What's up with my weirdo kitten?

August 28, 2008 12:26 PM

A couple of questions from a new cat owner.

I have a 14-week old early-neuter long-haired orange male tabby. We bought him at 11 weeks from a cat rescue program who had him neutered, dewormed, and got him all his shots. He's exhibiting a few strange behaviors, and I'm having trouble finding answers on the internet, in that most of the stuff I'm finding doesn't seem to quite fit his behavior.

1. The last few days, he seems to have an excess of dark brown earwax coming out of one of his ears. We've gently cleaned him out with a q-tip, but I'm wondering if this is normal, or an indicator of ear mites or some other problem.

2. He makes a lof of unusual mewing sounds, specifically when he's hyper and running around, and also whenever he jumps, but there don't seem to be any physical indications of pain, as he's very playful, very friendly, and seems to have pretty normal body language.

3. He's been urinating out of place a little bit lately. He's very good about using his litter box, and it's cleaned daily, removing 2-4 "deposits" at a time. Nonetheless, he has peed on the couch a couple times, and also on some clothes in the bedroom more than once. It's infrequent. He seems friendly and happy, so I don't think it's a behavioral thing, and it doesn't seem frequent enough to be a urinary tract infection. Any ideas?

With all this said, we have an appointment scheduled at the vet, but I'm looking to go in with some idea of what's going on so I can ask better questions, and I'm also looking to see if there's anything I can do in the meantime.

Thanks!

posted by sunimplodes to pets & animals (19 comments total)

As for number two, my cat, an eight year old Maine Coon, makes the most bizarre noises while running around acting stupid. This is how she "plays." So I don't think you have anything to worry about there. :)
posted by nitsuj at 12:36 PM on August 28, 2008

Sounds like fairly-normal kitty behavior for a kitten in a new place. There seems to have been a 2 or 3 month adjustment period for the past couple of kittens I've fostered. Definitely get him to a vet, but it may just be a phase.
posted by piedmont at 12:36 PM on August 28, 2008

...at least as far as 2, and maybe 3 is concerned.
posted by piedmont at 12:36 PM on August 28, 2008

You may want to get a second litterbox and put it on a different floor (or in a different area) just until he grows up a bit and/or gets used to your place.
posted by nkknkk at 12:40 PM on August 28, 2008

1. Probably normal, but call your vet and ask -- they may confirm and then you won't have to bring him in.

2. Probably normal. He might be lonely for other cats?

3. We switched to Cat Attract litter (there was a recent thread), which helped us a great deal with this issue.
posted by theredpen at 12:41 PM on August 28, 2008

I couldn't help you with number 1. Definitely take him to a vet if it keeps up.

However, number 2 is totally normal. Consider the particular weirdness of your cat's meowing part of his personality (everytime I pet my cat she screams at me, and then starts to purr). The peeing thing is also pretty normal for the first few weeks in a new place (particularly for a kitten and [I think] particularly for a male). Good luck and have fun.
posted by nameless.k at 12:45 PM on August 28, 2008

We have all-black kitties, but I've noticed in friend's cats that are of the orange tabby variety, they seem to produce a heck of a lot more earwax than mine do. Might be a weird orange tabby thing. Either that or it's just more visible because they are so light colored.

Worry not on #2, totally normal. Seconding possibly getting a second cat if you can -- my first boy was a LOT more crazy-acting til we got him a brother to chill out with (quoth he: "STUPID DOG NO WANT PLAY! I KNOW! I SMASH EVERYTHING OFF YOUR DRESSER!"). And yes, the peeing thing is kind of normal/a territory thing, but I would definitely try installing a few more cheapo disposable litterboxes around the house til he chills out a bit. Good luck!
posted by bitter-girl.com at 12:49 PM on August 28, 2008

The waxiness sounds like it could be ear mites.

As for the noisiness and the peeing, could be just normal kitty behavior (mine tends to YOWL when he's hyper), but you might want to have his thyroid checked as well, as I've heard it can contribute to both things.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:51 PM on August 28, 2008

1. For our cats is usually either ear mites or anxiety. For whatever reason one of our cats FHV (Feline Herpes Virus) acts up when he gets a bit stressed out and manifests itself with more wax than normal.

2) Normal, one of ours trumpets when he's done his business in the litter box or just excited in general, the other one runs around mewing frustration at bugs, pieces of paper, etc that she can't get at.

