What can I do about biting?

I just got a kitten a little more than a month ago, and she bites a lot!
What can I do about it?

How old is she?

I adopted a kitten several years ago, and she was six weeks old. I didn't know any better then, but that's pretty early - you should leave them with their mom until 12 weeks. She was a biter, especially of feet and hands. Their mom corrects them when they do that behavior, so now you will probably have to do that for her. I find that saying NO! and tapping (not too hard) on the nose will usually make them stop the biting behavior. But it definitely needs to be stopped!

pictures? We LOVE pictures!

Yes, I also found that a stern NO!!! will stop it right away.

A tin can half-full of marbles or ball bearings. Shake it at her. She'll associate the noise with bad behavior.

Rebecca is 6 months old, and still tends to be a biter. We were trying a misting bottle... until she leapt at someone who used it!

I'm having more success with simple things - a puff of air in her face, and a consistent, firm no. Also, I keep close by a small ball and an old rag to distract her when I can see that she is gearing up to chomp.

At first I kept looking for the magic item that would cure her of biting once and for all. But little by little she is learning.

Good luck!

When we first got our Lily we used our hands to play with her to get her used to us. Big mistake, now she goes for hands and bites and scratches them. I realised our mistake and have slowly been getting her to stop it. When she starts to bite my hand I just say NO very stearnly at her and I don't move my hand just let it flop down so she realises it's not a game then with the other hand (if I can) I grab one of her toys and wiggle it at her so she realises she can play with that. She still goes for hands but she's doing it less and less.

I don't know how old your kitten is, but little kittens tend to be "bitey," and if they're 3 - 7/8 months old, she's teething! She needs appropriate things to chew on, and she needs to be taught that hands, feet and ankles are not appropriate things to bite.

We used boxes of bendy straws. They're a thick plastic cats won't just eat - when they start getting chewed up, throw them away. But scatter them EVERYWHERE.

And when she goes to bite a finger or hand or foot or toe, say "NO" firmly, blow a short, sharp puff of air in her face (her mom would bop her on the head with a paw or hiss at her), pick up a straw for her - and then walk away. She'll learn that straws are OK to chew on, and that she otherwise gets ignored - which will reinforce that people are not OK to bite or chew.

Laurie

My kitten is 13 wks and bitey too - he's not doing it to be aggressive, he's just playing but we are still trying to break the behavior.

When he bites my hand (he kind of latches on) I just go limp and ignore him. That way it's not fun or a game. And then I hand him a toy to play with.

Also, get one of those "da bird" toys or a toy that is a long string with something on the end of it. That way you can play but your hand is far away and not tempting to bite.

When kittens play with each other they sometimes get rough until one of them screams. That's how kittens learn what's acceptable and what's not. Only kittens are more sensative than human adults so your kitten doesn't learn this is unacceptable until it gets to a painful stage. Don't pull away when your kitten hurts you and don't react in any other way than to let out a noise that clearly says pain and your cat will learn that's too rough.

Thank you all so much for the responses.
Coco has grown up and is now almost a year old.
She's done with biting, although she does it occassionally when she's in a playful mood.
I use the firm NO! trick and it worked.
I also redirect her playful aggression with a toy.
Thanks again!

Aw, that's so cool to hear! Is she a nice kitty?

Originally Posted by kluchetta

Aw, that's so cool to hear! Is she a nice kitty?

Click to expand...

Thanks!
Well, she has her bad days-don't we all.
But she's a very nice kitty overall.