4 month old kitten biting.

Hi guys,

I am getting extremely frustrated with my four month old female kitten, Lulu. She will not stop biting our hands/arms, etc. I understand she is teething, but this is becoming more than that...she's clearly not just biting to relieve her sore gums. My boyfriend and I have tried everything. First and foremost, we have done our best to NEVER used our hands as toys or even tease her with our hands. Second, we give her plenty of play time (we both work full-time M-F, so as much as we can, anyway) and she has many different types of toys to keep her busy and for her to chew on. Third, I have gotten her kitten teethers/binky toys to help with the teething process and help alleviate any pain/pressure she might be feeling.

At first she just used to bite when we were playing with her, but now she often does even when we pet her or pick her up she bites constantly. It's not hard enough to draw blood, but she definitely knows what she's doing. She will even bite our feet sometimes when we are laying in bed, or arms when we are hardly paying attention to her.  When she does bite we either yell "Ouch!" or "No!" or "Bad!" immediately, stop playing or petting her right away, and sometimes even clamp her mouth shut briefly with our fingers when she does. I don't know what more we can do...she's not getting the message and I don't understand why.

I understand that she's a kitten and this is what kittens do and I'm willing to wait it out. However, my biggest worry is that she WON'T grow out of it and will never "get the message" that she should not be biting humans. I would hate to have a cat that you have to be super cautious around and are afraid to interact with because of random biting/lashing out with claws.

Any advice? Tips? Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much!
Crystal

I imitate a mommy cat when teaching orphan kittens that they are misbehaving. I stare at them, hiss and blow a puff of air on their face. It works for me. 

How old was Lulu when you got her? Am I correct in thinking she is your only?

CatPack said:

How old was Lulu when you got her? Am I correct in thinking she is your only?

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She was just about 7 weeks, so pretty young. And yes, she's our only cat and pet. She's a calico and really playful, which started about a month or so ago. For her first 6-ish weeks with us she was sick on and off and weak and didn't play much. Now that she's better and growing she's definitely a spunky one.

Do you have any large stuffed animals (larger than she is by at least 4 inches) that you can give her to play wrestle with?

Being young when you got her she is just lacking proper social/play skills. And then being sick, I'm sure she is making up for lost time in the energy department!

You are doing the right things with her. You could also place her in a "time out" if she gets too keyed up and won't stop biting you.

There's also the suggestion of getting another kitten (perhaps slightly older that HAS been raised with other cats and kittens.) This could help with her play aggression and help entertain her while you are at work and perhaps curtail her excess energy.

I also have a kitten the same age who is very well behave. He was abandoned at 2 weeks old so I raised him, I hissed and growled at him when he did something bad because that's what mama cat will do. The kitten will learn from you how to behave since no longer has her own mama.

I seconded the idea of getting a big stuffed animal to play with so she can bite it as hard as she wants.

Try pushing into the bite.  Prey does not act this way and it confuses the kitten.   I got both my kittens to stop biting by pushing slightly (gently, not meanly) into the jaw every time they bit me, and it worked within a week.

Another option is spray bottle.

My kitten does the same thing. She is a 3 1/2 month old female. We often give her "time-out" by putting her in our bedroom and closing the door for about 10-15 minutes. Sometimes we put her on the balcony too. The hissing/growling/blowing air idea is good. I have yet to try that one.

Thanks for starting this thread @crystalnicole! I now know I am doing the right thing also. I guess it just takes a lot of time and consistency. She's slowly stopping, but she still occasionally bites out of nowhere or when we catch her in a playful mood.

I wish you the best of luck with your kitty!

- Grace (Mommy of Shadow)

(oh and by the way, we also got our kitten when she was young... approx. 6 weeks old. They did not know exactly when she was born.)

Thanks for all of the help so far everyone! You all are so great to take the time out to help each other out with our kitty issues.

