I personally know someone who took in a pregnant kitten. She must have gone into heat at four months and then found a male right away.
Here I am, turning up like a bad penny looking for an update on the kitten who decided to stick around…
Meep meep!
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>^.^<
mews?
I am in Banshee withdrawal. Need kitteh pics! Kthxby.
Who woulda believed it?? LOL Not so long ago, she was a tiny, mewling thing that I was coddling to keep alive - and now she is huge and obnoxious!! Okay, well…not really so huge - to anyone else she would still seem pretty tiny, but to me she is so big now! She used to fit in the palm of my hand, now I need both hands to hold her and there’s a lot of overlap, lol. And she is well into her terrible twos - two months + that is, lol… 
I’m having trouble with photos lately, which is why I’m so long in posting this. For some reason, my pics don’t want to upload properly, so I haven’t got anything new quite yet - but I’m sure I’ll work it out. Really though, she looks about the same as she did in her last pics - a bit bigger now, but its hard to tell scale in those pics anyway. Also, though I have taken dozens of photos, most of them end up being a picture of her blurred tail as she hops out of the frame at the last second! When she is awake, she is never still, always running, hopping, pouncing and seemingly going from ‘here’ to ‘there’ in the blink of an eye! She is only in her crate at night now - I have to get some sleep, lol! She doesn’t seem to mind settling in for the night, she is usually pretty tired out by then and the crate is like her security blanket.
Meanwhile, I am dying the death of a thousand pinpricks! She still prefers to climb up my leg, even though she is now big enough to occasionally jump from the floor to my lap without a problem. I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time, peeling her off my legs, my back, my neck, my chest - and she still tends to try to hang on with her little claws, although she is starting to get at least a little discreet about how deeply she digs in! I am like the mamma cat, who rejects her growing kittens by pushing them away or getting up and leaving the nest - although for me, the human equivalent is usually peeling her off and tossing her onto the bed - repeatedly! And like a boomerang, she keeps coming back! This has been really working on my nerves - although the pinpricks are not all that painful, its a bit like the chinese water torture - a psychological torment, always waiting for the next little pinprick, lol…
I am also having to teach her about biting - how much is acceptable in play, how much is too much and when to refrain from it completely. These are things she would normally learn from her mother and her littermates. She is just playing, so she never bites very hard, she doesn’t chomp, she nibbles - but she needs to learn that hands and feet are not acceptable chew toys. When she starts to bite at my hands, I push her away and give her one of her toys - she has many! I think she is catching on, 'cuz lately her play bites have taken on a ‘hit and run’ quality - with a quick soft ‘taste’ and then run away before correction, lol.
She has a vet appointment for next week - barring any problems, it may be her only vet appointment for quite some time (as I stated before, her spaying will be done through low cost spay/neuter, probably through the local humane society). Its been a long time since I took a kitten into the vet - does anyone know what’s involved in an initial checkup? I’m assuming that they may do a routine worming as worms are pretty common in kittens, even when the mother seemed to be worm free. I think that the mom can pass worms on to the kittens even if they did not seem to have any themselves, as they can be dormant in the mom - and let’s face it, Maddie was prowling around outside, obviously! Do vets need to do vaccinations in kittens who will not be outside cats and are not exposed to any outside cats? I’m not sure about that. Since finances are an issue, it seems pointless to vaccinate her, but I do not know the protocol… Also, blood tests? I think lab tests can be pricey and I’m not sure how necessary they are? Or even if they are routine? I have seen no evidence of fleas on her or Markie or Froggy - I treat both Markie and Froggy prophylactically,- Markie because he goes outside and Froggy because she is exposed to outside pets… What else can I expect? I am hoping that the cost of this visit will be ‘reasonable’.
The other day, I lost Banshee for about 20 minutes! She was downstairs with me while I was cooking dinner and after a while, I looked around for her - she was nowhere to be found! I looked everywhere! Behind/under furniture, behind curtains, even in rooms that she (theoretically) should not have been able to get into! I couldn’t find her! I even went back upstairs a couple of times to see if she had braved the stairs and returned to my room - no Banshee! I was starting to panic a bit - could she have gotten herself into a life-threatening situation somehow? Where was she? I even went into the kitchen and started checking cupboards and fridge (she has a tendency to pop her little head in, when the fridge door is open!) Finally, I opened up the door to the small closet like pantry in the kitchen - and there she was! Sitting calmly on the floor in the two inches of space between the cans on the floor and the door! The whole time she was trapped in there, she never made a peep - just waited serenely to be freed! I had forgotten that I went briefly into the pantry to get some crackers for the chili and apparently she slipped in there unnoticed in the few seconds it was opened. This is why my daughter and I have taken to calling her ‘Banshee la Pita’ - pita, for pain in the ass, lol! Well, anyway, I was certainly relieved and she was totally unaffected by the whole experience.
