Advice on attacking kitten

lilsis

Hi need some advice on my kitten that keeps attacking me, mostly my hands but sometimes he'll bite my feet or jump and land on my face, though luckily he doesn't really get a chance to bite my face. Like most of the time he's fine, he's currently curled up on my lap fast asleep. He has lots of toys, and he does play with them, but when he get bored he'll come to attack me (I know it is just playing but as he's getting a bit older now, he's bites hurt and draw blood a lot of the time). A lot of the time when he gets in this mood I'll take his favourite toy and play with him, it's a fish on a string, and I'll pull it across the floor. This used to distract him from my hands but now he'll play for a while and then I'll see him look up and my hands and up he jumps and grabs and if I don't get a nasty bite, I get lovely gashes from his claws. When he gets very bad I'll close him in the bathroom and he'll run around a bit and then lie down, and I'll let him out and he's usually calm, but I feel bad doing this. Just wondering if there was anything else I could maybe do, I don't hit him or anything in case you're wondering. I'm hoping he'll calm down soon, but any suggestions would be great, also wondering if he will be calmer when he gets neutered or it that just a common misconception?

WHIP IT!

Sorry for making light of this, but did anyone else read the title of this thread and think the OP was going little cat hunting??

MaryK666

Hey lilsis,
Is this kitten your only one? If you've had him from an early age and he's the only one in your house there's a good chance that he hasn't learned his manners as he would if he was living with his mother or other cats so, in his eyes, when he's playing, everything that moves is fair game.
When kittens and young cats get excited and are playing roughly, they often lose sight of what's allowed and what's not so it's not really his fault.
That said, it's not something you want to continue, especially if it's causing you pain and drawing blood. He has to be taught what's allowed and what's not and while slapping or hitting any animal is a complete no-no, putting him in the bathroom to calm down is not as horrible or mean as you think it is as long as you can get him there without you hurting him or him hurting you.

We have two kittens at the moment who have to be kept away from the adults because of ringworm and one of them was behaving exactly like your little fellow. If she'd been out with the adults, she'd soon learn that that kind of behaviour was uncceptable and not tolerated and would have gotten a smack off either/both of the adults if it continued. She's only about 15 weeks old but she would completely lose the run of herself when she was playing and would use nails and teeth without thinking.

The way I react to that now is to make a high-pitched yelp, nudge her away and completely withdraw from her and ignore her. At first, she was completely baffled and would just sit and look at me to try and figure out what had just happened and why I was still playing with the other kitten.
After a few minutes I'd invite her to join in again and play calmly until she lost the run of herself again when I'd repeat the same procedure.

It's a long, slow, painful process but it's working. I can now almost see her little brain working when she gets wound up as she decides if it's ok to bite and a lot of the time, she comes to the conclusion that it's not. There are times, however, when she just completely loses the run of herself when she's having fun and she forgets, so we go back to the original plan of yelp, nudge, ignore.

Your little man will definitely settle down and become more calm once he's been neutered but I wouldn't rely on using that as a solution for his behaviour problems. It's better that you deal with them now while he's still young so that you can both have a happy life and enjoy each others company without pain and upset.

franksm

Blow on his face when he does something bad - cats hate it.

You'll also need to get something that he *can* play with - something to avert his attention from your hands and face

If the blowing doesn't work, keep a water spray handy and use that instead. It's messy but it works wonders.