Raising a kitten who is too young to be away from mom and siblings.

[Vermillion]

So, we had been thinking about getting DS a kitten for while and the opportunity came up when my mom’s neighbor's cat had kittens. We were told that one of them would be ours when they were old enough to go. So a week and half ago my mom calls me to tell the kitties are weaned and ready to go. We live an hour away so we hadn’t met the kitten first, she’d bring up it up, etc… Anyway, I’m thinking I’m getting an 8+ week old kitten, but when he gets here, he is TINY. Like 4 weeks old tiny.

We got him to the vet it was confirmed that he was really young, and then at his appointment yesterday the vet says he is now about 5-6 weeks old. But on the plus side, since we’ve had him he has been gaining weight and is now almost where he should be in weight. Vet said he is very healthy despite being away from mom this young. He’s gaining, no ear mites, no fleas, everything looks good with him thankfully.

When we got him he didn’t want to suckle fingers or take milk replacement, which made me think that mom probably rejected them a while before. He is VERY friendly, more than most kittens I’ve seen, and insists upon sitting on our shoulders. I’m thinking the previous owners probably handled them too much and too early and that’s why mom stopped nursing them.

Anyway, this is getting to be long. I'm basically looking for suggestions on what we can do to help this kitty thrive despite being away from mom and siblings so young. He being “APed” by my son who is a very good kitty daddy so he's always got someone to keep him warm and close.

We have him on super premium kitten food, dry and wet and he has a very healthy appetite and he’s now gaining well. His bathroom habits are healthy and he is getting very active and playful. My main concern is behavior since he doesn’t have other cats to teach him. What can we do for him in this area? He wants to bite and attack hands and feet a little, which we are discouraging by distracting him with toys when he gets frisky. Any other suggestions for this issue?

And any all other advice is welcome and appreciated!

[angie7]

You sound like you are doing the right thing. The kitten we have now is almost 5 months old and we got him at 5 or 6 weeks old. So far, he is a sweetie. My twins are in with him and like your son, he is being "APed". GL and enjoy your new little guy!

[sunnysandiegan]

Sounds similar over here, except our rescue kitten is a female. She is now 7 months old and thriving! The only thing we had to show her was how to clean her eyes. It was rather cute and fun. She nows does a great job and she is long-haired, so she spends a large portion of the day grooming herself.

We redirect behaviors, like you mentioned. Scratching is a big one. We got a sisal scratching post very early on and we move it around the house to wherever we find her scratching and show her the post and scratch it ourselves with our nails. She loves to play like that and will pounce on it and soon we find her scratching on it on her own.

When she first came to us, and after she got over the initial 'fraidy cat syndrome (just a few hours!), then she wanted to be ON one of us pretty much all the time. It wasn't a hardship. She would sleep across my neck whenever she could. As she grew, she moved downward.

For discipline, I have read about using a squirt bottle and I know friends who do that. I don't feel comfortable with it, so we snap our fingers and/or clap our hands as we change gears to redirect (in the time it takes to get a toy or the kitten). She will redirect herself sometimes now when I snap my fingers.

Enjoy your new family member!!!

[lifeguard]

We had a kitten who was taken too early (we took him for what was supposed to be a short visit & the people refused to take him back until he was old enough). He turned out to be a lovely cat with a few idiosyncracies. The big one was he would suck on our eyelids & earlobes if we let him (or we were sleeping). We found that making him a "nest" really helped. We put a warm blanket, some fake fur & a toy we called a "cat tail" (it was a piece of wire wrapped with fur) in a basket. We would also put a warm water bottle in it at night. It really helped him settle, even when he was being wild we could plop him in & he'd start licking at the fur & purr & fall asleep.

[pitbullrescuer]

how cute!

[leighangela]

Same thing happened here!

Oh my god the same thing happened to me just a few hours ago!!! I went to pick up my kitten after talking to this woman all week about her. I know now that she gave me a fake birthdate.

I thought I was getting 10 week old. My first thought was "hm, she looks little," but I didn't act fast enough. I took the kitten and went to the vet. The vet said she's about a month. I'm guessing 5 weeks. I am so upset and frankly scared. If it wasn't a 2 hour drive to this woman's house I'd take this kitten back. I am wondering if the mom rejected her????

