Kitten Advice Please...

[PyreneesPlot]

Afternoon. Any experienced cat people out there?

We have 2 five month old kittens born to a semi-feral cat on our covered terrace. The female kitten is self contained - likes a cuddle but is quite happy to disappear into the woods and fields on her own once she's been fed. Her brother whines almost all the time unless you make a fuss of him. He never goes beyond the garden and follows me around when I'm outside and will often sit on my shoulder. He is quiet when he is with us.

However I'm getting worried that he may have some kind of a problem with confidence. When the kits were three and a half months old he and another sister both went missing overnight. He turned up 24 hours later but his sister was never found. Could he be frightened still of leaving? His behaviour changed at this time, but is getting worse.

And he has now become a fussy eater and while his sister is gaining about 60-100g in weight each week he is losing weight. He looks healthy - bright eyes, shiny coat and does not feel thin. Should we persist with the food he doesn't like - I fear making life harder for ourselves in the future by pandering to his needs. They get dry food (soaked - sometimes in chicken stock) now they are weaned. They are all outside cats.

I hope he is just a difficult teenager Any thoughts appreciated!

[rustylady]

It sounds hard, but if he's hungry he will eat whatever is put down for him. He sounds a lovely affectionate cat. Is he nervous around people?

[WendyC]

Have they been wormed? Can't remember when kittens are first wormed, our old lady is 15, so long time since she was a kitten! If mum was semi-feral she could have passed them on to the kittens. It could explain weight loss, although perhaps he wouldn't be looking so healthy. Might be feeling out of sorts. Just an idea.

[roitelet]

I have one who 'arrived' with three others not all of the same litter. He does the same as yours and he is about 8 years old now. I wouldn't worry about it, it is just the sort of cat he is.

[Nicos]

Maybe there is a 'Tom Cat from Hell' out there? We certainly had one a while back until my boy cat ( neutered)sent his white fur flying!
That would explain your boy wanting to stay close to you...and for your gal cat to go off for a flirt!

I'm presuming as yet they haven't had their 'snip' yet????

Our French neighbours say that the countryside is much more dangerous to a cat than a city. We lost our 2 UK cats within 2 years of moving here.
Our young French gal seems very , very rural field/street-wise!

I'd just be chuffed that you have a cat which loves lots of cuddles!

Dried food- we give Hibou (her) Hills science diet ad lib and she probably eats half her diet with voles and mice!

[Jardiniere]

no advice just adding some thoughts...i wouldnt worry if i were you because as long as he stays at home he's not off roaming around ...my ex neighbours lost their two boy cats when they were little because they wandered off (both killed on the road)and after that they moved to a house in the middle of nowhere (and lost a female cat who just disappeared)
i think nicos might be right - there could be a really scary tom out there frightening off your little boy...
best of luck with them.....

[ancee]

We've had both sexes and currently have two 9 week old kittens. Both boys. We've always found girls to be more outgoing and self sufficient, whereas the boy cats are a little more.
... er, needy!! Our boys have always been more affectionate than the girls and more cuddly too. This is why when my two kids wanted kittens we opted for boys as they are just friendlier than girls. i'd persist with the food you want to feed him rather than making him into a fusspot. We once pandered to a little girl kitten and she's love something, we'd buy loads of it, then she'd turn up her nose till we (stupidly) went out and bought something she hadn't had before. Think she was just playing us to see if we'd run about and pander to her - we did

[PyreneesPlot]

Thanks all for your replies.
Sounds like the little fella is just going to have to tough it out. There is an active mole feet from the edge of the house so he could always supplement his diet with that. I wish.
Yes, there is the nasty tom around so that might explain his reluctance to go far from home - I just hope the tom leaves the female alone for one more month until she can be done.
As for being nervous around people - there are no people around here! We have one neighbour who the cats visit (and steal food from - one chicken, one whole salami and one joint of beef so far) but the other neighbour has loose dogs including hunting dogs so the cats keep away from there. I suspect they might be the reason why we lost the one kitten. Its tough in the countryside, but at least we don't have much traffic to worry about.
Hark, he's off again. Must be cuddles time. Not.

