{"id":1732,"date":"2018-10-16T18:35:34","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T01:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/?p=1732"},"modified":"2020-10-26T12:42:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T19:42:30","slug":"cattens-the-young-and-the-restless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/16\/cattens-the-young-and-the-restless\/","title":{"rendered":"Cattens: The Young And The Restless"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted on Fear Free Happy Homes \u2013 October 2018<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Cattens: They\u2019re not quite kittens, not quite cats. They\u2019re tweens through teens. Adolescents. Can go from \u201cMommm-muh!\u00a0 Don\u2019t! Won\u2019t!\u201d\u00a0 to \u201cMommmy?!\u201d in five minutes. Absolute challenges in the bum. I love them at that awkward time. Sometimes, it\u2019s fun. Often, sweet.<\/p>\n

As we did ourselves, they\u2019re going through changes. Watching your Noodles develop into the adult she\u2019s going to become is like\u2026well, how did you feel when your child began to walk? Exactly. Understanding goes a long way to enrich your cat\u2019s development and vastly decrease stress for the two of you during this colorful period, and it\u2019s bonding. With a little knowledge, you and your unruly teen can have a more loving, stronger relationship, because you\u2019ll know her better. Promise.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, this period of adolescence is considered to be between six and 12 months. I put it between four and 18 months. In my experience, ferals tend to be \u201csavvy\u201d earlier than owned cats.<\/p>\n

All Those Changes!<\/h3>\n

Between four and five months, Noodles starts losing baby teeth. Gums can hurt\u2014and perhaps because of the irritation, cattens chew more. Shoes. Papers. Carpet corners. Toys. It\u2019s not pica (they don\u2019t eat and swallow the non-edible item), it\u2019s teething.<\/p>\n

Coats go from fluff to sleek. He grooms more, which means more hairballs if you don\u2019t help him out with regular brushing. Urine smells stronger. Nails shed sheaths more, and faster. There\u2019s more directed energy: jumps higher, races faster, gets into cabinets, shelving, and dryers more easily, opens doors better.<\/p>\n

Cattens announce their newly expanded presence in other ways, too: marking territory with urine (unless spayed\/neutered), clawing sofas, furniture legs, and curtains, shedding old nail sheaths, so new nails can grow. It feels great. Good back and shoulder stretch.\u00a0 Perhaps clawing you, too.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take it personally. She\u2019s claiming turf, which includes you. She\u2019s working out her place in that territory. Ranking. Behaviorists don\u2019t like to use the term \u201cdominance,\u201d but hierarchies do exist. Other cats around? Who\u2019s positioned where? Scrambling for a better social position can mean picking fights with other cats. Higher ranking cats fight back to keep Noodles in her place.<\/p>\n

Cattens appear able to distinguish prey at further distances. Territorial imperative develops further than the kittenish possessiveness with toys and food. (\u201cMine!\u201d)<\/p>\n

Play aggression rises:\u00a0 Noodles wants and needs to play and tussle with pals. She stalks, chases, pounces, and clutches while other resident cats join in, hide\u2014or fight back. If it\u2019s true meeting of two playful minds, there\u2019s no real victim, while if there\u2019s true fighting, there is, and you\u2019ll hear growling.<\/p>\n

Social play peaks. Attacking revs up with play aggression, continuing beyond four months. In between spurts of vigorous play, Noodles buzzes and snuggles, but at\u00a0about six months, it\u2019s push the envelope. Ankles, feet, hands, face\u2014you\u2019re no exception to Noodles\u2019 predatory exercising.<\/p>\n

Is she using your legs or hands as playthings?\u00a0 \u00a0Ideally, catch her before she latches on and redirect her calmly to a toy to work out her play. If she is already attached to you, freeze and remain calm and quiet. The more excited and active you are, the more excited she will be. Redirect her to a toy by tossing it or enticing her to get it. Teaching a \u201cget your toy\u201d cue can make this even easier.<\/p>\n

Love Me, Love Me Not?<\/h3>\n

The human brain changes and develops hugely at this age, but we know\u00a0astonishingly<\/em>\u00a0little about mental development in a feline. We know her brain is still catching up to the growth spurts, as she increasingly explores her independence and her skills. We see it in her manner. Former bonds can break, as Noodles juggles friendships, alliances, enemies.<\/p>\n

We observe cattens developing independent relationships, some combative, some friendly, some tolerating, with both animal and human household members. This can mean shunning a littermate or feeling easier with another cat previously seen as suspect. If they used to love cuddling; now it\u2019s not unusual for a catten to pull away. When you stroke her, you might get a chomp and scratch, instead.<\/p>\n

Stay!<\/h3>\n

Be patient, as you were or would be with your own human teen. Relate to your catten, be gentle with her, stay with the process.<\/p>\n

Keep praising! Praise and treats for the good things Noodles does, like playing with the toy you bought, not nibbling at feet or hands. Aversives\u2014sharp noises, water bottle sprays, buzzy mats\u2014ramp up fear and aggression, alienate Noodles, don\u2019t get to the motivation\u2014and don\u2019t stop the behavior when you\u2019re not there. Reward the good stuff, and try to ignore or redirect the bad.<\/p>\n

From kittens to cattens to adults, raise them with consistent, constant love and understanding. Who they\u2019ve been and are now, with your care, is who they\u2019ll become. It\u2019s an interesting time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally posted on Fear Free Happy Homes \u2013 October 2018 Cattens: They\u2019re not quite kittens, not quite cats. They\u2019re tweens through teens. Adolescents. Can go from \u201cMommm-muh!\u00a0 Don\u2019t! Won\u2019t!\u201d\u00a0 to \u201cMommmy?!\u201d in five minutes. Absolute challenges in the bum. I …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,42,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behavior","category-cattens","category-fear-free-happy-homes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1732"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1739,"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions\/1739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cattitudebehavior.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}