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From timid to party animal... How to get her to stop chewing on my toes?

post #1 of 6
6/5/10 at 2:41am
Thread Starter 
Our little Emily Dickinson was a shy little creature when we found her at aprox 4 months old. Now, at 7 months she is a party animal. She is quite comfortable around us and has no problem climbing over us to get to a toy on the other side. She is not cuddly wuddly, but will let us pet her while eating. She also really likes to bat/chew on our feet while we are sleeping. At first, it was cute, now it is a bit annoying. How can we discourage this? We've been encouraging her, through play and treats, to get comfortable with us. But now, some of this is a bit much. Generally, with a feral who is getting tamed, how do you reward positive behavior and discourage negative behavior?
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post #2 of 6
6/5/10 at 6:10am
You've got yourself a teenager!

I've always hated that stage where they think your feet are toys in bed. I let out a loud "NO" and chase them away from my feet when they've done that. There should be plenty of other times of day where they can play to their hearts content. Never do anything like throw a toy to redirect them when they do this, as they will think that by jumping your feet, they get a reward. And never kick them with your feet off the bed - my husband was sound asleep one night when one of them jumped on his feet. He involuntarily kicked in his sleep, launching the poor cat off the bed. The cat was afraid of him after that for a while (poor baby).

Mine were all born feral and I've not had an issue with making them more timid when I do this. Playing with feet in bed while sleeping is a boundary I won't let them cross.
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post #3 of 6
6/5/10 at 7:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by emilydickinson View Post
Our little Emily Dickinson was a shy little creature when we found her at aprox 4 months old. Now, at 7 months she is a party animal. She is quite comfortable around us and has no problem climbing over us to get to a toy on the other side. She is not cuddly wuddly, but will let us pet her while eating. She also really likes to bat/chew on our feet while we are sleeping. At first, it was cute, now it is a bit annoying. How can we discourage this? We've been encouraging her, through play and treats, to get comfortable with us. But now, some of this is a bit much. Generally, with a feral who is getting tamed, how do you reward positive behavior and discourage negative behavior?
I just had this problem last night!! Normally I sleep with a fleece blanket but it's gotten so hot so last night was the first night of sheet-sleeping of the year. My kittens had a ball with my feet/legs for a good 20 minutes. Finally I resorted to just picking them up and moving them off the bed every time they got too rough. I don't think they learned anything but at least I got to sleep!
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post #4 of 6
6/5/10 at 12:15pm
Thread Starter 
awesome! please keep the wisdom coming. She is such a teenager all stroppy and lazy, and then crazy. The plan is to recatch her and get her fixed this week. Maybe that will help a bit too? She is coming along so well and has a very pleasant temperament. We love her so much.
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post #5 of 6
6/6/10 at 2:46am
Fostering her catwise is never wrong. Ie by some hissing... And or a blanket over your feets, as mentioned above.

That said, our younger boy used to bite on his fathers tail when father slept...
And the father, the friendly big massive stud, never protested much...

So it is apparently a quite natural play for kittens, Not a misbehavor.

So it will prob go over with time. But if it bothers you - as said, use a blanket on your feets - and or do hiss....
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post #6 of 6
6/6/10 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 
It is way too hot for a blanket, and she has also figured out how to tunnel underneath blankets to get to us. Will definitely try hissing to discourage this particular type of play.
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