New Kitten!!!

[athomas]

Any answers?

I'll sum it up again...
1. He bites a lot more now, I think because he's happy about feeling better, but he does it a LOT in the middle of the night, and won't stop. Locking him out just makes him meow, and I don't want him getting into things in the middle of the night so I'd rather keep him in the bedroom. How do I make him stop biting me all the time?

2. Vet Visit Results:

i. Ear mites, dead ear mites. She cleaned a bunch of brown gunk out, and in there were ear mites. She said his ears were cleaned with whatever they put in them, but not rinsed out after.
ii. Cold/fever. Obvious cold, and a degree or two too warm.

She gave me interferon and some white stuff, antibiotic I guess, and I give him 1 cc of each twice a day until it's gone. He has a follow up appointment in a couple weeks.

According to her, they have a lot of cats coming from this group that are sick. They also neuter them as kittens which is bad apparently.

[paperbacknovel]

I'm not sure what answers you're looking for from us...that's the vet's prognosis, and it seems like they're taking care of it. Are you asking if we think it's accurate, or just looking for reactions? *scratches head*

It doesn't matter if he's doing it out of hate or not...even if he's doing it as a "love bite", he shouldn't be doing it because then he'll "love bite" you when he's older, and it will really hurt.

Can you put him away during the night, in another room, like his safe room that you have kitten-proofed? Our kittens used to meow when we put them out of the bedroom, but they have stopped once they realized that we weren't going to give in. If you give in when they meow, it just teaches them that they can meow and you will let them in, and they'll keep doing it.

I think it's weird what the vet said about spaying/neutering while kittens. As long as the vet is trained in pediatric surgery, it shouldn't be an issue. In fact, for girl kittens, it's better to spay before they go into their first heat (which can be as young as 4 months)- I'm not sure it's the same idea with boys or not as far as timeframe goes, but kittens CAN be speutered as young as 8 weeks (as long as they are at least 2 pounds). The younger they are, the quicker and easier they recover, also.

[athomas]

Looking for ideas, reactions, whatever.

I don't really have another room right now, I have a one bedroom apartment until January when I move into a townhome. I could let him run around outside the bedroom, but I won't be able to sleep because I will keep worrying about him getting stuck somewhere, something falling on him, or him making a mess with something, etc.

[paperbacknovel]

Maybe the bathroom overnight?

[Kobster]

What is his schedule before bed. Cats like to hunt, eat, wash, sleep. So if you want to get him used to sleeping when you do, I would start about 30 minutes before bed with a vigorous interactive play session, really wear him out. Then feed him a small meal. he should then take a bath and settle in for a nap.

I also approach kitten biting the same way I do puppy biting. If I'm playing with him and he starts biting, I stop playing. ignore. walk away. If they are too wound up. A time out in another room. Just for five minutes will do it. Then initiate play with appropriate toys. They get too rough again, play ends, and so on. This has worked very well with Ninja, he was really bad about biting, but is much better now. Only forgets occassionally. Just make sure you are providing appropriate toys and play time to meet their physical need to "hunt"