Biting kitty

You could show him some research. Google Cornell Veterinary Hospital they
are pretty respected, and see what they have to say about neutering age.
Good luck. He is very lucky to have you. Also we love pictures. If you put
some of him up, do post a link so we can see him.

I suggest doing this. I've personally printed out articles online
(from reputable sources, such as Cornell) and showed them to my vet
before.

It's best to get him spayed now. If he starts spraying before he's
neutered, he might not stop even after being neutered. And, of course,
you want to avoid that at all costs!

Please keep us posted!

Kathy wrote:
We have a 4-month old kitten who was abandoned at a truck stop. He was
approximately 6 weeks old. My son-in-law found him and brought him to
me. He had eye infections and an upper respiratory infection, both of
which cleared right up with medication. He was given tests (all
negative), his shots, and was dewormed. Since then he's healthy and
happy and thriving. The only problem is he bites. Just my hands and
forearms but it's painful. The vet said he can't be neutered until he's
7 months old. Is it likely that will help with the biting? Any other
suggestions?

Kathy


a rule of thumb vets use down her in Oz is when the kitten is 1KG
weight. So I could have had my Burmese done at 3 months but I waited
till he was 4.5 months and his weight was up to 1.5KG.

Some argue you need the hormones in the early growing stage but some
cats are done at 6 weeks without any adverse effects.

Mine still bites a bit but a deep growl from me stops him. (I have a
very deep bass voice)

Rene S. wrote:
You could show him some research. Google Cornell Veterinary Hospital they
are pretty respected, and see what they have to say about neutering age.
Good luck. He is very lucky to have you. Also we love pictures. If you put
some of him up, do post a link so we can see him.

I suggest doing this. I've personally printed out articles online
(from reputable sources, such as Cornell) and showed them to my vet
before.

It's best to get him spayed now. If he starts spraying before he's
neutered, he might not stop even after being neutered. And, of course,
you want to avoid that at all costs!

Please keep us posted!

Thanks. I'll look into this.

Kathy

"Rene S." wrote in message
...

You could show him some research. Google Cornell Veterinary Hospital they
are pretty respected, and see what they have to say about neutering age.
Good luck. He is very lucky to have you. Also we love pictures. If you
put
some of him up, do post a link so we can see him.

I suggest doing this. I've personally printed out articles online
(from reputable sources, such as Cornell) and showed them to my vet
before.

It's best to get him spayed now.

Spay = female cat.

On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:42:17 -0400, Kathy wrote:

We have a 4-month old kitten who was abandoned at a truck stop. He was
approximately 6 weeks old. My son-in-law found him and brought him to
me. He had eye infections and an upper respiratory infection, both of
which cleared right up with medication. He was given tests (all
negative), his shots, and was dewormed. Since then he's healthy and
happy and thriving. The only problem is he bites. Just my hands and
forearms but it's painful. The vet said he can't be neutered until he's
7 months old. Is it likely that will help with the biting? Any other
suggestions?

Kathy

Neutering may not help. We had a cat who was a holy terror. It got
so bad that my wife and I would fight with each other to see who would
go out of the bedroom first in the morning (because of allergies, he
couldn't sleep with us). His assaults were always playful, but the
bigger he got, the worse it got. "Ow," spraying with water, quiet
time, nothing helped. He never got mean or anything else but stayed
good-natured and just as playful as hell ... and I mean as hell!

After 4 months of this, we had to adopt a couple of cat "orphans" left
homeless when a relative passed away. THE AGGRESSIVE PLAY STOPPED
OVERNIGHT! One orphan cat was a male, and he and our original beast
took off from one end of the house to the other in ecstatic
play-fighting. All noise and posturing and no one got hurt. They
were and still are pals who sleep and eat together and generally share
an indoor life.

The other "orphan," the sister of the male, never participated (and
still holds herself aloof from play-fighting today), but watched with
interest. She adopted the original beast, who (neutered though he
was) followed her around for the first day. When he finally stopped,
she started following him ... and still does chase him down for
cuddling and "spooning".

The original beast, now a stately gentleman of 10 years plus, still
has his moments: if he wants a pet, he'll sit on a strategically
elevated spot and grab your sleeve when you go by, etc., but he's
really just a big teddy bear. My wife and I wonder what we would have
ended up with if we hadn't gotten the other cats ...

So, if you can handle it, try to get him a companion as close in age
as possible, and then sit back and watch the fun. But as other folks
have said, don't wait too long for neutering: I've had brothers and
best of pals become really aggressive - no play, fight to the death
kind of aggressive - when one started maturing, and the relationship
could not be mended.

