Chomp!

marge

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Goodness, I woke up this morning and my
normally sweet kitty chomped my foot, and Then did again REALLY hard. I feel horrible, cause I pushed him away really hard as a knee jerk reaction. He looked surprised. I read the article here about play aggression, which I think this was, and I did the right thing after instinctively. I put him in another room to calm down. I think he wanted me to wake up. But I wonder, should I now keep him away from the bed at night? I don't want to reinforce this behavior.
 

lotsocats

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If this is the first time this has happened, I wouldn't worry about it, but if the behavior continues, you might consider keeping the little devil out of the room.
 

momofmany

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How old is the kitty, and was this a chomp thru the covers on your bed (response to wiggling toes under the blankets)?

With so many cats in my house, our toes are targets in bed on a regular basis. We strongly discourage any play in bed or we would never get sleep at night. Anytime anyone starts, they get a time out. Once in a while they forget and pounce, but that is quickly corrected with a firm "NO", a little scruff, followed with us moving them to another place on the bed, and once they settle down, lots of loving again.

Kittens are the worst at this, but persistance and patience gets them thru that age.
 
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marge

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He is about 6 months old. I noticed him getting more aggressive with his sister too. But I have been reading how the "teen years" are like that sometimes. I like the "Time out" idea and will do that more.
 
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marge

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Oh and it was on a bare toe!
 

hissy

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Ouch! Here at the house we don't play hand and finger games with the cats and kittens, nor do we play blanket games. Anyone who attacks a moving toe or foot, gets gently scruffed, turned on their back for a brief 3 second time out (really any longer is a waste) you want to make a quick and brief impression. Flipping them over on their back shows them you (the Alpha) can make them vulnerable to attack. On quick NO and a release. The behavior is rarely repeated.
 
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marge

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The on the back thing is great. I will try that!
 
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