Sneezy Jumps On Me and Attacks Me!

Hi Everyone

I have a 10 month old kitten that jumps on me and attacks me. He only attacks me and the poor old dog but not my husband.

We got the kitten Sneezy from a shelter. He was sick with the feline herpes virus and is the picture of health now. He is fixed and an indoor cat.

I play with him all the time. I have to literally wear him out he is so high energy or he will attack me and the dog. I've read all sorts of articles on cat aggression and I know that I am definitely playing with him enough. At a minimum I play with him for 15 minutes every day but sometimes it's more like an hour.

We play all kinds of interactive games like hide and seek, hunting for treats, chasing wands, balls, playing with stuffed animals and he even plays piano. I even got him a leash and harness and started bringing him outside to see if that would help because he seems to need so much stimulation! But now he wants to go outside all the time.  Sometimes when I tell him NO, he tries to go out anyways and when I physically stop him he bites me. Sometimes he jumps on my back while I'm talking to my husband. Sometimes he bites my ankles when I am coming up the stairs. 

We don't hit the cat or even yell at it because my husband says the cat seems to think it's part of the game when I yell. (I don't mean to but sometimes I'm suprised or it hurts).  I do have to yell when he attacks the dog because the dog has a collapsing trachea and he will lose consciousness sometimes when the cat attacks him. I have not tried a water spray bottle because he likes to play in the sink and we are boaters so we do not want him to be afraid of water. When he scratches furniture we redirect him to his scratching post and then praise him. So now he bites me sometimes and runs to the scratching post, lol. We tried 2 minute time outs and he doesn't like them. Sometimes he is so wound out he attacks me a few more times after coming out of the bathroom. And gets another time out. 

I've never had a cat like this before, so high energy. I'm always trying to keep him busy and stimulated, throwing ice cubes in his water fountain or giving him a new box or some shredded paper to play with. 

From the reading I have done I don't think the cat is sick, upset or anything like that. The only information I can find that makes sense to me is that I think he views me as a litter mate. I think he is attacking me because he thinks its a game.

My question is, how do I get him to stop?

Also, could this be a breed thing? We are wondering if he has some non-domestic breed in him based on his big but not fat jiggly stomach pouch, his spots,  his love of water, his amazing leaping abilities, his endless curiousity and energy and his adaptability when we travel or take him to new places. He also does this happy dance where he looks like he's going to mark something but it's not wet. He also greets me at the door when I come home and pretty much follows me around like the dog does. He's always in the same room as the family, except for the odd private nap. He's pretty vocal about telling me what he wants and expressing himself and he clearly follows my commands, comes when he is called, knows what I mean when I say do you want some dinner, go outside etc. etc. 
Or maybe he's just a really cool orange tabby domestic <3

Either way we love him a lot. 

Thanks so much! 

Rosie

I forgot to add

We got the cat when he was about 4 months old.

Once I went to an event and he was lazy and sleepy and I was very tired so I thought I could get away with going to bed without playing with him. I asked my husband to play the "treat" game with him for an extra long time. That's where hubby watches TV and whips treats in the air and across the floor. Sneezy waited until I was almost asleep and started knocking everything he could off the night table. Bottle of the dogs meds, my glasses, tissue paper, pen lol. It was as if to say HEY YOU FORGOT TO PLAY WITH ME!  I dragged myself out of bed and we went and played.
Another time I asked him if he wanted to play a game and he understood and went running to hide behind this curtained closet we have which is where we usually start our games. My In-laws were visiting and my FIL wanted to tell me something so I stood there listening to his story. Sneezy came and pounced on me and then ran back to the closet as if too say HEY I thought we were going to play a game! We laughed about it but I find it hard to discipline him when that happened because he was in position to play and I did say we were going to play.

I'm so sorry to the Mod just thought of something else, re: him possibly thinking I'm a littermate? 

He's not the snuggliest but he's pretty affectionate on his terms. Will come to me and my husband for snuggles and love. He must lick my face and hands obsessively a few times a day, sometimes trying to remove my wedding ring. And often while licking my face he will bite me pretty hard on the nose. A few times on the chin and once on the throat. It's not hard enough to break my skin but hard enough I'm afraid to move for a minute and it has brought tears to my eyes.

Other times he comes to lay down with me and I don't over pet him or even pet him unless he rubs up against me because of what the books say about over-stimulation and he will all of a sudden reach over, stop purring, grab my hand and bite me until I have to pick him up and remove him from the room and shut the door. It hurts my feelings. I don't know why he does that either, is it because he wants me to pet him? Because I've tried that too and it always ends with him biting me and me kicking him out of the room temporarily of course. Then he sits in the hallway and cries and my husband calls him but he wants to come and see me.

Can you get Sneezy a playmate? Hopefully someone more expert about cat behavior will chime in, but a second cat about the same age might really help.

Thank you so much for your response Margd. I will seriously consider it.