Thanks everyone! It has been going pretty well the last two days, took Miko to the vet for a check up this morning. He did really well at the vets, even though he was crying in the car.
However, today Miko has given me some stress lol. He's showing me two different sides of himself and its making it hard for me to decide what to do. Here's what Im talking about: (Sorry for this super long post, I just need to vent and find out from you all if Im doing things correctly)
1) "Lap cat one minute, trying to destroy my legs the other."
Sometimes after a long play session, he likes to come onto my lap (or sometimes my chest if im lying down) and he likes to take a nap/cuddle with me. During the day time, he does this for long periods of time after we play. He usually stays until I move him lol, and often he falls asleep right there on my lap. I often play for 30-45 minute sessions or until he loses interest, and because I took a week off work, I've been doing at least 4 play sessions a day with him.
Everything was going fine until tonight, after playing with him for 30~ minutes after dinner, I figured he must be a little tired by now (we had played for around 2-2.5~ hours throughout the day on top of that as well). So I sat down and invited him onto my lap as usual. He gets up on my lap and I'm busy reading something on my phone, he starts clawing at my leg and bites my leg decently hard. It didn't hurt much but just startled me, and I gave out a loud "Ow Miko!" and a decisive, but not mean, "No". He didn't quite get the message though so I decided to leave the room for 5 minutes. I know cats don't respond well to punishment but if I didn't leave, he would have kept pouncing and clawing at my feet. So after 5 minutes, I figured he needed to play more to get some energy out, so I went back in and I got one of his favorite wand toys and played with him for another 20 minutes until he got bored of the wands. After this play session, I told him good job and I praised him a bit.
After this second play session of the evening, he was still really hyper and energetic though somehow. He was literally running like crazy, pouncing on random toys, and (mostly) leaping onto my legs, claws fully out, trying to climb up to the washing machine. I eventually just gave in (not wanting to punish him more) and lifted him up to the washing machine and then I managed to calm him down/distract him by running some water out of the faucet. And then after watching the water for a bit, he jumped down and snuggled up with me for a bit (without hurting me this time).
So I guess I made a tiny bit of progress with Miko in terms of correcting his rough play, but I am wondering if you guys have any suggestions? Im worried I won't have time to play with him for 3-4 hours a day when I go back to work. Maybe he is just extra feisty right now because he's a kitten?
2) Wanting to go "beyond" safe room / getting really scared once out there
So this one is simple to explain. Since the second day Ive had Miko, he's been showing more and more interest in trying to leave the safe room when I open the door. Today, after the vet, he literally tried to squeeze through the door as I was closing it, so I thought "Hmm maybe he's had a change of heart and wants to explore a little". I let him out and he started climbing up the stairs to the second floor (all the doors up there are closed).
I let him explore the second floor and come down at his own pace, and then he went off towards the living room. I decided to walk slowly and follow him to supervise, but I noticed him acting much more nervous with me when outside of the safe room. He would avoid me and it seemed like he would look at me like I was a predator. After not too much time in the living room, he darted up the stairs. I was worried that because he was acting nervous, that he might hurt himself from falling, so I decided to follow him up the stairs and catch him to bring him back to the safe room because he was clearly not ready.
Turns out he was too fast for me and just darted past me back into the safe room.
I keep worrying myself by thinking about the fact that Miko might never feel comfortable with the big house, but I am probably just over-worrying as usual. My guess is that he doesn't yet feel 100% comfortable with me and I need to work on fully gaining his trust in the safe room first? Even though he's on my lap purring a lot, often when I enter the room, it takes him around 5~ minutes of hiding in the carrier until he comes out to see me. I dont know why but I am guessing he's still not 100% sure of me?
3) Hunting/killing toys & Eating feathers
At first, when I would play with the wand toys with Miko, I would let him catch it, and then he would drag it into one of his caves to destroy. At first, I just thought he was shredding it with his claws, but it turns out he is actually trying to eat the toys. After the whole debacle of letting him out of the safe room today, he went back in the room and after some comforting, he went to the litter box and started heaving like he wanted to throw up. After a few seconds, he threw up three small one inch long feathers tips (from the toy I used before the vet), and a tiny bit of liquid.
I was super worried, so I looked up online what to do. Most people said that I should keep a really close eye on Miko, and see if he acts like he's in pain or discomfort. He seemed just fine to me and actually wanted to play right after. So I kept a close eye this time when playing with the wands, and then as usual, I fed him his wet food after playtime. Luckily for me, he ate all of his food, which people said probably meant he threw up everything he needed to. He also pooped later on and luckily, I didn't find any feathers in his poop.
This issue has also gotten me quite stressed, as he likes to eat all of the wand toys that I have. Its either string or feather on the toy and he chews on it to break it apart and then tries to swallow it. He also wont let go of the toy after he has caught it, and I literally have to grab it and wrestle it out of his mouth/claws. I keep thinking that I shouldn't be wrestling toys out because Im worried it might spur some aggression in him. The wand toys are his favorite to play with though (he doesnt really like any of his other toys much) but it seems they are also quite dangerous in Miko's case. How do I find a happy medium here? Cat Dancer makes these metal wire/cardboard toys that my vet gave me, and that seems like a decent option, but it doesnt really provide the same amount of running/chasing as the Da Bird for example. Should I just not let him play with feather toys anymore?
Sorry for making you read all that (and thank you if you did!!). I would really appreciate some feedback. Im a little stressed about my little guy lol, but I guess its good at least hes eating, drinking, pooping and playing still.
_________________ ~ Matt
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