[Ophelia]

First off, hi, I'm new.
So's my kitten, Bridgit. I rescued her a little over a week ago from the SPCA. They had such a surplus of kittens, they were ready to start wholesale euthanasia. Although the SPCA guy told me they had the age of her and her brothers as 8 weeks, both my friend (a vet tech) and my vet guessed her age at closer to 6 weeks, and apparently she had been there for almost a week in the smelly, tiny little noisey cages. They had no information on her mother or history, but because of her young age, she has a lot of weird baby type tendencies. She "nurses" your fingers when she's cuddling, and won't sleep unless someone's holding her.
She also has some more disturbing habits. She tries to make a break out the front door every time I open it. Considering my apartment is at the end of the hall by the door to the outside, bringing in groceries has become a challenge, as I'm afraid she's going to run outside. I've tried training her as I did my other cat (now no longer with me) by clapping my hands to distract her when she's leaving, but she doesn't listen.
She also has a bad tendency to pee and poop on my bed. Provided my bedroom door is closed, she goes fine in her litter box, but the moment she's allowed in my room, she thinks my bed is much better. As I said, she won't sleep without someone cuddling her, so locking her out of the room at night is out of the question, and I've just resolved this by sleeping on the couch so she can cuddle and sleep without accidents. I've been giving her treats whenever she uses the litterbox, but it doesn't seem to have done much good. The moment the bedroom door is open, she's on the mattress.
Any help with training her?
The other problem I've been having is that when I got her, she had a bad case of diarrhea. Antibiotics and an improved diet (the food they had her on at the SPCA was an extremely cheap food for adult cats) has mostly cleared that up, but her poor little butt is sore. The doctor told me it's from the bacterial infection and warned that she may actually have some scabbing in her colon. Her butt is all red and inflamed, and constantly has fecal matter clinging to it. I've tried cleaning her off, but she cries and screams in pain, and won't clean herself for the same reason. She whimpers when she poos, (even when it's on my bed) and must be really painful for her. The vet told me I just have to wait it out until it heals up from having the infection for most of her life, but there has something I can do to help her out. Any hints
Thanks in advance.
Mellie

 

[SugarKitty]

Wow

Wow Mellie, you have quite a problem. I am not very good at training cats because my cat was already trained when I got him. I hope that you have good luck, and I'm sure that you should just do what the doctor said and wait. I know it's painful to see your little cat like this, but after it heals, if the doctor said it will get better, I'm sure it will get better.
Good Luck!

 

[Kittys Mom]

Well, it does sound like you have a few problems. I have some suggestions:

To train her not to bolt out the door, into the hallway. Grab your spray bottle and go into the hallway, open the door just a bit, enough for her head to get through. When she pokes her head out the door spray her. She should retreat back into the apt. Stay there, if she's persistant, like Thomas was, she'll try to go out a few more times. Keep spraying her until she stops trying to come into the hallway. She'll quickly learn that the hallway is suprisingly wet.

The pooing on your bed is disturbing (for you). They say that if an animal associates the litter box with pain, they will avoid it. So I would initially suspect that her propensity for going on your bed is in an effort to avoid the pain of the litterbox. I would keep your bedroom door closed while you wait for the infection to clear up. Once it clears up, if she continues to use your bed, I'd try changing your litterbox, or moving it, so that it seems different to her (not the one that caused her pain). If she continues to go on your bed, you might want to try feeding her there. Cats typically won't go to the bathroom near their food or water.

As for how to help clear up her diarrhea, I don't have any suggestions, but I'm sure someone will.

 

[Superkitties]

First off,

and THANK YOU for giving another kitty a home!!!

I'm so sorry you got a challenging situation this time around, you're doing great, hang in there. That is so nice of you to hit the couch so she can sleep with ya, and nursing on ya. Yeah, definitely sounds a little too young to have been separated from mommy. At least you're a great surrogate!

Another suggestion for preventing her from dashing out the door is to make a big cardboard blocker, which would involve a little fancy footwork on your part to use. Also, when I have groceries or other things I need to keep the door open for, I lock them all into one room while I get things done, then let 'em out after.

Oh, it must just be miserable for poor Bridgit with her sore butt. I'm sure you're doing this already, but WET tissue or washrag is better, dabbing not rubbing. Since you treated the diarrhea and it's clearing up, nothing to do but to wait for the sores to heal. I can't think of anything to make it better. Maybe a few dabs of vaseline over the red area.

Looking forward to hearing an update of the little tyke, and maybe pics?

 

[Ophelia]

Thanks for the advice everyone. She's going back to the vet today for her next series of vaccinations, but in the meantime, here's some pictures for you all to enjoy of my new baby.


These first two are from when she was still in the SPCA. The people working there were so unhelpful, and wouldn't give her to me until they called my apartment complex, but refused to call them for two more days. Finally, I drove back to the complex, had the secretary call them, and picked her up to get her out of that awful place.

As I said, she sleeps best when held, and loves being cuddled up and held like a baby.

I sew as one of my jobs, and Bridge is more than happy to help me out by attacking fabric, my scissors, my patterns, or anything else that looks fun.

 

[drjean]

She is adorable! But very young! Fortunately kittens have an amazing capacity for healing.

You might try adding slippery elm to her wet food; it will help sooth the entire GI tract and help her little bum to heal. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... lipperyelm

Meantime, consider putting a cheap tarp over the bed to protect it for those times when she sneaks in there. She is probably avoiding the box because of pain. You might want to get a second box and put it in the bedroom, then when she's by the door getting ready to dash, pick her up and pop her in the box. Also, put her in the box after every meal and at bedtime to catch her at the most likely times of need. Try a nice soft scoopable litter like Arm&Hammer or World's Best.

Hopefully, as she heals up, she'll develop better box habits.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[Superkitties]

How ADORABLE is she?! Awww!! And you, proud cat mommy! I can see how helpful she is with your sewing, LOL, remember to keep her from those needles and buttons and thread! Gee, what am I talking about, a bunch of nice playtoys!

 

[Ophelia]

Uh... about how I said she was nursing my fingers? After another week, she's "nursed" my fingers... and toes... and nose.... raw. She just latches onto you and sucks and nibbles and licks away whenever I sit still long enough, including when I'm in bed and least expecting it (hence the "nose" addition) it's actually starting to hurt. I've solved the litterbox problem, but I'd really love to have her not do this anymore, but don't want to punish her, because I know it's a sign of affection.
Any clues?

 

[oscar]

What a precious sweetie!!! Sounds like she's going having a hard time, losing her mom at such a young age. As for the "nursing," I wonder if she'd like a small stuffed animal, or a companion?

I wonder if she'd like a warm bath to soak her sore bum? We used warm, wet soft cloths to help a kitty with stuck feces. Just held the cloth in place until the feces softened, then it came off easily. Does she still have diarhea?