My kitten smacks me in the face!

Just so I'm understanding this correctly, you basically reward her with a toy for biting you?

She is probably teething and overstimulated. You're doing the right thing by saying "NO!" firmly and redirecting her to a toy rather than your finger or face. We used to give Tumbles straws to chew on as well as soft chewy toys. Also a "kickaroo" type toy would work for her to chew on, kick, and bat at. Lots of ball type toys and mice would also work.

Unfortunately, she's only 9 weeks old and this type of behavior takes awhile to unlearn. You have to learn to be the mother cat and teach her appropriate behavior. A finger to the forehead with a stern "NO!" will help as well as hissing. When she's misbehaving, hiss at her, just like a mother cat would do as well as other kitties when they're playing. If you can afford it, you could also adopt a friend for her of similar age.

Just continue stopping and redirecting her. Try to think like a "kitten" lol, when she has her siblings around her, this tiny age is where they wrestle one another, teaching one another what bites are too hard, how to retract their claws. So now you have to be her kitten sibling to show her what is acceptable or not.

Some people say, letting out a squeal, like a kitten would, when she bites or scratches too hard will help to show her. And just be consistent with this, every single time.

Although, Im sure it is getting frustrating with the bites and slaps, I cant help but to laugh at thinking of this little tiny kitten slapping LOL sorry.

The hissing may work with a kitten, but from my personal experience... (I have a mom cat and her now grown litter, who were born here) she never hissed at them for biting or scratching. She actually didnt hiss at them at all when they were babies. (now that they are grown thats a different story lol)

The kittens never hissed at one another either, they squealed.

Hissing, IMO, is a warning sign that kitties give to each other, "that something else will happen if you dont stop". You dont want to develop a relationship with your kitten of fear, you just want her to learn how to not bite, scratch or slap.

She is not doing it intentionally, she just doesnt know better.
So can you teach her like she would learn with siblings, rather than teach her not to do it out of fear.

I think you are on the right track. It just takes time. I got Lucy when she was 8 weeks and she had no manners. She would grab my hand and pull it in for the kill. We ended up getting her a hedgehog dog toy that was about the same size as she was. When she got feisty, I would squeal if she bit me and give her the hedgehog to bite and rabbit kick. She grew out of it by about 6 months.

That's what I do too because as stephanie says, it's what her mom would do. It can be hard to express yourself to a young cat sometimes. It seems like by the time you open your mouth to protest, they're on the other side of the house! It helps when you use language they already know.

Good luck with this little bundle of energy! She sounds like a lot of fun!

LOLOL she is a little feisty girl, for sure LOL

Both of my girls have a feisty in them, too LOL

She is adorable. So is your other kitty. He seems so calm and relaxed. I bet as Lucy gets older, she will be the boss LOLOL poor boy kitty lol

Aww Little Guy, thats sweet. Him being calm and relaxed looks like the perfect match for little Lucy LOL

Thank you, they are my heart.

Your babies are beautiful, too.

Something else, you might try not making eye contact with her or blink slowly if you do make eye contact. Also, learn when she's getting to her limit on pets and stop before she has the opportunity strike out. Like with most behaviors, it takes constant repetition and time. Since she's so little and has the attention span of a gnat, it takes extra repetition and time.

LOLOL I LOVE Lucy's personality LOL

The redirecting does work. Lord knows with my big cats, how much redirecting I have to do.

You don't have to worry about long-term repercussions for verbally chastising your cat with a hiss, and I can say that from personal experience.

My two are almost overly clingy and very loving and have been chastised like that when misbehaving since I've had them. Although I find a hiss hard to do and just do a TSST of varying intensity.

They understand it and it works well. Saying "NO" has never ever worked for me consistently, even though its louder and in a very deep tone to sound different than normal speech. A "TSST!" or hand clap or finger snap though, works every time. Had to use it quite a bit teaching them not to constantly mess up my blinds, and now they don't touch em.

But at 9 weeks, I would have very low expectations and just count on em to be wild and goofy and handle damage control, heh.

Oh my goodness she's adorable!!!. She reminds me of my Rosie when she was a kitten, and even now we play peekaboo with her at the bottom of the stairs and me at the top, then she starts stalking but stops as soon as l put my head around

You have a little ball of fun there

With all my animals, if they hurt me accidentally or otherwise, I always do a very high pitched squeal, like OWWW! If you have ever accidentally stepped on a cat (or dog)'s tail or paw, that is exactly the noise they make. It usually works really well, and they get shocked/surprised and stop what they are doing. I have never tried the hissing thing, I guess because I see it as an aggressive signal and don't want to hype them up even further.

With kittens and puppies, if they are playing and one gets too excited/aggressive, the other will squeal to let them know they are hurt, and if it continues they will just up and walk away. So they quickly learn if they don't play nice, they don't get to play at all.

Oh and one other thing: Don't use body parts as toys! Like having them chase your fingers etc. Good luck and have fun

Oh Susan - do I feel your pain!!

I adopted two brothers when they were six weeks old back on May 1. They're now 15 weeks old and I know exactly what you're talking about!

For what it's worth, "NO!" hand claps, stomping, etc. NEVER worked on Simon & Garfunkel. If they reacted at all it would just be to throw me a look of disdain over their shoulder and keep on going They crack me up!

However, the one thing that has worked - and I use it regularly now that they realize that the stuff I'm putting in my mouth is food and that, hey, they deserve some, too, mom! - is the hissing! Or the "TSST!" as Ducman said. I combine it with a hand flail/wave lol, right in front of their face - kind of a "shooing" motion. I can't stop them from getting on the dinner table (I think I taught them to be better jumpers by putting the chairs and other access points far away from the table, LOL!! It seems like overnight they went from barely mastering jumping up onto the couch to jumping on the table, up from the table to the second highest shelf on the bookcase, etc.), so since I can't stop them from getting up there, I just shoo them away using the hiss/hand wave motion, and they usually get the picture after a few times. Experiment with what works with Lucy - because the only thing that worked for me from ages 6 weeks to 12 weeks was physically removing them from whatever they were doing!



I NEVER thought I'd get my two to calm down when they were Lucy's age. It comes with time - just be consistent.