January 2005

This is Crash. We call him Crash because of the markings on his head. It
looks like he is wearing a crash helmet.
Crash is an interesting case study on fostering kittens. We've learned a
lot.
We got Crash when he was 3 days old. No siblings and no mama cat.
Someone had dropped him off at a vet's office in a box. We are lucky he
was found as quickly as he was.
We've hand raised lots of kittens but never just one kitten without any
siblings.
Crash wasn't up for adoption for very long. The people who adopted him
had to wait for 6 weeks until Crash was weaned but as soon as he was on
solid food he went to his new home. Since he was still so little Crash
never interacted much with any of our other cats. We noticed that from
about 4 weeks of age he liked to bite when we played with him. When he
would start to bite we would stop the play and offer him a blanket to
bite on thinking he was teething. We never encouraged the biting
behavior (it may be cute when they are young but not as an adult cat).
Crash went to his new home. The people were told of the biting and told
never to encourage it. I think they did follow our advise but the biting
continued. At 6 months of age Crash was returned to us because the
biting continued. Cat bites should always be taken seriously.
When he was returned to us, however, he had an upper respiratory
infection, he had never received the rest of his shots (we got him his
first shots before he was allowed to go to his new home), and he had not
been neutered.
He was also biting. Crash was always affectionate and the biting never
seemed like he was being aggressive... it just seemed like a normal part
of his play. What we soon found out by researching the problem is that
you should never raise a kitten alone. They should either have a mom cat
or siblings. Kittens raised alone are called singletons and biting is
typically a problem. It seems they need the cat interaction to learn
good cat manners. Who knew?
We took Crash to the vet. Crash got a shoot and some pills for his
infection. A couple of weeks later he was neutered and a week or so
after that he got his vaccinations up to date.
Being neutered helped quite a bit with the biting problem. I didn't
think it would make as much difference as it did but it helped a lot.
Once Crash was well again we let him interact with our other cats.
Poor little Crash was in for a real shock when he wanted to play with
the other cats. When Crash would run down the hall to play with the
other cats you would hear a series of thuds. Whenever he would pass
another cat and try to play poor Crash would be hit upside the head by
each cat he passed.
The biting problem became less and less frequent. However, any biting at
all is a serious problem.
Last week little Zsa Zsa came into our lives. She was about 4 months old
and less than half the size of Crash.
The first day I made sure all of the other cats were in the back
bedrooms and I let little Zsa Zsa have the run of the house. I was
especially worried about letting Crash around such a tiny and delicate
little kitten.
The next day when I got home from work I allowed all of the cats out of
the bedrooms, including the Crash Man.
Little Zsa Zsa was playing with a toy mouse when Crash came thundering
into the living room. Immediately Crash bounded toward Zsa Zsa and her
mouse toy. Before Crash could try to snatch the toy away Zsa Zsa let out
a growl like she was a grown lioness. It shocked Crash so much he turned
and walked away. The rest of the night Crash would stay about 5 feet
from Zsa Zsa and just sit and watch her.
By the next day Crash and Zsa Zsa were playing together but Crash was a
changed feline. There was no pouncing directed towards Zsa Zsa and
running after the toys was down right respectful. Crash had meet his match.
Crash's interaction with people has dramatically changed as well. He is
simply a changed cat.
So between the neutering, the whacks upside the head by the other cats,
and little Zsa Zsa's lioness growl Crash has learned his cat manners.
Crash has not bitten since he was neutered over a month ago. His
interaction with both cats and people have calmed down significantly. We
are very optimistic and relieved because if the biting problem were to
continue we would have to put Crash down. Cat bites are serious.
Crash is about 9 months old now. He is a wonderful, funny, affectionate
cat.
Whoever adopts Crash will have our support and promise that if biting
did become a problem again we would take him back and see what else we
could do to extinguish the behavior. He is definitely worth the
effort... He's the Crash Man.