Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 11/29/2010

Question
Hi Kate,
Last week we found an abandoned kitten alone on the side of a busy road (sadly this is very common in Portugal) so we took her to the vets then home. She is approximately 8 weeks old and weighed 500 grams when we found her. She has been wormed and de-flead. We have now had her for a week and she has put on weight and is very confident and affectionate- she is by far the least traumatised rescue kitten we have had- from the first day she settled right in and was happy with us. We have often rescued kittens in the past and fostered them til we could find them a permanent home and my only concern with the current kitten is that she is not playful. She is not lethargic- we keep her in the spare room during the day so our big cats and the dogs don't bother her and eat her food. When we open the door of an evening to let her out she runs across really fast and in the lounge she will run and jump onto the sofa. Once she is there though all she wants to do is climb up onto us and snuggle up against our chest. When she is getting a cuddle she is very ahppy and purry but should I be worried that a kitten this age just wants cuddles not to play?
I'd appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks
Ruth

Answer
Hi
no i wouldn't worry at all. Sounds to me that she is just so happy to have found a loving home. I suspect that in time as she realizes that this is her home and that things wont change she will start to explore ore and play. AT the moment she may still feel like things are unsettled and so she does not feel confident enough yet to let herself go and play.

Give her time and perhaps a few new toys as teasers and I'm sure she will be a normal playful kitten.

best wishes Kate
http:www.our-happy-cat.com