Questions questions and more questions.

[Wooby]

My first question is a weird one, and I don't know if anyone will know whats up. I have a kitten, she's almost 9 weeks old now, and for the most part she's easy to understand. But in the last week or so she will dig at the carpet around her food dish after she's eaten some, flipping it over and getting the remaining food on the floor Its just like shes digging in her litterbox after goign to the bathroom, but its my carpet
Why would she do this? Just a weird cat thing? Or is this something that anyone else has seen before/knows about?

Oh yeah, and my other two questions. You can spay a cat as early as 6 months? And when should she get shots/what shots should she get? I've been around cats all my life but this is the first cat that's actually 'mine' and not shared by the family, or my girlfriend at the time, so now I have to take care of all the details that I haven't done before

[Cleo]

Congrats on your new kitten!

Have a look here Kitten Care for information on caring for your kitten. The vaccine schedule can be found on page 3.

I'm not sure about your first question and digging around the food bowl. I've witnessed both my cats doing this at their water bowls but never really thought twice about it. Hopefully someone with a better knowledge of it will be along to answer.

Cleo

[Mona]

Cats will do this around their bowls to save their food as though they are burying it. My two cats do this.

Also you should get your cat spayed now, my cat went into heat at 4 1/2 months and was spayed immediately. The only reason I did not do it earlier was she had a tough case of parasites form the shelter.

My other cat was spayed at 8 weeks and was fine in two days, this was done at the adopting shelter. The trend now is to spay and neuter earlier and I now believe they come through better and bounce back right away.

Good luck with your new kitten.

Mona, HOneybun and Chloe

[Lupie Linda]

In the wild, a tiger or other large cat will kill a deer or something and cannot eat the whole thing. They bury the leftovers to protect it so they can come back for it when they are hungry again. It is part of their natural instinct to bury it.

I had one cat that would bury anything he thought smelled bad -- which used to make us laugh. He would "bury" kids socks and old tennis shoes. He used to make that funny face, sniffing with his mouth open in a grimace. It would really crack us up.

As a general rule though, they are just "protecting" the food until they are hungry again.

Linda

[Wooby]

Hrm, so I guess the best bet would be to get a heavy food dish that she can't flip over. As for the spaying, if I can do it sooner then great, I mean she's an apartment cat, so its not like she can get in any trouble, but I had a dog that we kept un-spayed for breeding later (she was a purebred chocolate lab) and oh man she was annoying when she was in heat.
Thanks for the help, and if anyone else has any ideas about what to do about the food thing, other than getting a heavy dish, that would be great.

[kate & kobi]

I think you'll have to get a heavy dish. She might grow out of it as she grows older and less kitten-like -- and then you'll miss the kitten days!

Spaying is not just so that she doesn't get pregnant, but also for her health. Please read the statistics on the Spay and Neuter page: http://www.cathelp-online.com/spayneuter.html. Even letting her go into one heat cycle increases her risk of life-threatening diseases!

Good luck with your kitty!

[Wooby]

I at least figured out the source now. I got the kitten from a friend who's cat had kittens, and while it was still at home there, her 3 year old son apparently liked to move/hide the cat's food dishes. And now it's off to find a nice vet close by!