Velcro kitty
Is this normal for a rescued bottle fed kitten??

Do I need to be more like a momma cat and try to wean her away from me a bit?

Will this maybe pass some with age?

Here is the story.......
We have a rescue kitten named Crook, because the very tip of her tail was broken at some point and healed slightly crooked, that someone dumped in our neighbors yard when she was about 3 and half weeks old. She is about 12 weeks now.

The neighbors couldn't take her and were going to call the pound...and I am a sucker so I brought her home to care for her. It was going to be temporary but now I think she is staying.

She was sweet and mellow from day one and did just fine weaning and other dehydration had no major problems.

Right now she is sitting on my shoulder, earlier she was laying on her back in my lap. She would prefer for me to hold her like a baby and carry her around all day.

When I am up and doing stuff around the house she follows me around crying. when I come in the door from being gone she runs up and greets me like one of the dogs.

Did I mention she sleeps on my pillow all curled up in my hair LOL

Jennifer I have a cat much like this, but it is a breed trait. He's an Oriental Shorthair/Siamese. I have bottle fed/raised kittens too many times and I find that constant or frequent contact doesn't seem to affect a cat's neediness much. Most of them grew up to me normal cats, the kind of aloof I come see you when I want something otherwise stay away from me I'm too good for you type.

I crate train my cats, though... I kept the last kittens in a 500 with a litter box and heat wraps and food/water until they were around 10-12 weeks, only out for supervised play and handling, no free roam. Creates a strong sense of litterbox use and cats that don't mind being in carriers. Otherwise I didn't see any increased dependence to humans or eachother. One of the kittens, from a litter of 4, actually matured into quite a loner that shuns other cats and only loves me when I have food.

My suggestion is do the same as you would a dog. If the behavior is unwanted, work to modify or correct it. Physical corrections don't work so well on cats, but if you are persistant in moving a cat away, they eventually get the picture.

But as with dogs any behavior that is rewarded or reinforced is that much more likely to occur again and continue to occur. My cats understand the words "no" and "off" as well as sit, up, dance, talk....... lol.... and my OSH plays fetch. I wish I was kidding.

I have bottle fed kittens before in the past, but never kept any of them, they were also a litter of 5 and had each other to cuddle and play with. She is my first bottle fed single.


I also kept her in a crate, for safety reasons, when she was tiny, she had her litter box, bed, stuffed animals etc in there. She is now allowed to roam free as she is big enough not to be confused for a mouse or other tasty treat.

My other cat is really affectionate as well, but never to this extreme.

I have seriously considered breaking out the sling I used with my son when he was a baby so she could hang out in that and be content...but that would only be enabling the behavior LOL.

I have also had a cat that absolutely hated us as well, the only time she acknowledged us was when her bowl was empty, and you didn't dare try to pet her lol.

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Did I mention she sleeps on my pillow all curled up in my hair LOL

Your morning head must look an awful lot like mine.

I've had a few velcro kittens over the years and they do grow out of it somewhat as they get older. I had a neck nurser, which I thought was sweet until I saw the kitty hickies on my neck. Another kitten wasn't happy unless she was on my shoulder so she'd climb me like a tree.

Good rule of thumb is to ask yourself "Will I like this behavior when the cat is full grown?" Modifying or correcting the unwanted behavior, as Jennifer suggested, does work.

 Quote: sarah morris

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Did I mention she sleeps on my pillow all curled up in my hair LOL

Your morning head must look an awful lot like mine.

Good rule of thumb is to ask yourself "Will I like this behavior when the cat is full grown?" Modifying or correcting the unwanted behavior, as Jennifer suggested, does work.

The best is when my hair is crunchy because she has been chewing on it.

I am strongly discouraging the shoulder sitting, because while its cute now it won't be when she is big.

I am glad she is too sweet though, rather than the opposite

My mom's cat was a total nightmare as a kitten, would attack to hurt, and draw blood, and bite you hard enough to break the skin for no reason and then snarl and run away. It took some serious behavior modification and work to get him tolerable.

They ended up declawing him as well because it was the only way they were willing to work with him after a trip to the minor emergency room for wound care.
I hate declawing but in that instance I totally understood.

He is much better now, but you still have to be on your toes around him.

I threw her away this morning.
I had no idea she was in the trash bag and she doesn't isn't heavy enough to make a difference.

I set the bag on the front porch so I could get my coat and shoes to take it to the cans and heard a bunch of meowing and rustling.

I looked out the front door and saw her little head poking out of the side of the bag.....

She is a mess!

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

I threw her away this morning.

LOL...This is the first time I've ever seen this sentence on the forum.

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

... I looked out the front door and saw her little head poking out of the side of the bag.....

Funny in itself and also funny to me because it reminded me of a snapshot I have of just my granddog's butt and back legs sticking out of a giant tipped-over bag of kibble.

Connie that is funny.

I came home one day to find Nico stumbling around the house with a bag of cat food stuck on her head. I laughed for a good long time about that one.

I had a kitty I almost wanted to throw away with the trash. I kept pulling the liner out of the can to find the bottom shredded, with resultant trash-all-over-the-floor. Couldn't figure it out; can was never moved or knocked over, no trash on the floor. Finally heard a small rustle one evening and crept into kitchen to check it out. Dang cat was climbing into the can, tearing up liner and slipping back out again.