Thread: Habits and how to break them!

Originally Posted by MandyCoonie

6 weeks is way too young to be away from momma! I took in a heavily pregnant stray and she kept nursing two of her massive seven kitten litter for 12 weeks. I posted the ad for adoption when they were 8 weeks but told every prospective family they would have to wait until Mom weaned everyone. And these were just average cats!! Mom was a bit lazy with teaching litter box habits, and I had to take over that part of her job. You may need to start "re-training" your little one or at least finish his education.
I would use an enzyme based cleaner to get the urine out of your duvet. I was cautioned against using bleach or bleach based detergents because they actually make the cat more willing to mark the spot again.

Hi Mandy, thanks for your reply. We've been using Simple Solutions enzyme based cleaner for the mattress, and laundering the duvet and covers on as hot a wash as possible. We've had the odd 'toilet accident' as well, so we've been using the Simple Solutions to clean up those too. Neo's pretty good considering how young he is.......during the day-time, he uses his litter tray pretty much 95% of the time, it's only at night that we have the problem.

Apparently, Neo's breeder weaned him a couple of weeks before he came home with us, so 4 weeks old.....hmmm......that explains all the 'nursing' behaviour he displays (sucking on chins and ears, etc)

Tracey

That poor poor babe,think this is one "breeder" who should be banned & let her furries have a chance of leading a happy loving life,for sure quick turnover & money is the only thing that person is thinking about not the welfare of the animals.
Now going to go & arrh over photos......xxx

Arrrrh how sweet & a mackerel too my favourite pattern.....xxx

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

Arrrrh how sweet & a mackerel too my favourite pattern.....xxx

I didn't know it was called mackerel....makes sense though! Is it "mackerel tabby", just "mackerel" or something else?

Looking at him at the moment would say he is a brown mackerel tabby with white...his head looks true brown but his body is appearing lighter,he has the unbroken lines on his body you can also get a spotted mackerel & that says it again in the name the pattern is broken & appears as spots although they still form lines down the body instead of the swirls of the classic pattern,will be interesting watching him grow....xxx

I think you need to name and shame this breeder just so no other potential MC kitten buyers on here end up encouraging her kind of operation. Six weeks is way too young for a Maine Coon kitten to be away from Mum. The description of the house and breeders comments plus the lack of pedigree is very worrying. For Neo to be force weaned at four weeks is also strange. At least he's in a better situation now with responsible parents and being loved.
Name and shame!

Originally Posted by Englishman

I think you need to name and shame this breeder just so no other potential MC kitten buyers on here end up encouraging her kind of operation. Six weeks is way too young for a Maine Coon kitten to be away from Mum. The description of the house and breeders comments plus the lack of pedigree is very worrying. For Neo to be force weaned at four weeks is also strange. At least he's in a better situation now with responsible parents and being loved.
Name and shame!

Although I'd love to warn off other unsuspecting potential buyers, I'd rather not name and shame...call me a coward, but I'd rather not get into that situation. I'd be happy to let anyone know by private message though.

On a lighter note, we took the step of locking him in the living room last night to start with breaking the 'peeing on the bed' habit, and he was fine this morning. We decided to leave him in there alone in the end, as we didn;t think it was fair to lock one of the other cats in with him. They've always had completely free rein through the house and it didn't seem fair to expect them to change their habits of a lifetime just to keep Neo company. We did feel mean leaving him alone though, but he was very chilled out and really happy to see us this morning, and the added bonus was that he'd done all of his 'business' in the right places (i.e. the litter tray!).

Oh, and a second bonus was that we had an undisturbed nights sleep without being used as a kitten playground at 4 in the morning!

He's a very independent, confident little fella, so I'm sure that being alone overnight won't harm his development.

Thanks for the replies everyone , Tracey

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

Looking at him at the moment would say he is a brown mackerel tabby with white...his head looks true brown but his body is appearing lighter,he has the unbroken lines on his body you can also get a spotted mackerel & that says it again in the name the pattern is broken & appears as spots although they still form lines down the body instead of the swirls of the classic pattern,will be interesting watching him grow....xxx

Blimey, colouring science sounds a bit complicated! I'll keep posting pics as he grows though, so you can see how he changes x