How do you get an 8 week old kitten....
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| Thu, 05-26-2005 - 6:12pm |
... to start grooming? Bailey's sister doesn't seem to have the hang of it. My DBF was talking to the guy who took her, and he says she doesn't really clean herself at all. I know with newborn orphaned kittens, you are supposed to wipe them with a damp cloth. Will that still work with an 8-week old kitten though?
She also hasn't quite got the hang of the litter box. She keeps going in the same spot on the floor. He mentioned that to my DBF a few days ago, and I told him when he talks to him again to tell him to put her litter box in that spot. So he told him that today, and the guy said, yeah, he tried that a couple of times, and it worked but he doesn't want to keep the box there.
*sigh* Some things just have to be explained step by step to some people. I told DBF to tell him to KEEP the box there for a while, until she is using it 100%, and then gradually start moving it, bit by bit, to where he wants to keep it permanently.
In the meantime though, should he be trying to encourage her to groom by wiping her with a damp cloth?
Sounds like we lucked out with Bailey. He uses his box 100%, he eats, he drinks, he is quiet at night, he doesn't play too rough, and he grooms himself regularly. Either we are fantastic furparents, or we just got really lucky!



There are just some cats who are not good groomers.
It's much harder to raise kittens that young as they haven't learned the skill sets that they typically would if they had remained with their momma. That's why Pam Johnson Bennet's rule number one when selecting a kitten is: Don't let anyone sell or give you a kitten taken away from his mother before the kitten is twelve weeks of age.
That being said, if and when you rescue a litter of kittens where the mother has been killed, injured or disappeared you have to have extreme patience which unfortunately it sounds like this person doesn't have.
I would keep advising him as you have and explain that this poor little kitten doesn't have the luxury of learning from his mom or litter mates and he needs to go slowly.
I adopted my youngest when he was 6 weeks as his mother was ill and couldn't take care of the litter. Gabriel my older cat helped him with the socialization but if this kitty is by himself he doesn't even have that. And even with Gabe to be daddy so to speak, Zach is still a wool sucker(typical of a kitten weaned to early) and has problems with people other than me. He's getting better in that regard but it's taken a long time and he still won't let anyone pet him.
Good luck, Lynn
Maybe that is why Bailey is doing so well - he has his "big sister" Tasha to set an example. LOL.
Twelve weeks? Wow, I had always heard 6-8 for kittens, and 8-12 for puppies. Then again, I grew up in a very small town, in a province that was at least 20 years behind in both social attitudes, and even modern comforts such as electricity and running water (my parents are 58 and 61, and neither of them grew up with electricity or running water). The place didn't even get a McDonald's until 1999, three years after I'd already left! My parents, along with most people in that town, never spayed or neutered their pets. There were free puppies and kittens in the local newspaper every single week, up until maybe 7-10 years ago, then it started to drop off as people became a little more willing to spay/neuter. I'd say the average age for every kitten I ever had was probably about 6 weeks. With the exception of one, they were all great cats - affectionate, clean, well-adjusted. Maybe we just got lucky.
I know Bailey and his littermates were taken away early though. They were only about 5 weeks, but they were feral and had we left them any longer, they would have been far more difficult to catch and tame. I had to feed him with a syringe for the first couple of days, but after that, everything else came very quickly for him. Again, I think we got very lucky!
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I know 12 weeks is hard to believe as it is typical to find people trying to give or sell kittens at 6 - 8 weeks. I was raised in a small town/rural environment and 6 weeks was the norm. However, I think in reality it had more to do with the owners not wanting to take care of the litter any longer than they had to, rather than thinking of the pschological well being of the cat when he grew up.
Just as in medicine we have learned much and keep progressing, the same is true of veterinary medicine and frankly back when I was on the farm no one had ever heard of animal behaviorist! For that matter if you went out to a lot of farmers today they would scoff at the thought that anyone would consult an animal behaviorist for anything.
That aside, we now know that it helps a great deal to keep the kittens with their mother and littermates longer so that they are properly socialized and therefore make better pets. That's why on almost every reputable cat breeder's website you will see that they won't allow them to leave before 12 weeks of age. In addition to learning all of the skills they need from mom and littermates, it also helps you see their personalities better, which is huge if you're wanting the kitten to be a part of a multicat household.
Like I said, I'm not saying never as I adopted Zachary when he was 6 weeks but they actually fibbed and said he was 8. My vet said no way was he 8 weeks old and when I asked them about it later they confessed. However, I was ready and willing and knew that I had to invest more time and patience with him. If you're up for that and you know it that's one thing, but it sounds like this friend just needs to be aware of the situation and that he has to be more patient.
Regarding the litter box, it's hard enough for an adult cat to play musical litter boxes leave alone a 6-8 week kitten that hadn't been taught this skill yet my her mom to begin with. Grooming too is something that she would have been taught by her mom. I'm sure she will catch on in time, but until then I don't think it would hurt to help her out.
I really do think Gabe helped Zach a lot. For that matter he taught Zachary about grooming. He would clean Zachary up all the time just as a momma cat would have done. Zach eventually learned and then it eventually turned into "allogrooming" as Zachary got older.
Sounds like Tasha is a good big sister for Bailey and that he has some good parents as well! I'd say it was lucky all the way around!
Take care, Lynn
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Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like I was some know-it-all expert or something. I know probably most people need advice when caring for a kitten. I still do sometimes! LOL.
Leaving the pan in that spot though just seems like such a common-sense solution, but maybe only because I've known about it for such a long time. That's why I sounded so matter-of-fact about it. I didn't mean to sound like I was insulting the guy. :|
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