unsure about some stuff would like some help.

You have a very physical kitten and you're correcting her by getting physical with her. Have you ever heard the joke of the parent smacking a kid and telling the child "we don't hit". You end up sending the same messed up confusing message to a kitten.

It sounds like she's bored and frustrated because she's kept shut away so much. When she's let out she's going to act up because she can't do that in your room. The more she's out the more desensitized she'll become to it and the more she'll behave.

Biting needs to be corrected through telling her no, putting her down/ignoring her, and through redirecting all that kitten energy into play with safe toys. All members of the family need to be consistent with this.

Keeping her shut up in one room is not ideal, but as long as she's not spending all the day alone she can manage. Can you let her out at night after the family goes to bed?

I would get her another kitten to play with along the same age. I would also like to respectfully ask you, please do not tap, hit, smack, thump or kick your kitten. One smack to a kitten from a human can feel like all the above and make her afraid of you. You know what they do when they are afraid of you? They bite you- so you are trying to solve a problem but instead, you are creating one.

If you can't get her a playmate then use interactive toys to play with her. Da Bird is great as long as it is supervised play. You will need to put the toy up someplace she can't get to when you aren't playing with her. Also don't give her catnip toys, this causes aggression and guess what- she may bite you.

She is just a kitten- probably taken from mom way to early with no social skills to speak of. People really need to stop adopting kittens out at 6 weeks of age and at least wait till they are 12 weeks old and the queen has been able to school them in proper kitten behavior. Get her another kitten-that is what I would do.

If this cat is really affecting you and you cannot help yourself but hit her then maybe you should look for another home for her? I am sorry if that sounds harsh but didn't you post before about the same thing, people gave you lots of advice but you haven't seemed to take any of it on board. I have 3 human children and hitting/smacking doesn't work with them and I wouldn't dream of hitting my cats. I have an aggressive cat and it is annoying but I do ignore him and it does work, I would never hit him, his previous owner used to hit him and this has been the reason I think for his increased aggression although his behaviour has one downhill since we have been on holiday I will gust have to start it all over again, will take me a while but when you love your cats thats whet you do. x

Please find a new home for this kitten, clearly your household is not right for her.

"Smacking" her is only going to make her worse. She will soon be a full grown cat, not a baby, and the problems will really start, and I fear she will end up dumped on the street or hurt badly at your hands.

Please, take her to a rescue, or find a home where she will be treated properly, before it's too late, and her chances of finding a good home are ruined. Please.

Hitting her is animal abuse, and illegal besides.

It sounds like your house isn't a good place to raise a kitten, and the most responsible and loving thing you can do for her is to follow otto's advice.

Training a kitten takes work and time and patience and above all consistency. You can't expect results immediately.

It takes a lot of work, and everyone has to be on the same page. None of us have "perfect" cats, and many of us have been faced with the same problems you are facing right now, that is why we know how to advise you.

I have trained two biters/attackers, and one took 18 months to learn. Both of them are well behaved happy cats now, but I never hit either of them.

My kitten is slightly younger than yours and is now learning, from methods you have been given advice on, how to behave.

"Smacking" a five month old kitten, or any size or age animal IS abuse, I am sorry you don't like the word, but it is wrong to strike an animal. All you are teaching her is to be meaner and more aggressive.

You say "smacking is the only thing that works" but clearly it is NOT working, since you are here asking for help.

We've advised you to give this kitten up because we care what happens to her, and you and your family do not appear willing to take the time and work involved in training her.