I have heard that kittens taken away from their mother too soon become "terrors." This kitten will have socialization from my dog and cat, but neither one will want to parent a kitten. I don't know what to do :-(

Originally Posted by Vermillion

So, we had been thinking about getting DS a kitten for while and the opportunity came up when my mom’s neighbor's cat had kittens. We were told that one of them would be ours when they were old enough to go. So a week and half ago my mom calls me to tell the kitties are weaned and ready to go. We live an hour away so we hadn’t met the kitten first, she’d bring up it up, etc… Anyway, I’m thinking I’m getting an 8+ week old kitten, but when he gets here, he is TINY. Like 4 weeks old tiny.

We got him to the vet it was confirmed that he was really young, and then at his appointment yesterday the vet says he is now about 5-6 weeks old. But on the plus side, since we’ve had him he has been gaining weight and is now almost where he should be in weight. Vet said he is very healthy despite being away from mom this young. He’s gaining, no ear mites, no fleas, everything looks good with him thankfully.

When we got him he didn’t want to suckle fingers or take milk replacement, which made me think that mom probably rejected them a while before. He is VERY friendly, more than most kittens I’ve seen, and insists upon sitting on our shoulders. I’m thinking the previous owners probably handled them too much and too early and that’s why mom stopped nursing them.

Anyway, this is getting to be long. I'm basically looking for suggestions on what we can do to help this kitty thrive despite being away from mom and siblings so young. He being “APed” by my son who is a very good kitty daddy so he's always got someone to keep him warm and close.

We have him on super premium kitten food, dry and wet and he has a very healthy appetite and he’s now gaining well. His bathroom habits are healthy and he is getting very active and playful. My main concern is behavior since he doesn’t have other cats to teach him. What can we do for him in this area? He wants to bite and attack hands and feet a little, which we are discouraging by distracting him with toys when he gets frisky. Any other suggestions for this issue?

And any all other advice is welcome and appreciated!

[Noelle C.]

Kittens rarely naturally wean before 12 weeks. Our 14-week-old kittens (we were lied to about momma cat being spayed before we got her) are still nursing once or twice a day.

The best think you can do is be patient and understanding. Your kitten won't get the chance to learn social cues from being in with the litter, and may have difficulty learning to clean. But patience will go a long way.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Noelle C.

Kittens rarely naturally wean before 12 weeks. Our 14-week-old kittens (we were lied to about momma cat being spayed before we got her) are still nursing once or twice a day.

The best think you can do is be patient and understanding. Your kitten won't get the chance to learn social cues from being in with the litter, and may have difficulty learning to clean. But patience will go a long way.

Yeah, the social development of course is going to be lacking a bit. Hopefully it won't impact their personalities that much.

And queens will nurse their moms for many months! It's human interference that comes into play.

[2xy]

I, too, have a too-little kitten. I got him off of Craigslist....the owners had a litter of seven and said they were seven weeks old. I thought they looked really small....there were three left when I got there. But I figured that if I didn't take one, they were just gonna give it to someone else....either way, baby was going to be without mama.

I took him to the vet yesterday and the vet said he's four-five weeks old. And we've already had him for a week, so this little guy basically got NO mama time. He is surprisingly healthy and happy. He was eating dry food when we got him, and we're supplementing him with high-calorie wet food from the vet. It took him a couple of days to remember where our litter box is....but he did go through the effort of using an empty shoe box to piddle in rather than going on the floor. The scent alerted me.

I have two grown cats, so he's learning from them. Now I just have to get my DH to stop encouraging undesirable behavior like climbing up pantlegs, crawling in laps to beg for food at the dinner table, and chewing on fingers. DH thinks all that stuff is cute. He's never had a kitten before.

Kitty slept in a box in our room for the first four nights, and then started sleeping in the living room with the other cats after that. If I had my way, all the cats would be in bed with me, but DH has allergies, so no kitties are allowed on our bed.

Isn't he adorable?

[leighangela]

You are having a lucky time with it! I've been dealing with fleas, worms, and diarrhea with mine. She is quarantined in one room until she is cleared of viruses (I have to get her tested).

