#kitten help

we’ve all seen the cute gifs and pictures of dogs with small kittens, havent we? where the dog is playing with a young little kitten? its cute  but you have to watch them!

dogs have the mothering instinct to pick the cat up by its neck.

it can be all fine, or it can kill the cat. Young kittens can not protect themselves. The dog, no matter how loving and nice it is trying to be, may very easily harm them.

you may not think you have to worry, “my dog would never do that” or “my dog is to small to harm them” any size dog has the strength to break a kittens neck.

Try putting up a baby gate when the kittens have just been born and cant walk or move easily yet. But make sure that the dog can not go through. And when the cats are starting to open their eyes and walk, watch them when they are together. Do not leave a cat and dog alone until the cat can protect themself.

I personally have lost five kittens due to my very small dog and its heartbreaking, especially when you know the dog was just trying to be a parent.

Okay so basically (a bit of context) I got a kitten a while ago who was from an animal hoarding situation. He did not like to be touched, shied away from me every movement and HATED to be looked at. I assume he was abused in some way and had no access to consent (yes, cats can consent and not consent) because the previous owner told me he would swaddle him forcefully to get pet. Anyways, I have been researching this whole time and focusing on letting him give and redact consent whenever he wants because even cats deserve bodily autonomy.

On thing I researched about was the rule of threes when socializing or getting a cat of any age to trust you. In this rule it takes ABOUT 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to settle and learn routines, and three months to feel truly at home and be themselves. It’s one thing that keeps reoccurring in any research I do so obviously imma believe it a bit more. But 3 months is apparently so long because eventually I stopped counting.

RECENTLY my kitty has been laying on the bed when we’re not home, which he didn’t used to do. Laid on the bed when I WAS home which he definitely doesn’t do. Started meowing whenever we give him food, rubbing up against us whenever we give him food. AND he’s started slow blinking at me more (he used to before but it was just from long distances and I wasn’t always 100% sure he meant it).

So obviously this is a big step and holy moly I’m so excited I cried when he started PURRING as I pet him. BUT I looked back at when we originally brought him home. IT HAD BEEN EXACTLY 3 MONTHS!!!!!

I’m so excited I could implode. By no means is he completely comfortable, which is understandable due to his past, but he is actually living and being himself!!! Which is more than I can ask for. I had lost hope (sorta) and had got to the point that I kept saying I was okay if he never liked me because he and my other cat got along. But let’s be honest, it kinda hurt my feelings he liked my other cat but not me. BUT NOW HE LIKES ME (I think).

I’m obviously gonna keep respecting his boundaries and his ability to redact and give consent moving forward. But this is such a giant move in the correct direction and I’m so excited.

My bf told me she even tried to bite their owner!!!!!! Which is shocking to me because she's normally very relaxed and loving. Like right now she's purring in my lap and chewing on my drawstrings contently. I'm a little wary now on taking her to meet my family now if she's this antisocial. And we've never had anyone over since getting her about a month ago, so maybe she's simply not used to others but even that doesn't make sense because when we got her from her previous owner, she let me hold her with no real resistance, and she didn't hide behind our couch long either.