@shadowbaby14 - Yeah, the down side of adopting kittens so young as they haven't really had adequate time with their mothers to learn basic social skills and manners.  We will get there with them of course, but it just takes a bit more work I think

Based on my research so far, it sounds like the best thing to do when they bite is to yell "Ouch" or something similar, and then immediately give them a toy/something else to chew on. If you just tell them to stop or yell "NO!" they don't often know what you're saying "no" to, exactly. And any sort of physical punishment will usually make them bite more out of defense. I'm just going to keep at it, and consistently let her know it hurts every time and give her a toy and encourage her to bite it instead.

crystalnicole said:

 
Based on my research so far, it sounds like the best thing to do when they bite is to yell "Ouch" or something similar, and then immediately give them a toy/something else to chew on. If you just tell them to stop or yell "NO!" they don't often know what you're saying "no" to, exactly. And any sort of physical punishment will usually make them bite more out of defense. I'm just going to keep at it, and consistently let her know it hurts every time and give her a toy and encourage her to bite it instead.

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That's a good plan, and I really agree with avoiding physical punishment, including spray bottles.

For me the only thing that worked is timeout and ignoring once she attacks. You asked why saying no and clamping down doesn't work and it's because the cat likes the attention. Put that cat in the bathroom for ten minutes every time and she will stop or live in the bathroom, which won't happen. If she wants attention consider that your current methods may be giving her what she wants and respond accordingly.

My two-year-old (and a half I guess now) does have a slight biting tendency that shows in two distinct situations, one of which I take some blame for AND I really don't have a problem with although we do try and curb it some.  The first variety (and the one that I a) take blame and b) don't mind terribly as long as we don't let it get out of control) is the play-biting.  When he gets worked up, and in certain "play" areas that are established such as my office chair, he will play bite.  Not breaking skin although maybe once or twice over the two years he may have just out of getting way to amped up .  And yes, I'm guilty of having fun with it and not minding it enough that we do a little of the 'playing' with my hand scritch-scratching away at his underside which he seems to like.  The good news on this is, he is too cautious around people he doesn't know very well to ever do that to anyone else, so it isn't a worry on that front.  The reason we temper it and do not let it escalate any more than it is at is that if he ever DID get comfortable around kids, we don't want it to become an issue at all.

The other aspect that is totally unrelated to playing is sometimes he seems to get agitated (usually being told not to do something and/or having something he is getting into taken away) and he has infrequently bit in those situations which is clearly not play, but I am not sure would call it attacking so much as 'making a point'.  The strange thing is he has done that maybe twice to me in the past year or a bit more.  He has done it probably 12 to 15 times to my wife, sometimes seemingly without any real provocation even.  She chalks it up to a male/female thing which may be an aspect.

Regardless of the type of biting incident, if it become inappropriately rough in play OR is one of those times he acts out non-play wise, my approach has been to stop giving him contact/attention/play and moving off along with giving a loud "No" which we both do I think.  But what I do differently than her I think maybe (and I always wonder if this is stupid and going to backfire someday heh) is that I will almost always immediately will keep my hands and arms away from him and close in face to face giving him a stare which has almost always resulted in the overly cute head butt by him.  Perhaps this face to face encounter after the "No" and before distancing from him might be why he acts slightly different between us?  I don't know, but until he winds up and smacks me one I think I will continue with it

i got Maia when she was 8 weeks and she only bit me when i had green nail polish on my nails, isn't that weird? anyways she always had a lot of toys since the beginning and got a little brother 4 months after to play with. now they play together sleeping when im awake and running around making noises, jumping on , y stomach when im asleep and chasing each other at 7am. just tell me who needs to set up an alarm when i have Foley tickling my face with his nose and jumping on my stomach to wake me up ... spoiled little brat all he wants is to be petted lol

crystalnicole said:

Hi guys,

I am getting extremely frustrated with my four month old female kitten, Lulu. She will not stop biting our hands/arms, etc. I understand she is teething, but this is becoming more than that...she's clearly not just biting to relieve her sore gums. My boyfriend and I have tried everything. First and foremost, we have done our best to NEVER used our hands as toys or even tease her with our hands. Second, we give her plenty of play time (we both work full-time M-F, so as much as we can, anyway) and she has many different types of toys to keep her busy and for her to chew on. Third, I have gotten her kitten teethers/binky toys to help with the teething process and help alleviate any pain/pressure she might be feeling.

