Problem Kitten

Question
QUESTION: My kitten, Diamond, is just out of control. She is, I believe, 5 months I think now and she is just a terror. She is into everything. I've had to constantly punish her. I feel terrible because that is the only thing I do. I have to constantly yell at her, scold her. I've even had to resort to smacking her rump and even flicking her nose. I've used a squirt bottle with her, even sticking her in 'time out' in my cat carrier. But she is still determined to do whatever she can to anger me. I mean, just yesterday, I scolded her about shredding my shower curtain and not two seconds later, she is back shredding it again. Please help

ANSWER: Lisa,

I think that you should know that Diamond isn't trying to irritate you or make you angry. The behaviors that you describe are perfectly normal kitten behaviors. You will not likely be able to stop Diamond from having the urge to sharpen or play with things. The best thing that I can offer you is that you can redirect the behaviors that you don't like to appropriate places and objects and for now you may want to stick to cheaper shower curtains until Diamond has reliably learned to play with toys, kitty teases, kitten mittens and scratch posts. For the time being there is a product called Sticky Paws which can be used on your furniture to discourage her from shredding any furniture that she has had her eye on. The reason that Diamond isn't likely to want to shred anything that has Sticky Paws on it is because Sticky Paws is double sided medical grade tape that is clear and won't tend to damage most pieces of furniture. As far as yelling, spanking and timing Diamond out she really doesn't understand why you are so angry, continuing to treat her this way will just cause her to be fearful of you and she will be more likely to continue the problem behaviors when you aren't around. For Diamond the behaviors you are seeing are as normal as breathing, she doesn't yet understand that she is not to destroy human possessions. You can start to remedy this issue by distracting her from the shredding with toys like a kitty tease or a kitten mitten. Toys like that coupled with a few very sturdy scratch posts and maybe a sturdy cat tree you should see Diamond start to concentrate her energy on her toys and not your things. In the meantime I do suggest that you keep the door closed or put your shower curtain up out of reach. The more often that you play interactively with this little bundle of energy you will help her to settle down a bit. A great toy that most kittens just love (but it requires human supervision at all times) is a long shoe lace. Kittens will chase that all around the house non stop until you are tired or they are. I guess that my main recommendations are to have Diamond spayed and make sure that she gets a couple of hours of interactive play time. I should tell you that when I buy toys for my cats I choose carefully, you should try to think about what a toy will sound like at 3 am, if it is loud you may want to look at something quieter. It sounds to me like Diamond is a typical kitten who is full of life, energy, mischief and curiosity. If it helps at all, she will eventually settle down. You will certainly want to have her spayed soon so that she doesn't contribute to unwanted pets in our society. Unfortunately cats and kittens tend to have fairly high euthanasia rates in shelters simply because there are not enough homes to go around. Hopefully some of this information helps. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

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QUESTION: After reading your response thoroughly, I think that I will try the sticky paws tape. Everyone is telling me that I should never have gotten her but I rescued her. I can't do much of shutting her into a room because I live in a studio apartment and the only door is the bathroom door and I can't shut that because that's where my litter boxes are and my other cat won't be able to get in there. I recently had Diamond spayed but it seems like she is a different kitten. She wasn't as mischievous or destructive before. Or maybe it's just me not playing with her enough. I guess I'm expecting her to act like my older cat, Brando, who doesn't do all the stuff she does and one time of scolding him when he does do something wrong, which is very rare, is enough for him to stop it. But one thing that had me curious is she had her first heat not too long ago. Can kittens go into heat that young? Or I wonder if she is perhaps older than I thought she was? I heard about like hot pepper wax, bitter apple spray and citrus spray. Is any of those products safe to use around cats?

ANSWER: Lisa,

My oldest cat had her first heat when she was three months old, it is a matter of weight, moon phases and season age is not as much a part of determining when your cat will go into heat as most people think. Kittens are not adult cats, they have to be taught manners patiently. Diamond is willing to learn, but she is not going to understand the way that you expect her to act by just watching Brando. I am not familiar with hot pepper wax. As far as I know bitter apple is safe for cats, I have even rubbed hot sauce or actual hot peppers onto things like electrical cords to stop persistent kittens from chewing on them, be aware though that some kittens will be willing to develop a taste for the hot peppers if they are exposed to them frequently and they are totally determined to chew the object that the pepper has been rubbed on. It takes patience to deal with a kitten. They are more like puppies than most people think, they are curious, have tons of energy, like to chew things, but most of all they are just learning how to live in the human world, cut Diamond a bit of slack...Try not to get too frustrated with her, there are lots of things that she doesn't know or understand yet. I would guess that based on my experience Diamond will settle at around a year to eighteen months of age with proper training. As for some folks having the opinion that you shouldn't have gotten Diamond I would take that with a grain of salt. Diamond is a kitten, you have stepped forward to give her a good life and a home, both you and Diamond were in the right place at the right time. You will over time build a bond with her and she will learn your house rules, just have some patience and give it time. I know that when I rescued my youngest resident cat as she begged for a home outside a church on a rainy night I really didn't need another cat, I wasn't planning on keeping her...She is really quite a spirited kitty, but she is also intelligent and really loving. It has taken lots of time to teach her our house rules, but it has been worth it...We called her Kizmit as a special recognition of the fate that brought us together. I know that raising a rambunctious kitten can sometimes wear on even the most patient person, but I think that you are doing the right thing. Congratulations on your precious Diamond. She will shine with time and patience. Please feel free to keep me posted and let me know how you are both doing. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again. I will do the best that I can to help and encourage you through the more difficult phases of kittenhood.

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QUESTION: Do you have aol instant messenger or aim? Or an email that I can could contact you on instead of this?

Answer
Lisa,

I do have an email, but you should be aware that any correspondance you send through all experts for me comes straight to my email. I am not willing to offer my email address on a public page, but if you would like to contact me again with a message flagged private I will answer your email and offer my address. Hopefully things are cooling off a little in terms of Diamond. It sounds like she is a spirited kitten with lots of spunk and bounce. Hopefully over time she won't feel the need to bounce quite as far as the ceiling. Who knows maybe she is like Tigger and hasn't quite learned to control her bouncing yet....Please feel free to email me with a private tag and I will be more than happy to correspond with you and try to support you through the less attractive phases that Diamond is working on at the moment.