I’m working on the problem with uploading photos - hopefully I can get some new ones here pretty soon - thanks for your interest and concern! 
Now is definitely the time to be firm and consistent about “no claws!” and “no biting!” If she’s chewing on your hand or fingers, sometimes it helps to hold your palm up flat to her face, since there (shouldn’t … ) be a small enough surface for her to get her teeth around.
If you really need to show who’s boss, her head should still be so small that you can cup your hand (gently) over her entire face for a second or two. Alternately, you can push her shoulders down so you (again, gently!) flatten her to the floor for, again, just a second or two. It’s a good way to remind her that you’re in charge without hurting or scaring her. You just want her to know that you are for now the dominant one.
Thanks for the update! You made my day!
you can also, very carefully, trim her claws, making it harder for her to climb.
Indoor cats need vaccinations, too - the little bastards keep escaping, even with the most vigilant co-habitational human. Our cats have a cat-proofed backyard that they go into, and neighbourhood cats occasionally stop by to “visit” (read: “fight with them”) - ours have had all their vaccinations.
Yikes there’s a lot to cover, but I’ll give it a shot…
Definitely never too early to start nail trims. The sooner she gets used to them the easier they will be. I have four cats that get regular trims. It takes maybe 10 minutes to trim all four because they’re used to it, don’t resist it, and that makes it easy and quick. I generally just do the fronts every 2 weeks or so, and maybe the backs every couple of months. Useful video instructional on trimming nails.
Sounds like you’re doing it just right. Withdraw and redirect is perfect, she should get it soon enough. A sharp “NO” is also OK at the same time as withdrawal of the hand, and even a puff of air to the face, as that imitates a hiss from momma.
Deworming is standard, as is a fecal exam. I wouldn’t skip them if your vet wants to do them. Vaccines for feline “distemper” and rabies are also standard. Rabies vaccines are required by law, even if kitty doesn’t go outside. I recommend these two (I’m a tech, not a DVM). She’s too young for rabies vaccine - she should get it when she goes in for her spay. 16 weeks is minimum age. As to the “distemper” vaccine, it’s usually a combination of panleukopenia, calicivirus, and rhinotracheitis (called FVRCP). Even though she’s staying indoors, the one to worry about is panleukopenia. It’s an extremely hardy virus which can travel on shoes, clothing, hands, and live in the environment. If she were to get out accidentally or if you should handle any stray cats or others of unknown vet history, I wouldn’t want to risk taking it home with you and getting her sick. Panleukopenia is BAD and would likely kill her if she’s not vaccinated. Bloodwork is not needed for a youngster like her. Depending on the area where you live, your vet may recommend a FIV/FeLV/HW test - that’s feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukemia, and heartworm. You can have that done at the time of her spay for probably much lower cost.
If you time her vaccines right, all she needs to get started is the FVRCP and a fecal/deworming for her first visit. Then a second visit for the FVRCP booster (your vet will recommend it 3 weeks from the first), and then when she goes in for her spay you can get a low-cost final FVRCP (she needs her final “booster” for this year at or after 16 weeks), along with a low-cost rabies vaccine and FIV/FeLV/HW test. If she’s otherwise healthy you could skip the test for now and have it done when she’s getting next year’s checkup. I don’t remember where you live, southeastern states have far higher instances of heartworm problems, so if she’s at risk for being bitten by mosquitoes it’s not a bad thing to check for. If she’s otherwise healthy, she’s not likely got FIV or FeLV, as those usually make very young kittens very sick early on, but they’re always a risk for cats that have spent any amount of time outdoors. Maternal antibodies for FIV can cause a false positive, though, until they’re at least 6 months old, so if she’s otherwise super-healthy and you don’t want to have to do the test more than once, waiting until next year should be fine.
