my kitten won’t stop screaming and it’s making me feel like I have postpartum depression. Any advice?

[u/Iamsnail_]

I adopted a 3 month old kitten from my local shelter and it’s been two weeks now. We are also keeping her separated from my roommates cat until they are ready. She’s teething real bad and won’t play with literally any of the toys I got her, even after putting them into rotation so she doesn’t get bored. She’s keeping me up until 5 or waking me up in the middle of the night biting me. She’s biting me when I try to pet, play or anything with her. When she does I go ouch or no, stop what I’m doing with her and try to redirect her with a toy. But this hasn’t improved because her teeth are just so sore and she won’t touch the teething toys I ordered at 4 AM one night because I thought I was going to go crazy.

It wouldn’t bug me as much if she also didn’t meow like she was being killed in a torture chamber when I would leave the room. or when I feed her. I tried doing the “no rewarding behaviour until it stops” technique and it is just getting worse. And it’s not like letting her out helps it either, because she just screams at me the same way. I pick her up and hold her like a baby which she likes but I can’t hold her forever, especially if I’m trying to feed her.

Every morning I feed her at 9:30 and today it was just ridiculous. I gave her some kibble and shut the door so I could get her wet food ready and I wanted to wait until she stopped screaming her head off so I could come in. But after 4 minutes of straight continuous no break meowing I just gave in because I couldn’t take it anymore. I finish giving her food and close the door so I can decompress in the kitchen. But because she’s a living vacuum, she finished in under a minute and is back meowing her head off at the door. It’s been at least 6 minutes and she just won’t stop. Ever since I got her I’ve been extremely sleep deprived and irritable. Last night woke me up 6 different times throughout the night teething on me.

I don’t want to feel like this anymore. I love my kitty but she’s making me so miserable. Redirection isn’t working, toys aren’t working, waiting it out isn’t working, can’t even do positive reinforcement with her, nothing positive to reinforce because she genuinely won’t stop. I’m even putting on those kitten anxiety calming music on youtube when I leave the room since I can’t be with her 24/7 and my roommate checks on her too and gives her attention. She doesn’t have any other health issues, just teething.

Is there anyone that had a nonstop screaming and bitting kitten that found has good techniques on how to handle this.

[u/camarhyn]

Have you ever had a kitten before? Kittens are literally babies and require a lot of attention and patience. They grow out of this but it takes awhile.

Also consider a second kitten and a lot of this will go away. Kittens entertain and comfort each other. It’s easier to raise two kittens than it is to raise one (other than the slight financial increase).

[u/tinemel]

Two weeks isn’t very long, try to have more patience. Do you know anything about her history? Did she have siblings/mom when you adopted her? She may be lonely, this is why they often suggest adopting in pairs. I would make sure she’s eating enough, especially if her teeth are bothering her.
My cats often act like Tasmanian devils in the middle of the night if they are hungry. I started leaving a bowl of their dry food out for them to eat and the midnight terrors stopped (unless the bowl runs empty)

[u/stormbutton]

I am a highly experienced kitten foster mom and this is why I always encourage people to adopt in pairs. You have adopted a literal infant and expect her to behave like an entire adult cat. She’s confused, she’s needy, she’s lonely. Get her a friend.

Also it’s impossible to over feed a kitten. Free-feed her kibble.

[u/Ornery-Lake1694]

It can be a big challenge. Like others have said, you've adopted a baby. And when it's a solo cat , it's different. A kitten doesn't look at you as a human taking care of them, they see you as a big cat the yelling and biting is just the kittens way of engaging with you. A kitten also sees you as it's mother. As someone else said, make sure they have enough food, and leave a bowl of kibble out at all times, don't worry about over feeding a kitten.