what to do about my kitten?!?

Question

my kitten who is 12 weeks old is super hyper. whenever i eat he comes over and tries to get the food. he also pees in our laundry basket! my parents say theyll give him another couple weeks, and if he doesnt get any better, theyre gonna give him away =[[ i just recently gave up on my guinea pig and i dont want that to happen again. how can i train him and make him calmer/ less troublesome???

Answer 1

kittens are kittens. it's very hard to train a kitten to do something! Make sure that the area around the litter box is "pleasant", the best way to tell is to see if your baby is using it at all. Then take things like the close hamper and put it somewhere where your kitty won't be able to get it. OR another idea is to lock your kitty in a special room (bathroom or laudnrey room) and only bring the kitty out in supervised times. the hyperness is a popular kitty trait, and really not something you want to see go away completely. But as your kitten grows up he/she will mellow out and become more relaxed. Good luck!

Answer 2

He's only 12 weeks old! Still a baby. All kittens are hyper. Give him another chance the poor thing.

Make sure the litterbox is accessible and very clean. Kittens in particular are very picky about their litter. After he eats, make sure to put him in the litterbox. Do this too if you ever see him peeing outside the litterbox. Eventually he will get the idea that he's supposed to go there and not the laundry basket. As for the other problem, get a squirt bottle. Whenever he tries to get into your lap when you are eating, squirt him. He will understand that's a no no in a very short time. Overall be patient and tell your parents to do the same. You get an animal for their life. You are responsible for them. They aren't to be thrown away when they become inconvenient.

Answer 3

Well first of all you should have thought twice before getting a kitten. If you gave up easily on your guinne pig then you can't be ready for a kitten. Anyway try getting the cat fixed when its old enough. Train it to use the litter box. Show it where it is and when ever it uses the bathroom where he or she is not supposed to, scold them once and bring them to the litter box. Cat's are hyper, deal with it. If you don't want them to get on the table, take them off whenever they get on. sooner or later they'll not jump on it at all. the food part is simple, don't let it on the table. Oh and again, you should have thought twice about the cat thing if you didn't know they were gonna be high energy

Answer 4

I think the website answer is excellent, so is getting him neutered.
Plus, when one of our kittens is after our food, we "ping" him on the nose with a finger, held in OK sign: squirt bottle with water works if you catch them somewhere they are not supposed to be- just don't soak the poor thing: sad to say rubbing their nose in pee then depositing them in litter box has helped some of ours but I think this is cruel and don't do it anymore.
Kittens go through a hyper phase, exploring their abilities, it will pass but some take longer than others.
Good luck- you have some good answers so far.
Maybe show these to your parents.
I hope you get to keep your kitty!

Answer 5

Oh!!! Well that's awful! Don't your parents know that that's just the way kittens are? If you catch him peeing take him to the litter box and scold him. But if you dont catch him while he's doing it (or if he is just leaving the area) and just find it later he wont understand when you scold him. Pets do outgrow habits and they do get knew ones. As for the eating i dont know why that would bother you... he's young and curious so i guess you just have to ignore it. Minnie does that all the time to me and it doesn't make me want to give her away (i know its not you but you parents..) i just brush her off and put her on the ground. I hope you can keep him! =[

Answer 6

Is he neutered? That is a must in calming him down and it will help with territorial peeing and spraying. He must be neutered and your parents MUST give him time to settle down. It takes a few weeks for the hormones to settle down after they are neutered AND SOMETIMES, being so young, it just takes TIME to get them to settle down. Kittens love to play. You need to cover or close the laundry hamper to keep him out of it and always make sure his litter box is clean. If he picks another spot to continually pee in what I have found to work, and it sounds weird, but it does work, is start putting his food and water in the spot he is peeing in. Cats will not pee where the eat. If it is just the laundry hamper he uses for a litter box, then get it covered. Sometimes it takes effort on our parts as owners to remedy the problems. Not just dispose of the animal. Tell your parents to use their heads and work with you and the cat a little bit. He might just like the feel of the clothes and thinks it's ok to pee in it. Experimenting with other litters can be helpful too. He might not like clay but would use scoopable, he might prefer dirt, he might prefer Feline Pine. There are many options other than discarding him to be someone elses problem. Your parents can e-mail me with questions if they like.

Answer 7

Make sure the kitten's litterbox is clean. Do it daily. A dirty litterbox will make them want to go somewhere else.

A kitten will be hyper. That is the sign of a healthy happy kitty. Spend time playing with your kitten to help train them. But I have to say that if you had trouble with a G.Pig, a kitten was not going to be any easier :-)

Answer 8

"Pawprint", above, gave a fine answer,
and I have added some links, below,
which might help.

But, respectfully to "catsaver001", mammals do not scent mark their territories until they have reached "maturity". Also, adult cats primarily use glands just below their necks, et al., to mark territory (why do you think they like to rub against furniture and people?). Finally, neutering will do nothing to "calm" any mammal down; it's a myth, just as is a pet getting fatter because of neutering. Neutering simply makes animals less interested in sex, which may make them SEEM calmer, but a hyper-kitty is going to stay hyper regardless of neutering, as may be attested to by my five very frisky dogs, all of whom were neutered!

Good luck!

Answer 9

My kitten is a little older 18 weeks and she is just as hyper but, doesn't pee in the laundry basket.

If the cat has a urinary tract infection they associate the litter box with pain so they pee elsewhere in the house.

Answer 10

Some cats are just hyper, cat nip will tucker him out after he's done spazzing out. But peeing in anything except the litter box is a huge nono. Sorry, but I would kick the cat out too.