Don’t feel bad. She would likely start yelling once she realized she was stuck in there. I shut one of my cats in the closet and didn’t know it until I got home from work. He didn’t greet me at the door and after I walked around for a bit, there were these little “meeps” coming from the closet! He was none the worse for the wear, and still walked in there whenever I opened the door. I regularly “lose” a cat from time to time, even in my 700sq foot apartment! The places they find to sleep never cease to surprise me.
Thanks SeaDragon for your info - Banshee’s appt with the vet is tomorrow morning so it definitely helps to know what to expect!
In the meantime, I find that I have fallen prey to the ‘my kid is so smart!’ syndrome!
Banshee is a little maniac, constantly playing (pretty much everything is a toy!) and constantly tearing about. Most of the time she is in my room, but she now has the freedom to go where she pleases, so she is downstairs with us frequently. She pretty much follows me downstairs and then back upstairs again as she pleases.
Well, I have a small house. The upstairs bathroom is kind of like a ‘jack and jill’ kind of setup where there is one door in the bathroom that leads to my room and another door to the upstairs hallway, off which are the other bedrooms. Generally, I leave the door between my room and the bathroom closed so that my roommates have the use of that bathroom. Since Banshee pretty much follows me wherever I go, she followed me into the bathroom this morning. But she brought with her a little fuzzy cat play ball that she loves to play cat soccer/hockey with…
Well, I went back into my room, but she was too busy playing soccer to follow me. So, I closed the door between my room and the bathroom, but left the door between my room and the hallway open so she could come back in that way when she was ready.
Well, a couple minutes later, I see her little furry cat ball shoot out from under the closed door to the bathroom and into the bedroom. Followed immediately by little kitten legs and paws reaching under the door in an attempt to retrieve it. But it was out of reach. Oh, so sad - poor kitty! I laughed and thought ‘I wonder how long it will take her to figure out that she just needs to leave the bathroom, come into the hallway then into the bedroom, cross the room and over to the door - and she can get her ball back’! I didn’t expect her to figure it out at all really - I mean, seriously - her brain is the size of a peanut!
But less than 30 seconds later, she darted through the hall doorway, raced across the bedroom without a pause and recaptured her ball on the ‘other’ side of the bathroom door! I may be wrong, but I thought that was pretty good thinking!
Yeah, she may be smarter than me…
Oh, no - it sounds like you do have a smart kitty there (my cat is a jock - athletic but not too bright - she would have never figured out the toy problem). She’ll be able to get into even *more *trouble with her smart little peanut brain!
One thing I always recommend to new cat owners (well, you’re not new to cats, but this one is still pretty new ) is to never let their cats sleep with them - to get them used to a closed bedroom door from Day One. No one ever listens to me. Oh well.
But…but…where’s the fun of having cats if they can’t sleep with you? 
Seriously. One of the joys of my life is snuggling up to a cat to go to sleep. One of mine likes to sleep practically nose to nose.
Yep. One of mine likes to curl up between our two pillows and purr all night, and another one snuggles up into the crook of whoever’s arm is currently available. They do get a little warm in the summer, but waking up to purring is one of life’s great pleasures.
Yeah, one of ours has decided that human feet are Where She Belongs. It helps my insomnia trememdously to feel her soft, furry butt against my ankle, and just that is sometimes enough to lull me back to sleep.
Concur that you should get her used to having her claws trimmed. We got ours used to having her teeth brushed (with pet toothpaste, not human) and that’s been a big help as well.
Cats sleeping with me isn’t a problem. It’s the “I’m jumping off the bed now.” “I’m jumping back on the bed now.” “I want my breakfast!” “I want to play!” “I want to jump on you as hard as I can now!” “What’s this lump under the covers? Is it something to be attacked?” that’s a problem.
Oh yeah - I wish the previous owners of my cats had taught them that. Now if we close a door (bathroom door included) you hear a constant scratch scratch scratch rrrrooowwwwwrrrr scratch scratch scratch until you finally open it. It never gets worse, it never stops. It just… continues… until you finally open the door. Well, except for the few times they have flung themselves into the door to get through it. And it worked! (It was obviously not latched properly, but wow!)
So, yeah, I wish someone had done that with these cats. I love them, but I really didn’t realize what I signed up for when taking on two cats with bad habits already ingrained. You are so lucky!! And Banshee is too cute!
We had to get a automatic sprayer to keep my cat away from the bedroom door - she scratches and mewls and thumps the door for hours if it isn’t on. If we let her sleep in our bed, she’s in and out and waking us up every hour on the hour all night long.