The fucking kitten has my legs in shreds..

[WankingMonkey]

A girl who lives near us recently 'adopted' a cat. I say 'adopted' because the previous owners moved house and just left her in the shed and she seemed ill and didn't seem to leave the shed for any reason and neighbour was feeding her as obviously noone else would. She phoned the RSPCA who suggested she take the cat in. She did. Turned out cat was pregnant. Long story short, cat had 7 kittens and this woman didn't know what to do with them, tried advertising them free, no interest.

We have been considering getting a cat for a while now. DD keeps asking for one and we love animals. So we adopted one of the kittens. To help out the girl and because we wanted one (though I could have gone for waiting a year or so tbh)

She has fit in really well. We picked her up on Friday night, by Saturday afternoon she was happily playing with the kids (DSC were over too), eating fine, using litter tray fine, everything. I honestly thought she would be hiding for the first few days at least due to being in a strange house and all that.

Anyway to my problem. She keeps fucking climing up my legs. She can jump up onto my knee but chooses to dig her claws in and climb up. She also seems to have a thing for standing on the power off button on my computer Literally 12 times in the past few hours. She is not wanting attention or anything, just keeps doing it. the computer part I can deal with, though annoying as hell. But the leg climbing thing...its really starting to hurt. She gets her needle claws into the same spots each time, and sometimes slips a bit so its scratches instead of pinpricks. Luckily she does not do this to the kids. She doesn't do it to DH either. DH reckons its coz she sees me as her mum and all that, which is lovely but still, it bloody well hurts.

Any ideas for getting her to stop this? I tried clapping when she did it (apparently you can train cats by clapping loudly when they do something they shouldn't?) but all that did was make her dig her claws in even more.

Please please please tell me I am not going to have months/years of this. My shredded tissue paper legs simply cannot cope...

@metalmidget, you beat me to it! Was going to offer my old bike racing leathers. The advantage of mine would be plenty of wriggle room so no chance of claws coming through tight leathers. I thought attack mittens sounded cool, and was wondering where I might get some!

YABVVVVVVU Monkey!

A real cat slave would either learn to love the pain and see the scratches as badges of honour or buy some sisal rope and glue it to their legs to make a proper human-leg scratching post for darling kitty.

Also, they would have posted a photo or four.

I agree that you need another kitten.

Eeeekkkkkk Smurfy so pretty! Maybe I need to get myself a couple of cats ...

I read about a cat owner who had this problem. She took to wearing cricket pads around the house.

I'd love a picture too (of the kitten, not your shredded legs).

This thread is useless without pics...

Our formerly feral kitten used to do this. She's 10 months now and has learned to squeak instead when she wants me to pick her up.

Our cats are on a monthly plan that includes annual jabs, flea treatment, worming, microchipping and a discount on neutering. Maybe the second kitten would be easier to afford if you were budgeting through the year like this?

In the meantime, there must be a MN rule about doing kitten threads that makes a pic compulsory?

This is Gwinny :)

Cats love cardboard boxes to play and sleep in. According to all the cats I've lived with, the ideal size is one about two sizes too small for the cat.

When you are sitting, can you put a blanket over your legs?

Just the 'starting' cost where we have to do rounds of injections and chipping, neutering and that.

I would be willing to contribute to a fund for that, if you had a gofundme page or something similar. I can't help with ongoing costs or cover the total initial costs but I can contribute to the cause.

I still remember the noise my brother made when he was sitting at the breakfast table and he had a kitten run up each leg inside his trousers.

And it was a long time ago- when trousers wide enough to admit a kitten were in fashion.....

I still remember the noise my brother made when he was sitting at the breakfast table and he had a kitten run up each leg inside his trousers

How far up did each kitty get and was there a prize each at the end?

Only as far as the knees- I do have nephews and nieces......

This is why you should always get two kittens instead of one, they annoy each other instead of you

Oh, c'mon OP! Pictures, or it didn't happen

And by photos, I mean of d-kitten, and not your bloodied stump :)

ZOMG! Two basement kitties! I love the look of mischief in their eyes!

Is anyone else gutted that the OP hasn't posted any pictures?

Clearest one I an get

Jeans today, much better. Cat actually slept downstairs last night and when she was hungry came and batted me (softly) with her paw to wake me up.

Will try the blinking thing once she calms down..shes slightly hyper at the minute

I would be willing to contribute to a fund for that, if you had a gofundme page or something similar. I can't help with ongoing costs or cover the total initial costs but I can contribute to the cause.

Thank you for the offer but I really couldn't do that..I would feel, awful. I can't explain why either but the thought of taking money from kind strangers for something I should be paying for myself just seems off to me. I will find the cash from somewhere if I need to..might just be a bit more skint than usual for a few weeks

We might be getting another tomorrow DH is breaking...gradually.

Really long scratch post. We have one. Our kitten used it as soon as we got it and left our legs alone. She's 2 now and still loves it.

I would feel, awful

I am not a stranger; I am a fellow MNer! Think of it this way: it would make me very happy to think that I've helped a kitten find a loving home.

Just ping me through MN if you feel differently.

If you are in London, I can give you a (virtually) unused small scratching post. Mine has two but favours the beat-up one.

I would starts getting her used to having her nails clipped now. The scissor type of cutters are only 99p or so on eBay. Our little madam has had hers done every 2 weeks since she was tiny so makes no fuss about it now. She was also a climber and could make it into my shoulder if I wasn't quick enough to stop her. It bloody hurt!

Vets4pets do a scheme called vac4life which includes initial immunisations and all annual boosters for £100. Well worth it as boosters alone can be £30.

She is very cute. Does she have a name?

Amazon for scratching posts. The pet shops are ridiculously expensive. Ours was £17 and is blooody huge.

Basement kitties! I haven't heard that expression in a long time. Must go and see if Cheezburger is still there.

Those mischievous expressions are wonderful, they could match my badass black cat for mischief. Neighbour at my previous place had a Great Dane he used to walk underneath; GD couldn't move, he just whimpered.

She needs a catmint mouse or two, mine always prefer the scruffiest, raggiest ones not the expensive kind with bells on. The bells, ears and tails get ripped off straightaway, anyway. Cats are such fun as well as being very affectionate, OP, you definitely need another, twice the love! Your tortie is gorgeous. I've never had a tortie... musing.

Awwwwwwwww. She's adorable.. She matches your carpet. .
She's almost as cute as my baby spider.