She has not let me touch here yet but she is loving coming into the house. She is in here now tearing around like a crazy kitten, into everything. So I am kind of confused by this - she seems very comfortable being inside like she has been in a house before. But still unsure of me being too close to her. She seems to like hanging with me as long as I don’t walk up to her. Gah I want to grab her and dose her with flea stuff! And I hope she doesn’t piddle somewhere! I can’t leave the door open all the time because of flies and gnats either but she seems to like being inside more than playing outside. If she lies in Missy’s cat beds I will have to buy a new one since Missy won’t use it if it has cooties from another cat. I will say - nothing cuter than a kitten!
Since she is inside, why not try to confine her to a smaller room so you can keep her safe until you can get her the care she needs?
Get her to zip into a bathroom or unused bedroom.
Agree, set up a litter box and a feeding station.
Done. she’s all yours now.
So what’s her name?
Agree. Lure her into bathroom with food. Or her favorite - the string game.
She just decided she is not living outdoors anymore. She came in this morning for a long while and played all over the place. Tonight she came to the front door and braved the other cats and said she wanted in. I did grab her by the scruff of her neck this morning to put her out. She is having a grand old time playing under my chair now. But I have no idea how housebroken she is. I did make her a litter box by the door and she walked in it but did not use it. The other issue is fleas. I do not want my house to get a flea infestation so I am going to have to find a topical safe to use. I don’t see being able to bathe her - she is pretty feisty.
I do have a place but the cat from hell lives up there. Gremlin hates the other cats and they reciprocate by biting her. Then she abscesses and she has to make a trip to the vet $$$$$. AND she pees on the floors if she is downstairs. AND she waits by the door and shoots out like a rocket to the outdoors so she can be bitten again. She has to live indoors and upstairs. I don’t think she would cotton to this kitten. Missy has been the baby with indoor privileges and she hates this kitten. Pretty pissed it is coming inside so I have to throw her out. This is ruining her life. Six cats is too many!!! But the prospects for a good home here is pretty slim, so here I am.
Silly question from a noob - could you give her some oral gabapentin to take the edge off and give her a bath? Or is she too little…
I dosed her with an appropriate amount of Revolution Plus. I read the warnings on the sheet that came in the box and it said that they had dosed an 8 week old kitten with 5x the recommended dose and the kitten was fine. As far as I can tell she is approaching that age and I used the size dose from the tube that corresponded to her weight. The flea thing was driving me crazy! I am sure she has internal parasites too but I will leave that up to a vet. I think this was less risky than trying to tranquilize her.
She is cleaning up 2 or more cans of Fancy Feast kitten everyday. I tried some Science Diet kitten and she said “No way”. Spoiled little thing. She is sleeping at my feet purring now. As long as I am sitting she is very confident but a little wary when I am standing. But she will let me pick her up and pet her. She likes being in the house to being outside. I was worried about her - I had people working on my barn doors the last two days. I was afraid she might get scared and run off and hide. But she seems to be unperturbed.
That’s great news!
Revolution treats several internal worm species, plus ear mites, so it’s well worth the cost!
Welp guess who is not housebroken. I had a small makeshift litter box downstairs and she had peed in it, but preferred to pee in the Temu cat house. So I put down a large litter box. She has been inside all morning and I knew she was going to have to poop. She went behind some furniture and pooped. I heard her scratching and smelled it so it was easy to find and clean up. She may be coming in for supervised visits and not all night. All of my other dumpees have understood litter boxes so I was expecting the same from her.
Maybe for now you could imprison her at night in a bathroom w/ a litterbox and food
And water.
She’s awfully young to put outside at night, alone.
Too many predators outside at night plus she’ll get more fleas.
I feel like you are setting her up for failure this way.
Just having her play in your house is going to get fleas in your house. That is just how fleas are. They suck. You likely need to treat the house for fleas now.
Keep her little itty bitty self in a smaller area with a litter box in that area, so she can figure out the whole litter box thing. Until this point in her life, anything that would take a little digging worked just fine as a place to potty.
Put some poop and pee clumps from your other cats into her litter box. That will give her a cue for the purpose of the box.
Buy Dr Elsey’s kitten attractant litter. Put used litter in with it from your other cats in a low-sided litter box that is easy for her to get in/out. Put kitten and litter box in a small room or bathroom. Take away anything soft and tempting to pee on. She will figure it out but you need to give her some help along the way.
The idea of this tiny kitten finally finding safety and now at risk of getting dumped back outside might be one of the saddest and least compassionate things I’ve read on COTH in quite some time. She’s tiny. She absolutely shouldn’t be having run of a house. Of course she was running around and had a small bowel movement somewhere outside of a box! That’s a human concept. Please put her in a bathroom with a box, let her settle in for two weeks, capstar, flea comb daily, and then slowly integrate her into a home. Nothing about this is fair to her.
Just crate her at night with a litterbox. They learn quickly. Don’t outside her…wish I could take her for you.
My littles have always been crated overnight in a large dog crate with a litter box. They are absolutely fine like that. The only one who ever gave me an issue was Hammie, and now he knows what bedtime is, and opens the crate door himself. They learn very quickly what the litter box is for. She has likely never been indoors and never used a box before. She just needs to learn.
Putting her out at night is not a good idea. She’s definitely small enough to be taken by an owl or raccoon or other predators. Plus, she will only continue to pick up more fleas.
Exactly. I’m finding myself feeling very sad for this kitten. It shouldn’t be given free roam, it should be in a small room or large crate. Too bad there isn’t a shelter or rescue that could take it now.
If you don’t want to keep the kitten, put an ad on NextDoor or FB or bulletin boards.
OP where are you, maybe a COTHer would take her.
The use of litter boxes is a “learned skill”. She will learn quickly, if you give her the option and the chance to do so. Just like humans… well, actually FAR FASTER than humans. My two little feral kitties who are currently sitting on me as I type learned in 2 days.
She is been confined to the bathroom with a box. I was using a litter box that my other cats had used. That did not appeal to her. She did pee in a box that was a temporary litter box. But somehow the “used” box did not register with her. So i just bought her a new box and found some litter that was softer than the clay litter. The strange thing was that I had some potting mix on the back deck that had spilled out onto the deck and she would pee there. So maybe I need to take some of that dirt and put it on her litter box?
She got treated for fleas yesterday and her scratching has tapered off. I did remove two dying fleas that were on her face. She is not the first kitten to be dumped here and everybody else figured out a litter box with no problem. I just was confused when she peed in her cat box and on the deck but didn’t seem to understand a litterbox. I have no idea under what conditions she was raised though.
