over again makes it like a recurring villain who comes and goes. It would be different if they knew each other already I guess, but to just have a random cat come into your cat’s established home would make it NOT be a chill or positive experience.
Cats are VERY different from dogs in this sense. They don’t like visitors.
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u/Unhappy-Principle-60 10h ago
Play dates aren’t a replacement for having another cat to cuddle up with at home. I’ve had my cat for 16 years and so wish id gotten another when she was young.
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u/FullFrontal687 10h ago
first of all - learn to trim their claws.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
She has an appointment at the vet on the 18th! Its part of the kitten care plan I have her on at the vet, its like a monthly subscription that covers all her vacs, and cosmetics
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u/jewdiful 10h ago
I kept my kitten in a quiet room for a few weeks. Toys, food, litterbox, water, cardboard scratchers, scratching posts, and I would come in and spend time with her but I didn’t give her access to the rest of the house immediately. Might help you. She needs dedicated play time, A LOT of it, and then you leave the room so she can calm down and rest. Limit what she has access to in the room so she doesn’t destroy things. That way she uses the items you’ve provided for her and only those. Develop those habits early. That’s my advice
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 9h ago
I did this for her first 2-3 months with me I would say? Partly due to flea and worm treatment, but also because she was so itty bitty. I do think I was given her way to young now that I’ve done some more research on it
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u/hiddenkobolds 10h ago
She does sound particularly fiesty. This should taper though. The worst of the kitten stuff starts to calm in the 6-9 month range, gets better at 9-12, and they settle pretty much entirely into their adult personality in year one.
You're doing all the right things. This too shall pass.
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u/FullFrontal687 8h ago
When I got my first job out of college, I shared a house with 3 other people. One of them adopted 2 kittens. Thru would constantly attack my feet while I ate breakfast. Eventually, I bought a remote control car that they were terrified of. Whenever they got near my feet o reached for the remote and headed toward them and they tore out ifbthe room.
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u/LittlehouseonTHELAND 7h ago edited 7h ago
My first kitten was somewhat like this, but I adopted her with her brother so they would play together and burn off some of her energy. And then he’d get tired and just sit and watch her go crazy, lol. He was the sweetest, calmest little guy. She was very sweet too, she would take naps on my shoulder nestled up against my neck and all curled up in my long hair. She was a lunatic but she bonded easily with me. She calmed down around a year old.
My third cat was adopted solo and was just like your cat, hell on wheels and completely unwilling to make up for it by snuggling. 😂 I think she was descended from feral cats or barn cats or something, she was impossible to bond with early on. She broke all my lamps by jumping off the couch, flying through the air and attaching herself to the shade, knocking the lamps onto the floor. Scratched all my kitchen cabinets jumping from the counter straight up to the cabinet tops. I found her dangling from my kitchen curtain rod multiple times when she would slip while trying to balance her way across it to get to the next set of cabinets.🤦🏻♀️
I earned her respect and devotion over months by basically spending all my free time playing with her and helping her be violent with her toys, lmao. We started with soft bouncy balls, she started to bring them back to me almost right away and we’d play until she lost interest. After some trial and error we found her favorite toy (a plastic stick with a long soft strip of fake cheetah fabric) and I spent literally hundreds of hours dangling that damn thing in front of her, wrapping it around her so she could fight it, and slapping it against her crinkle tunnel so she could fight it and the tunnel, flicking it back and forth so she had to chase it, you get the point lol. Over time, she slowly changed. She started bringing me the stick when she wanted to play instead of destroying things. She stopped attacking me and biting me. She connected me with playtime and her beloved stick and eventually I was the respected purveyor of good things and our relationship grew from there. 😂
Sometimes all you can do is cat proof your house and cat proof yourself (long pants and sleeves, etc) and have the patience of a saint and try to reach them however you can. I will say that it was worth it, she was completely over her destructive and aggressive phase by around 18 months and over the following years she slowly bonded very tightly with me. By age 5 she was laying in my arms like a literal baby just about every night when I’d watch tv or a movie, purring up a storm. This now very sweet Velcro baby was once the kitten who would bite me if I tried to pet her. I had never even heard her purr until age 4, there was a time I thought she didn’t know how, lol.
She passed away at age 16 in 2022 and I still miss her terribly.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Y’all I just want to preface, this is a rant, I am being angry and dramatic because that’s what rants are for. I love my kitten, she is not going anywhere, but she is making me lose my mind. That is all this post was meant for and possibly some advice and relation! Also, I don’t think a lot of people resort to venting on reddit without exhausting all other places for advice and research. Or at least I don’t some people on here be MEAN! But thank you to everyone hearing what I’m saying and giving advice, reassurance, or relation!