No dear! We HAVE listened and offered advice, twice and you are still having the same problems, because you smack her and all of our cats arent "goody saints" if you read the other posts in this section you will find alot of problems people have, I told you my cat Harvey is incredibly aggressive and he is a full rown ca and damn it hurts but honestly smacking doesn't work and you need to stop it so you can start other things. Do you know if I went to smack harvey he would smack me back-he boxes with his paws enough as it is and by doing this I would be letting him know its ok when it is NOT. We arent havin a go at you at all, its just from your posts it seems you are at your wits end, hey not all cats are suited for their owners straight away it takes hard work believe me but if you haven't got the time/patience to do this then she would be better off in another home. x

Sorry I know I'm new here but I think you guys are being a little harsh on the guy. He's frustrated, obviously got a lot of love for the cat, doesn't want to tap it but he's kind of at a loss because he wants to protect his family and care for his cat. Giving a cat a little tap isn't going to traumatise it. While granted I don't think it's the right way to go for training a cat in reality cats do a lot worse to each other when play fighting.

My advice. Don't tap, or smack your cat again. Why?
1. It's not a nice thing to do.
2. It doesn't work. A cat will see it as tit for tat. It won't learn from it.

I playfully wrestle with my cat on the bed and she loves it. It can get a little rough and tumble. But because I play that way with her sometimes when it's not time for play she will start to nip my hand. What I do then is look into her face, close but not too close to make the cat feel anxious, and say "NO!" and she immediately stops.
Keep the word "NO!" consistent with all it's wrong doings. Don't confuse her with "get down from there" or "Don't bite". When it does something wrong say no then put it in its room for 5 minutes. It's not going to work straight away, it's going to take patience and your going to have to let her out of the room to do the wrong things so you can correct it.

If you don't have the time or patience for this then I'm sorry there's no quick fix. You can't go on smacking and locking up your cat and you will have to find it a new home. Good luck.

Sometimes, owning your first pet is rough. I have had ups and downs with my cats...but I have also learned a LOT.
When I was growing up, we had one adult cat and an adult dog. If they ever did anything wrong, NO was spoken in a loud firm tone. I could have never ever hit those animals. They were both shelter animals, adopted by my family after being dropped off at the shelter. The dog had been abandoned by her owners for being hyperactive.....at about 6 mos of age. They didn't feel like training her. She was hyperactive, until her very last year at 14 human years....I called her my puppy her entire life, because she thought she was. She was a wonderful dog. My cat was dropped off at a shelter because her previous owners got a kitten, and the 3 yr old cat stopped using the litter box out of jealousy. They didn't want to add a box or deal with the cat.

When I met my now husband, he had numerous cats. Some had been left in his care from his former roommate, so we worked at finding them homes, and were left with 6 cats. My husband is an animal lover, and took in strays, so he had all adult cats.
Soon after moving into our own place, we found a stray cat. We gave it to a friend of ours, and a few weeks later found out the cat was pregnant, when it gave birth to kittens. Our friend didn't want kittens, so once they were old enough to wean, we took one in and he found homes for the others. The kittens were a little odd, as they had never been held by a person before. The one we took in was kinda loving at first, but out of her element surrounded by adults. She started having some accidents in the house, and I didn't know much about cats....so my discipline when she peed was to rub her nose in it and smack her behind, which is what I thought was the right thing to do. (She had nothing medically wrong with her...we don't know why she had been doing that)
About two weeks of her having accidents every couple days, she stopped coming around us. She started running away when we came near, and would not let us pick her up at all. The slight smacking that I had done had ruined my kitten. She was terrified of us. Almost a year later, she still is. She comes around us sometimes, at food time mostly, but when we actually catch her to try tohold her, she burrows her head into our arms and is scared until we put her down. You might not think that a slight disciplinary tap would hurt or scare your kitten, but it does. I read up on the actions I took, and read some articles and postings on how wrong what I did was....I can't take back my actions, and I feel like an absolute jerk about it....but you can certainly stop before you ruin your relationship with your kitten.
I have a bitey kitten now and I love him. He bites and it hurts sometimes, but I buy more toys, and play with him until he is worn out. I say NO when I am trying to get him to stop doing something, so he understands what no means....hitting is certainly not an answer, even if it is a "tap"...

(sorry for the long post, but your threads have made me think a lot about my own actions in the past...I have had two more kittens since my mistakes last year, and have wonderful kittens and we work through any issues with patience and love....and the kittens are thriving and happy.)