[Incy]

While I was reading this, one of our boys settled on my lap and another came and sat on my arm in an attempt to also get on my lap. These aren't even the neediest of our 3 boys. Bof also lost his sister when he was smaller and since then can at best be described as clingy. Before she went missing he rarely came and asked for a cuddle whereas now he's constantly looking for attention.
I think boys, particularly when neutered are generally big softies. As for the food, we don't allow ours to be picky. They get dried food and have to finish what's there before they get more.

[Feral007]

Just be careful with the female cat - if there is a tom around they will come into season younger.
We have a 'sort of' feral cat here. He's nervous, he's thinnish, but he can stand up for himself. He's also very fussy eater. I used to only do dried food, but he's a wet food cat! And obsessed by milk, but lactose intolerant, so cat milk when I can be bothered!
Both our cats can catch mice and rabbits (in fact when I decided that it would be cheap dried food only) one of the cats stuffed a dead rabbit thru the cat flap (here mum, have some help with the budget!)

[SimonSez]

I have a 14 month old Abysinnian crossed possibly with a bengal - according to the vet. He is 6.1 kg but should be 6. Apparently he may grow for another year so will be a big cat!

Despite his size he is really scared of going outside. If you put him outside he curls up into a ball and shakes until you bring him back inside or he sees an open door and goes for it. The vet has advised us to keep him inside as a house cat as he could do more damage to himself if he bolts outside in front of a car.

He used to be needy but he gets a bowl of dry food a day and it only gets refilled the next day if it has been finished. It took a little while but now he is used to it. As stated above if he is hungry he will eat.

We even got our cat a lead! he loves it inside but as soon as we walk 5 yards outside he does exactly the same thing. The problem now is he pines for his lead inside and loves walking around the flat in it!

[PyreneesPlot]

Hi SS - I think taking a cat for a walk on a lead in very rural France might just confirm what the village thinks about the Nutty British

Feral I'm worried too about the female, but she can't come in as Mr PP is allergic and the vet will not spay before six months. Hopefully while we cross our fingers for the next four weeks, she'll cross her legs.

Although I'm tempted to fit a cat flap if they can be trained to bring rabbits

I'd like to do the leaving dry food out thing, but with four cats it always all gets cleaned up so the little boy misses out.

Its ironic that we called him Porcie (after the local rare breed pig Porc Noir de Bigorre) because as a newborn he was the biggest and greediest feeder.

[SimonSez]

Hi PP,

My dad lives in Batz-ser-mur and many of the locals walk their cats. if anything I am taking from the French!

All I can say is that your lucky to have such a cuddly cat. Zigs does like a cuddle but maybe once a week for 5 minutes. Otherwise he just looks you in the eye and rolls on his back. Cute but annoying when he does it 10 feet away and will not come to you for the fuss!

[PyreneesPlot]

Cuddly cat tried riding my shoulder just now and had to deploy claws to hang on. Little git

Have googled Batz-sur-Mer and it looks very nice but is not a good comparison - they have a website, roads with pavements, antique shops and everything!!!

We have a population of 62 all but a handful of which are semi-retired subsistence farmers and are surrounded by forest. Not good cat walking territory

[Tomato Head]

I've always found male cats to be a bit more clingy and needy than females. Plus there's the inevitable differenced in personality between individuals. Some cats are just self sufficient and others are less confident. He shouldn't be losing weight though so if that continues I would take him to the vet. Theoretically I'm all for just feeding them what you want to feed and hoping they will eat when hungry, but cats can (and will) starve themselves if they dont' like what you're feeding them so maybe try a different brand of food and see if you can compromise on something he likes and you are prepared to buy. One of mine is a bit fussy but as long as he gets what he likes he'll eat the same thing every day. The other likes a variety but does not like having the same thing 2 meals running and what was the best thing ever one day will be looked at with disgust the following day.

I've always had my cats neutered at about 5 months and they can be done much sooner, but if your vet insists on waiting until 6 months it might be best to keep them apart and/or indoors. The female can get pregnant at 5 months and they will mate with each other if the male's hormones start kicking in.