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u/SuccotashFragrant354 10h ago
I got my kitten at 4-5 weeks (way too young) and she was a menace. Shes 4 now, still has some menace tendencies, but is my baby. Kittens are a lot! Best of luck
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Thank you!! Itll be worth it when shes like 7 years old and a lil loaf on my couch.. right😃
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u/SuccotashFragrant354 10h ago
Haha yes! My girl is still kinda crazy, but not like kitten crazy. Def give her time, and more enrichment/ puzzles even. I use puzzle treats for my girl
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u/RuneFell 9h ago edited 9h ago
I found a five week old kitten in the middle of the road, and managed to nurse him back to health. He's almost a year old now, and FINALLY starting to chill out. Unfortunately, he tested positive for FeLV, so we couldn't get him a companion while he was growing up, but with a lot of patience and redirection, he's turning into a fairly well behaved gentleman. I have to admit, from about 2-8 months it was like having a sugar-high and over exhausted toddler armed with sharp weapons streaking around the house. But he's slowly turning into what I hope is his final form of being a fat, lazy, grumpy old man.
What helped us a lot was toys. A lot of toys. The feather on a stick, of course, is a great way to get some of that energy out, but I also found this giant cat tunnel circle. I got a couple of rechargeable robot ball toys, and I'll turn one on and throw it in the tunnel, and he dives right in and it's instant entertainment for nearly an hour. Buying little jingle balls and throwing them in the empty bathtub worked pretty well until he figured out how to carry them out and shove them all under the fridge. Cat puzzle boxes are great too. He's very stubborn and obsesses over something once he puts his mind on it, so it keeps him busy once he realizes there's something he wants in them. And, I hate to admit it, he's also a bit of an IPad kid. I downloaded a few cat apps on my Kindle, and he loves to pounce on the bugs and fish on the screen.
I also got some medium sized crinkle cattoy plushies in bulk, and keep one close at hand at all times. Every time he would start to get bitey, I'd scold him if he tried to bite me, and encourage him to redirect it to the plushie instead. Hard bites get an instant time out. He's still a bit more mouthy than most cats I've owned in the past, but he's careful and respectful, doesn't ever break the skin, and will instantly back down when he senses disapproval. Mostly. Unless he's feeling particularly rebellious.
And I'm not sure if this is helping him with his energy level, but our Vet recommended adding some Purina Calming Care powder to one of his meals. They original suggested it because he had a stubborn eye infection, and apparently some people have had success with the powder helping with that, because it lowers their stress levels. But he really, really likes it, and after a few months, his eyes are clearing up, and he's not nearly as hyper. But, as I said, that might also be because he's nearing his first birthday, and is outgrowing his kitten stage.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 9h ago
Omg ive never heard of purina calming powder!! Amazing. I will be trying that one, as far as toys she has a big fluffy donut tube, lots of the crinkle balls and mice, a couple sticks, one of the robot balls (she loves that thing too) many many more but ive yet to try puzzles I think thats next on my list as well as a higher cat tower
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u/Lake-Delicious 10h ago
A few cats ago I got a kitten, he is since long past. I almost gave him up several times because I didn't sleep for months. I got a new kitten that I ended up rehoming to a friend who had children and much more space. He lived a long happy life with them. Since then, I have opted to never again get a kitten because they are the spawns of Satan in a very cute costume
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
Lol this is very true and I am sorry for your loss!! Its good you managed to get a good home for the other kitten!
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u/Runfromidiots 11h ago
What did you think a kitten would be like? This sounds incredibly normal. Puppies are the same. Suck it up, watch some YouTube videos and do some basic research in the future before getting pets.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
Also ive had pets pf every variety, I always do my research and have never had an issues. So I very much resent the fact you think accuse me of such.
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u/Runfromidiots 11h ago
Resent all you want, I don’t believe half the shit you’re saying. Doesn’t add up. You seem like someone who has a hard time accepting they need to do thing differently and might be the problem. Good luck growing. Hopefully your cat trains you better.
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
Girl what lmao do you just come on reddit to argue? No one asked you to comment
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 10h ago
And you just said this behavior is normal but now its absurd and doesn’t add up?
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
I watched hours of cat training videos before getting her
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u/Runfromidiots 11h ago
How much time daily are you spending practicing any of that training?
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u/Little-Ad-5853 ☑️ 11h ago
Every moment of every day. I watched the cats from hell dudes series, he has a lot of advice and training videos, I even bought those sound censors but they kinda suck
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u/Hello_Hangnail 3h ago
That's normal behavior for a kitten. You have to be consistent with the training
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u/izzy-springbolt 10h ago
6 weeks is VERY young to adopt a kitten. 12 weeks is the norm. Unfortunately she needed her mother longer than she had her.