Doug Turner wrote:
On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:42:17 -0400, Kathy wrote:

We have a 4-month old kitten who was abandoned at a truck stop. He was
approximately 6 weeks old. My son-in-law found him and brought him to
me. He had eye infections and an upper respiratory infection, both of
which cleared right up with medication. He was given tests (all
negative), his shots, and was dewormed. Since then he's healthy and
happy and thriving. The only problem is he bites. Just my hands and
forearms but it's painful. The vet said he can't be neutered until he's
7 months old. Is it likely that will help with the biting? Any other
suggestions?

Kathy

Neutering may not help. We had a cat who was a holy terror. It got
so bad that my wife and I would fight with each other to see who would
go out of the bedroom first in the morning (because of allergies, he
couldn't sleep with us). His assaults were always playful, but the
bigger he got, the worse it got. "Ow," spraying with water, quiet
time, nothing helped. He never got mean or anything else but stayed
good-natured and just as playful as hell ... and I mean as hell!

After 4 months of this, we had to adopt a couple of cat "orphans" left
homeless when a relative passed away. THE AGGRESSIVE PLAY STOPPED
OVERNIGHT! One orphan cat was a male, and he and our original beast
took off from one end of the house to the other in ecstatic
play-fighting. All noise and posturing and no one got hurt. They
were and still are pals who sleep and eat together and generally share
an indoor life.

The other "orphan," the sister of the male, never participated (and
still holds herself aloof from play-fighting today), but watched with
interest. She adopted the original beast, who (neutered though he
was) followed her around for the first day. When he finally stopped,
she started following him ... and still does chase him down for
cuddling and "spooning".

The original beast, now a stately gentleman of 10 years plus, still
has his moments: if he wants a pet, he'll sit on a strategically
elevated spot and grab your sleeve when you go by, etc., but he's
really just a big teddy bear. My wife and I wonder what we would have
ended up with if we hadn't gotten the other cats ...

So, if you can handle it, try to get him a companion as close in age
as possible, and then sit back and watch the fun. But as other folks
have said, don't wait too long for neutering: I've had brothers and
best of pals become really aggressive - no play, fight to the death
kind of aggressive - when one started maturing, and the relationship
could not be mended.

Thanks for your response. I'm glad that it all worked out ok. My kitty
is not as bad as that. If I didn't pick him up or try to play with him
on my lap, there wouldn't be a problem. He really is an angel and
sleeps on my bed at night. He likes to chase after balls (currently all
7 of them are missing - probably under the stove!), and other active play.

Getting another cat isn't an option. One is all I can handle, both
financially and physically.

Someone suggested hissing at him when he bites (thank you!) and that
seems to be working better than just yelling 'OW!'. We'll see.

Kathy

"Kathy" wrote

Thanks for your response. I'm glad that it all worked out ok. My kitty
is not as bad as that. If I didn't pick him up or try to play with him on
my lap, there wouldn't be a problem. He really is an angel and sleeps on
my bed at night. He likes to chase after balls (currently all 7 of them
are missing - probably under the stove!), and other active play.

Getting another cat isn't an option. One is all I can handle, both
financially and physically.

Someone suggested hissing at him when he bites (thank you!) and that seems
to be working better than just yelling 'OW!'. We'll see.

Hissing is a great idea!

"Doug Turner" wrote in message
...


After 4 months of this, we had to adopt a couple of cat "orphans" left
homeless when a relative passed away. THE AGGRESSIVE PLAY STOPPED
OVERNIGHT! One orphan cat was a male, and he and our original beast
took off from one end of the house to the other in ecstatic
play-fighting. All noise and posturing and no one got hurt. They
were and still are pals who sleep and eat together and generally share
an indoor life.

The other "orphan," the sister of the male, never participated (and
still holds herself aloof from play-fighting today), but watched with
interest. She adopted the original beast, who (neutered though he
was) followed her around for the first day. When he finally stopped,
she started following him ... and still does chase him down for
cuddling and "spooning".

The original beast, now a stately gentleman of 10 years plus, still
has his moments: if he wants a pet, he'll sit on a strategically
elevated spot and grab your sleeve when you go by, etc., but he's
really just a big teddy bear. My wife and I wonder what we would have
ended up with if we hadn't gotten the other cats ...


Your cats sound adorable.

Someone suggested hissing at him when he bites (thank you!) and that
seems to be working better than just yelling 'OW!'. *We'll see.

Hissing really does work for some cats! I admit I feel sort of odd
doing it though.

"Rene" wrote in message
...

Someone suggested hissing at him when he bites (thank you!) and that
seems to be working better than just yelling 'OW!'. We'll see.

Hissing really does work for some cats! I admit I feel sort of odd
doing it though.

I think I have mentioned this, but Gracie has this very expressive face--and
once I noticed her looking at me in horror after I had cleaned my glasses
by, you know, blowing on them and then polishing them with my shirt? She
thought I was hissing at her.