OMGOMGOMG! KITTEN!!!!!!

[j]

Awww!!! He's so cute!!!  My kitten is 5 months and 7 pounds too lol!

[kaika_dragon]

I love him.    And he is a handful.  A warm, fuzzy, handful.  My sister has started calling him "Max-attack"... there is a reason.  He is very, very, very playful, but also cuddly.  Also, he is  very well behaved about claws, teeth, and litter-box.  Apparently, his claws are reserved entirely for toys and the scratching post.  He will run right over our laps while he's playing, and not claw us once.  Max gives lots of kisses, too!  I noticed something hilarious as well.  He has great litter box manners- but he doesn't go as often as we thought he did.  He likes to dig, squat, and cover even when he doesn't go.  Weird kitty.
Oh, and I was wrong- he is 7.65 pounds, not just seven.

[Magesteff]

Very cute!

I also adopted a cat (and a dog) while I was volunteering to be a cat cuddler. There is a  intro protocol that was put out by the San Diego Humane SOciety for introducing Cats to each other.
And I have a link for it...
http://www.sdhumane.org/site/DocServer/BT_Cat-Cat_Intros.pdf?docID=621

It took about 2 weeks to introduce Spike to Hobbes. I set up Spike in my "office." At the two week mark I let Hobbes come in the room with me and Spike, and closed the door so Spike would not go roam the house. I was only going to let Hobbes spend about 15 or 20 minutes in the room, but Hobbes didn't act aggressive towards Spike and pretty much ignored him, except when he used the litter box in the office room, she hissed at him as if to say "We don't do that in this room." Otherwise she sat in the window looking outside, lay on the floor, climbed the cat tree in the room. after an hour I decided they got along well enough that Spike could have access to the rest of the house. She wacked him once by the kitchen, as if to reinforce that she is the dominant cat, but other than that, she has shared the litter box and the food and water bowls without any issues.

[kaika_dragon]

The plot thickens- we took Maxie-cat to the vet for the first time on thursday. It went lovely, and the vet loved him.  But something strange happened; when the technician opened hi mouth to give him a worming pill, she told us that he still had his baby teeth.  cats lose their baby teeth at about five months.  Our kitty was supposed to be five and a half.  Anyone see a problem?  Apparently our nearly 8 lb. kitten is only 4 months old!    It certainly explains why he act like a baby!!!!!

[Magesteff]

Since you got the kitten from the shelter, it could be that they were estimating his age, rather than knowing exactly when he was born. Like all living things there is some variation from individual to individual. If the cat was closer to 7 months, then I might be worries, but two weeks late coming out, I wouldn't worry that much about it, especially if the Vet wasn't.  If he doesn't lose them in the next  or two month, ask the vet if you should get x-rays to see if his permanent teeth are coming in at all.

If he's already 8 lbs. he's going to be huge when he is full grown. The 20 year old Spike is only about 7.5 lbs. and Hobbes is about 12 lbs. Hobbes is very tall and long, I guess kitten chow was good for her.

[kaika_dragon]

I'm not worried.... more like floored.  He was huge enough when we thought he was five months!  I mean, what is he, a mountain lion?  We figure the shelter misjudged his age partly because he is so big.

[Magesteff]

I'm not worried.... more like floored.  He was huge enough when we thought he was five months!  I mean, what is he, a mountain lion?  We figure the shelter misjudged his age partly because he is so big.

I dn't know about the area you live in, but when I lived in Ft. Collins, CO, there is a lot of forest/national Park in the area, and sometimes the domestic cats get bred by lynx and bobcats. Yes, I know one person who actually saw it happen to her cat. So it could be he has a few wild genes in him that account for his size.

Article: http://www.messybeast.com/small-hybrids/rufus-lynx-hybrids.htm

[kaika_dragon]

I believe the only wild cats in the area are cougars.... and he is MUCH too small to be half cougar, if that is even possible.  Anyways, he doesn't really look at all like any wildcat.  Here are some of the better photos-
http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc377/kaikadragon/?action=view&current=Picture005.jpg
http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc377/kaikadragon/?action=view&current=MaxDayOne04.jpg
He just looks like an ENORMOUS house cat.  Acts like your typical stupid kitten, too.