Trying to get my kitten to be more sociable with us

Hey there,

As you probably know, I have a 11 going on 12 weeks male Siamese wedge kitten.

He's always been a hyper boy, but we've found that he isn't really calming down at all... he's been better as far as aggression goes, but he's been... 'odd'.

First off, his first toy with us was a rolled up sock... now he seems to have a sock fetish... he will steal socks out of laundry baskets, and will even attack socks if we are wearing them which we punish. I've since restricted his access to socks.

He does attack our hands, feet, and faces... sometimes when he's worked up, other times I think he thinks we are playing... we do three things to 'punish' this... we say no and hiss, we spray him, or he put him in the bedroom alone for a while. It curtails his behavior for a brief time but does not fix such things long term from what I can tell.

As well, he used to be a bit more talkative with us... since then though he hardly ever speaks to us... only when he's whining. His parents were fairly talkative as were his siblings as was he when we got him... is there a way to encourage him to be more 'chatty'?

We don't mind his hyperactivity and his aggression sometimes, but we would like him to be less outright aggressive towards us, and sometimes we would like him to be more calm. He is affectionate towards us... after we get home from work he wraps around our feed and if he can get to our faces he will lick our lips/noses... but that often quickly changes.

I've also noticed he has an extreme habit for slamming into heavy furniture on jumps or runs and I'm worried he will hurt himself seriously... he also has an odd twitch... his eyes will sometimes twitch.

I dunno if this is a behavior issue or just him being a kitten though... that's the problem. I'm not sure of the best way to encourage/discourage behaviors we don't like... I'm thinking that the 'isolating him in the room' approach is a healthy one for him...

Also, would you guys consider him old enough to have free reign of our apartment at all times? The only thing we've noticed that worries us is he tries to dart for open doors out of the apartment - both the balcony and the main door, which is why we isolate him half of the time. The other half is that he CAN hurt himself in the living room --- he hasn't yet but I'm still worried.

Lastly, we've been considering after he gets his 12 week boosters, maybe adopting a kitten (not from the breeder, too expensive to get one of his siblings) to accompany him and get some of his energy out... not sure.

To some extent, kittens go through "phases," just as children do. That doesn't help you right now, but I'm sure you you can hold out hope that he will calm down and become more "normal."

A little friend from the local animal shelter might be a good idea. It sounds like you should be careful to get an active one that is as large or larger than he is.

Of course, then you might have TWO terrors!

Perhaps just try playing with him hard (ie: making him do a lot of running around and jumping and so on) for a couple of half-hour to hour periods a day. This will definetly help burn some energy. Also, playing "silly buggers" with him will help if he is that sort of cat (ie: hiding and seeking or running around the apartement with a toy on a string - that sort of thing) It's normal for kittens to have lots of energy and I think they often express it in in-appropriate ways (you mentioned aggression - foot biting) when they are not being stimulated in terms of play enough.

Siamese are very hyper as kittens and you got him too young. At his age he should still with the breeder and his siblings. Alot of his behavior towards you is because you got him too young, he hasn't learned enough social-interaction skills yet.

So, now that you have him what to do? Just like you mentioned, get him a playmate close to his age. Let them be aggressive towards each other rather than you and they will teach each other what is acceptable. You will then become "momma cat" instead of his littermate.