Today her diarrhea came back despite the cooked chicken I fed her, and then she peed on a paper bag. Since she is kept in just one room, I don't think she forgot where her box is

So yeah, this has not been that fun. She seems good at cleaning herself, but I worry about the litter box now. We are renters and I thought girls were better at using the box than boys.

[Noelle C.]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

Yeah, the social development of course is going to be lacking a bit. Hopefully it won't impact their personalities that much.

And queens will nurse their moms for many months! It's human interference that comes into play.

Which is why I'm incredibly irritated at people who put kittens in new homes at 7-8 weeks old. It's humorous watching kittens almost as big as momma nursing, and she's starting to block them more often, but they'll do it on their own time.

But of course we humans like to get involved in everything and try to control nature, then complain when things didn't go right because we can't possibly be at fault.

[NaturallyKait]

My kitty was too young when I got her too, but it was either she went home with me, or out onto the street. I decided that if she was to have no mommy it may as well be with me.

I'm not quite sure how old she was, but it was definitely in the 4-5 week range. She was absolutely coated in fleas, but I was ridiculously lucky and that was really my only health problem stemming from her being taken so early. She took to the litter box all by herself first time, and never had an accident for almost two years. She was a little wild as a kitten, too rough and sometimes unmanageable, but I had a lot of patience and slowly got her calmed down. She was very lovable though, and insisted on sleeping with me from the moment she came home, and she still does to this day.

The day she came home, ain't she cute?

[sunshadow]

I once had a kitten that was really young too when I got him. As someone else said, he did also develop a few idiosyncrasies. I think they will bound to whom every is the main care provider as if they are the mother cat. Which can happen with any kitten, but when they are really tiny it's more so. My cat would get up into my neck and knead with his super *ouch* sharp claws and drool all over me. I won't lie. It was annoying because he had to do that and that tendency never went away. So, just watch for those types of behaviors. Give them lots of love, but if there is something they do that is so so cute now, but you think you might not want them doing in 10 years, maybe try and stop it while the kitten is still young. Enjoy him!

[GreenKnitPocket]

We had a stray cat give birth under our porch and we took them from their Mom after about 5/6 weeks. It was tough, because she came up to our screen and wailed for them. But we were doing the right thing.

I think the main thing is to create a "nest" like someone mentioned above. They will love to cuddle and sleep a LOT. We kept two of the kittens and found loving homes for the rest. Unfortunately, one of the kittens we just could not capture until about 8 weeks but by then he was already a feral cat-- really hard to train- so be glad you got yours early enough I guess.

Best of luck!

[abc123xyz]

We have a cat who had 1 kitten. Yes, 1!!! And only one. She is doing well as I have them both indoors and at this point, intend to keep it that way. For sure with the kitten anyway! But since there is only one, we have been socializing her to us since she was born. At first, I was scared she would die since she was a lone litter :*( But she is doing great. Fat as a tick!!! The mama brings her to me in the middle of the night in bed and nurses her. She isn't rejecting her at all as long as she has free reign over the house. I don't know if I intend to force weaning as the vet says at about 5 weeks (considering I am about to have my own baby any day) or if I will just let it play out. I am sure that the mama will wean her when she is ready. I notice she has no teeth yet at 3 weeks old and her eyes just opened the other day so I plan to wait on feeding her solids until she at least has some teeth :*) Anyways, I just wonder, I read some comments that said kitten taken from their litters have socialization issues but ours doesn't have a litter! Just her mama! So, what then do I have in store for me?? She is a sweet and cuddly little kitty! But she is also only 3 weeks old. Well, almost 4 weeks now!

[rhubarbarin]

Through no choice of my own (one I found abandoned and half-dead outside, the other was dumped on me by an irresponsible acquaintance) I got both my cats when they were under 5 weeks old. Both did fine without milk supplements, both thrived, and both are happy, healthy and on the large side 4 and 2 years later. I wouldn't worry too much if he is growing.

The real concern is social issues as PP have said. My older cat has aggression issues which I am convinced stem from growing up without any other kittens to learn to play with and not be too rough. If your kitty starts playing too rough with you, the best thing to do is expose him to other young cats as much as you can.

[RockStarMom]

I would see if that is illegal where you live, and be sure to report these people if it is. It's illegal here and I've reported someone.
Good luck with your kitten!