At first she just used to bite when we were playing with her, but now she often does even when we pet her or pick her up she bites constantly. It's not hard enough to draw blood, but she definitely knows what she's doing. She will even bite our feet sometimes when we are laying in bed, or arms when we are hardly paying attention to her.  When she does bite we either yell "Ouch!" or "No!" or "Bad!" immediately, stop playing or petting her right away, and sometimes even clamp her mouth shut briefly with our fingers when she does. I don't know what more we can do...she's not getting the message and I don't understand why.

I understand that she's a kitten and this is what kittens do and I'm willing to wait it out. However, my biggest worry is that she WON'T grow out of it and will never "get the message" that she should not be biting humans. I would hate to have a cat that you have to be super cautious around and are afraid to interact with because of random biting/lashing out with claws.

Any advice? Tips? Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much!

Crystal

Click to expand...

crystalnicole said:

Hi guys,

I am getting extremely frustrated with my four month old female kitten, Lulu. She will not stop biting our hands/arms, etc. I understand she is teething, but this is becoming more than that...she's clearly not just biting to relieve her sore gums. My boyfriend and I have tried everything. First and foremost, we have done our best to NEVER used our hands as toys or even tease her with our hands. Second, we give her plenty of play time (we both work full-time M-F, so as much as we can, anyway) and she has many different types of toys to keep her busy and for her to chew on. Third, I have gotten her kitten teethers/binky toys to help with the teething process and help alleviate any pain/pressure she might be feeling.

At first she just used to bite when we were playing with her, but now she often does even when we pet her or pick her up she bites constantly. It's not hard enough to draw blood, but she definitely knows what she's doing. She will even bite our feet sometimes when we are laying in bed, or arms when we are hardly paying attention to her.  When she does bite we either yell "Ouch!" or "No!" or "Bad!" immediately, stop playing or petting her right away, and sometimes even clamp her mouth shut briefly with our fingers when she does. I don't know what more we can do...she's not getting the message and I don't understand why.

I understand that she's a kitten and this is what kittens do and I'm willing to wait it out. However, my biggest worry is that she WON'T grow out of it and will never "get the message" that she should not be biting humans. I would hate to have a cat that you have to be super cautious around and are afraid to interact with because of random biting/lashing out with claws.

Any advice? Tips? Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much!

Crystal

Click to expand...

Hi I have the same my kitten was 4month now she do the same normally adoption is in 12weeks because they were trained and learned everything from the mother and sibling how to play and not to bite cz if he play with them and she bite she will get bitten too and she will know it hurts, however is not to late all kitten bite mine was never scratch me but bite me a lot and even in my hair and head tht sometimes it hurts till one day she bite me and drew blood I look at her and touch her nose no with a high tone of voice in that day until now she never bite me again even and I'm missing that if you show hen sometimes it hurts shout send top of nose make them understand thought it takes times but for me since then she never bite me and she live the blood and kiss me saying sorry for hurting us. I ignore her first an hour to let her know my message. But now I'm happy with result somehow I miss the bite cz its a sign of love for them

I think you're doing everything right so far! In addition to those tactics I recommend this product called "stop that!" by Sentry. It's a can of compressed air that lets out a loud hissing sound and a burst of calming lavender scent when sprayed. I was sceptical at first but it's worked wonders in my household. Best of luck!

I am having exactly the same problem with a 4-month old male. I think the blowing in the face is a good idea if you can get to his face fast enough. He is also biting my 8-year old female, and she is hissing at him and growling, but he just doesn't get it. My female cat has been a saint with this new kitten in our home. He has mostly invaded her space and she is putting up with it. He wants to eat her food, even though he has exactly the same stuff and he wants to eat her treats when I give him his own. How do you teach a kitten manners?