The new kitten I have loves to bite and scratch, play aggression I presume.
The problem is, no matter how long I play with him, no matter how much distraction I give him, all he ever wants to do is things he’s not supposed to do, namely either jumping onto my desk and making a huge mess, or basically biting and scratching my feet, legs, ankles, hands, or any other body parts he can get his hands on. It’s getting worse, more aggressive, and no sign of ever stopping regardless of what I do to give him something else to do.
Oftentimes he would, without any warning, often at say 6am or so just start attacking my feet while I am sleeping, and I thought I would say not move to basically deter him but he would basically bite harder until it becomes painful or even inflicting injuries, and if I give him distraction it would only work for a few seconds until he finds more appealing target (basically my feet).
Is there anything I can do about this? Would releasing a few rodents work to actually give him something to kill? It’s becoming difficult to sit still because if I do sit still he will attack me.
Weird thing is, he wouldn’t attack me if I were moving about but as soon as I rest, he attacks.
I guess I can see why the previous owner gave him up…
When I got a kitten I bought a few cat books to read up
Suggest you do that
And Never ever play with your cat with your hands or feet
Get one of those toys with a wand that you can play with him with
And get some toy mice
Never use real mice please
Read up on cats before his ways become hard to mend
Kittens like puppies need nurture and training and lots of love and attention
I once read an account by a cat lady dealing with a problem case that went something like this:
…and then he dug his claws into me, and I felt completely helpless. So I didn’t scream or hiss, I just began to cry. And suddenly he withdrew. My tears had offended his sense of social propriety. And cats are very social…
My daughter’s cat would climb me like a tree to sit on my shoulder and watch whatever I was doing. If I was cooking in the kitchen, we had to lock her in the other room. Talk about painful. She’s just over a year old now and only recently stopped doing that.
But she still lives to ambush
Get a spray bottle and fill out with water. Set it on the stream mode and spray the kitten whenever it does something you don’t like. Works every time.
We had a stray kitten saved from a busy road in Sanxia some years ago.
Same issues, lots of biting and scratching combined with too much energy, getting worse when she got stronger towards her half year age.
Water spray bottle helped for a while, till she got the fun of it …
We spend a lot of time figuring out what to replace it with, anything moving (cat toys, balls, feathers, ropes, laserpen) helped to a certain extend.
Cooling down in a separate room also worked … sometimes.
And she slept separately, with the other cats, so no bother at nights.
Last, they eat a lot when they are young, there is a difference between “playing” and just asking for food.
What I want to say, yes, it is bothering, takes energy, needs months, but it is worth trying to find a solution.
Ours is now almost 4, she still bites sometimes if she is hungry (but only my wife, not me …), but basically she is as nice as the other cats.
Good luck!
PS. Although I never believed, 2 or more cats really are much nicer, they do a lot together.
That person in Chiayi who posted recently! Although I think two kittens of roughly the same age would do you in. Maybe get an adult cat who will keep the smaller one in line.
Do not do this. Seriously. It does not work, and it only distances you and your cat. Instead, do No and Redirect.
First of all, you need to put things in your house that your cat is actually allowed to scratch and bite.
When he misbehaves, firmly tell him “No” or “Don’t” then redirect him to something he is allowed to do. After he is done killing the things he can attack, award him with a treat.
As for foot attacks, if ignoring him doesn’t do the trick, let him know that last one really hurt you, say ouch and really let him know you are hurt, then keep him out of the room. Really really ignore the door scratching and other ways of trying to get you to respond afterwards. After a while he will pick up if he wants to stay in the room with you through the night, he shouldn’t hurt you.
In my experience, bad behaviors take more than a month to train out of a cat. Patience is the key here. Do some research and see what cat behaviorists are saying and believe in what you are doing will work.
Lastly, if the cat does that bunny kick thing to your arm, treasure it even if it destroys your arm. They sadly don’t do that with you forever… Buy a toy puppet that covers your arm and when the bunny kicking begins do a little tussle with him with it. It’s a play activity I wish my cats kept up.
Oh you adopted a tuxedo? I had two…then one died…And then one tuxedo was born into our family, so I still have two, for now. The oldest is very sick right now, which is problematic as he is very fierce and does not like going to the vet/being handled. You need to get your kitten used to that the earliest, or it will be another problem when he gets older and bigger.