3) Try stashing another litter box in a separate area to see if maybe it's a littler box placement thing or a separate box for going #1 thing.
posted by iamabot at 12:52 PM on August 28, 2008

Okay, I'm glad to have a couple of my suspicions confirmed, as I figured the noise-making was pretty normal, and the peeing was likely something that would go away. As for a second litter box, I don't know that it would help.. we live in a small 2-bedroom apartment, and the box is in a pretty central location.

As for the earwax, we've got to take him in to get some more shots anyway, so I'll double-check that one, but I can't find anything that would make it sound like anything dire.

Something I forgot to mention was that the peeing seems to only be on darkly-coloured objects, in fact, everything he's peed on has been BLACK. I'm not sure if that means anything or is just a coincidence, but it might be worth mentioning.

Thank you all for the quick answers!
posted by sunimplodes at 12:52 PM on August 28, 2008

Look for dark kitty litter. One of the few things I've found to be almost universal about cats is they are very picky about what they will do their business on.
posted by piedmont at 1:06 PM on August 28, 2008

Something I forgot to mention was that the peeing seems to only be on darkly-coloured objects, in fact, everything he's peed on has been BLACK.

We went through this. Got him checked out by the vet and put him on special urinary food. The only remedy was not to leave black stuff laying around (or laundry).
posted by desjardins at 1:06 PM on August 28, 2008

Orange boys are notorious for urinary problems. Make sure your vet knows about the inappropriate urination. We have an orange cat who always had very occasional inappropriate urination. Following treatment for a UTI, we determined that he had a tendency towards forming urinary crystals in the bladder, and switched him over to one of the urinary prescription diets. This has not only addressed the peeing-in-the-laundry problem, but has greatly lessened his other slightly neurotic tendencies -- we think he just feels much better generally now and so he's not so stressed out.

You may also want to talk to your vet about Urinary Obstruction -- it is a potentially deadly situation, and you may want to be familiar with the local 24-hour emergency hospital in case he demonstrates any symptoms.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:08 PM on August 28, 2008

in fact, everything he's peed on has been BLACK.

I would guess that you've only noticed the pee spots on the black stuff. Or, the texture of the black stuff is attracting him. Cats aren't into colors as much as textures.

As for a second litter box, I don't know that it would help.. we live in a small 2-bedroom apartment, and the box is in a pretty central location.

It's not a second litter box for ease of access, it's a second (or third or fourth, ymmv) to keep litter boxes in the fore of his little kitten brain wherever he is. Put one near the couch,corner or the bed that he's peeing in and he'll be reminded to go there and not the bad place. After a couple weeks he'll be able to remember other boxes and be willing to walk across the room to a single box. Kittens are adorable, but they're not too smart.
posted by dness2 at 1:10 PM on August 28, 2008

"I would guess that you've only noticed the pee spots on the black stuff. Or, the texture of the black stuff is attracting him. Cats aren't into colors as much as textures."

I'm guessing that it's a coincidence then, as if it were anywhere else, we would have likely noticed it, as it's not without a fairly obvious odour.
posted by sunimplodes at 1:32 PM on August 28, 2008

Take him to the vet for the number and 1 and 3. Sounds like ear mites/debris which is very common with rescue kittens. Often the ears will smell like rotten trash, too. If they're bad enough, kitty might be temporarily deaf. Litter troubles could be a minor infection that's very easy to treat. Vet will give you medicine, if needed. Try to make sure kitten's bladder is full for your vet visit, they'll need a urine sample. The meowing is probably normal, but I have seen cats with number 3 problem meow loudly and crazily.

Keep the clothes and other inviting objects off the floor. Some cats always seem attracted to piles of cloth on the floor. Same with blankets on sofa and anything else that can absorb like grass, sand, or litter.

Nth the extra litterboxes. You can buy disposable boxes cheaply that will last a few refills.
posted by ick at 1:41 PM on August 28, 2008

3. (footnote) Possible explanation - he's a rescue cat - he didn't have a litter box during his early formative weeks, so he considers it normal to use other things similar to what he learned on.
posted by coffeefilter at 2:03 PM on August 28, 2008

The urinating sounds like he's marking his territory. He's young and this is a new place to him, so he's trying to make a THIS IS MINE statement. It could also be the first sign of a problem, so bring him to the vet just to be sure.

As for peeing on black things - that's just a weird cat trait, methinks. My calico prefers to *sleep* on black things and I think it's so she can shed as much as possible on them.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:04 PM on August 28, 2008

Yeah, the weird noises are just....weird noises. My own 16-year-old tuxedo boy has a whole range of noises -- the "brrrt"s when he's surprised by something, the yowls when he's in the cat carrier, the weird low-frequency conversations he has with his water dish...cats just make a whole range of sounds.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:01 PM on August 29, 2008