Biting

HI everyone!

It has been awhile since I have posted!

I have another problem with Levi, well, he has been doing it for a few months and I thought it was teething.... Levi will be 1 in August

HE BITES, all the time! It isn't just with play, he will attack ankles when not provoked, he can be asleep and you walk by and BAM, he gets your ankles. He also bites arms, faces, necks, just about anything he can get his face around he will bite. He won't let go all the time either, he is like a Pit Bull!!

We have tried time out, yelling "OWE" or "NO", stopping contact and ignoring him.

He is also REALLY mean to our older female, Samantha. He chases her RELENTLESSLY! I am at my wits end with him.

OH, he and Samantha still sneeze ALOT, but I am still paying on the LAST time they were sick so I am stuck!

Any help with this will be great!

Thanks

Alley went through a little stint of some very rough tackling and biting too. I take the blame because I was rough housing with her like a puppy. Even though experts say playing with a cat using your hands is a no-no,I still do it,BUT very soft and generally with a pillow or something over my mits.

You may want to read this article on our site:
http://www.thecatsite.com/Behavior/4...rd-People.html

There are some tips about what to do on the second page of the article. I'll add this though - in kittens, play aggression is fairly normal among kittens in the same litter. When adopted by a human, with no other kitten around to play with, the behavior will quickly be redirected towards the cat's caregiver. From there, escalation into fear induced aggression triggered by the owner's response can be fairly quick.

Now, if we're talking about a young cat, under a year old even, bringing in another cat to be the playmate could help. The younger the cat, the more effective it can be. Of course, you have to consider the issue of adding another cat to your household in general first.

THANK YOU for your responses!

It's strange, when we first got Levi, he was VERY mellow, almost in a "special needs" type of way. THEN BOOM! He was a rescue kitten, he was found living in a CAR with a lady, when WE got him, he was about 9-10 weeks old, so I don't think any damage came from his first few weeks.

We have never played rough with him, always gentle because I had heard that kittens learn from that play.

I will read the site and see what we can do. I don't think that our older cat could handle the stress of yet another kitten. We lost her lifetime housemate, Tom in September so getting Levi was to keep her company, not make her sad.

I hope to help Levi over this hump so they can be friends like her and Tom. It was so cute, they would clean each other and sleep back to back. I'm sure that she misses Tom and wonders WHAT I brought this clown in for!!

Thanks for the ideas!