My Experience of Raising a Kitten: From Noisy Beginnings to an Understanding Relationship

It’s okay…

When my cat first came, it was two and a half months old, a little kitten. It seemed very lively and tiny. The first thing I did every day after work was to find out where it was, whether it was stuck somewhere, and if it was still alive. (It was my first time raising a cat, so I was a bit exaggerating.) The living room at home was its activity area, and all other door and window (with the screen windows closed) gaps were blocked up.

Compared to its personality, during the first month it was here, it would meow almost every morning and evening, which really gave me a headache. Since I didn’t allow the cat to enter the bedroom, it would wake up at around 4 o’clock in the morning (maybe woken up by the construction noise from the opposite site) and meow at the bedroom door. In the evening, when we entered the bedroom and it couldn’t get in, it would also meow. (Thinking about it, it was a bit pitiful…) But as long as someone appeared in its field of vision, it would be as quiet as a chicken. (…)

During those crazy mornings and evenings for me, my boyfriend would always say, “Forget it, forget it. A little baby is like this when it can’t see its parents.” During that period, I often woke up contentedly to find no one beside me, and then went to the living room to see my boyfriend sleeping on the sofa wrapped in a quilt (with the kitten sleeping on his stomach).

Me: “……”

Of course, we switched roles in such situations. After about a month, the frequency of its meowing decreased a lot. It basically rarely meowed, and only meowed occasionally. After I went out to pet it for ten minutes, it would be quiet again. (Yes, whenever it meowed, no matter what time it was, I would immediately get up and go out to pet it.) Since then, everything has been very harmonious.

Now, let’s get to the main point – its personality. For someone like me who had never raised a cat before and had only a naive view, a cat was definitely a cute little angel that could be petted at will.

In fact, the cat has its own thoughts. For example, it doesn’t like to be touched (but I insist on touching it), doesn’t like to be hugged (but I insist on hugging it), and doesn’t like to lie on people’s legs (at most it lies on its side and won’t expose its belly completely). It likes to pull my hair, pounce on my arms, and pounce on my legs when I’m walking. It hates having its nails clipped and hates the hair dryer after taking a bath.

In general, for things it doesn’t like to do, if I insist on doing them, it will warn me with its eyes, its claws, or it will directly pounce on me and bite me. I’ve also been scratched (scratched by its hind – leg claws, leaving a long bloodstain). Now I’m used to its frequent pouncing and biting (not too hard, but I have to be careful of its claws, especially the hind – leg claws. Maybe it can’t even control the strength itself). Its way of getting along with us is probably like this. (Did I not teach it well?)

I often shout at it because it’s always like “I’m wrong, I shouldn’t be a cardboard – box – destroyer…… Three seconds later…… I’ll do it again!” It becomes submissive immediately after being shouted at (you can clearly tell from its tone and its corresponding reaction).

I also spank it occasionally, especially when it’s disobedient during nail – clipping,when it pounces on my back and pulls my hair (when I’m sitting), and when it runs around the house with poop on its butt after pooping and I can’t catch it (it’s really tiring to have a long – haired cat. I have to wipe its butt every time it poops! I don’t know how we managed to get through it).