Eeek, problem with Dylan

RazWaz

Warning : Long story, skip to last paragraph for short version.

Dylan has been with us for two weeks now, and he is the most adorable, affectionate, playful kitten, we love the bones of him already.

But he's Jekyll and Hyde, as soon as you bring food into the room, human or kitten, he goes wild, trying to steal it, biting, scratching, fighting like mad, 4 of us together couldn't stop him stealing out food he was so fast and violent. He would scale your whole body if you tried to avoid him by standing up to eat, and just would never give up.

When cooking, he just jumps onto the worktops and tries to take anything he can reach, he even tries to run over the hob - while its on! :eek: one of us has to stand guard and catch him before he hurts himself. He's even tried climbing in the oven. If you leave leftovers on the counter he will eat everything left, no matter what it is, he's stolen salad before. And if you throw them in the bin, he'll climb in to get it.

We play together a lot, and as kittens do he bites, never hard, and never to hurt me, but he was trying to steel my sausage 2 days ago, I pulled a bit off and offered it to him to keep him calm and he bit me, hard enough to break skin and it was bleeding for a long time. Don't worry, it stung for a bit but I've cleaned it and forgiven him already. Seems to be healing fine with no infection.

We started locking him in the porch (his litter tray is there, and the front door is always open so he can play outside). But he just climbed on the window sill and started throwing himself at the door to open it - and managed.

We joked a few times that he didn't seem to be growing, but thought it was just seeing his size in comparison to Morti - she's growing so fast now. After a week we got a bit worried as he seemed tiny and weighed him. He gained 1 ounce in 8 days.

We contacted his foster family, and they confessed, they don't know how old he really is, and that he could actually be as young as 6 weeks :eek::eek::eek::eek:

We offered him some milk, and he wolfed it down, and was instantly like a new kitten, he now happily sits in your lap while you eat, and while he has a sniff he wont take anything anymore, he's gained 2 ounces over night and is running around like mad playing with Morti.



The short version: Kitten of unknown age, could be as young as 6 weeks, what do we feed him? He gets a pouch of kitten wet food (whiskers jelly) and unlimited kitten dried food, a bowl of water, and for now a pot of milk. Can he have normal milk (cows) or should we be buying the cat milk we've seen in the supermarkets. Price isn't an issue really, I just want the best for him to get him to be happy and healthy and catch up on his missed growing time.

scaredy_cat

buy the kitten milk, though a call to the vets to see if you can get a proper kitten milk supplement might be worth while.

you could try him on the wet kitten food for a few meals. kitten need about 6 small meals a day.

RazWaz

Morti is eating 1 pack of wet food, and as much dried as she wants, but she is about 3 times the size of him. We did offer her milk too but she doesn't want it. They also have a clean water bowl inside, and a rain water one outside (they wont touch the clean one if the rain one isn't there, even though they never touch the rain one!).

Dylan is given the same as Morti but it just doesn't seem to be enough for him without added milk. I'll stick with the kitten milk, but how much a day and how long for?

Any guesses on how old he might be? He is at least 6 weeks, as we've had him for 2, and the previous owner had him for 4 weeks. His eyes were blue when he got here and turned green just a couple of days ago. He weighs 10 ounces.

scaredy_cat

eyes change colour between 2=3 mths old.

has he been wormed for roundworm? it might be wise to get him checked by a vet if he's hungry all the time.

Griizelda

Do you know if he's been wormed? If his eyes have turned green, then he's likely to be older than six weeks (closer to eight), but he is very small (could have a small mum).

What kitten biscuits are you feeding him? If it's something like Go-Cat, they'll have a lots of grain in them which is not good for cats of any age. And sorry, but Whiskas kitten food isn't the best either (I still can't work out why some cat foods list "various sugars" as one of the ingredients!)

As he's not gaining weight very quickly, you could try something like this
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/dr.-clauders-powdered-cat-milk-substitute-200g-112741 (Pets at Home also have some decent kitten food, such as Applaws, which may be better for Dylan).

Hope this helps.

ps Got distracted by the PAH website and Scaredy_Cat had already answered some of your questions!

RazWaz

He was wormed before we got him, and we were told to give him a second dose this weekend, I did it on Friday.

Yes both his wet food and dry food is Whiskers Kitten but I'm happy to change to what ever is best for him.

I did think he could just be small, but we weighed him - 7 ounces, but 8 days later he was only 8 ounces (10 now).

his_missus

Have you taken Dylan to the vets for a kitten check up yet? We took our kitten as we weren't sure how old her actually was and he looked so small. We thought he was only 6wks but the vet suggested 8wks. Perhaps Dylan is the "runt of the litter"?

I'd go with kitten milk as I think it's the lactose in cows milk cats can find hard to digest and can make them ill.

My kitten is only eating biscuits, refuses cat meat though he'll eat a bit of fresh meat.

As for the food related behaviour, have you thought about using a water spray bottle to prevent him jumping up onto worktops? Just a little spray of water each time he does it should deter him in time.

stir_crazy

Is it possible for you to keep him out of the kitchen when you are cooking and in a separate room when you are eating? I've heard of people who feed their cat when they are having their human meal so that the cat has their own food to eat. A vet or vet nurse would be able to age your kittie pretty easily.

As for cat food, my own kitten will mostly just eat biscuits with occasional bites of wet food and a little bit of raw chicken. Please don't use cow's milk as cats can't really digest it easily.

RazWaz

stir_crazy wrote: »

Is it possible for you to keep him out of the kitchen when you are cooking and in a separate room when you are eating? I've heard of people who feed their cat when they are having their human meal so that the cat has their own food to eat. A vet or vet nurse would be able to age your kittie pretty easily.

As for cat food, my own kitten will mostly just eat biscuits with occasional bites of wet food and a little bit of raw chicken. Please don't use cow's milk as cats can't really digest it easily.

The entire bottom floor is open plan, we've tried putting him in the garden but it makes him frantic.

Since we've been giving him cat milk he's stopped trying to steal food as much so I think it's working for him. He's also started growing really fast, he gained 35% of his body weight in 2 days. He's longer now, and you can't feel his spine while you stroke him anymore.

RazWaz

his_missus wrote: »

Have you taken Dylan to the vets for a kitten check up yet? We took our kitten as we weren't sure how old her actually was and he looked so small. We thought he was only 6wks but the vet suggested 8wks. Perhaps Dylan is the "runt of the litter"?

I'd go with kitten milk as I think it's the lactose in cows milk cats can find hard to digest and can make them ill.

My kitten is only eating biscuits, refuses cat meat though he'll eat a bit of fresh meat.

As for the food related behaviour, have you thought about using a water spray bottle to prevent him jumping up onto worktops? Just a little spray of water each time he does it should deter him in time.

Yes he had a checkup about 10 days ago as well as his first vaccination, the Vet did mention his size but didn't seem worried though he was fighting to get Morti off his shoulders for most of the time.

I'll ask again when he goes back for his second vaccination as Morti wont be there this time (she's already had both) but it seems the cat milk is workinhgffeterxcnb mbklln] - Dylan said hi!

He loves sitting on warm things, even when mummy is trying to use them.

RazWaz

He has been scoffing as much wet meat he can get, along with all the biscuits he wants, he easily eats more than Morti even though he is 1/3 of her size, it just seems like it's not enough for him without milk as well.

I was wondering if it was his digestive system not maturing after being weaned, but that's something to bring up with a Vet rather than the internet.